The reference to charts is confirmation of what you believe that you are hearing (Is it really that bad? That good?) and it has been referenced here both for success and failure. And it's a reality that with a major artist that you enjoy, for them to continue making records, it usually requires a certain level of chart success.
I think that's very true. American Life is certainly her most 'punk' album in attitude, and her least 'Madonna-like' album. For 90% of her career, Madonna has been a careerist, expertly reading (or predicting) trends and keeping just ahead of the curve. And her radar, at her peak, was invariably pinpoint accurate. Twice, however, she's been almost nihilistic, seemingly wanting to be a (quote/unquote) 'true artist/provocateur' and pretty much blow things up, with no serious thought to the consequences... I feel like the Sex/Erotica period was the first time, and then on AL about a decade later. I think it's easy to deduce that it was Mirwais who was a catalyst for it, in that he encouraged her to be uncompromising. Like, she once described him as "very intellectual, very analytical, very cerebral, very existential, very philosophical"... qualities that I think Madonna wanted American Life to have. (Tellingly, her next sentence, in that summary of Mirwais, was: "You have to be in the mood for it"). More specifically, she also said: "We both got sucked into the French existentialist vortex. We both decided we were against the war, and we both smoked Gauloises and wore berets, and we were against everything... I was in a very angry mood, a mood to be political..." Not to do pop psychology on Madonna, but I would think that, at the time, it must have been pretty exhilarating to (to quote her in "American Life") say "**** it" and make an album that made no concessions to the commercial imperatives that perhaps she felt (with Mirwais in her ear) she didn't want to slavishly follow anymore; that following the bold steps of (and warm reception to) Ray Of Light and Music she had the freedom to do anything she wanted as an artist. But, as you say, it seems the experience immediately sent her back to her comfort zone (on Confessions), and the pursuit of making hits.
I don't love (or even really like) AL, but I don't hate it. I admit, in 2003 I hardly listened to it. I didn't disavow Madonna because of it, but it was a blow. More recently, I've decided it's... not terrible. It's just erratic, and you can tell neither Madonna nor Mirwais were in peak form... I'm sure in the abstract or as an idea, AL, as a project, had potential, but they didn't have the songs or the inspiration to pull it off. So, as you guys have said, a lot of Mirwais' production is quite pedestrian, lacking the dynamics and verve to elevate the material, and Madonna just seems... not very Madonna like. As I said in my previous post, I don't want to do amateur pop psychology about Madonna, but it just seems like there's a disconnect that you don't find on previous albums (but would find on later ones). On a few songs (like "Love Profusion", my favourite on the album), Madonna is fully present, but too often she doesn't elevate the songs like she normally does. The personality is lacking. The much-discussed title song encapsulates the whole album for me. Mostly, I really like it... I honestly think it has the elements of a fantastic song. I like the lyrics, particularly in the verses, and I think the song has a sort of strident quality that I really like. But Mirwais' production is (almost) like a caricature of his style: I know his bag of tricks is pretty small (it's more a handbag than a backpack...), but it's almost like he just dipped his hand in and selected 2-3 'tricks' at random and voila! it's a Mirwais production. And Madonna... well, it's impossible to escape the fact that the rap is unequivocally terrible. I can sort of accept the excuse/explanation that it's intended as humour or satire (bonus points for rhyming isotopes and dope), except for that horrible section @sunspot42 quoted (I'm not a Christian and I'm not a Jew...)... that doesn't scan as comedy at all; they're just terrible lyrics. So for ~3:10 "American Life" is, in my opinion, a really cool song, then it just spectacularly falls over with an inane rap and clichéd production, so it becomes a tedious 5:00 chore (I invariably press stop at the '**** it' section; that's ample "AL" for me). It was unprecedented, in that I don't think Madonna had ever been silly before... except perhaps on, like, "Santa Baby" or "I'm Going Bananas", but that was deliberately silly. I suppose, to be contrary, she took a chance, and risked looking stupid. That's (usually) commendable, so... yeah. In short... I think the album's half excellent (or, almost excellent), and half... problematic, but not terrible (with 1-2 exceptions). Perhaps she should have followed the Music formula and had Mirwais do about half the album, or even kept Mirwais as her primary producer but had a new set of ears on deck to act as an edit/filter or offer a different (more positive) perspective on the material. But mostly the album suffers from scrambled, scattered thinking, lacking the laser-sharp focus and deft touch that characterise Madonna's best albums. I suppose the lesson is, don't make decisions (... or make albums) when you're angry. Which is not to say I don't, on principle, applaud Madonna for venting her frustrations on AL, but you can do that (and she has done that in the past) with more finesse and shading than much of AL possesses.
I agree with this wholeheartedly, Thom. This is exactly what she was intending with AL at the time and also with Erotica 11 years earlier, in my opinion. I love provocateur Madonna almost more than pop Madonna so as a consequence these two albums are two of my favourites...
I love Erotica... AL not so much, but I certainly like it. What I do love is that an artist in Madonna's position can make albums like AL if she wants to, but not every artist in the position does (in fact, very few do, because it's easier not to). So the fact that she did, that she took a chance, and looked to make a pretty strident, confessional artistic statement and an album that was vital and relevant is, to my thinking, to be commended. And as inconsistent as the material on AL is, it still possesses the likes of "Love Profusion", "Intervention", "X-Static Process" and "Nothing Fails", which are pretty powerful (in my opinion).
Yes, I think that is a big reason people don't like American Life, who really wants to be in that mood? You can't really have sweet memories of the album, cuz the album is not sweet. I still love the album cuz I identified with the way she felt back then, but now it sucks (yet totally fits) that she had to revisit "American Life" during her recent Tears Of A Clown show, now protesting the treatment of Native Americans at Standing Rock.
Well at the risk of being pilloried and thrown off the thread, I will be the dissenting voice when it comes to American Life, although I do think many of you have made some fantastic observations and conclusions. I love this album. I loved it on its release and I still love it now! I play it far more often than Ray of Light, Music, Confessions On A Dancefloor and even Bedtime Stories. I love the single 'American Life' and yes, I even like the rap. It adds levity and humour, whilst also tying in with the overall theme of the track, being an observation on the craziness of modern life as we all strive to live up to some ridiculous ideal. I agree that perhaps it was not the best choice for lead single but I love it anyway. In fact I enjoy all of the tracks on this record and find it so much more cohesive thematically and musically than Music. 'Die Another Day' is a great Bond song and I think it acquits itself quite nicely on this album too. I like the juxtaposition of an austere production that at times sounds quite sterile and cold with the warmth of Madonna's vocals. If you listen closely you can hear how closely she is placed to the microphone and this adds a real warmth and vibrancy to her vocal on most tracks. Whilst the cover art and image she was portraying at the time (militant, strident, radical) is not necessarily reflected in the music or many of the lyrics, by its very nature this is a rebellion album. An album that rebels against her fandom, yet again, the expectations of her label and of all the critics in general. Like @Thom suggested, like Erotica, it's Madonna's 'f**k you' to the world.
Die Another Day was criticised a great deal as a Bond theme. I do think it works better in the context of the AL album. But that does raise a question - what should a Bond theme from Madonna sound like? Die Another Day did at least have the strings that have been considered traditional parts of a Bond theme but I guess the abruptness of the production is not what Bond fans look for.
I thought "Die" was a great deconstruction of Bond theme tropes. I'm not surprised it isn't particularly popular, but it's certainly one of the smartest Bond themes ever, and the most self-aware. It definitely beats that one with Chris Cornell's grunting and screaming - he sounds like he's trying to pass a durian.
I love Die Another Day. It's a total high point on American Life. I'm glad Madonna didn't do some big drab ballad for the Bond film. DAD is totally her, whether Elton John thinks it's s**t or not.
To my ears, what kept Die Another Day from being a bigger hit was the heavy-handed processing of her vocals - switching between auto-tune over-done and the pinching/narrowing of her vocals. A little is ok, but nearly the entire song?
heh - "risk of being pilloried and thrown off the thread" - I'll have to say that, despite a few personal bumps early on, this has been a very respectful and refreshing thread to anyone who posted a well considered opinion, regardless of the point of view. So thanks for your "dissenting voice."
Well stated. Only "Hollywood" hit the mark for me. I bought the EP and everything else from this album, the 12"ers, the deluxe edition is my only Madonna regret of all her output thus far. I feel I wasted lots of money for subpar product and I would of expected better! But I didn't give up on Madonna and I was rewarded for the wait............but we are not talking about that yet. Sorry to respond so late. I never receive any activity notice from this thread, even though I obviously follow it, and enjoy it.
"American Life", I think that Im used to hearing comments about this album and most of them aren't really flattering. I have heard this albums only few times in full, but can remember only the most known and played songs. Anyways, I don't know this album through and through too carefully as I haven't played it to death (like some of her other albums). But as Im now listening to "American Life" again, I think it's pretty ok album, not great but surely better than some say. Maybe the album lacks a bit of true hooks and huge catchy songs, the kind of songs that would stick with me but now this seems just the continuation of "Music" which was even worse album. Definitely seems the case of some disjointment on the album as it's been mentioned here couple times already. She must have gone some really difficult times around the times and "Ray Of Light" was such success and appraised album, so it must have been difficult to follow that one with couple albums. I think I won't judge too much on this album as I need to play this few times to be sure, so the rating and review from me might change to even a bit better. I need to revisit this album whenever I need some not too familiar material from Madonna.
Anything Elton John dislikes earns extra points from me. Although i do like Kate Bush's cover of Rocket Man and the Your Song cover from Moulin Rouge, the sound of Elton's voice makes my skin crawl and he's been musically irrelevant since about 1985
I love Elton too...and don't give a toss what he thinks of 'Die Another Day'! It's a terrific song. He was just green that he didn't get asked to do a Bond theme .
Yes! I kept wanting her to finally do a rock album! She'd tease a little with the guitars on "Ray Of Light" and "Candy Perfume Girl," but they were mixed so low. They finally started getting louder on "Amazing" from Music. When American Life came out, I thought "I'm So Stupid" could've been a single. It was the most rockish sounding song she released to that point. It just needed more work on the production. The Headcleanr Rock Mix of "Love Profusion" showed how easily the songs could be fully realized in a rock style. I'd love to hear what Headcleanr could've done with the rest of the album. She started moving toward that style in the interim before her next album in the unreleased song "In Love With Love" and the early original version of "I Love New York" : They are fun, but I'm glad we got Confessions On A Dance Floor next, instead.
