08 June 2008

American Life

When this album first came out, I was still watching VH1 on occasion, so I was aware that the original video had been censored.* Well, I just ran across the original, and thought I'd share. A lot of Madonna's stuff I don't care for, but she has written some very thought-provoking songs (disclaimer: I know she writes most of her own songs, but didn't check if she wrote this one). Anyway, I've embedded the YouTube copy of the original video below the fold. As Greg Laden notes in the comments at his blog, it is vital to both watch the video and listen to the words to get the full dystopian effect. Very nicely done.

*The one that I saw was a single cut of Madonna in the outfit you see at the very beginning, emoting as she sang the song. Actually, the words are powerful enough that even that sent a strong message.


2 comments:

John said...

I've never been much of a Madonna fan. But I seem to remember going through this with "Like a Prayer" in '89. I didn't get it then, and I don't now. What part of "freedom of expression" are some people missing.

Qalmlea said...

The part where allowing others to express themselves is part of getting to express themselves, er, themself. (I'd try to clarify, but I think I'd just make it worse)