Blogtrek

Madonna's American Life? I say NO!

Madonna Ciccone has been around for about two decades, ever since she started her career with the alluring number Like a Virgin. Since then she has come up with a number of enthusiastic hits, including In the Groove and Holiday. Most recently she came out with an antiwar video and song in an album entitled American Life. The video shows some footage about Bush that she felt might not be good to put out during the recent War on Iraq, but now that that war is over, the album has come to press. I find her antiwar message interesting, especially since it seems to be anti-material instead, coming rather paradoxically from The Material Girl. So will I buy this album?

No. Absolutely not.

No, it is not because of the strange outfits she has worn; for example a bikini wedding gown. No, it is not because of the "trashy" style of music that some has said she produces. Indeed, the music seems commercially driven, and I feel that true from-the-heart music comes from other than the pecuniary motive, but it is not because of that. No, it is not because she has simulated masturbation on stage. This type of liberation is needed. If more people masturbated in Africa instead of having sex, the continent would not be in trouble because of AIDS. No, it is not because the video bashes the Bush administration. The heart of any free democracy is the freedom to criticize those in power. No, it is not because of her lifestyle, either. It is not going to be for any of these things.

The reason I am not going to buy the album is because of her tactics in marketing the album. I heard from a website that she has issued decoy sound files of her songs that instead of playing the songs throws up an obscenity in your face and says something about your copying her music without paying for it; in other words, piracy. This is one type of technique that I will not put up with. No, as long as she is going to resort to tactics like this, then I am [obscenity] not going to buy any of her albums. I know that songwriters need to be paid so they can earn their living, but there are more civil ways of doing it.