I loved the images that came out of the American Life era (except the album cover sadly). It's not the most obvious of her image changes but if you think of the Die Another Day and American Life videos (the original one) it's remarkable the progression from something like the Vogue video.
If only the album cover had been nicer to look at. There was so many good images to choose from. I especially like the Patty Hearst-esqe look.
My favorite Madonna album and may always be...her least commercial, most daring, most punk, and the hottest images. My heart sunk the day she pulled the original video from release.
There is nothing daring or punk about the album. I'm sorry. It's stiff and mechanical. The melodies, for the most part, were very commercial. It was the war and her 'American' image at the time since she was somewhat British during the era.
I agree very daring- look up the definition "tony". She took her mass image of material girl and turned it inside out and based the image around not wanting material things. Her video was banned and had to be changed for the title song. Great album. I think "tony" is bill o'rielly or some other idiot with deluded self convince. sit down and play nice you deluded critic.
lol what an idiot. The album is not daring at all and the video is fantastic, I agree. She didn't change any title. It was always called, 'American Life'.
Some of the songs are somewhat enjoyable, but still, overal, UNENJOYABLE.
The tracks on Music? I guess they are the most subdued ones on the record but c'mon, Music is PERFECT, it's a flawless record, truly. It's Madonna's best, after her debut, not one filler, it's cohesive, groundbreaking, it singlehandedly shaped up music in the 00's. It's a great record.
You are nuts. There is NOTHING groundbreaking on it. Music was a great casio keyboard simple pop song, Dont Tell Me was a Joe Henry classic and that's about it. Impressive Instant is one of the most overrated songs I have ever heard. It goes nowhere. The only fun part is the silly, 'I like to singy singy singy'. 'Runaway Lover' and 'Amazing' are both TERRIBLE.
I agree with Tony on all three replies. Madge will never make a bad record but American Life came this close to sabotaging and destroying her life and career that it caused the Rabbits at Warner to fire and let go of Madonna. Madonna tried to have a go of it as an acoustic singer/songwriter-and she outright failed at it. If the bosses at MTV and VH1 ever asked her to do an Unplugged acoustic show with just an acoustic guitar, the only dignified thing to do is boo her and get her off the stage. American Life simply failed because the songs in all four categories-arrangement, writing, singing and production ranged from mediocre to simply awful and terrible. I just did not want to see my beloved Madonna with an acoustic guitar-that to me is more shocking than her subpar movies, the Sex book and her years in England. American Life simply wasn't Madonna at her best. When she goes acoustic on her best albums i.e. Like a Prayer, Something to Remember, Evita, Music, Hard Candy and MDNA-the results are tuneful, melodic an beautiful crack Ciccone at her Madonna best-Let's just say this-American Life was that rare blemish/misfire/Material Girl's law in an otherwise exemplary Live to Tell/Evita/Ray of Light/Celebration career. Being blissfully settled and wildly artistic do not mix at all. Now that Madonna's sadly single again, being controversial, shocking and outrageous probably did her a lot more good than harm. Who would have believed it? In a strange way, Madonna is back to her old Truth or Dare ways and I couldn't be more happier. Still, American Life has some brilliant Ciccone gems but on the whole, I'll easily take Like a Prayer, Evita, Ray of Light, Confessions on a Dance Floor and MDNA-but to quote the Black Crowes song Wiser Time -Funny, I bet she never left home after all because on a good day, glory beyond her own reach. To quote Live to Tell, Madonna learned a very hard lesson well. Madonna Never Forgot her audience and she never made that mistake again that was American Life-Key Good Songs-Nobody Knows Me, Nothing Fails, X-Static Process and Easy Ride-In the end, Madonna Will Live Forever!
I can sing the words to every Madonna album from 83 to Hard Candy but other than the rap part of AL, Love Profusion and Hollywood the rest of the album i'd have difficulty knowing the words, I just can't warm to this album, I've listened to it a hundred times over and yet i can't like it, Its too cold, There's no love there, The vocals are passionless, And that awful EP that came out after, The Re-recorded vocals on Into The Groove we're terrible, You can tell she was not bothered at all about that whole GAP project, As for Music ..... I love that album, Now that album is a treat,
And before anyone decides to piss all over my comment above can i just say we all as equals have our own opinions and as fans, have albums songs eras image's and films Madonna's done that some of us don't always like, we can't all love everything, for me its this album and out of 12 albums, for it to be just one LP i can't take to that's good going considering, P.S. My HMV bill came to £167 after i ordered 4 LPs 2 CDs 1 CD single and the GGW picture disc, I now can't afford to eat however listening to them re-released i80g vinyls is music to my ears
i really appreciate this album. i find it to be as tough and mechanical as i do soft and vulnerable. and in the songs where these two feelings collide, the results are always interesting and never boring.
this album had passion and you get the feeling she was 150% present in its making. i also liked that the songs were bred organically (most began their life with m strumming her guitar) and insulated in the madonna/mirwais world and not whored across dozens of writers and producers. her folk album for sure, but madonna-style. and incredibly punk that she would dare to take such a sonic risk.
i would much rather take the vocals, melodies and spirit of american life over MDNA or hard candy. oh, and easy ride > falling free.
one of my favourite albums, i never stop listening to it all these years. amazing cover-artwork and videos. RIT was also amazing, great balance between art and entertainment. she totally gave her soul to it and rejection is what she received back. she recently said that it's her favourite album too! dont box madonna, she is not only sex-dance-fun. AL is an important piece of her careers puzzle.
PUD ,U MUST BE READING MY MIND ,,,I'VE BEEN VERY NOSTALGIC LATELY ABOUT AMERICAN LIFE AND BEEN WATCHING INTERVIEWS AND SO ON OF THAT TIME...WOW,,,,@1,I'M GONNA STEAL YOUR QUOTE AND IT COULDN'T MAKE MORE SENSE THAN THAT "DONT BOX MADONNA,SHE IS NOT ONLY SEX-DANCE-FUN.AMERICAN LIFE IS AN IMPORTANT PIECE OF HER CAREERS PUZZLE"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANX # 1
I was living in NYC at the time going to Parsons. And I totally skipped class and camped out on the sidewalk for 24hours for the now defunct Tower Records and got my wristband for Madonna's in-store concert. Thank G it was filmed by NBC. I can't believe I was just feet from her. I still have vivid memories of those days. I still remember the crowd singing LOUD to the chorus of Love Profusion. I'VE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN! Over and over we sang it :-) LOVE LOVE LOVE the American Life period :-)
p.s. They played the CD before she came out. Love Profusion was blaring through the speakers. She sadly didn't sing it. Buuuuuuut it was at that concert that a fan requested Like A Virgin AND SHE SANG IT! She had refused to sing that song many many times and this was the first time she sung it again :-) Awesome night :-)
The one thing I will say about this album is that I love the title track, especially the rap, which was mocking 'american life' so to speak, which was all about rap. Especially in 2003.
So funny how most people, especially Madonna fans thought she was seriously trying to rap and wanted to be taken seriously. LOL.
It was a joke. She was mocking americans and the whole rap/american life thing.
Tony you don't work for Madonna. You have no idea what she meant with the rap and you don't know what her fans think about the rap all you have is your shitty, worthless opinion on this blog. Your deluded self confidence really only serves to annoy people and i feel sorry for any person that has to deal with you in real life. At least here we can all read your shit and go fuck what a loser.
American Life simply didn't move me. It failed to reach me on almost any level... except for Nothing Fails which took me immediately back to LAP and LTT. I respected her desire to keep pushing herself artistically and musically but it's kinda ironic how quickly she went running back into the arms of dance music immediately afterwards. I think RIT reminded her of how much her old dance tunes inspired people.
Loved AL. Hated the song AL as a single. It just didn't have the punch needed for a lead track. The original video was beyond PERFECTION. Sad that she retracted it. But it was a dangerous time in the world. There are some absolute gems on that album. Nothing Fails remains a favorite M track to this day.
rare and full australian interview re american life. saw this back in the day but not since on the net, just stumbled across it. dickie made her second guess the video it seems... enjoy.
I loved the images that came out of the American Life era (except the album cover sadly). It's not the most obvious of her image changes but if you think of the Die Another Day and American Life videos (the original one) it's remarkable the progression from something like the Vogue video.
ReplyDeleteIf only the album cover had been nicer to look at. There was so many good images to choose from. I especially like the Patty Hearst-esqe look.
AMERICAN LIFE was so ahead of its time......its a gem...still sounds amazing.......by the way i love the cover and all the images from it.....
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Madonna album and may always be...her least commercial, most daring, most punk, and the hottest images. My heart sunk the day she pulled the original video from release.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing daring or punk about the album. I'm sorry. It's stiff and mechanical. The melodies, for the most part, were very commercial. It was the war and her 'American' image at the time since she was somewhat British during the era.
DeleteGlad to know you have a different opinion. But I completely disagree. In other news God, now I remember why I hate message boards.
DeleteBecause people don;t always agree with you? Then yeah, message boards aren't good.
DeleteThis is the only one I post on for that reason. :)
I agree very daring- look up the definition "tony". She took her mass image of material girl and turned it inside out and based the image around not wanting material things. Her video was banned and had to be changed for the title song. Great album. I think "tony" is bill o'rielly or some other idiot with deluded self convince. sit down and play nice you deluded critic.
Deletelol what an idiot. The album is not daring at all and the video is fantastic, I agree. She didn't change any title. It was always called, 'American Life'.
DeleteSome of the songs are somewhat enjoyable, but still, overal, UNENJOYABLE.
Sry.
Sits right next to, 'Music' as her worst album, IMO. Cold, mechanical and not relatable at all.
ReplyDeleteAnyone that thinks Music is a bad album is just an asshole. You really singlehandedly shit all over this website.
DeleteOrbit tracks ruin music for me
DeleteThe tracks on Music? I guess they are the most subdued ones on the record but c'mon, Music is PERFECT, it's a flawless record, truly. It's Madonna's best, after her debut, not one filler, it's cohesive, groundbreaking, it singlehandedly shaped up music in the 00's. It's a great record.
DeleteYou are nuts. There is NOTHING groundbreaking on it. Music was a great casio keyboard simple pop song, Dont Tell Me was a Joe Henry classic and that's about it. Impressive Instant is one of the most overrated songs I have ever heard. It goes nowhere. The only fun part is the silly, 'I like to singy singy singy'. 'Runaway Lover' and 'Amazing' are both TERRIBLE.
DeleteYou are pathetic.
DeleteAnd you are fat.
DeleteLeast enjoyable, I should say. Madonna has not made a bad album.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tony on all three replies. Madge will never make a bad record but American Life came this close to sabotaging and destroying her life and career that it caused the Rabbits at Warner to fire and let go of Madonna. Madonna tried to have a go of it as an acoustic singer/songwriter-and she outright failed at it. If the bosses at MTV and VH1 ever asked her to do an Unplugged acoustic show with just an acoustic guitar, the only dignified thing to do is boo her and get her off the stage. American Life simply failed because the songs in all four categories-arrangement, writing, singing and production ranged from mediocre to simply awful and terrible. I just did not want to see my beloved Madonna with an acoustic guitar-that to me is more shocking than her subpar movies, the Sex book and her years in England. American Life simply wasn't Madonna at her best. When she goes acoustic on her best albums i.e. Like a Prayer, Something to Remember, Evita, Music, Hard Candy and MDNA-the results are tuneful, melodic an beautiful crack Ciccone at her Madonna best-Let's just say this-American Life was that rare blemish/misfire/Material Girl's law in an otherwise exemplary Live to Tell/Evita/Ray of Light/Celebration career. Being blissfully settled and wildly artistic do not mix at all. Now that Madonna's sadly single again, being controversial, shocking and outrageous probably did her a lot more good than harm. Who would have believed it? In a strange way, Madonna is back to her old Truth or Dare ways and I couldn't be more happier. Still, American Life has some brilliant Ciccone gems but on the whole, I'll easily take Like a Prayer, Evita, Ray of Light, Confessions on a Dance Floor and MDNA-but to quote the Black Crowes song Wiser Time
ReplyDelete-Funny, I bet she never left home after all because on a good day, glory beyond her own reach. To quote Live to Tell, Madonna learned a very hard lesson well. Madonna Never Forgot
her audience and she never made that mistake again that was American Life-Key Good Songs-Nobody Knows Me, Nothing Fails,
X-Static Process and Easy Ride-In the end, Madonna Will Live Forever!
Opinions, opinions, opinions.
ReplyDeleteExactly. Your opinion is that American Life is good. Our opinion is that it is not. :)
DeleteI can sing the words to every Madonna album from 83 to Hard Candy but other than the rap part of AL, Love Profusion and Hollywood the rest of the album i'd have difficulty knowing the words, I just can't warm to this album, I've listened to it a hundred times over and yet i can't like it, Its too cold, There's no love there, The vocals are passionless, And that awful EP that came out after, The Re-recorded vocals on Into The Groove we're terrible, You can tell she was not bothered at all about that whole GAP project, As for Music ..... I love that album, Now that album is a treat,
DeleteAnd before anyone decides to piss all over my comment above can i just say we all as equals have our own opinions and as fans, have albums songs eras image's and films Madonna's done that some of us don't always like, we can't all love everything, for me its this album and out of 12 albums, for it to be just one LP i can't take to that's good going considering, P.S. My HMV bill came to £167 after i ordered 4 LPs 2 CDs 1 CD single and the GGW picture disc, I now can't afford to eat however listening to them re-released i80g vinyls is music to my ears
Deletejust ignore tony, jeremy.
ReplyDeletei really appreciate this album. i find it to be as tough and mechanical as i do soft and vulnerable. and in the songs where these two feelings collide, the results are always interesting and never boring.
this album had passion and you get the feeling she was 150% present in its making. i also liked that the songs were bred organically (most began their life with m strumming her guitar) and insulated in the madonna/mirwais world and not whored across dozens of writers and producers. her folk album for sure, but madonna-style. and incredibly punk that she would dare to take such a sonic risk.
i would much rather take the vocals, melodies and spirit of american life over MDNA or hard candy. oh, and easy ride > falling free.
My thoughts exactly - except of the last paragraph.
DeleteHollywood
I'm So Stupid
Love Profusion
Nothing Fails
Intervention
X-Static Process
Die Another Day
Easy Ride
Good stuff. Easy Ride ranks among my fave Madonna of all time.
just ignore evrybdy, jorge. Everybody else does :)
DeleteEasy Ride is nice, but far too preachy. Doesn't come close to Gone or Falling Free.
one of my favourite albums, i never stop listening to it all these years. amazing cover-artwork and videos. RIT was also amazing, great balance between art and entertainment. she totally gave her soul to it and rejection is what she received back. she recently said that it's her favourite album too! dont box madonna, she is not only sex-dance-fun. AL is an important piece of her careers puzzle.
ReplyDeletePUD ,U MUST BE READING MY MIND ,,,I'VE BEEN VERY NOSTALGIC LATELY ABOUT AMERICAN LIFE AND BEEN WATCHING INTERVIEWS AND SO ON OF THAT TIME...WOW,,,,@1,I'M GONNA STEAL YOUR QUOTE AND IT COULDN'T MAKE MORE SENSE THAN THAT "DONT BOX MADONNA,SHE IS NOT ONLY SEX-DANCE-FUN.AMERICAN LIFE IS AN IMPORTANT PIECE OF HER CAREERS PUZZLE"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANX # 1
ReplyDeleteyou're wellcome pal...
DeleteI was living in NYC at the time going to Parsons. And I totally skipped class and camped out on the sidewalk for 24hours for the now defunct Tower Records and got my wristband for Madonna's in-store concert. Thank G it was filmed by NBC. I can't believe I was just feet from her. I still have vivid memories of those days. I still remember the crowd singing LOUD to the chorus of Love Profusion. I'VE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN! Over and over we sang it :-) LOVE LOVE LOVE the American Life period :-)
ReplyDeleteLucky you! That's awesome.
Deletep.s. They played the CD before she came out. Love Profusion was blaring through the speakers. She sadly didn't sing it. Buuuuuuut it was at that concert that a fan requested Like A Virgin AND SHE SANG IT! She had refused to sing that song many many times and this was the first time she sung it again :-) Awesome night :-)
ReplyDeleteone of my favorite madonna albums. i always thought this was madonna's version of an anti-war/peace album.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing I will say about this album is that I love the title track, especially the rap, which was mocking 'american life' so to speak, which was all about rap. Especially in 2003.
ReplyDeleteSo funny how most people, especially Madonna fans thought she was seriously trying to rap and wanted to be taken seriously. LOL.
It was a joke. She was mocking americans and the whole rap/american life thing.
Get with it people. WAKE THE FUCK UP!
Tony you don't work for Madonna. You have no idea what she meant with the rap and you don't know what her fans think about the rap all you have is your shitty, worthless opinion on this blog. Your deluded self confidence really only serves to annoy people and i feel sorry for any person that has to deal with you in real life. At least here we can all read your shit and go fuck what a loser.
DeleteLOL... the bitch slap heard 'round the world!!! Amen, Prince
Deleteuh, huh? You were bitch slapped, slide? I certainly wasn't.
DeleteAnyone with half a brain could tell she was mocking American's with that rap. It's fantastic and pure Madonna.
And at least I can use my real name and not call myself fucking 'play one song of mine and they all sound the same' Prince.
What a loser.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAmerican Life simply didn't move me. It failed to reach me on almost any level... except for Nothing Fails which took me immediately back to LAP and LTT. I respected her desire to keep pushing herself artistically and musically but it's kinda ironic how quickly she went running back into the arms of dance music immediately afterwards. I think RIT reminded her of how much her old dance tunes inspired people.
ReplyDeleteLoved AL. Hated the song AL as a single. It just didn't have the punch needed for a lead track. The original video was beyond PERFECTION. Sad that she retracted it. But it was a dangerous time in the world. There are some absolute gems on that album. Nothing Fails remains a favorite M track to this day.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleterare and full australian interview re american life. saw this back in the day but not since on the net, just stumbled across it. dickie made her second guess the video it seems... enjoy.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQdnF-WWAfg
lolz.
ReplyDelete