Songoftheday 2/12/24 - I tried to be a boy I tried to be a girl, I tried to be a mess I tried to be the best...
"American Life" - Madonna
from the album American Life (2003)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #37 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 1
Today's song comes from Madonna, who had returned to the top ten on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart in the late autumn of 2002 with the title song for the James Bond franchise movie and soundtrack Die Another Day. That hit would also appear on Madonna's ninth studio album American Life the following year. The title track from that set would be the first "official" single from the record. Written by the artist with co-producer Mirwais Ahmadzai, the record takes a sharp left turn from her dance-pop fare into political hip-hop infused electronica. The groove that Mirwais sets up is quite much like his work on her #1 hit "Music", with Madonna weaving through the bleeps and bloops cooing about her rock road as a "pop star". Vague references to her Sex book and Evita movie, as well as her triumphant comeback on Ray Of Light, it seems like a self-empowerment anthem for herself.
Then comes the "rap".
Not since Vanilla Ice and not again until Tom McDonald has there been an egregious bloated "street" version of fame, although bragging about her nannies and jets and chefs is more in line with Jennifer Lopez's equally cringe "Jenny From The Block". The ending of the rap where she proclaims she's not a "Christian or a Jew" just seems like button-pushing, and the one "do you think I'm satisfied?" is outnumbered by the other proclamations that she is. It's just stupefying, and not thought provoking on any level. The original music video tried to pull the original "Kathy Griffin" by having her pass a grenade to President Bush, but that was quickly jettisoned in favor of a slap-dash take of her lipsynching for her life in front of green screen with projected flags of the world in the background like this was a children's U.N. meeting headed by drag Cesar Chavez...
The public had no idea what to do with "American Life", and while the fans bought the single (like I did) to propel it up the chart, it spent only a solitary week in the top-40 on Billboard's Hot 100 in April of 2003, with only eight weeks on the whole list itself. On the radio, the song made it to #27 on the Mainstream Top-40 airplay chart. The remixes of the song, done by Peter Rauhofer and Paul Oakenfold among others, helped the sales of the CD single, and her longstanding club and LGBT community stood by, helping the song spend a week at #1 on the Dance Club Play chart. Internationally, the single went to #1 on the Canadian sales chart, as well as the lists in Italy, Denmark, Portugal, and Switzerland, and reached the top ten in the United Kingdom (#2), Spain (#2), Greece (#2), Hungary (#2), Croatia (#2), Sweden (#3), Finland (#3), the Netherlands (#4), Czechia (#5), Australia (#7), Austria (#7), Ireland (#7), Romania (#7), Norway (#9), Germany (#10), France (#10), and Belgium (#10 Flanders/#12 Wallonia). The American Life album, released in April as the song was cresting, did manage to top the Billboard 200 sales tally, going on to sell a half-million copies.
The relative freefall that "American Life" had stymied her momentum, with follow-up (and far superior) "Hollywood" failing to make the whole Hot 100, though it did manage to go to #35 on the older-skewing Adult Top-40 radio chart and #15 on the Dance Airplay list. The remixes of the track continued her success in the clubs, topping the Dance Club Play chart. Overseas, it wasn't an issue, making the top ten in the United Kingdom (#2), Spain (#2), Hungary (#2), Italy (#3), Croatia (#3), Poland (#4), Portugal (#4), Canada (#5 Sales), Czechia (#5), Finland (#8), Romania (#8), and Ireland (#10). That was followed by "Nothing Fails", which was even better, but while it again topped the Dance Club Play chart in America, it missed the radio lists and Hot 100. Lastly, the song "Love Profusion" made it a perfect five #1 hits from the album, but that was it in America.
But in the midst of all this, Madonna would join up with another female pop star to return to the series.
(3/10)
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
Here's the extended remix by the late Peter Rauhofer that helped "American Life" top the dance chart in the U.S....
Recently, Madonna re-rolled out the original video for the song, labeling it as "the Director's Cut" but removing the offending Bush footage...
Here she is previewing the song for a fan/press junket in New York City...
Madonna performed the song on the Re-Invention tour behind the album in 2003...
and lastly, she brought the song back in her Madame X tour...
Comments