Posted February 18Feb 18 X4RDB-mMDJg 8 February 2000 saw the release of Madonna's cover of 1971 hit 'American Pie', originally a near 9 minute long folk rock song by Don McLean. Madonna was hesitant at reinventing such a classic but was convinced by Rupert Everett to record it for their film 'The Next Best Thing'. Her cover cuts the tracking time in half and reworks it into a William Orbit-produced dance-pop song. It was a huge hit, reaching #1 in many countries across the world, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. Despite not being commercially released there, 'American Pie' reached #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 on the strength of airplay alone. 25 years on, what are your thoughts and memories of 'American Pie'?
February 18Feb 18 I do really like her version of American Pie. It was my karaoke song for a while. She seems to perform it with such ease, and the video is a good watch as well. I think it's one of her least remembered No.1s and of course it was left off Music as well.
February 18Feb 18 Author From what I've seen, more fans like her cover than not. It's not top tier by any means but I think it's a really sweet version and Madonna sings it very well (as you say, Chris, with ease). It's nice to hear more of the lighter sounding Orbit production following the clubbier 'Ray of Light'. Shout out to 'Time Stood Still' which also appears on 'The Next Best Thing'. It's one of my all time favourite Madonna songs. Her vocals are so angelic and that chorus is just perfection. nJxUrLTBzS0 I think it's one of her least remembered No.1s and of course it was left off Music as well. It does appear on the international editions of 'Music' (and on recent pressings of the US vinyl). I think it works nicely as an album closer and the standard album only being 10 songs is too short.
February 21Feb 21 Author Weekly sales for 'American Pie' in the Top 10: 11 March 2000 1- AMERICAN PIE- Madonna (139,000) 2- PURE SHORES- All Saints (111,000) 3- BYE BYE BYE- N*Sync (77,000) 4- MOVIN TOO FAST- Artful Dodger Ft Romina Johnson (74,000) 5- SHALALA LALA- Vengaboys (66,000) 6- SITTING DOWN HERE- Lene Marlin (51,000) 7- WON’T TAKE IT LYING DOWN- Honeyz (47,000) 8- SATISFY YOU- Puff Daddy Ft R Kelly (46,000) 9- SHOW ME THE MEANING OF BEING LONELY- Backstreet Boys (43,000) 10- THANK GOD I FOUND YOU- Mariah Carey (39,000) 18 March 2000 1- DON’T GIVE UP- Chicane Ft Bryan Adams (75,470) 2- AMERICAN PIE- Madonna (74,246) 3- PURE SHORES- All Saints (65,000) 4- MAMA TOLD ME NOT TO COME- Stereophonics & Tom Jones (56,000) 5- SITTING DOWN HERE- Lene Marlin (43,000) 6- SHALALA LALA- Vengaboys (39,000) 7- MOVIN TOO FAST- Artful Dodger Ft Romina Johnson (34,000) 8- BYE BYE BYE- N*Sync (33,000) 9- DON’T WANNA LET YOU GO- Five (32,000) 10- SATISFY YOU- Puff Daddy Ft R Kelly (30,000) 25 March 2000 1- BAG IT UP- Geri Halliwell (106,000) 2- ALL THE SMALL THINGS- Blink 182 (62,000) 3- DON’T GIVE UP- Chicane Ft Bryan Adams (57,000) 4- KILLER- ATB (48,000) 5- AMERICAN PIE- Madonna (46,000) 6- STILL D.R.E- Dr Dre Ft Snoop Dogg (42,000) 7- PURE SHORES- All Saints (35,000) 8- SITTING DOWN HERE- Lene Marlin (35,000) 9- MAMA TOLD ME NOT TO COME- Stereophonics/ Tom Jones (31,000) 10- SHALALA LALA- Vengaboys (25,000) 1 April 2000 1- NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN- Mel C Ft Lisa Left Eye Lopes (144,936) 2- THE TIME IS NOW- Moloko (71,000) 3- SMOOTH- Santana Ft Rob Thomas (57,000) 4- BAG IT UP- Geri Halliwell (51,000) 5- DON’T GIVE UP- Chicane Ft Bryan Adams (47,000) 6- ALL THE SMALL THINGS- Blink 182 (34,000) 7- STILL D.R.E- Dr Dre Ft Snoop Dogg (32,000) 8- AMERICAN PIE- Madonna (31,000) 9- PURE SHORES- All Saints (27,000) 10- KILLER- ATB (26,000) Mad to think 'American Pie' gave Madonna her second highest first week sales for a single, behind the 197k achieved by 'Frozen' and slightly ahead of the 136k that 'Beautiful Stranger' debuted with. Very close to having a second week at #1 too - just 1,224 behind Chicane. Madonna would have another close call later in the year, although thankfully falling in her favour ('Music' was just 1,006 ahead of 'Groovejet').
February 21Feb 21 I love it, always have done, actually prefer it to the original (and I am a fan of the original too). She sounds amazing on it too, I love Madonna's voice in the deeper range ala Papa don't preach and this, she has such a rich tone.
February 21Feb 21 I know this is widely considered to be an abomination, but I actually love it! It puts a different and interesting spin on the original, and of course I love Orbit's bleepy production.
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