Madonna - American Life, Uncensored
For those that don’t remember, right before the American Life single was released, the president announced we were going to war. Since the original, graphic video (as shown above) was a pretty strong
statement, Madonna decided it was too much and replaced it with a bland (and quite awful) one. And pretty much everyone understood why it was in good taste to pull it.
I stumbled across it this evening, after forgetting about it for years… It’s even a more powerful statement now. And man, artistically… this song was meant to be along with this video. And maybe people would have more readily felt her campy little rap sequence with this video as the backdrop.
Since YouTube and other video sharing sites weren’t around like they are today, I bet a lot of people never saw the directors cut - complete with the insane, bloody ending.
I’m curious what others feel, seeing this video today.
And as a side note, I still feel this album was severely underrated. Nothing Fails and Easy Ride are still big favorites.
hi, i’ve been a loyal visiter of your blog and this is my first comment. I totally agree with you about the AL album. It’s fresh, edging and very self-reflacting. I love Nothing Fails and X-Static Process!!
That video was intense.. but totally amazing. More people should watch it.
Wow you’re right. I never noticed it before. Lots of strong imagery here.
The fashion show of war, how people can find justification in it if it’s been wrapped and packaged properly.
The soldiers messing with the Arab boy. Tanks following Arab women.
The British MiniCooper sportin’ an American flag.
The end shows what war is really like, total destruction and the grenade at the end? Maybe a precusor - destroying ourselves.
i kinda feel sick knowing the flack she took for the mainstream video with the flags. I’d like to hope that madge isn’t so easily persuaded by the mass media, I liked this video so much more the the disembodied singing head one, but i guess if your not wit ‘em your ag’n ‘em…uhh wake me up when its over
Again you’ve given us incredible examples of you genius as well as something to think about we would have otherwise missed. Where can I purchase this in MP4 Video or .MOV???
I’m not sure if you guys remember this but…
the original video that was released way back when, it wasn’t the directors cut, not that intense, but it ended in a different way, she throwed the grenade, when a hand catched it in the air, then it showed Bush lighing up a cigar with it, revealing that it wasn’t an actual grenade but a lighter…
just a reminder! ;)
yeah, i remember seeing the other version with the George W Bush look-a-like at the end.
I’ve never seen this version before.
The video’s good and interesting (love the juxtaposition of the fashion show with the scenes of war atrocities and the way that the tension builds up) but Madonna is awful. I lost what little respect I had for her when she pulled this video. There is nothing worse than an artist with no convictions.
cool video. If Madonna had let the video run at the time (like a younger Madonna probably would have) she would be lauded as a visionary now, rather than a bit of a wash up.
Madonna is exactly right about how the people are laughing at all the violence of war in this video. This is exactly what all the sick wealthy right wing people are doing in the United States. Madonna is not a visionary, she is just stating the obvious. How else could Bush get away with the crimes he has over the last 7 years?
She’s a g*dd**mn prophet. I wonder if there’s a way the original video could be re-released today.
I just posted this video on my own blog — I hope a lot of people do the same, and it gets seen.
Question: About four minutes and thirty-three seconds into this video — is that Meryl Streep I spy in the audience? I really think it is … I already love her, but if she’s in this, I love her more.
Hey, just wanna say saw that video last night in full - disappointed, because like previous guys commented - where’s George Bush catching that grenade/lighter?
But seriously, seen a great chunk of the video before, but never the full thing, and the pace and the images and stuff, I was like - whoa! It is a beautiful video, did make me feel a little sick must admit, but…. what can I say?
Re-releasing that video? Urm…. no, she withdrew it because of the timing, and there’s still conflict and shit going down in Iraq, which was her whole point for filming and releasing that video, and nowadays I doubt she’d want the attention “MADONNA RE-RELEASING TABOO MUSIC VIDEO” doesn’t seem her kinda drive atm, more “MADONNA RELEASES YET ANOTHER FUCKIN YOGA VIDEO” perhaps :( did have a lot of respect for that woman, and the edited version was such a cop out