I have to state that I don't support the following article...I consider American Life a masterpiece. So here's the article:

"Why didn't 'American Life' Work?"

As brilliant as Madonna has been throughout most of her career, she's made her mistakes. Some of those mistakes haven't been so bad (e.g. releasing a mediocre single such as "Hanky Panky"), while others have been rather disastrous, even if the ridicule was somewhat unjust (the "Sex" book). So, where does that leave the "American Life" fiasco? I'm not sure exactly. But, one thing I know for sure…is that for Madonna, her "American Life" project (the album and singles) was her least successful project since "Erotica" (in other words, it was her worst selling studio album in 10 years). "American Life", by the end of its run, became Madonna's worst selling studio album ever.

For all the criticisms towards the "Erotica" album at the time of its release, most music critics will now acknowledge that the "Erotica" album is far from bad. In fact, it's actually pretty damn good and highly underrated. Which just goes to show that music critics don't know shit sometimes...but I digress. The "Erotica" album, although it certainly has its misses, was Madonna exploring somewhat dark territory and pulling it off for the majority of the album. The combination of underground house club music, dark sexuality, and fuck-you-I'm-bitter lyrics, come together rather well. The album wasn't entirely dark (e.g. the masterpiece of "Rain"), but overall, it was an experimental album that somehow, someway, worked. But, in 1992, it didn't matter if the album overall was good or not. At the time, the critics were out to slaughter her, and they did a good job of that: first, with the album; second, with the "Sex" book; and third, with the tour that followed those projects ("The Girlie Show"). To them, if it involved her, it was shit.

So, now that it's been 4 solid years since the release of the "American Life" album can we say the same? Is the album underrated? Was it simply ahead of its time? Yes, and no. Some of the tracks on the album are good, and are certainly above mediocre status: "Love Profusion" and "Die Another Day" come to mind. Some, are rather brilliant: "Intervention", "X-Static Process", and "Nothing Fails" come to mind. And some, due to Madonna's excellent performances of them for her "Re-Invention" tour, are now fan classics: "Nobody Knows Me" comes to mind. That leaves us with the following tracks which need some serious work, or, just aren't up to par: "American Life", "Hollywood", "I'm So Stupid", "Mother and Father" (although, in concert, this song was pretty amazing), and "Easy Ride". Herein lies the first blunder with the "American Life" project: the album is unfortunately an uneven one, and overall, not a very good album. It simply has too many tracks where the music, concepts, and lyrics don't work---while the good songs don't carry enough weight to bring the album "up" so to speak.




Of the less-than-stellar tracks I just listed, Madonna went with the title track as the kick-off single. Therein lies the second blunder with the project. Personally, I love this song. It's actually a track I thought was great in concert, and definitely have it on my iPod playlist. But, this is a very tough song for the masses to relate to…and in order to have a successful album, you need to have a killer kick-off single (or, at least, a single that the general public can connect to).

"American Life", as a song, finds Madonna exploring her life in the "American Dream" context. She states that fame, fortune, and glory are not what she expected them to be. She states that "this type of modern life is not for me", and ultimately doesn't make her happy. Considering that much of Madonna's career has been built on notoriety and attention which she herself courted, the song can easily confuse the public. One could imagine a listener scratching their heads asking themselves what her intentions were with the track. Is she criticizing America? Is she trying to make a political statement? Is she saying she doesn't want to be famous? Is she being another uber-rich celebrity whining about money not bringing you happiness?
Although Madonna wasn't trying to be hypocritical, the song can come off that way. Part of what she says is that she isn't happy with fame and fortune, that there is more to life than riches and the world at your feet---yet, she also prides herself on singing about having her own personal chef, nanny, etc. Do I understand what she's trying to say with the track? Most of it, yes. Would the casual listener be able to think about it enough to "get it"? Doubtful. The track easily turns the casual listener off. And, whether we like it or not, the casual listener (aka, the mainstream music market) is what is going to help determine the success of an album.

The third blunder was with the cancellation of the original video for "American Life". The original video for the kick-off single was absolutely brilliant. In it, Madonna is ballsy, brave, political, defiant, and rebellious. She explores several themes and metaphors in the video. She compares the highly questionable reasons the U.S. launched the Iraqi war with the exploitation of Iraqi culture on a fashion runway. In other words, she is saying to the U.S.: "You say you're doing this for the good of the world, yet, look at the horror and tragedy you are inflicting on the Iraqi people. Look at the destruction you are causing to their homes and foundation. You are treating them just like fashion runway models---objects with no history, no future, and no relevance. To you, they are just there for you to enforce Western culture on---creatures for show and tell---nothing more." Issues regarding what beauty means, what it means to be protected by the government, and what war means on cultural scale are some of the other topics she explores with the video.

Confusing? Yes. Thought provoking? Yes. Controversial? Yes.
All the qualities that make a Madonna video great were prominent for "American Life". Yet, it only aired a few times before being pulled by Madonna and Warner Brothers. Madonna made a statement that she pulled it out of respect for the U.S. troops. There was also a strong rumor that she had received death threats towards her family because of the video, and that was another reason she pulled it. Whatever the reasons were, it seemed to the public (as well as myself) that for the first time Madonna couldn't handle the heat from her own creation, and that my friends was something I, nor the public, could've ever thought possible.

The final reason why "American Life" didn't work was the political climate at the time the album was released in the United States. The album wasn't successful worldwide either (save for a few exceptions, France and Canada most notably), but in the U.S. (which, for better or worse, helps determine the success of a Madonna album) it was an absolute shipwreck. The U.S. was in the throes of uber-patriotism when "American Life" debuted. Most of the public had faith that President Bush had made the right choice by launching the Iraqi War (umm…no), and the American public basically called any sentiments going against the grain anti-American (umm…no again). Madonna, the epitome of liberalism to most Americans, launched the "American Life" project as an anti-war statement. All of the interviews, artwork, and promotion for the album portrayed Madonna as the anti-war pop culture hero. Madonna was a necessary and powerful voice at a time when the U.S. public had its head in the sand, but she came at the wrong time. Instead of the public allowing Madonna to have her say and bring about some much needed conversation RE: the war, she was immediately demonized and labeled as anti-American. U.S. radio stations (whom are mainly owned by Clear Channel now, a Republican/Conservative-owned corporation) hardly played the kick-off single (very questionable considering the strong success of Madonna's previous two albums) in the beginning, and soon thereafter didn't play the single at all.




Only the larger, more liberal markets such as Los Angeles, and New York city played the track---but it wasn't enough to convince other markets to give the song a chance. "American Life"/Anti-war Madonna found herself at the wrong place at the wrong time. By the time Madonna released the second, somewhat more radio-friendly "Hollywood", the damage had already been done.

All of these factors contributed to the failure of "American Life". An uneven, sometimes, mediocre album; the wrong choice for the first single; the cancellation of the original, brilliant treatment for the "American Life" video; and U.S. misguided uber-patriotism equating Madonna to "the enemy" sealed the coffin on the project. When you think about it, in many ways, the album, single, and Madonna herself never stood a chance.

Released in 2007, do I think "American Life" would've fared better? I'm not sure to be honest. I guess we'll never know. But, in the Spring of 2003, "American Life" was unfortunately DOA: dead on arrival. The sad thing is, whether the album was good or not, it still deserved a chance. In my opinion, though, the album was never given that chance. Hopefully Madonna can look back at the project and see what went wrong. She certainly made up for it, at least commercially, with "Confessions On A Dance Floor". But while "Confessions…" is all about exploring the escapism of the dance floor, with "American Life" Madonna was exploring heavier themes and issues. Unfortunately, though, the direction she went in with "American Life" was one most of the public couldn't seem to understand, or due to the less-than-stellar music, couldn't enjoy. It is indeed a bit hard to groove to a track where the artist comes off as whining about her fame and fortune eh?


---Cristian Gonzales
[Edited 3/3/07 15:36pm]

The American life single didnt appeal to main street american because
she was rappin about yoga and palates how many ppl can related to that!! so it had narrow appeal

CAn u imagine a rapper like 50cents talk about yoga in his rap!! he would be considered a wus!! if u want to rap u have to sound tough not soft!!

All the time madonna fans r saying madonna had so many dance chart #1s but how come i never hear her music in clubs you always hear prince and MJ?? I am confused by the implications of how they get this dance chart
[Edited 3/3/07 18:20pm]

asg said:

In the USA, the stats for Billboard Dance Chart is measure only in the dance clubs of Florida (Orlando & Miami) and California.

TonyVanDam said:

I am in california whenever u go to any cluibs u hear MJs songs like rock with u

Prince always erotic city or kiss
madonna i never even hear any old stuff at all!!
so i am profoundly confused how can she have tons of dance #1s and almost never been heard i mean they sometimes play her songs but its very rare!!
I dont only go to one club!! different djs and different clubs its always MJ or prince from the 80s! kiss is kinda a staple even when i have been to nyc or vegas i heard it!!

no madonna george michael whitney( but then her songs r not the club kind) no mariah atleast not the old mariah but of course last yr her songs became big so she got some airplay now she doesnt!!

Anything that was anti-Bush or anti-Iraq War was frowned upon back then. I haven't heard her album, but I did hear American Life (the song) and didn't like it. I remember the album being "promoted" as anti-Iraq War at the time.

IMO it's similar to what happened with the Dixie Chicks several years ago. They commented on Bush, and there was a huge public backlash against them. NOW, they wrote a song about that experience and it won a Grammy. So that shows that public sentiment about Bush/Iraq has DRASTICALLY changed.

Still though, that rap portion of American Life is horrible, however you cut it. Not a bad song otherwise, but not a great one either . . .

When she changed the video for the song American Life, that was the first time I've seen her censored. I'm sure at that point she was more concerned with money than creative expression. Her lawyers and marketing team probably talked her out of it. Ever since then, she has seemed more "safe".

People really don't want to think when they buy a Pop CD . . . they just want to enjoy themselves. If a song happens to spark some interest in something, fine - but don't force it.

asg said:

In Panama City Beach, Florida (the location of Club LaVeta) even they would play Prince more often than Madonna.

MikeMatronik said:

I think that its hilarious that the author of this article thinks that you MUST have a single to appeal to mainstream listeners to be successdul. Who cares about that...

Stupid article. It seems the author believes that he/she is writing something profound, but fails miserably. And no, the article is not underrated or ahead of its time.

Moonbeam said:

Agreed, that article is shit. Did a third grader write it? Oh wait...that's mean. Whoops.

American Life failed because the casual music fan did not like the MUSIC. PERIOD. AMERICAN LIFE THE SONG IS A CRAPPY FIRST SINGLE. NO VIDEO ON MTV AT THE TIME THE ALBUM CAME OUT. The artwork was shit. Everything that really matters for a Madonna release was fucked. I still maintain that with different artwork, "Hollywood" as the first single, and calling the album "Hollywood" as originally planned would have sold the record at least a million units, if not two million.

That article looks too deeply into it, I think.

I've always felt Madonna's music is at it's worst when she seems to play second fiddle to whoever's producing her music at the time. Once the production takes over from the songwriting, then the artist who's name appears on the CD cover sounds more like a guest artist and not the main creative force.
Whereas Erotica, Bedtime Stories, Ray Of Light and Music still have an obvious influence from their respective producers, the balance with the songwriting is always there. With American Life, the production overtook the songwriting (in my opinion) and the result sounds like Madonna is merely guesting on the producer's album.
And the songwriting was a bit uninspiring anyway.

badujunkie said:

I remember that an early cover from the album leaked...Do you have that image?

I agree with you on the fact that Hollywood should have been the 1st single

That article pretty much hits it on the head. What I think the album glosses over is the fact that everyone assumes the album is this "anti-American" album or something and "bashes Bush". Hardly! It's very personal and more about fame and family love. It is a bit of mess considering how her album tend to be kind of tight. But that isn't what turned people off. The first single did and they didn't stick around for the second. The article is accurate....nothing huge about what he is writing. I do believe the album might have faired a little, but only a little better today.

asg said:

Dance charts are mainly from gayclubs and clubs that play some form of techno or house. rarely do straight clubs play the music that charts on the dance charts.