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Underground > Radio & Music >

Madonna - American Life

03:57 / 25.04.03

I think this post is a little late, but I've been ruminating over it for the past few days. It concern's Madonna's "radical views" in what was to be her new video 'American Life'.

After "concerns of public outrage" of I think her term was "being 'Dixie Chicked'" she chose to edit the video. In the original video herself and several full figured woman dressed in military garb invading a fashion show along with scenes of planes bombing. I won't go into full detail, but the end concerned her throwing a dummy grenade (Invisibles anyone?) at a George Bush look alike and it turns out to be a lighter. The new video being just herself in miltary garb and all the nations of the world flags behind her.

My question is did she fear being publicly persecuted like so many artists out there ? When the whole idea of the video was anti-fashion, anti-war, anti-corperate America. Did she devalue everything she was trying to say in the name of not being persecuted ?

God knows she's done at least three questionable videos that weren't originally released on MTV or VH1. Namely 'Erotca' 'Like A Prayer' and forgive me, but I cant remember the other one.

I guess the full question is did she sell out (in concern of backlash, did she do it out of true respect, or is she afraid of "coperate america" snowballing her like what happened with the Dixie Chicks ?

(I'm beginning to think this post is not worth a grain of salt but its been bugging me for days so I thought Id throw a bone for some other peoples ideas.)

04:01 / 25.04.03

Oh and bugger all...excuse the spelling. I cant be arsed to go back and moderate it.

04:36 / 25.04.03

Did she sell out?
Oh that's priceless!

She must have been the only person on the face of the planet that didn't see war coming. The video stunt could have only been a cynical ploy designed to generate more press coverage for an aging pop dinosaur who no longer as her finger in the pulse of youth. And it'll probably work, after all, on in God's name went out and pushed her version of 'American Pie' to number one in charts?

Our Lady of The Two Towers

05:26 / 25.04.03

Guess Madge has discovered a limit to the number of people she's prepared to risk pissing off at any one time, perhaps she'd like to record a song called "Fuck the French" for Clear Channel too. I've heard the song and it's crap, so she could of done with the controversy to get it into the charts.

I guess it'll reignite the old question; Does Madge hold radical views or was it just that she always had a good eye for how to use controversy to sell herself?

08:10 / 25.04.03

Poor Madge: she must absolutely hate being called a coward - but, essentially, that's what she is...

09:29 / 25.04.03

Someone really has to tell her she can't rap, my mum has better skills than her really she does!

I’m drinking a soy latte
I get a double shote
It goes right through my body
And you know I’m satisfied

I drive a mini cooper
And I’m feeling super-dooper
Yo they tell I’m a trooper
And you know I’m satisfied

I do Yoga and pilates
And the room is full of hotties
So I’m checking out the bodies
And you know I’m satisfied

I’m digging on the isotopes
This metaphysic’s shit is dope
And if all this can give me hope
You know I’m satisfied

I got a lawyer and a manager
An agent and a chef
Three nannies, an assistant
And a driver and a jet
A trainer and a butler
And a bodyguard or five
A gardner and a stylist
Do you think I’m satisfied

I’d like to express my extreme point of view
I’m not Christian and I’m not a Jew
I’m just living out the American dream
And I just realised that nothing
Is what it seems

That really makes me cringe!

The Natural Way

09:40 / 25.04.03

At least she didn't rhyme 'fly', 'sky' or 'high'.

Or my current hate-favourite, Badly Drawn Cock's 'Celebrate to elevate the joy'. That one makes me grab people's legs, clench my teeth and make a high-pitched wailing noise.

09:41 / 25.04.03

Hmm. On a par with 'like a bird on the wingy wingy wingy', methinks...

Regrettable Juvenilia

09:49 / 25.04.03

Yeah, you really think/hope/pray it's a piss-take at the start and then it just gets more and more embarassing...

As far as 'radical views' goes: I think Madonna has, in the past at least, expressed a certain kind of radicalism where sexuality is concerned - arguably even where issues of colour are concerned as well. Those days are long gone now, though. Along with the days when she could write a good tune, and had an uncannily prescient feel for the zeitgeist.

So, the big Madonna question for me is: when did she jump the shark? I'd have to say sometime between Ray of Light and Music, probably around the time she married that appalling Ritchie man (why couldn't it have been Shane?).

10:30 / 25.04.03

Christ, thats generous. I'm gonna say before Evita, maybe even before Bedtime Stories.

10:31 / 25.04.03

No, Bedtime Stories is when I lost interest. Evita it is.

Regrettable Juvenilia

11:35 / 25.04.03

Well, I wouldn't make any great claims for Bedtime Stories, and it's best to forget that Evita ever happened, but I tend to see those as part of an admittedly substantial wilderness period. This was started by the backfiring of the UberSex Madonna incarnation circa Erotica (and aiiieeee, that book which shall not be spoken of, Vanilla Ice, dear God), and also including such embarrassments as the look-I'm-a-serious-artist-I-do-ballads!-you-know-like-Celene-Dion album Something To Remember - that title a terrible aesthetic lie bordering on betrayal, because its message is that slushly power-ballads are somehow more, mmmmmm, meaningful and will last longer than upbeat pop hits or pervy funk.

But the thing is, I see Ray Of Light as something of a staggering return to form. Sure, some of the lyrical concerns are typical of how annoying Mature Superstar Madonna can be (loneliness could be the price of fame, we are living in a material world but I am a spiritual girl, Do You See?), but tune-wise, it's a knock-out. I completely bought the "slightly too old for clubbing but still going mental to some trance" euphoria on the title track, I love the "mmmm, 'Sly' by Massive Attack" homage of 'Frozen'. 'Swim', 'Nothing Really Matters', 'Sky Fits Heaven' - the strength of these songs means that the otherwise implausible New Age crystal, Earth Mother shctick can be overlooked. And 'Skin' and 'Candy Perfume Girl' are classic, sexy Madge tunes. In fact the whole thing is arguably her only really consistent *album* - she's always been a singles artist previously (nowt wrong with that though, especially when you've got a back catalogue of singles that looks like hers).

Then it all started going horribly wrong again, with cowboy hats and Ali G and aspirations to be British aristocracy, and a bloke who said "If it was up to the missus, she'd dress me like a poof". And this time, it only seems to be getting worse - bad cover versions, the worst Bond theme in over a decade, yet more disastrous attempts to buld an acting career (will she *never* learn?), and now this...

Matthew Fluxington

12:45 / 25.04.03

Ah, you can put down Music as much as you want, but quite possibly my favoritest Madonna song ever is on that one! "Don't Tell Me" is so damn great.

Madonna's been 'jumping the shark' over and over again for her whole career, and it never seems to matter. She always ends up doing something that redeems the last misstep.

Regrettable Juvenilia

12:47 / 25.04.03

That's what I used to say...

13:26 / 25.04.03

I'm gonna have to agree with Flux that "Don't Tell Me" is probably the best Madonna song ever. It's just so odd...

The new single, however, is absolute shite.

18:44 / 25.04.03

I guess I was more dissapointed in the song aspect. She said it was to "wake americans up", but when I reread the rap lyrics it seems more like she's talking about nothing but herself. So in the end I think the video would have made it more provocative, and now it just sounds crap.

I listened to the pre-release of it on mtv.com and was utterly repulsed by the "what the f*** are you doing?", "your listening to my new album" and the endless loops that was made over it. Getting over that I can see no reason why anyone says this is her biggest achievment in her career. The lyrics are supposed to spark controversy ? I'll admit some of it 'might' be thought provoking if it didnt come from an uber rich super star. That and many bands have done it before and with much more in your face cynicism.

I think I lost interest in her after Bedtime Stories and some of Ray of Light was good, but I think in my lifetime I've only owned 4 albums of hers.

Anyways...I guess I was just frustrated to waste a half hour to listen to her talk about herself on VH1 and how controversial the video was and then I see a complete and total edit. Remind me again how 'American Life' is represented by all the flags of all the nations.

Matthew Fluxington

18:56 / 25.04.03

...well, America's the 'melting pot', and all that.

Madonna is so inconsistent that it seems weird to write her off at any point, you know? Even her best LPs (True Blue, Like A Prayer, Madonna, Ray Of Light) are uneven; what are you going to do, besides burn your own Best Of Madonna cds?

Regrettable Juvenilia

23:08 / 25.04.03

There's an argument that the role of the megastar isn't to produce albums anyway - it's to come up with single after single that you don't even need to buy to hear, because they're omnipresent. Obviously this is only a good thing when the songs are good...

A

04:26 / 26.04.03

Madonna's one true remarkable talent has always been marketing herself. She's always had an ability to determine which way fashion is going and put herself in the right place at the right time. American Life, however, is a confused, confusing mess. I really get the impression that Madonna currently has no idea what she's doing at all. She seems to be just throwing a whole lot of shit at a wall and desperately hoping that enough of it will stick in a coherent, fashionable shape.

The song has vaguely electroclash-influenced verses, a crap, bland, commercial-radio-style chorus and the single worst rap ever recorded, none of which sound good independently of each other or sit together pleasingly.

I know the song is apparently saying something about "American Life", but I have no idea what that something actually is, and I don't think that Madonna does, either. The same goes for the "controversial" filmclip- it seems to be making some sort of "statement" about the war, but it isn't at all clear exactly what that statement might be.

I never thought I would actually miss Madonna the shrewd, calculating marketing genius, but, good lord, I do. Madonna the confused, desperate attention-seeker just isn't the same.

13:29 / 26.04.03

The new single is truly atrocious, tho i did like the one before.
Altho her career has obviously been pretty long for a singer, its mainly based on that she was a trend setter in the earlier days. But now thats faded, and i wouldnt say theres anything spectacular about her anymore, as compared to other artists other that that shes a bit older... and some people seem to think that that demands respect on itself, which i find kinda odd.
Like a prayer is an absolute classic tho, and the Mad House remix with Black Ledgend was fantastic

So shes cleary capable of *so* much better than what shes doing, yet shes subjecting us to that crap

10:02 / 03.05.03

Well, despite that rap being truly shit, the single's grown on me - it now makes me laugh indulgently rather than grinding my teeth.

What's more, I bought the album and am giving it second listen right now. First impression: a little too heavy on the vocoder and fractured beats a la 'Don't Tell Me' (which I agree was excellent); a little wearingly self-analytical (in the usual blindingly insightful 'love is good, mother dying fucks you up, fame isn't all it's cracked up to be' sort of way) - but the occasional Madonna Moment (the 'Like A Prayer'esque bit in 'Nothing Fails' when the gospel choir suddenly kicks in) which makes the hairs stand up on the back of one's neck. I have the feeling it'll be a grower.

I guess I prefer Madonna when she's in 'vulnerable' pseudo-exploratory mood ('Oh Father', 'Frozen', 'Like A Prayer', etc.) so there's plenty here for me to like. We'll see.

10:20 / 03.05.03

I do think, however, that if her "soy latte" is 'going right through' her, Madonna perhaps needs to rethink the percentage of fibre in her diet...