All language subtitles for Madonna.Secrets.of.her.Biggest.Hits.2020.1080p.HDTV.H264-DARKFLiX_track3_eng

CROWD SCREAMS

Queen of Pop...

She brought her liveliness,

she brought her identity,

she brought energy,

she brought her style.

...mistress of reinvention...

She just loves to shock.

She lives to shock.

...with over 300 million
record sales,

Madonna's been at the top
of her game for over four decades.

But how did she get there?

And what were the secrets

behind the songs that
made her a superstar?

# Holiday... #

From the innocent...

Holiday is a fun, frothy pop song.

It's light as air and you just
can't resist how wonderful it is.

...to the provocative...

# Like a virgin... #

Like a virgin, like a what?

Excuse me, lady?

...to the track that
defined an entire era.

If there was ever a song

that captured an
attitude of the time...

...that was a moment.

# Cos we are living
in a material world... #

We speak to those who
helped propel her to success,

from the musicians...

We decided that maybe
there's something

between this song and this artist -

might be something magical.

ROBOTIC: Liv...ing
in a material world.

...and those who sang
on her big hits...

We finished Material Girl,
and it was just like,

"Oh, God, this is ridiculous!"

People are gonna love this!

...to the writers.

We did get the response that

no-one would ever sing a song titled

Like A Virgin.

But fortunately,
it was perfect for one...

...singer, and her name was Madonna.

# Like a virgin... #

We reveal the ruthless ambition

that took a struggling
clubland hopeful...

What are your dreams?
What's left?

To rule the world.

...to the pinnacle of global stardom.

This is Madonna and the story
of the three songs

that defined her career.

Madonna Louise Ciccone,

a dance school dropout from Michigan

who went on to conquer the world

and enjoy a 40-year career
of unparalleled success.

It's...

...just bigger than anything
I could ever imagine.

From New York street chic

to blonde ambition.

From leather-clad Dita

to Ray Of Light Earth mother,

to Evita.

Over and over again,

Madonna reinvented
her music and look

to become the ultimate
pop star survivor.

Was it 16 consecutive top five hits?

Oh, I don't know.
Something like that.

Madonna has one of the most
ground-breaking careers in pop music.

The first female pop star

to have complete control
over her career.

From William Orbit
to Demolition Crew,

she's collaborated with
the world's best producers

to create the world's biggest hits.

She is a vocalist
who can bring her identity

to everything she sings.

And she's still going strong today.

She was so heat-seeking-missile
focused on success.

I want longevity as
a human being, so...

...l want it to last forever.

She was like that from the beginning
and she's still like that now.

But if you want to understand why
Madonna took the world by storm,

you need to explore
just three huge songs -

her first three mega-hits...

# Holiday... #

# Ooh! Like a virgin... #

# And I am a material girl... #

...to find the answer.

CONTROL ROOM:
We have main engine ignition.

Three, two, one...

We have lift-off!

It's 1982 and the
Columbia Space Shuttle's taking off

on its third mission into space...

"jimmy Connors is bringing
bad boy of tennis,

John McEnroe, back down to Earth...

...and the sky's the limit
for Michaeljackson,

as his Thriller album
breaks all sales records.

Meanwhile, a young Madonna Ciccone

has risen from
dance student in Michigan

to be on the verge
of releasing her first single.

But it had been four tough
years getting there.

When Madonna was 20,

she did what she now says

is the bravest thing
she'd ever done.

She dropped out of dance college

and she went to New York.

She said it was the first time
she'd been on a plane.

First time she'd been in a taxi.

She only had $35 in her pocket.

But she had a dream
and she had a belief.

And it was, for her, the
beginning of everything.

Madonna worked at a
Dunkin' Donuts to make money.

She lived in really cruddy,
broken-down buildings

in rough parts of town.

To be a young woman on your own

in Manhattan at the time,

we had to be made
out of pretty stern stuff.

MADONNA: A lot of it has
to do with imagination

and the great desire
and need to get out

of that small town kind of feeling,

go somewhere and be somebody

because you feel like you're
missing something.

As well as being edgy, the city was
a hotbed of artistic invention.

In and around the club scene,
the ambitious Madonna

soaked up all the influences
on offer.

So the underground scene in New York
in the early '80s when Madonna

was running around was wild.

Hi!

It was filled with a lot of people
who didn't have a lot of money,

but had a lot of creativity.

I would say there was just
an incredible rhythmic surge

in New York City during that time.

The city was raw.

The city was accessible.

You could come from anywhere
and absolutely reinvent yourself.

And that's what Madonna did.

There was a buzz going on with
Madonna because Madonna

had so much charisma.

She was really a new,
upcoming phenomenon.

You know, in New York.
Everyone knew about her in town.

Although New York had been at
the centre of earlier music trends,

styles were heading
in new directions.

By that time, the big crest of disco
had really come and then receded.

People still wanted to dance,
but it had to change a little bit.

Madonna's music really - early
music - really reflects that.

She'd do her act at clubs

probably with pre-recorded music
doing, like, dance stuff.

It was about the music,
the presentation, the visual image.

You can see that she's
very influenced by people

like Debbie Harry, who had that
kind of glamour and grace.

I was inspired by Debbie Harry

because she seemed very in charge
of what she was doing

and she also had
a sort of wittiness about her

and street smarts.

And I liked her.

She was a role model.

Grace Jones is also
the apotheosis of it.

# Pull up to the bumper baby

# In your long black limousine... #

You don't just get music
on its own.

What you get is the music matches
the attitude, which matches

the visuals,
which matches the videos.

After months on the music circuit
fringe, Madonna signed her first

record deal, and in October 1982,

her label released her debut single,
Everybody.

# Everybody, come on, dance with me

# Everybody, get up
and do your thing... #

We had heard her singing
"Everybody", the song -

# Everybody... #

You know, which is sort
of like a sing-along song.

We was very impressed with it

and I liked it a lot
when I first heard it.

The song may have been low-key, but
the singer had high-powered friends

and in her determination
to be a success,

she was prepared to call on them.

Madonna had been dating the DJ
at Danceteria, Mark Kamins,

and she decided that she was going
to impress upon Mark that he needed

to play this music.

Now, this is his beautiful
girlfriend and it's a song

that he liked, but he was afraid
because he thought,

"What if everybody stops dancing?"

But he took the risk. He played it
and nobody stopped dancing.

Everybody continued dancing.
They loved it.

Loved it, and bought it.

Not only did the song become
a clubland favourite

it reached the top five in
the US dance charts.

It's the world superstar in embryo.

You can't yet tell she's going
to be a superstar

but what you can tell
is she has an identity,

she has an attitude

and she has a presence.
And it's all there.

# But you don't even know I'm alive

# And this pounding in my heart
just won't die

# I'm burning up... #

Keen to cash in on
her early success

Madonna's label rushed out a
follow-up dance single - Burning Up.

# I'm burning up,
burning up for your love

# I'm burning up,
burning up for your love... #

I really enjoyed Madonna's first
singles, Burning Up and Everybody.

They were so melodic, poppy
and dancey all at the same time.

And then I saw a photograph of her.

I thought, OK. She's sort of
a contender here

because she was combining
this street look

with this very accessible pop sound.

# Now tell me what you want me to do

# I'm not blind, and I know

# That you want to want me but you
can't let go, c'mon, let's go!

It wasn't a hit, but that almost
doesn't matter

because every journey
starts with a step.

And Burning Up is a very small
but significant step.

A much bigger step came
six months later.

Madonna released a feel-good pop
anthem that would take her

out of the dance charts
and into the mainstream.

# Holiday

# Celebrate... #

Holiday is a fun, frothy pop song.

The meaning isn't super deep.

It's just a song about partying
and having a little bit of fun.

# If we took a holiday... #

The upbeat lyrics were no accident.

They were written as an antidote
to the depressing events

that dominated
the early '80s news cycle.

# It would be, it would be
so nice... #

I was inspired by watching
the television news at the time.

It was troubling to see
so much turmoil and this confusion

so it came to me like, if we just
had one day that we could just stop

everywhere all over the world, that
would be like a really great thing.

So the lyrics came -

"lf we took a holiday,
took some time to celebrate,

"Just one day out of life,
it would be so nice."

Sometimes when people are going
through very difficult situations,

simplicity sticks the landing better
than sophistication, something

that just lifts your spirits
because it's light as air

and you just can't resist
how wonderful it is.

The melody went like this.

HE STRUMS MAIN RIFF FROM "HOLIDAY"

# If we took a holiday

# Took some time to celebrate... #

By the time Curtis offered
Holiday to Madonna,

two other artists
had already turned the song down.

But her recording would deliver
the stardom she'd always craved.

# ..so nice

# Everybody spread the word... #

Holiday was like a wrecking
ball that smashed the wall

that Madonna had been facing.

It was her pop breakthrough
and it was the start of her becoming

one of the biggest
stars on the planet.

CHEERING

"Holiday" PLAYS

It's 1983

and Madonna has risen from dance
school dropout to dance chart star.

This is the story behind the
three songs that launched her

into global superstardom.

# Holiday... #

With the first, Holiday, just about
to be released, it was her first

mainstream pop song and would
go on to be a hit across the globe.

# Celebrate... #

But while the song
had worldwide appeal,

it was rooted in New York's
disco-influenced R&B scene.

I was in a band called Pure Energy.

It consisted of myself,

Raymond Hudson, my brother,

and Lisa Stevens, the lead singer.

Lisa had these chords...

HE HUMS CHORDS FROM "HOLIDAY"

I wrote everything else
in the song - the melody,

the lyrics, the arrangement.
Everything else was, was my ideas.

As soon as we got to the point
that we heard the intro part

of Holiday, the...

HE HUMS SYNTH PART

SYNTH PART PLAYS

...Curtis created that part.

We knew the song had a certain...

SONGS STOPS BEFORE
MAIN BEAT KICKS IN

...energy, I would say.

It was a positive energy and we was
like, we gotta do something with this song.

Holiday had all the elements

a catchy pop anthem needed

but if Pure Energy thought it would
make THEM famous, they were wrong.

When we finished recording a demo,

I let tonnes of people hear it.

And every time Holiday
would come on,

everyone would say, "That's a hit.

"Stop there, play that again.
That, that song is a hit."

And we was hoping that it
would be the song to launch us,

but our record label,
they turned it down.

And that's when we decided

we were going to shop the song
to other artists.

Two of those artists turned the song
down, but, remaining convinced

of its potential, Curtis and
his bandmates turned to

their New York disco contacts.

We had a relationship with
Jellybean, john Benitez.

Jelly Bean
was a very influential DJ.

And he wasn't just at one club.

He was in about six clubs,
including Studio 54.

But it was jellybean's romantic
rather than clubland connections

that landed the perfect artist.

Madonna and he hooked up
and I think it's very fortuitous

that they happened to come
together that time.

They were dating for a while.

I mean, I don't know how serious,
but we know

that they were very close.
Very close.

That's how we end up meeting
Madonna, because what we did was

we went to this club
called The Funhouse

where jellybean was the big DJ.

And he invited Madonna there.

After we met with her and she told
us she loved the song and, you know,

pretty much asked us
could she do the song.

And as a whole we decided that maybe
there's something between this song

and this artist, might
be something magical.

With the agreement struck,
Madonna turned up at the studio

ready to record Pure Energy's song.

But, right from the start, she made
it clear it was now HER song.

Madonna comes in
and does sing Holiday -

# Holiday, celebrate!

She was, like, really happy
about it.

So we hoped that Holiday gonna
be good for Madonna.

She was watching everything
that happened in the studio.

She want to make sure that
nothing didn't mess the song up

or hurt the song.

I remember when I was doing
the guitar parts

and I was playing
it a certain way, and she stopped.

She said, "Do you have to do that?

"You can hear
the bounce on the strings."

HE STRUMS PERCUSSIVELY

HE STRUMS WITH
NOTES LAYERED ON

So when you put the two
of those together,

it's a very funky track.

That's what they call the funk.

You know, it's the guitar pick
hitting up against the strings

and give it a funky, you know,
rhythmic feel.

BASS RIFF IS ADDED

She like, "But could you do that
without playing, without doing it?"

I say, "Yes, but I don't want
to do that."

And so we kind of like had
a little, uh, debate about that

and I thinkjellybean shut it down.

You know, sort of like, "He's
the guitarist, let him play it."

How many artists even pay
attention to that?

You know, so I was annoyed
a little bit,

but I was kinda impressed
at the same time.

The thing about many artists,
you see their personalities change

when, you know, the attention,
the money and publicity.

Madonna was always the same.

So when she hadn't sold a record,

she was as difficult as when
she'd sold 50 million records

because she knew her own mind
and she was generally always right.

# If we took a holiday... #

Madonna may have been difficult
over the instrumentals,

but when it came to laying
down her vocals,

she was downright demanding.

Other than the producer,
she ordered everyone out,

including original
vocalist Lisa Stevens.

Jellybean informed us that

well, Madonna don't want
anybody to be in the studio.

So we was like, "OK!" You know?

I mean, I kind of felt
bad cos Raymond and myself,

we was there, you know,
in the session for the rhythm track

and we was participating in that

and Lisa was like, I guess she was
saying, "OK, vocals next."

And Madonna had a different idea.

Even at this young age,
she would take no bull from anybody.

She would believe what she believed.

And she trusted her own instinct.

And, time after time,
she proved to be right.

She brought a sort of innocence

that's going to appeal to a lot
of young people.

And she brought her liveness,

she brought her identity,

she brought...energy,

she brought her style.

We wasn't in the studio at all.

That's why we were surprised
when we did hear her final vocals.

It was like, "Wow, OK,
they sound good!"

Madonna at this stage was a great
vocalist because she had something

that you'd not get on
a lot of club records.

Her diction was really clear

and she sounded like she was riding
the rhythm

and just kind of almost
speak-singing the words. Yeah -

# If we took a holiday...

No, riffs, and she'd give space.

# If we took a holiday...

# just one time to celebrate... #

Empty the space.

# Some time to celebrate

# Just one day out of life

# It would be

# It would be so nice... #

Madonna was all about rhythm
and attitude and vibe, and Holiday

had all of those imprints.

Holiday was the first showcase
for a vocal style that would soon

become instantly recognisable
all over the world

and was an important step
towards the global phenomenon

that Madonna would soon become.

It quickly became a mainstream
American radio favourite

and reached number 16 on the
all-important US Billboard chart.

Madonna was a mere disco artist
no more.

Holiday was her pop breakthrough.

It was irritatingly unforgettable.

It kind of worked its way into you.

# Celebrate

# Holiday

All those involved in the recording
of Holiday believed

it would be a hit, but surprisingly
the record company Warner Bros

hadn't even bothered to produce
a promotional video.

# Some time to celebrate... #

There are a couple of performances
Madonna gave for a little lip-sync

promotion spot and those sort
of ended up being what was used

as the video, in people's minds.

The video is absolutely charming
because she's so free in it.

The dancing is kind of goofy.

It's a little bit like doing the
Sailor's Hornpipe.

It's great. She's got this kind of
skipping little dance

that she does, but it's the same
dance that she did every time

she performed this -

the kind of swaying from side to
side.

She knows exactly where
the cameras are.

She looks fantastic.

Those looks caught the public's
attention as much as the music.

The first of many Madonna styles
was born.

We have the scarf in the
tousled hair.

We've got the really acutely
defined lips,

loose top, the layers,

the skirts, the little dancer
leggings.

She looks like a cute, broke
New York dancer

on her day off.

The street style may have looked
thrown together,

but every aspect was carefully
thought through -

as photographer Richard Corman
found out

during one of her first professional
shoots.

I had never met anybody like
Madonna.

From her dark roots in her hair
to her red lips,

to the make-up on her eyes,

to the way she was dressed -

the torn jeans, the jewellery.

She was living art.

I knew I was in the throes
of something remarkable.

Her sexuality was a part of every
photograph we took.

Whether it was through her humour,

whether it was the way she looked
into the camera,

she made an ordinary stove
sexy and funny

and playful and charismatic

and three-dimensional,

unlike anybody could have.

Working with Madonna,

it was jaw-dropping for me because I
had never seen somebody

that was so comfortable in
her own skin.

And if she wasn't, you know,
I was totally fooled.

With mounting record sales and
magazine front covers,

it was time for the next step
in Madonna's transformation

into a key cultural figure.

It came with an appearance on
America's

premier TV music show.

American Bandstand is a pop music
institution on US television.

The fact that Madonna was on such an
iconic show

was really important.

To those who'd worked with her,

Madonna's ruthless ambition
was an open secret.

Now she was about to share it with
everyone.

Mm, to rule the world.

And you just think,

"Ooh, what hubris."

But, my God, she was right!

There's plenty of talented people
out there -

more talented, much more talented
than Madonna -

but they do not have that drive.
# It would be so nice...

It had taken barely a year for
Madonna to move

from an obscure dance artist to
mainstream star.

And she would always have this song
to thank.

# Let's celebrate. #

Holiday was like a wrecking ball
that smashed the wall

that Madonna had been facing.

It was her pop breakthrough,

and it was the start of her becoming
one of the biggest stars

on the planet.

Holiday was a great entry-level song
for future Madonna fans.

It was just the fun Madonna.

The escapist Madonna.

# You're so fine

# And you're mine... #

But there was a series of other
Madonnas

already in the pipeline.

And as the styles kept changing,
the hits kept coming.

# Make everything all right...

By 1984, Madonna was an established
pop act,

following up her breakthrough hit,
Holiday,

with the equally catchy Lucky Star.

# You must be my lucky star... #

Her sound and image had inspired
other female artists.

And, soon, rivals like Cyndi Lauper
were vying to take her place.

# Girls, they want to have fun. #

# Cos you got the best of me...

Madonna knew she had to hit back.

Her next release, Borderline,
hit the top ten.

# Borderline... #

But, behind the scenes,

she was working on something much
bigger.

The key to that stardom arrives
later that year

with a track that was to smash away
convention,

confront controversy and put Madonna
in an unassailable position

in global pop-

Hi, we're in New York,

and here's a song for my new album,
entitled Like A Virgin.

# Like a virgin

# Touched for the very first time

# Like a virgin...

Like A Virgin broke Madonna
on a worldwide stage.

You know, Holiday had been
her breakthrough,

but this was her golden ticket.

Hearing like a Virgin for the first
time was a shock

because the word virgin wasn't
really used on the radio.

Like a virgin. Like a what?

Excuse me, lady.

Like a virgin? You know, those days
are gone for you.

Like A Virgin came from the pens
of Billy Steinberg

and Tom Kelly, the celebrated duo
behind a string of top ten hits

for other artists across the '80s.

Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly
co-wrote

so many great '80s pop songs.

I'm thinking about
I Drove All Night.

True Colours was another one.

Such deft songwriting.

# True colours are shining
through... #

Steinberg and Kelly had never
worked with Madonna before,

and they didn't compose the track
with her in mind.

The song tells the story about how
I extricated myself

from a very difficult
relationship...

...and found myself in a new, joyous
relationship...

...which made me feel shiny and new.

# Yeah, you made me feel

# Shiny and new...

Like a virgin.

# Like a virgin...

I was really surprised to find out
that it was written by a man

reflecting on a time in his life

when he'd come out of a bad
relationship

and was sort of finding his mojo
again.

I did feel when I came up with the
title

that I had something special,

and something a bit irreverent,

and something that would tickle
people's imaginations

and sense of the word virgin.

I kind of got that it would be
provocative.

With the risque chorus completed,
Billy and songwriting partner

Tom Kelly began working on the rest
of the track.

We didn't find the right direction
for the music immediately.

And then he started to play a
bass line

that resembled I Can't Help Myself
by the Four Tops.

MUSIC: I Can't Help Myself
by Four Tops

MUSIC: Like A Virgin
by Madonna

He was playing that bass line.

I propped the lyrics on his piano
and he started singing falsetto.

"L made it through the wilderness.

"Somehow I made it through."

I said, "That's it!"

And then the song quickly
wrote itself.

It may only have been a demo
version,

but Tom Kelly's falsetto became the
blueprint

for Madonna's final vocal.

An interesting part of it is the
fade at the end of the demo,

because you can really hear how she
copied all Tom's ad libs

as our demo was fading out.

Madonna just basically lifted the
whole performance.

Like, she just copied it from
beginning to end,

including all of the little sighs
and oohs and aahs.

And even just some things that are
said on the outro for the record.

I mean, that's how perfectly
conceived it was

from songwriting to demo.

Brilliantly conceived,
but tough to sell.

When Steinberg and Kelly
completed their track,

almost no-one would touch it.

We started to play the song for
various A&R people

at different record companies,

and we did get the response that
no-one would ever sing

a song titled Like A Virgin.

But, fortunately, it was perfect
for one singer,

and her name was Madonna.

# Like a virgin...

Madonna has so many talents,

and one of them is to know when a
song is right for her,

and somebody from the record company
presented Like A Virgin to her

in the demo form.

And she went crazy.

Everything about it was right for
Madonna.

It feels like there is no other
singer in the world

that could have sung that song.

With Like A Virgin chosen by an
excited Madonna

as her next track,

Chic's legendary guitarist,
Nile Rodgers,

was brought in to produce.

But, initially, he had his doubts
about the track.

Nile Rogers, he wasn't sure.

He's like, "lt's kind of a weird
hook to sing Like A Virgin.

"And I'm not really..."

She was like, "No, trust me.
"This is absolutely it."

And she was right.

Once Rogers overcame his doubts,

he and Madonna shared the studio for
every moment

of the production,

including some awkward ones.

# You're so fine...

Whatever the studio tensions,
the results were worth it.

For Madonna, it was the song that
changed everything.

Like A Virgin, for her, was the
moment

where everybody who would
have thought

she was a passing fad realised
that, actually,

this woman, she's a game changer.

# Like a virgin...

Helping the song provide
maximum punch -

the video.

The sexually charged performance was
the template

for many more videos to come,

and this time along the canals
of Venice.

She's writhing around in a gondola,

going through a tunnel and coming
out the other side.

I mean, that's just so ham-fisted
and so on the nose.

I think what this tells
us about Madonna

is that she just loves to shock.

She lives to shock.

In music, at this point,

what you really didn't have is a
female artist

who didn't look as though,
or sound as though,

they were interested in romance.

You look at this video,
the performance,

and Madonna, who was sexy on her
previous stuff,

suddenly becomes Madonna,
who is sexual.

And there's a big difference.

Sexy is "Like me, and I'm pretty
and I look great. Don't l?"

Sexual is "l'm in control."

# Like a virgin

# Feels so good inside... #

Like A Virgin was the first moment

in the rise of the Madonna
phenomenon

that we see her using the shock
value of unashamed sexuality

and the power of controversy to
create record sales,

something she will continue
to do across her career.

I like to provoke people,

but I don't think about the danger
of it.

And if there is a dangerous element,
that's exciting to me.

The single ruled supreme at the top
of the billboard chart

for a phenomenal six weeks.

It was certified gold in the US

and went on to be a massive
worldwide hit.

I think Madonna became a
pop culture icon

the moment Like A Virgin was
released.

As soon as that song hit the
airwaves,

there was no turning back.

Like A Virgin took Madonna to the
next level.

The songwriters Steinberg and Kelly
had helped her

find the superstardom she'd always
dreamed of.

But when they saw her at a party
sometime later,

there was little appreciation.

We see at the other end
of the terrace,

Madonna walking out of the house...

...towards us.

And she was with Warren Beatty.

And I thought to myself,

"Well, this is the perfect
opportunity

"to meet Madonna finally."

And a guy we knew said to Madonna,

"Madonna, I would like you to meet
Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg,

"who wrote Like A Virgin."

And Warren Beatty started to laugh,

and I think he was laughing because
he thought, you know,

"Of course she must know the guys
that wrote Like A Virgin.

"It must be some kind of a spoof."

I stepped up and I said to
Madonna...

"l've wanted to meet you for
so long."

And she said to me, "Well, now
you did."

And she grabbed Warren Beatty
and walked off.

So she wasn't particularly cordial,
shall we say.

# Material girl...

As was the case from the beginning
of her career,

Madonna's eyes were fixed
only on the future.

And her next incarnation -

recalling Hollywood's ultimate
blonde bombshell

and featuring a song and iconic
video

that would come to symbolise not
just Madonna's pulling power,

but a whole global decade -

Material Girl.

# And I am a material girl... #

The mid 1980s saw free market
economics

sweep across the West.

Britain is confident, strong and
trusted.

In the booming financial centres of
New York and London,

fortunes were made fast and spent
even faster.

For the lucky ones, the consumption
had never been more conspicuous.

This was the Ronald Reagan era.

Greed is good.

Dynasty is huge on TV.

Everyone's into more, more, more.

In America, 1985 was all about
big hair, big shoulder pads,

big wallet, all that kind of thing.

The new era demanded its own
soundtrack,

and Madonna was the one to
provide it,

with a song that would finally
cement her superstar status.

# Some boys kiss me

# Some boys hug me

# I think they're OK... #

If there was ever a song that summed
up an artist,

that captured an attitude of
the time,

that was her moment.

# Cos we are living in a material
world

# And I am a material girl...

Material Girl saw Madonna reunite

with production genius Nile Rogers.

Right on the one there. Give me a
nice fall off.

HE VOCALISES

And to help him create another
irresistibly catchy hit,

he brought in one of his most
trusted backing artists.

# They're OK
OK

# If they don't give me proper
credit

# I just walk away...
HE VOCALISES

Nile has a great atmosphere around
him.

And Madonna was very involved
as well.

You saw when you just sat in the
studio

that she had an opinion.

She wasn't the produced act.

She was certainly learning the
craft.

And she does everything -

she looks at other people,
she soaks it all in.

Nile is so giving.

She was absorbing.

Despite her new-found stardom,

Madonna's vocals were still
developing,

and for this track Rodgers
knew she needed help.

I wouldn't say that she actually
fully discovered

her voice until later.

Over this period of time,

What Madonna did is she found her
sound.

She reinforced it.

She imprinted it.

And when people criticised it,
she gave them more of it.

# You know that we are...

It was the song's distinct lyrical
pattern

that made it such a challenge for
the singer.

Material Girl has a lot of beeps,
blips and bloops,

and it kind of chugs along in an
electronic fashion.

There's these like robot men.

It's playful, it's boppy,

but it's also relentless at the
same time.

A little bit like Madonna
herself.

Despite needing help with her
vocals,

Madonna, true to form, made sure
everyone in the studio

knew that place.

But by the end of the session,

she and everyone else knew they had
another hit on their hands.

With the recording complete,
it now had to be promoted.

For the video, featuring big name
actor Keith Carradine,

Madonna chose to pay tribute to
fellow blonde bombshell

of yesteryear, Marilyn Monroe.

She would be taking on one of her
most iconic 1950s performances,

and with it her characteristics and
costume

from the American musical comedy,
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

I didn't know her personally,
but I admire her.

She's an idol.

Definitely, yeah.

Mary Lambert, the director
of Material Girl,

really did a fine job of recreating
Gentlemen Prefer Blinds.

You know, the Diamonds Are A Girl's
Best Friend scene?

Any time you are dressing up like
another performer,

especially someone as iconic as
Marilyn Monroe,

it's kind of embarrassing at times

because the original swallows
up the imitator.

But I think Madonna had such a
supreme confidence

that she's able to take
Marilyn Monroe

and use her for her own purposes

in a way that respects Marilyn
Monroe

but that leaves Madonna herself
intact.

# Some boys kiss me

# Some boys hug me... #

For many, Material Girl was a
wholesale celebration

of '80s consumerism.

But, as the video hinted, it was
actually a subtle criticism.

Yeah, he's still after me.

He just gave me a necklace.

I don't know, I think it's real
diamonds.

Her message may have been
misunderstood,

but at the time it didn't matter.

Material Girl's success put Madonna
exactly where she wanted to be.

She started the year in 1985
as a rising star.

She ended 1985 as the biggest female
artist in the world.

And this - this video, this song -
was the moment when we knew

this was happening.

It cemented her as a force to be
reckoned with.

You understood that she was a
juggernaut.

# Get into the grove...

Madonna was now officially a
megastar,

and that year would go on to release
several more singles

from her Like A Virgin album,
all of which entered

the US Billboard chart top five.

Musical success was followed by
movie success,

as she co-starred in the
particularly acclaimed

1985 comedy drama
Desperately Seeking Susan.

And to cap the then most eventful
year of her life,

she married Hollywood actor
Sean Penn

on her 27th birthday.

Madonna created a whole new way to
be a celebrity,

and especially to be a young female
famous person.

Madonna actually tore up the
old book of rules

that said a female artist had to be
demure,

had to at least appear to not
be in charge.

And there's something really
inspiring

and empowering about that.

Madonna had started her career as a
broke dance school dropout

on the streets of New York.

And with just three songs in three
years,

she had become a cultural icon who
defined a generation.

# Holiday... #

Early '80s Madonna kind of sums up,
for me,

some of the best things about
the '80s.

# Your so fine

# And you're mine... #

She presumed that success would be
hers, you know?

And that's a very '80s idea,

that even if you start out with
certain limitations

and inadequacies, you can overcome
them.

So she embodies that.

# Material...

That was her revolution.
That's what she brought.

And I think she's really the first
modern pop superstar

for that reason.

In 1982, Madonna was unknown but
up-and-coming.

By 1985, there wasn't anywhere you
could go in the world

where people hadn't held of Madonna.

In three years, she transformed not
just her career,

but she transformed pop.

# Material. #

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