Posted February 19, 201213 yr http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/59/American_Life_(single).jpg/220px-American_Life_(single).jpg American Life was released in March 2003 as the lead single from the album of the same name. It was the first Madonna single to be released digitally on download and the first single NOT to be released on cassette, Die Another Day was the last. Written mid January 2003, the song was about American Life, the American dream, that got lost since Madonna's 20 years on the music throne, but most clearly it was about America's involvement with the iraq war. Critics were mostly negative but there was some good reviews. The song made #1 in Canada, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Switzerland and top ten everywhere else. In the UK Madonna was in the lead all of the mid weeks and got took over on the saturday and debuted and peaked at #2. Even on the friday Sky News announced it was her 11th UK #1 single. American Life peaked at #37 in the US after radio stations refused to play the songs in a start of a Madonna boycott. Videos: http://www.jankarlsbjerg.com/old/blog/images/2003/04/07/MadonnaAmericanLife.jpg The video begins with several male and female models dressed as soldiers on a fashion runway, inter-cut with scenes of Madonna singing in front of a black background. During the second verse, she is shown in a restroom with four women, each aggressively preparing to enter the fashion show. In the second chorus, middle-eastern children are seen walking on the runway, and being bullied by the soldier models. During the bridge, Madonna and her group are angrily walking down a hallway, then seen dancing in front of surveillance cameras. When the rap section starts, Madonna is seen crashing into the show driving a Mini Cooper, then rapping and dancing on top of the car with her gang, after-which she starts spraying water on the audience and numerous paparazzi using a water cannon, inter-cut with scenes of injured and maimed soldier-models, war scenes, footage of poverty, hunger, death and explosions. Nearing the end of video, Madonna frantically drives out of the runway into the amused audience, and throws a hand grenade. In the original cut, the grenade lands in George Bush's hand, and the video ends with him using it to light up his cigar. This was Madonna third straight violent video (What It Feels Like For A Girl & Die Another Day were the previous two). A director's cut of the video has surfaced online. It maintains most of the footage in the original but the ending is different and more graphic. In the middle of the scenes in the fashion show where Madonna hoses down the paparazzi, numerous war-injured models are carried on-stage by groups of nurses, their clothes soaked with blood. In the midst of these scenes are fast-moving war images and scenes of the crowd at the show reacting to the sights. At the very end, Madonna throws the grenade likes she does, but instead of landing in George Bush's hand like the original, the crowd gasps as the grenade lands on an empty part of the catwalk. The director's cut ends with a close-up of the grenade hitting the stage and Madonna's image on the big screen putting her hands on her ears. Due to the heat of the attention surrounding the video, Madonna issued the following statement: "I feel lucky to be an American citizen for many reasons – one of which is the right to express myself freely, especially in my work. I understand that there have been reports about my upcoming video "American Life" in the media – much of which is inaccurate. I am not Anti-Bush. I am not pro-Iraq. I am pro Peace. I have written a song and created a video which expresses my feelings about our culture and values and the illusions of what many people believe is the American dream – the perfect life. As an artist, I hope that this provokes thought and dialogue. I don't expect everyone to agree with my point of view. I am grateful to have the freedom to express these feelings and that's how I honour my country". On April 1, 2003 Madonna pulled the video due to the political climate of the country at the time. The Dixie Chicks suffered some backlash too when they made anti war comments. Madonna released the following statement I have decided not to release my new video. It was filmed before the war started and I do not believe it is appropriate to air it at this time. Due to the volatile state of the world and out of sensitivity and respect to the armed forces, who I support and pray for, I do not want to risk offending anyone who might misinterpret the meaning of this video. In 2010, the video was ranked #19 on the decades best music videos. In a new version of the song Madonna singing in front of a backdrop of ever-changing flags of different countries and that was released on April 16th 2003. The original artwork for the single had Madonna holding a gun but that was quickly dropped. Madonna performed American Life on the album's promo tour in HMV's oxford street store (a UK first for Madonna!), CD:UK (remember that show?), The Jonathan Ross Show, Mtv's On Stage And On The Record, Tower Records, New York and other US tv shows, she also did live performances in France. Madonna did American Life again in full army gear on the Re-Invention tour in 2004 (most of the original video can be seen in the video backdrop while she's performing), then she sang a few lines of American Life on the request section on the boston show of the Sticky & Sweet tour 2008. So, how do you rate American Life the song ? The videos ? Is it a greatest hit ? What about the rap ? Discuss all..
February 19, 201213 yr I was learning the rap the other day, I'm quite good! :P Never used to like the song, but it grew on me and now I love it. The lyrics are a bit naff, but I don't mind :D
February 19, 201213 yr I absolutely love it! My favourite track from my favourite Madonna album! It's easily in my overall Madge top 5, I love the electronic instrumental and the rap is fantastic!
February 19, 201213 yr MC Madonna is a truely wonderfully terrible thing that it makes it amazing. :lol:
February 19, 201213 yr I liked this song, despite its negative reviews. American life is a really good album too.
February 19, 201213 yr Great song. That fusion of stuttering electronica and melancholy acoustic pop is really stunning. I maintain that the rap is not to be taken seriously and nothing like as awful as people make out. I do think retracting the video was one the biggest mistakes of her career. She should have stuck by it. She lost a lot of respect for that from certain quarters and it made it seem like she was scared of controversy which Madonna has never been. Plus the flags video was utter shit.
February 19, 201213 yr Plus the flags video was utter shit. On YouTube, the comments section is full of people saying "0:30 France!" "0:53 Spain!" "1:45 UK!"
February 19, 201213 yr I really love the video to this song but prefer the rockier remix to this track . Dont agree with her pulling the video but Madonna really didnt want a dixie chick fiasco! I also fail to understand why the video was not included on the celebration video collection! i really like these lyrics : I'd like to express my extreme point-of-view I'm not a Christian and I'm not a Jew I'm just living out the American dream And I just realized that nothing is what it seems
February 27, 201213 yr I do think retracting the video was one the biggest mistakes of her career. She should have stuck by it. She lost a lot of respect for that from certain quarters and it made it seem like she was scared of controversy which Madonna has never been. Plus the flags video was utter shit. I'm sure if she could go back in time (and for some reason couldn't cancel the entire era) she'd have stuck by the video. It's not like retracting it did her any good.
February 27, 201213 yr I love the uncut video but didn't rate the song. American Life is my favourite album by her though.
