Madonna Single: Angel (1985)

Madonna
“Angel”

Release: April 10, 1985

1. Angel
2. Into the Groove

Producer: Nile Rodgers
Songwriters: Madonna and Stephen Bray

Billboard Hot 100: #5
UK Singles Chart: #5



By April 1985 Madonna was already on to her third single of the year, “Angel,” third single from still popular Like a Virgin album (it stayed in the top 10 until July). “Angel’s” story is an interesting one, basically for being overshadowed by its B-side. After the success of soundtrack cut “Crazy for You,” the record company was surely eager to get back to promoting material from Like a Virgin. In contrast to the high pop of first two singles “Like a Virgin” and “Material Girl,” “Angel” is a more straight-forward dance cut and pretty basic at that: driving synth bass with keyboard synthesizers over it. Madonna sings in her much-welcome lower voice.

“Angel” would go on to hit #5 in the US, but this may have had more to do with its B-side, “Into the Groove,” which was not released as its own single in the US (see next entry for more on that). As time has passed “Into the Groove” has emerged as one of Madonna’s early classics, while “Angel” has been largely forgotten.

Another oddity with “Angel” is the lack of a video. In fact, Madonna made relatively few videos during this period. Only “Like a Virgin” and “Material Girl” have proper videos; “Crazy for You” and “Into the Groove” have clip videos with scenes from their films. Given the tremendous reception of the “Material Girl” video, it is surprising that the only thing produced for “Angel” was a compilation of clips from her previous videos, which may have been made by MTV to just have something for the song.