Material Girl

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"Material Girl"
Single by Madonna
from the album Like a Virgin
B-side(s)	"Pretender"
Released	January 30, 1985
Format	12" maxi single, 5" CD single
Genre	Pop
Label	Sire Records Warner Bros. Records WEA International
Writer(s)	Peter Brown Robert Rans
Producer(s)	Nile Rodgers
Chart positions
#2 (U.S.) #3 (UK) #4 (Australia) #5 (Canada)
Madonna singles chronology
"Like a Virgin" (1984)	"Material Girl" (1985)	"Crazy for You" (1985)
Audio sample
Play "Material Girl" (in browser) (help·info)

"Material Girl" is a song written by Peter Brown and Robert Rans for American singer Madonna's second album Like a Virgin. It was produced by Nile Rodgers and released as the album's second single in 1985 (see 1985 in music).

Contents 1 History 2 Credits 3 Covers 4 Charts 5 Official mixes 6 Notes and references

[edit] History

"Material Girl" became another top five 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, as "Like A Virgin" was descending out of the Top 10. The single climbed the Billboard Hot 100 quickly, jumping 13 spots from #18 to #5 the week of March 9, 1985, and eventually spent two weeks at #2, held off by REO Speedwagon's "Can't Fight This Feeling". "Material Girl" was less successful on the R&B chart, failing to enter the top forty.

The single reached the top five in the UK, Canada and Australia, among other countries. 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 knew then that it would be her nickname throughout her career she probably would have never recorded it. The bassline in the song is reminiscent of The Jacksons's "Can You Feel It" which appeared on their 1980 album Triumph which is in itself highly reminiscent of White Rabbit, the 60's song by Jefferson Airplane. ^[1]

Madonna ended The Virgin Tour with a self-parodying performance of "Material Girl". She also performed the song humorously on the Who's That Girl Tour, where she dressed up in various items which some suspected parodied Cyndi Lauper, who wore a similar costume in concert around the same time in 1987, and on the Blond Ambition Tour in 1990. In 2004, Madonna performed the song again on the Re-Invention Tour after having declared years earlier that she would never again perform the song.

In the single's video Madonna mimicked Marilyn Monroe's performance of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" from the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), and after making the video she said she never wanted to be compared to Monroe. It was shot in Los Angeles, produced by Sharon Oreck and directed by Mary Lambert. Actor Keith Carradine has a role in the video, and Madonna had a short affair with him during its shooting before dating Sean Penn (whom she first met during the video shoot).

"Material Girl" was included on Madonna's greatest hits compilation album The Immaculate Collection (1990).

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, and the song was part of the "Sparkling Diamonds" medley in Moulin Rouge!. Industrial band KMFDM covered the song for the Virgin Voices tribute album. Pop singer Hilary Duff and her sister Haylie recorded a cover (just loosely based on it) of the song for the soundtrack to the film Material Girls (2006), in which both actresses star. Their cover was produced by Timbaland and is supposed to include a hip hop beat and influences of rock music. Originally, Lil Jon produced the cover.^[2]

The children's show Sesame Street did a sample 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[1] [2].

Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine covered this on his 2004 album "I'd Like a Virgin".

Also, Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls once did a live cover of this song.

The 2006 Nintendo DS rhythm-action game, Elite Beat Agents contains a cover version of the song for one of the game's stages; in this stage you assist two celebutantes who are stranded on a desert island with no survival sense whatsoever. Buffer scenes between rhythm sections include one jiggling her breasts to convince the island animals to assist them.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Covers

• Hilary Duff & Haylie Duff
• Marilyn Manson

[edit] Charts

Chart (1985)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	2
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play	1
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary	38
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks	49
U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40	1
Japan Singles Chart	1
UK Singles Chart	3
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	4
Austrian Singles Chart	8
Canadian Singles Chart	5
German Singles Chart	13
French Singles Chart	47
Swiss Singles Chart	15

[edit] Official mixes

• Album Version (3:53)
• Extended Dance Remix (6:01)
• Video Version (4:43)
• Remastered Version from The Immaculate Collection (3:53)

[edit] Notes and references

1. ^ Cinquemani, Sal (2005). Madonna: Confessions On A Dance Floor. Slant Magazine.com. Retrieved on 2006-06-20.
2. ^ http://www.mtv.com/news/bands/duff_hilary.jhtml#/news/articles/1507398/08102005/lil_jon_1.jhtml