Madonna’s “Who’s That Girl”

I haven’t seen the movie, but “Who’s That Girl” ranks among Madonna’s best singles IMO. It wasn’t included on The Immaculate Collection for some reason, which probably renders it underrated in some respects. It’s a perfect piece of 80s pop, encapsulating all that is great about Madonna during that period. The Spanish chorus, horns, all of it.

 

It’s a great song, though very much La Isla Bonita 2. The other 3 Madonna songs on the soundtrack, Causing A Commotion, The Look Of Love and Can’t Stop are good too, though the latter is the weakest of the four. The Who’s That Girl Soundtrack has 2 or 3 other decent outside songs too, so is well worth picking up. Nice sounding CD too.

The film, IMO, is pretty bad. I think Madonna was trying to channel Marilyn Monroe, but is about as sexy and endearing as Marilyn Manson. You really cringe watching her in this one.

 

The movie appeared to be an awful retread of Bringing Up Baby to me (which happens to be one of my favorite films). Thanks for the soundtrack recommendation; just saw it on sale at Barnes & Noble on vinyl.

 

"Who's That Girl" was a #1 single but now it feels kind of forgotten. How was a #1 single left off The Immaculate Collection?

 

also related to the "Who's That Girl" and "La Isla Bonita" sound .....

Agnetha Fältskog (of ABBA fame) released her album I Stand Alone in Nov. 1987
and the title track was co-written/co-produced by Bruce Gaitsch, who also co-wrote "La Isla Bonita" ...... To my ears, it sounds cut from the same kind of cloth.

 

Great song! It finally ended up on the "Celebration" collection after being left off The Immaculate Collection, but it's definitely a song people tend to forget about, and a number one at that.

I'll echo Bobby's comments about the other Madonna tracks on the soundtrack; a couple of interesting other tracks but nothing to get too excited by... (El Coco Loco, anyone?!)

 

Remember it summer 1987. Everybody even Madonna haters were singing that memorable chorus. "WHO'S THAT GIRL".

 

She played it on the 2015 tour, so it's not totally forgotten!

 

The Who’s That Girl soundtrack was the first Madonna album I bought (on cassette). Probably at a WalMart. I was maybe 9 or 10.

 

Madge

 

The liner notes of IMMACULATE COLLECTION indicate that VOGUE was supposed to be the last song of the album (meaning JUSTIFY MY LOVE and RESCUE were not originally going to be there). I wonder what two songs got the ax for the 2 new ones. I'd like to think WHO'S THAT GIRL and CAUSING A COMMOTION as they had the most impressive chart positions of the ones not included (ANGEL, DRESS YOU UP, TRUE BLUE, OH FATHER, KEEP IT TOGETHER and OH FATHER). Anyways....glad to see there are other WTG fans.

 

One of my favorite Madonna songs. I don’t have the soundtrack but I have the 45.

 

love the song, the movie and the soundtrack...

 

It's the second-best 80s hit song to bear that title.

 

I love Eurythmics but I always thought that was one of their weaker singles - this one beats it handily. (Assuming I'm making the right assumption!)

 

"Who's That Girl" might have been left off Immaculate Collection because it's a track very centered on vocals and doesn't easily lend itself to much drum-heavy remixing, and that's what Immaculate Collection seemed to be focused on. I assume most people on this thread know that album was filled with remixes done specifically for this project, not the hit mixes we heard on radio.

As mentioned, the fact that the song was the title track to a film that lost money at the box office was not in its favor. The movie also earned Madonna a Razzie Award.

By the way, "Causing A Commotion" was a #2 hit. Only Madonna could get both a #1 and #2 hit from a movie that more or less stiffed at the box office. "Commotion" was also really big in the clubs and on Saturday night radio dance mix programs, where they'd segue it into "Into The Groove," just after she sang the line "Get into the groove."

 

Somewhere recently I read or heard that the movie has become a cult favorite. Don't know if that's true or not. I haven't seen the movie in 30 years.

 

It's a very solid pop song.
I immediately liked it upon release.

(Felt that it was a bit too similar to La Isla Bonita, but thought it was better...)

 

Madonna isn't my thing (I liked her until I turned 15 or so), but to me her best singles were clearly the c.1983 to 1989 stuff. In that period, there are a few clunker A-sides, but mostly it's fairly sharp, well-performed post-disco pop with a few ballads. I mean, compared to the pop crap of today, her stuff is like The Beatles and Bob Dylan's greatest hits.

I do think, however, that both 'Who's That Girl?' and 'Causing a Commotion' are fairly weak. They're tuneful enough to grab your ear, but both lack gravitas, and both lack the sparkly production that started with the 1986 stuff*. I would argue that 'Who's That Girl?' reached #1 on Billboard due to the recent track record of Madonna's hits rather than its own qualities.


*Okay, I just realized that 'Who's That Girl?' is from 1987... so I don't know if its production is good or not, but the song itself is kind of weak.

 

I like Madonna much, much more than Eurythmics... but their "WTG" is better than hers!

 

@Celebrated Summer said only Madonna could have a #1 and a #2 hit from failed movie.

Prince had a #1 with "Kiss" but "Mountains" stalled at #23 and "Anotherlover..." peaked at #63.

So he didn't get a #2 from "Parade"/"Cherry Moon"...

 

And I think both Mountains and Anotherlover. . . were superior songs. In that era, really BIG superstars would get their first single played almost no matter what. It was like an automatic hit. But you could tell if it was REALLY a hit by what happened with the NEXT singles. If those were solid tunes but they just didn't run up the way they had in the past, you knew that there was some backlash from the first. I think "Kiss" was interesting, but it wore thin really quickly. It wouldn't even make my TOP 3 CD's of a "best of Prince" compilation. Not even one of the Top 5 songs from that album.

As for Madonna: I'd put "Who's That Girl" on a 1-CD "best of" reduction of her career. It's in there. Love the chorus.

 

Wait - are you arguing "Kiss" sold due to coattails, not because people loved it?

 

Chart position isn't so much about sales. It's about airplay. And that album was a step back in Prince's sales anyway, supporting my point. In addition . . . it's pretty boring for a Prince song.