We're living in a material world and I am a...
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| Title: Material Girl Writers: Peter Brown and Robert Rans Producer: Nile Rodgers Album: Like A Virgin (1984) and The Inmaculate Collection (1990) Edition Date: Second single of Like A Virgin, february 1985 Length of the album version: 3' 56'' Credits: ©1984 Minong Publishing Company BMI. | ||||||||
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| This is one of the most famous songs for the non-fan people. It was the second single from the successful Like A Virgin album, and it showed an image of Madonna which has been clear through all her career: a cold, material, manipulating, money-desperate woman. But the message Material Girl wanted to express was really different: is a song that turns upside down the relations between men and women, because now the women rules, and manipulates the men just to get what they really want...Money. The song was a critic to the economy of the Reagan government, and the behaviour it promoted, but not many people realized that was the real message. Material Girl was intended to be a dance tune, which was mixed with some garage rythms by producer Nile Rodgers. Madonna has a very girlish voice here (more than we would have wanted), but it goes along with the song and the lyrics in many ways. This song wasn't written by Madonna, and was originaly written for a man: Madonna adapted the lyrics and fitted the song just for her. It was one of the songs selected for her first Greatest Hits album, The Immaculate Collection, being remastered and remixed by Shep Pettibone. As a curiosity, in the film Moulin Rouge, Nicole Kidman sings a bit of Material Girl in her Marilyn Monroe tribute. | ||||||||
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| marilyn monroe | ||||||||
 Since the filming of the Material Girl video, comparisions with Marilyn Monroe have often been made. But the similarities between both divas are only that both of them are blonde (well, Madonna changes her hair colour more than her clothing). The strong personality of Madonna is really different from Marilyn's, who lost the control of her own life. Madonna has said lots of times that she admires Marilyn, and that her greatest tribute is to imitate her image, sometimes more explicit than others, as the performance of Sooner Or Later given in the 1991 Oscars, the Material Girl video, the never ending photos with exact Marilyn poses or just mention her name in the song Vogue. In the late 80's and the beginning of the 90's this has been one of the most popular Madonna look (and the one that fans like most), the Madonna Marilyn. | ||||||||
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| material girl forever |
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| cover |
 This is the cover of the cd single which can be found in any music store. The photo is taken from the portfolio that Steven Meisel made for the Like A Virgin album cover. |
| in the chart |
| Although this is one of Madonna's most popular songs, Material Girl just reached number one in Japan (the same as always). It reached #2 in USA, #3 in UK, #5 in Canada and #10 in Spain. |
| official versions |
| 1. Album Version (3:56) 2. Video Version (4:43) 3. 1990 Q-sound Remix (3:53) 4. Extended Dance Remix / Jellybean Dance Remix (6:05) |
| sean penn |
 The relationship between Madonna and Sean started whenSean himself wanted to meet the Pop Star of the moment: Madonna. So they first met in the Material Girl video set. Madonna already knew Sean's brother, who used Burning Up for his film The Wild Life. The relationship between Madonna and Jellybean Benitez was over, so she had freedom to start a new love story again. Madonna herself often says she liked Sean at first sight. They had lots of things in common, as both had an image of bad wild boys, and both wanted to reach the top in their careers. |
| live |
| Madonna has performed Material Girl live in her first 3 tours: The Virgin Tour, Who's That Girl Tour (included in a Medley, where Madonna imitated Cindy Lauper, dressed with a design of her brother Christopher) and in Blonde Ambition World Tour.
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When Madonna recorded this song, little she knew the the Material Girl nickname was going to follow her for all her life. Almost two decades after its release, we always can find articles, press comments, and TV programmes talking about Madonna and calling her The Material Girl. This nickname has been changes at moments for another (stupid) ones as Spiritual Mother in her Ray of light years, or The Blond Ambition. In an interview made to Madonna, she was asked which song she regrets singing most, and she said: Material Girl. At this point of her lofe, in which she almost hates her old songs, she probably doesn't want to be called like that.
