"Material Girl" is the second single by singer-songwriter Madonna from her 2nd studio album, Like a Virgin, and was released on January 30, 1985 by Sire Records. It also appears slightly remixed on the 1990 greatest hits compilation The Immaculate Collection and in its original form on the 2009 greatest hits compilation Celebration.

Song information

The bassline in the song is reminiscent of The Jacksons' "Can You Feel It", which appeared on their 1980 album Triumph, and which is in itself highly reminiscent of "White Rabbit", the 1960s song by Jefferson Airplane. Furthermore, the strophes remind of the refrain from Melissa Manchester's hit "You Should Hear How She Talks About You" (1982).
Madonna often remarks that it is the song she regrets recording most, for the fact that it became her nickname. She has also said if she had known this, she probably would have never recorded it. She ended The Virgin Tour with a self-parodying performance of "Material Girl".

"Material Girl" is included on Madonna's greatest hits compilation albums The Immaculate Collection (1990) and Celebration (2009). In 2003, Madonna fans were asked to vote for their Top 20 Madonna singles of all time by Q magazine. "Material Girl" was allocated the #15 spot.

Interestingly, Madonna adopted the Kabbalah faith in 1998 which rejects notions of materialism as a form of happiness. As a result, Madonna rarely performs the song live as it represents and promotes ideas she personally rejects. The song is set to 120 BPM in the key of C Mixolydian

Chart performance

"Material Girl" became another Top 5 hit for Madonna on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and her third number-one single on Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 during the week of February 9, 1985 at #43, when "Like a Virgin", the previous single from the album, was descending out of the Top 10. The single climbed the Billboard Hot 100 quickly, jumping thirteen spots to number five the week of March 9, 1985, and eventually spent two weeks at number two, held off by REO Speedwagon's "Can't Fight This Feeling" and Phil Collins's "One More Night". "Material Girl" was less successful on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart, failing to enter the Top 40. The single also reached the Top 5 in the UK (selling 389,999 copies), South Africa, Canada and Australia, among other countries.

Music video

In the single's music video, scenes of Madonna mimicking Marilyn Monroe's performance of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" from the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes were interspersed with scenes of a Hollywood director trying to win the heart of an actress, played by Madonna herself. Finding out that, contrary to her song, the young woman was not impressed by money and expensive gifts, he pretended to be poor, bringing her hand-cut flowers and paying a poor man a large amount to borrow (or possibly buy) his dirty truck to take her on a date. His plan seemed to work because the final scene was of him and Madonna kissing in the truck in an intimate position. This video was ranked #54 on VH1's 100 Greatest Videos. After making the video, Madonna said she never wanted to be compared to Monroe despite posing as the Hollywood icon and recreating many of Marilyn's signature poses for various photos shoots most notably a 1991 issue of Vanity Fair.

The music video was shot on January 10-11, 1985 at Ren-Mar Studios in Hollywood, California, and was directed by Mary Lambert. Robert Wuhl appeared in the video's opening. Actor Keith Carradine also had a role in the video. Madonna met her first husband, Sean Penn, while shooting it.

"Material Girl" was nominated for best female video at the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards but lost to Tina
Turner's "What's Love Got to Do with It"

• Director: Mary Lambert

• Producer: Simon Fields

• Director of Photography: Peter Sinclair

• Editor: Glenn Morgan

• Production Company: Limelight Productions

• Choreographer: Kenny Ortega

Track listing

7" Single

• "Material Girl" – 4:00

• "Pretender" – 4:28

12" Single

• "Material Girl" (Extended Dance Remix) – 6:05

• "Pretender" – 4:28

Japan CD single

• "Material Girl" (Extended Dance Remix) – 6:10

• "Into The Groove" – 4:45

• "Angel" (Extended Dance Mix) – 6:14

Official versions

• Album Version – 4:00

• Extended Dance Remix – 6:05

• Video Version – 4:43

• Remastered Version from The Immaculate Collection – 3:50

Release history

Charts

Chart procession and succession

Live performance

"Material Girl" was performed by Madonna on the following tours:

• The Virgin Tour (1985)

• Who's That Girl Tour (1987)

• Blond Ambition Tour (1990)

• Re-Invention Tour (2004)

Credits

• Written by Peter Brown and Robert Rans

• Produced by Nile Rodgers

• Bass by Bernard Edwards

• Guitar, Synclavier II, Juno 60 by Nile Rodgers

• Drums by Tony Thompson

• Background vocals by Madonna, Curtis King, Frank Simms and George Simms

Cover versions

• Mexican Latin Pop singer Byanka covered the song in Spanish in 1985, under the title "Chica Material".

• Cantopop artist Sally Yeh () recorded a cover titled 200 Degrees () on her 1985 album Long Night, My Love Goodnight ().

• Industrial band KMFDM covered the song for the 1999 Virgin Voices: A Tribute To Madonna, tribute album.

• Polish pop rock band Virgin recorded a cover of the song for their self-titled 2002 album.

• Deathgrind band Exhumed covered the song as part of a limited edition bonus CD for their 2004 album Platters of Splatter.

• Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine covered the song in lounge music style on his 2004 album I'd Like a Virgin.

• Taiwanese girl group, 7 Flowers () recorded a cover of Chinese lyric version also named Material Girl () in their first album 7 Flowers (七朵花) (2005). As one of the hits, a music video is shot.

• Pop singer Hilary Duff and her sister, Haylie, recorded a cover of the song for the soundtrack of the film Material Girls (2006), in which both actresses star. Their cover was to be produced by Timbaland, and was originally to have been produced by Lil Jon, but the released version was produced by the Dead Executives. According to Haylie Duff, the song was to be released as a single but there was no time to shoot a music video.

• An avant garde/folk rock cover of the song by Mountain Party was included on the 2007 Madonna tribute compilation Through the Wilderness.

Live cover performances, samples, etc.

• In 1998 the song was sampled for the number-two dance hit "If You Buy This Record (Your Life Will Be Better)" by The Tamperer featuring Maya.

• In 1999 Britney Spears performed a cover of "Material Girl" as a medley with another Madonna song, "Vogue" during her first concert tour.

• Icelandic singer Hafdis Huld performed the song at The Secret Garden Festival and The Big Chill in the summer of 2007.

• Rock Band Heller sung the song live and filmed the performance.

• On her sold out May 16, 2009 concert at the National Auditorium of Mexico City, Mexican Latin Pop singer, Yuridia performed a cover version of "Material Girl".

Appearances in other media

• The Chipettes performed a cover version on the 1980s Alvin and the Chipmunks cartoon.

• The song was part of the "Sparkling Diamonds" medley in the 2001 film Moulin Rouge!.

• Bollywood actress Preity Zinta briefly incorporated "Material Girl" into one of her musical numbers during the 2004 Temptations tour.

• In the 2004 movie Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason based on the book by Helen Fielding, this song was used for the scene where Bridget gets out of a Thai jail.

• The 2006 Nintendo DS rhythm-action game Elite Beat Agents contains a cover version of the song for one of the game's levels. The level follows two celebutantes trapped on a deserted island.

• The song appears in the video game Karaoke Revolution Party.

• This song is a playable track in Nintendo's Wii Music, a 2008 music video game for the Wii.

Parodies

• The children's show Sesame Street did a parody of the song in 1989 with completely different lyrics called "Cereal Girl". The "music video" was about a "girl" grouch who loves cereal after tasting a bowl of it.