Why Didn’t American Life Work?
In his second contribution to his “Cause I Got Something To Say About It…” column, longtime friend and Community member Cristian Gonzales aka cristian_nyc discusses his views about the most controversial Madonna album of the XXI century.
Check out “Why Didn’t American Life Work?” – with special thanks to cristian_nyc.
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.
Click here or on the image below to continue reading the second issue of “Cause I Got Something To Say About It… brought to you by Cristian Gonzales aka crystian_nyc.
