Entertainment Weekly inexplicably placed Madonna's debut LP at #5 on its list of modern classics last month, aptly calling the eight post-disco, post-punk dance songs that comprise the record (six of which could be described as hits, depending on your definition of the word) "scrappy" but failing to acknowledge that Madonna (and Madonna) would likely have been forgotten along with jelly bracelets and headbands fashioned out of torn scarves had the album not been followed by at least a decade's worth of some of the most captivating pop music ever recorded. Madonna herself even likened the album to music for aerobics classes and was eager to shack up with Chic's Nile Rodgers and flex her creative muscle for her career-defining follow-up, Like a Virgin.
This summer, Madonna turns 25, but 2008 also marks the fifth anniversary of a wholly different Madonna album, one that couldn't possibly be any further removed from that scrappy debut: American Life. You'd never even know the same artist made both records. Aside from "Holiday," a song she didn't write, Madonna seemed more interested in ruling the world than saving it back in 1983; two decades later, American Life found the pop singer at her most political, confrontational and, to many, abrasive. It was her first and, to date, only flop, scanning less than a million copies despite its platinum certification and sporting no hits besides the forward-thinking Bond theme "Die Another Day," which cracked the Top 10 the previous fall and was--dubiously, at least it seemed at the time--tacked onto the track list in a move that ultimately insured that American Life wouldn't be Madonna's only hitless album.
As with almost every Madonna album, save for the first one, it's nearly impossible to talk about the music without addressing the cultural and social context that produced it. Some have claimed that's why the singer's image and marketing has always been the focus of her career, at the cost of fairly assessing the actual music, but I think this fact only strengthens the case for Madonna as a true artist. Art without cultural context is like war without a political one. And this time around, politics and war itself played a pivotal role in the construction, marketing and ultimate perception and consumption (or lack thereof) of American Life--despite there being very little in the way of political commentary throughout the album. full article
Give It 2 Me
Give It 2 Me
Hard Candy
Hard Candy
4 Minutes
4 Minutes
Live Earth 
I adore "American Life" and MADONNA has proved with this album that to be patriot means not endorsing a war designed to put more money in Bush and friends pockets. At this time, it was a risky business, which is not now!
American Life was great (love profusion!, I loved it). But her last one... eurk, it came to fast, and fuck the guys on the album, she don't need them. She should take more time before antother one and it would also be good for her marriage...
i knew instantly when M herself pulled the original version
for the video for American Life before it even aired...
that she made a crucial mistake in her artistic
as well as musical career
M tends to be slightly ahead of her time artistically,
and the original edit for the video of American Life
validates that point effortlessly
however...
M made a conscious decision to censor herself
it seemed to backfire a bit in regards
to album promotion and album sales
there are some true gems on American Life
Hollywood, Mother & Father, Nobody Knows Me,
Intervention, Nothing Fails, and Love Profusion
the title track itself i felt left a lot to be desired,
as well as the videos for both Hollywood and Love Profusion
however, the original edit for the video of the song
American Life is one of the strongest, most solid, disturbing,
yet darkly humorous music videos M has ever produced
i wish M had demonstrated a bolder sense of artistic
risk and freedom by allowing it to be aired
i feel the video would have generated a greater
interest in the song as well as the rest of the alum,
rather than the American Life album being now referred
to as "the weakest Madonna album of her career"
that is an unfair assessment of the American Life album
hopefully, M will not make such an obviously bad error
in judgement in the future
time will tell...
Shardy - after reading your overly wordy comment I realised that you probably were not born yet when American Life was released. The politcial and social climate in the United States was especially intense - had she released the original video made for American Life, thousands of people would have burned her cd's as they did with the Dixie Chicks for being unpatriotic. It shows wisdom upon her part not to add fuel to the fire.
Jesus so blesses Madonna.
Im Christian and i dont know how to say that i really love American Life Album.
So many positive message and critical thingking in the album.
The best album of madonna ever made beside ROL and LAP
Madonna is fantastic! I'll go to her concert on 6 of september! Who will come with me?! Anyway look this video! http://memopal.clickmeter.com/315674.html
American life, along with Ray of light, is my favourite madonna album...i'm really sad because of the little attention it got by the audience and it gets nowadays by Madonna herself: she completley forgot it in her last tour and she probably will do the same for the upcoming one..She should remember that a lot of people in their shows are there because knows her thank to her last albums...
Sarah:
so if i "wasn't born" when American Life was released...?
then that makes me around 4 years old....
(yet my overly-worded post) is far more intelligent
than your observation of it
damn sarah..you just got schooled by a 4* year old
; )
If Madonna had kept to whatever vision she had when she made the video, she would now be considered a true heroine, because NO ONE ELSE stood up, not even the Dixie Chicks, on the level Madonna's video did against war. The Dixie Chicks made the statement that they were ashamed to be from the same state as Bush. Madonna's video was directed at the American public for supporting the wars in the first place with their silence and stupidity.
If she derailed herself because of fear, shame on her! I say that because she is already one of the wealthiest entertainers in the business; if her career ended because of that message, that would have been odd. Her overseas sales are larger than her US sales; they were against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. So she wouldn't have suffered much financially.
As far as being considered unpatriotic: she could have weathered that storm. She obviously had high ideals when she set out to make the video; she knew what people could say.
Too bad she chickened out! I love this woman to death, but she REALLY dropped the ball that time! If she REALLY believed what she said in her song, Nothing Fails, then why did she chicken out like that?! No more tears, no more fears; yeah, right!
The biggest mistake Madonna made was not making American Life, but pulling back the video. Madonna’s work are about the social context.
I think American life is definitely one of the most socially and psychologically defining moments in the musical history. The review of USA today “ American Life was amid at the brain and no so much hips”, unfortunately for everybody, at the time people were preoccupied with their hips rather than heads.
What was George Bush thinking when he invaded Iraq. Weapons of mass deception. The media bought his deception and sold his lies to us all. Look where the whole world is now.
Madonna was great before making American life, but as far as I am concerned she became even greater when she dared to make and realise that record at a time when people would rather escape than face the reality.
Terrorism is horrible, but it doesn’t grow on the tree. It grows out of social injustices around the world.
American life was the smartest album any artist ever made.
Art is about more than sales. It is also about discussing social issues.