Material Girl

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"Material Girl" is one of Madonna's most well-known songs, providing her with one of her best-known nicknames.

"Material Girl" is the second single from Madonna's 1984 album Like a Virgin. The song is perhaps one of Madonna's most recognizable, and is the source of her nickname, "The Material Girl".

1 About
2 Trivia
3 Reviews
4 External Links

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About

"Material Girl" was written by Peter Brown and Robert Rans and produced by Nile Rodgers. It was released on January 30, 1985, and was a worldwide top ten hit. The song was slightly controversial due to common misinterpretations of its lyrics; while many believed it to be an endorsement of materialism, it was intended to be a tongue-in-cheek, satirical look at the rampant run of materialism in 1980s America. Becaues of this, and the fact that the press continues to refer to her as "The Material Girl" over twenty years later, Madonna has stated that she regrets recording this song the most.

The song peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, a somewhat disappointing showing after predecessor "Like a Virgin"'s six-week reign at number one on that chart. Some point to the release of Madonna's popular ballad, "Crazy for You", only a month later, as cause for "Material Girl"'s ultimate position. Still, the song was Madonna's third Billboard Dance number-one hit, and hit number one in Japan, number two in the UK, number four in Australia, and number five in Canada and Europe. It also reached the number one spot for one week on the ARC Weekly Top 40 chart.

An abridged version of "Material Girl" was included on Madonna's 1990 greatest hits compilation, The Immaculate Collection.

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Awards & Certifications

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Awards

"Material Girl" was nominated for Best Female Video and Best Choreography at the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards.
In 2001, VH1 ranked "Material Girl" at number 54 on its list of the 100 greatest music videos.

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Certifications

Country	Certification
United Kingdom	Silver (250,000)

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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

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Music Video

The "Material Girl" music video was directly influenced by the 1953 film Gentleman Prefer Blondes. Directed by Mary Lambert ("Borderline", "Like a Virgin"), the video saw Madonna imitating Marilyn Monroe's performance of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend". Directly contrasting the scenes of Madonna eagerly accepting gifts of jewels, furs, and money from men are scenes of Madonna flating refusing such things, telling a friend on the phone in the beginning that someone "thinks he can impress me by giving me expensive gifts". At the end of the video, Madonna goes on a date with a poor man (Keith Carradine) who brings her plastic flowers and quickly buys a beat-up truck from an older man outside the studio in order to take her on a drive. Still, the two are seen kissing inside the truck while it is raining outside, opposing the earlier lyric stating that, "Only boys that save their pennies / Make my rainy days."

While filming the video in Los Angeles, Madonna engaged in a brief affair with actor Keith Carradine. After the two broke up, Madonna began dating actor Sean Penn, whom she had met on the set and married later that year.

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