2003 was not a good
year for Madonna on the charts. After
"Die Another Day" hit #8 in
2002, it seemed like Madonna was set to
add at least a couple more top tens to
her chart history with singles from
"American Life." But when
snippets of "American Life"
first leaked, fans got nervous. The title
track to Madonna's new album was far from
the universal pop she had been releasing
in previous year. The song "American
Life" is about disillusionment with
the American dream -- how Madonna has
embodied that dream and yet was still not
satisfied by the trappings of celebrity
and fame. The music is Mirwais at his
harshest -- a sparse arrangement of
drums, synth stabs and a staccato guitar
lick accompany the verses, while the
sound shifts dramatically to camp-fire
style guitars during the chorus. The
track is topped off with a rap, and is
also the most profane song of Madonna's
career, as she repeatedly says "fuck
it."
Madonna coupled the song
with her most controversial video in
ages, an anti-war clip that juxtaposed a
gas masks and camouflage fashion show
with images of Iraqi children, weaponized
aircraft, and explosions, then topped the
whole thing off by throwing a grenade
into the lap of a George Bush look-a-like
(the grenade turns out to be a cigar
lighter). The US was just beginning its
attack on Iraq as the video was set to
debut, and at the last minute Madonna
yanked the clip as she felt it
inappropriate to air at that time. Later
a quickly edited second video debuted,
featuring Madonna singing against a
background of various countries' flags.
On the charts,
"American Life" nearly topped
the UK charts before settling for #2, but
in the US, things were far less rosy.
Although the song did manage to scrape
out a single week in the top 40 at #37,
the track is far and away Madonna's
worst-performing lead single from an
album ever (the only exception being
1982's "Everybody").
Although Madonna is
no stranger to having controversial music
videos, this marks the first time she has
practiced self-censorship. "American
Life" was also one of the first
singles to chart on the US sales chart
based on digital downloads -- an
impressive 4,200 people downloaded the
single in its first week, prompting it to
debut on the sales chart at #4.
|
)
)
)
)
)