Madonna Single: Material Girl (1985)

Madonna
“Material Girl”

Release: January 30, 1985

1. Material Girl
2. Pretender

Producer: Nile Rodgers
Songwriters: Peter Brown and Robert Rans

Billboard Hot 100: #2 (2 weeks)
Billboard Dance/Club Play: #1 (1 week)
UK Singles Chart: #3

Madonna’s second Like a Virgin single was instrumental in defining her media image for years to come, even if the message was misunderstood. “Material Girl” is an upbeat piece of dance/pop that endures as one of her early classics. It’s a great pop song, driven along by an insistent synthetic bass line and other synthesizer effects. Madonna even seems to get “spanked” at one point during the song as she giggles with glee. The lyrics are, of course, a tongue-in-cheek send up of ‘80s materialism as the driving force of romance, yet the “Material Girl” moniker was too easy to resist, and the media branded Madonna herself as the Material Girl, a nickname that has stuck to this day.

As if the title alone weren’t enough to define Madonna’s image, then the video sealed the deal. Directed by Mary Lambert, who helmed Madonna’s last video, “Like a Virgin,” “Material Girl” finds Madonna re-creating Marilyn Monroe’s performance of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” from Gentlemen Prefer Blonds. Again, this move works on multiple levels, both as a thematic reference to materialism/romance and Madonna’s successful incorporation of Marilyn Monroe as an iconic image for her own use, which she would resurrect again and again. Dan Aykroyd appears in the video too.

Although it wasn’t as big a hit as “Like a Virgin,” “Material Girl” was still very successful, hitting #2 in the US and #3 in the UK. It’s certainly proven to be one her most enduring early singles. It’s even being used for an upcoming film, produced by Madonna’s production company, Maverick.

Finally, an important note of trivia. During filming of the “Material Girl” video, Mary Lambert brought her friend Sean Penn to the set one day to meet Madonna, sparking Madonna’s first high-profile media romance, leading to her first marriage.