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New Album thread: Guy O talks rubbish; M&M cover art rumours?


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Anyone who thinks there was not a radio freeze of Madonna singles in the US after her anti-war stance in 2003 leading up to American Life is either not smart or wasn't old enough at the time to remember.

She pulled the video due to very real threats against her children's lives.

American Life may never have reached the heights of Music but it definitely suffered from being black balled.

Right. It has NOTHING to do with the fact that people didn't like "American Life." It was one of the lowest rated songs on listener callouts. Even fans I know at the time didn't like AL. Age + a song that the general public thought was shit = bomb. Period.

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Right?! I mean, cut to 2024 and future fans discussing the genesis of THIS album based upon "I read that..."

"There are 4 demos of We R Superstars, TRUST!!"
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Several collectors confirmed that this was just an alternate song title. Believe it or not.

And several collectors have confirmed its a completely different track.
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***Off topic***

About AL, the single. Everybody I knew at the time didn't care for it and they loved Music and DTM. Radio call outs were dreadful. I, myself a die-hard fan since the 80s, hated the rap (still do, sort of). The song came out before the video controversy and, yeah, there were rumored death threats to her family. Radio would have pushed the song regardless of the controversy if the public had embraced it, but it was not to be. There was a backlash of sorts but the song failed on its own merit. Hollywood, however, was ignored by radio stations unjustly.

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Maybe. But didn't people hear the song before they saw the anti-war video? I like American Life but you have to admit it's a bit of an odd song, with the rap and lyrics about being super duper in the Mini Cooper. I know that's tongue in cheek but a lot of people didn't get the sense of humor and thought she was trying to be a serious rapper. Love Profusion and Hollywood are a little more conventional in their song structure.

I REALLY think that Madonna for the second time in her career (after Erotica) released a lead single that she knew damn well wasn't going to be a hit. Her saying something about the situation in the U.S. and the world seemed a lot more important to her at the time than something as frivolous as getting a top ten single.

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Also, I get it, AL is not a catchy song, it's not fun, it's angry, it's pessimistic, critical, etc., etc., but I just don't get how one decade later her fans can't at the very least appreciate the fact that Madonna has the balls to risk her popularity and career to stand up for what she believes in.

The same thing with the Secret Project. Madonna poured her heart into the project and tried really hard to help young, struggling artists and the whole thing seemed to be shot down because her fans were angry that she didn't release a new song, or her cheeks were too puffy, or whatever.

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Also, I get it, AL is not a catchy song, it's not fun, it's angry, it's pessimistic, critical, etc., etc., but I just don't get how one decade later her fans can't at the very least appreciate the fact that Madonna has the balls to risk her popularity and career to stand up for what she believes in.

The same thing with the Secret Project. Madonna poured her heart into the project and tried really hard to help young, struggling artists and the whole thing seemed to be shot down because her fans were angry that she didn't release a new song, or her cheeks were too puffy, or whatever.

could not agree more

And these are the fans that want her on american idol and Kelly Ripa for every album.

Let it go

Enjoy what we have

And let her do what she wants

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Guest whatatramp

lord I cannot believe this ariel pink drama what an ungrateful arsehole :angry: does he not have a choice in who he works with? puppet

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Also, I get it, AL is not a catchy song, it's not fun, it's angry, it's pessimistic, critical, etc., etc., but I just don't get how one decade later her fans can't at the very least appreciate the fact that Madonna has the balls to risk her popularity and career to stand up for what she believes in.

The same thing with the Secret Project. Madonna poured her heart into the project and tried really hard to help young, struggling artists and the whole thing seemed to be shot down because her fans were angry that she didn't release a new song, or her cheeks were too puffy, or whatever.

I'm not saying I didn't like it or she shouldn't have released it, because I do. I'm just saying it's not her most commercial single. And the lyrics of the song itself weren't really about the war. It's fine to say don't care about popularity or having a hit, but if you have an important message don't you want people to hear it and be affected by it? So you have to have a balance between a message and some kind of commercial appeal which over the years I think Madonna has been great at.

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AL s probably my fave album.

But for sales it shouldn'tve been the main single (nothing fails imo), the rap shouldve been left for the album version and no video instead of the flag video.

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I love how this thread's continually drifting to off-topic discussions! :lmao: How about we change the thread title to "New album American Life: news and speculation"?

We've had the AL debate a few times now. I bet the next round of discussion will revolve around if MDNA was rushed or not :lol:

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Also, I get it, AL is not a catchy song, it's not fun, it's angry, it's pessimistic, critical, etc., etc., but I just don't get how one decade later her fans can't at the very least appreciate the fact that Madonna has the balls to risk her popularity and career to stand up for what she believes in.

The same thing with the Secret Project. Madonna poured her heart into the project and tried really hard to help young, struggling artists and the whole thing seemed to be shot down because her fans were angry that she didn't release a new song, or her cheeks were too puffy, or whatever.

THIS

x 1000

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1. Rebel Heart

2. Unapologetic Bitch

3. Wash All Over Me

4. Heartbreak City

5. Joan of Arc

6. Iconic

7. Holy Water

8. Living for Love

9. Bitch I'm Madonna

10. Inside Out

11. Veni Vidi Vici

12. Messiah

DELUXE:

13. Two Steps Behind

14. Addicted

15. Blood Moon

16. Body Shop

17. Sitting on The Whole World

18. Waving with the Crowd

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Anyone who thinks there was not a radio freeze of Madonna singles in the US after her anti-war stance in 2003 leading up to American Life is either not smart or wasn't old enough at the time to remember.

She pulled the video due to very real threats against her children's lives.

American Life may never have reached the heights of Music but it definitely suffered from being black balled.

well the threats on her children's lives weren't from radio programmers, so I'm not sure the connection you're making there.

American Life was never a radio friendly song. In fact, z-100, one of the few stations that supported it, played the Paul oakenfold radio remix as opposed to the original.

The pilitical controversy added to it, but by the time Confessions rolled out it was pure ageism stopping her.

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1. Rebel Heart

2. Unapologetic Bitch

3. Wash All Over Me

4. Heartbreak City

5. Joan of Arc

6. Iconic

7. Holy Water

8. Living for Love

9. Bitch I'm Madonna

10. Inside Out

11. Veni Vidi Vici

12. Messiah

DELUXE:

13. Two Steps Behind

14. Addicted

15. Blood Moon

16. Body Shop

17. Sitting on The Whole World

18. Waving with the Crowd

What happened to The Olga Song :(

Is that the one that was reworked into Unapologetic Bitch?

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well the threats on her children's lives weren't from radio programmers, so I'm not sure the connection you're making there.

American Life was never a radio friendly song. In fact, z-100, one of the few stations that supported it, played the Paul oakenfold radio remix as opposed to the original.

The pilitical controversy added to it, but by the time Confessions rolled out it was pure ageism stopping her.

i think it's because of the threats that she pulled the video. maybe that's what he meant.

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Anyone who thinks there was not a radio freeze of Madonna singles in the US after her anti-war stance in 2003 leading up to American Life is either not smart or wasn't old enough at the time to remember.

She pulled the video due to very real threats against her children's lives.

American Life may never have reached the heights of Music but it definitely suffered from being black balled.

This is my memory as well and I was very much caught up Into her pulling that video. I am not sure exactly what was said but God why are people constantly talking about the past In here

It's been s weird time in the U.S. since but that time in the U.S. was a very weird time. I applaud Madonna for creating American Life at that time. It shows not only her intelligence but also her compassion.

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@3:30 she explains how her children (specifically Lola) and Guy influenced her decision to pull the video.

Like others have said, radio didn't shun the single bc of the video or her anti-war stance. She had just had a Top 15 airplay hit with Die Another Day 6 months prior and radio was hyping the new single (playing clips, etc) leading up to its release. The song itself and listeners feedback resulted in it not being played further. Unfortunately radio never gave her another chance after this (minus "4 Minutes").

Its cold reception and poor performance doesn't reflect on the merit of the song itself, it just didn't connect with audiences.

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I REALLY think that Madonna for the second time in her career (after Erotica) released a lead single that she knew damn well wasn't going to be a hit. Her saying something about the situation in the U.S. and the world seemed a lot more important to her at the time than something as frivolous as getting a top ten single.

I can't believe Warner let her release AL as the first single. I love the song, but this was the one time I would have been ok with them interfering with Madonna's vision. I feel like radio (in the US) abandoned her ever since. Yeah, it was bound to happen at some point, but the other singles would have faired better.

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There wasn't really any controversy in the US over the AL video. It never aired. This was the first Madonna album where no one seemed to care. Radio gave AL a brief chance and then ditched it. Besides the rumor about reworking the album, there was the story that Warner did not want to pay for the album artwork or something. Then Madonna was performing at record stores and stuff. The whole era was really strange.

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What island were some of you living on in 2003? Not North America. Madonna got **** for the album. If you don't remember that is different from it didn't happen. Madonna didn't let it drag on. Possibly why you don't remember.Whatever you think about the single it's reasons for not doing well can vary.

American Life would have sold more without the negative publicity.

I think Give It 2 Me should have been a hit. Why didn't that do well with the public? It's a great track.

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