Imagine how fucking cynical your listening habits must be for Mer Girl to leave you unmoved. Couldn't be me.
Marginally, apparently. 67 SCORE: 8.167 2015 PLACEMENT: DOWN 9 - 58 of 210 (7.946) HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x 30 (@funkyg @Vasilios @cheida @Dangerous Maknae @Sprockrooster @Remyky22 @GimmeWork @Andrew.L @Mjg0806 @Ana Raquel @fatyoshi @Modeblock @Coochi @DominoDancing @scottdisick94 @Robsolete @MilesAngel @unnameable @joeee @TrueBeliever @phoenix123 @Pop Life @ABoy’sGot2Suffer4Fashion @Remorque @Digital Ghost @MrMannacroix @ufint @Markus1981 @happiestgirl @Music Is Life) LOWEST SCORE: 3 x 1 (@RainOnFire) MY SCORE: 5/10 Yeah, I don't like it. Sue me. "Material Girl" is one of Madonna's most iconic songs, and one of the most iconic pop songs of all time. This is not even hyperbole; this is fact. It is... in the lexicon. There will be children who don't even know who Madonna is but will know the phrase "material girl", such is the reach and power of this song. It is also one of the few defining Madonna hits that doesn't have her anywhere near the writing credits. Originally drawn to the song when she was at her peak in terms of career ambition and was obsessed with making it big, Madonna says that the song spoke to her because the titular material girl wasn't settling for anything less than the best. Nile Rodgers serves as the producer as he did for most of Like A Virgin, and you have pure pop alchemy. It, along with the seismic nature of "Like A Virgin", were arguably the foundation for Madonna becoming the Queen of Pop. We owe it a lot. ...but it's just a bit annoying, isn't it? Okay, I'll admit: I'm looking at my 5/10 at the moment and thinking that it was maybe a little petty even for me, but... does anyone even really seek out "Material Girl" actively at this point? Out of all of Madonna's most famous songs, is anyone actually willingly putting it on to bop? I don't think I've ever sought it out. It's just not a moment most pleasing to me in her career. The put on baby voice, the frog-voiced men on back up duty, the kinda janky production on the verses. I just think it's generally a poor pop song, regardless of how iconic it is. Nile Rodgers provides a couple of solid saving graces in the form of that insanely addictive guitar riff and those delightful little bells, but other than that, I just think it's aged poorly, which is actually a fairly rare thing for her 80s material by and large. Also, Madonna doesn't even like it that much. She's repeatedly gone on record as saying that if she had known that she was going to get saddled with "The Material Girl..." title in literally every single tabloid article for the next forty years, she wouldn't have even recorded it. She's also been repeatedly frustrated at the fact that she always intended it to be ironic and it has largely been taken to be literal, which... hmm. Okay, honey. I'll believe it when I don't see a clothing range named after it. Anyway. The most iconic component of "Material Girl" is easily the video, in which Madonna basically recreates a scene from Marilyn Monroe's "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" and... fucks a producer who tricks her into thinking he's a lowly vagrant with a pick up truck because she's most definitely not the kind of girl to be wooed by... all the things she says she's wooed by in the song. It's also been performed on a lot of tours. The Virgin Tour, the messy Who's That Girl Tour performance where she does a Nazi salute during the middle-eight, Blond Ambition, Re-Invention, a tiny interpolation on MDNA that barely counts, and the Rebel Heart Tour. I've included the video and all of the above below. Interpolation of "Material Girl" during "Girl Gone Wild" @ MDNA Tour "Material Girl" @ Rebel Heart Tour
Lucky Star Borderline Burning Up Holiday Like A Virgin Dress You Up Papa Don't Preach Open Your Heart Live To Tell La Isla Bonita Like A Prayer Express Yourself Till Death Do Us Part Cherish Oh Father Vogue Erotica Deeper And Deeper Bad Girl Thief Of Hearts Rain Secret Human Nature Bedtime Story Take A Bow Drowned World/Substitute For Love Swim Ray Of Light Skin Nothing Really Matters Sky Fits Heaven Frozen The Power Of Goodbye To Have And Not To Hold Music Impressive Instant Don't Tell Me What It Feels Like For A Girl Paradise (Not For Me) Gone American Life Hollywood Love Profusion Nothing Fails Intervention X-Static Process Die Another Day Easy Ride Hung Up Get Together Sorry Future Lovers Forbidden Love Jump Isaac Give It 2 Me Miles Away Ghosttown Medellín (Feat. Maluma) God Control Crave (Feat. Swae Lee) Into The Groove Crazy For You Justify My Love Rescue Me Beautiful Stranger
Yes, I do think so. Speaking of which, here's my ranking of Madonna's "girl" songs: Who's That Girl > Material Girl > Bad Girl > Candy Perfume Girl > What It Feels Like for a Girl > Girl Gone Wild > Mer Girl Drag me. Edit: Oop.
I'd say the best "Girl" songs are What It Feels Like For A Girl and Candy Perfume Girl, but none of them actually got a 10 from me.
I kinda knew Mer Girl’s time was running out, but damn... it deserved better. A progressive darkwave pop masterpiece. The closest Madonna ever got to recording something Kate Bush-esque? The outro leaves me with goosebumps every single time. BUH-BYE @ Material Girl.
I’m horrified at “Mer Girl” departing so soon and I’m off to watch the Drowned World Tour performance to mourn.
Mer Girl - 8.5. It's an incredibly atmospheric song with poignantly plaintive lyrics. But there are eight other songs I prefer on the album which have a higher score.
Also, the top 15* of Madonna's album tracks, according to this rate, consists from: Till Death Do Us Part Thief Of Hearts Swim Skin Sky Fits Heaven To Have and Not to Hold Impressive Instant Paradise (Not for Me) Gone Intervention X-Static Process Easy Ride Future Lovers Forbidden Love Isaac God Control * There are 16 songs on the list, but you can exclude "God Control" because it has a music video, or "Sky Fits Heaven" for being a promo single. Apart from one 6 and one 7, everything else received at least a 7.5 from me, including ten 9+ scores. Overall, this is great, but not seeing "Love Tried to Welcome Me", "Forbidden Love" (1994), "Inside of Me", "Runaway Lover", "Messiah" and "Extreme Occident" among them hurts a bit.
My lowest remaining scores belong to "Swim", "Crave" and "Medellin". And I guess since "Swim" is apparently taking first place in the whole goddamn rate for reasons I will never comprehend -- -- I'm going to have to start calling for a 'Missez X' cull.
"Swim" is excellent (even though it's not a 10), but I agree about "Crave" and "Medellín" being among the weakest remaining songs. They barely have anything Madonna-sounding about them to earn a place in the top 100, let alone top 70. Not only that, but they are just basic contemporary songs.
