Hey, everyone is awesome!
I ask for help procuring the Driver: Sounds of San Francisco vinyl and one of you helps me out!
Then I ask for help finding I Scream You Scream’s Me Too and one of you come through on that too!
Are there any awesome people out there looking for a freelance music reporter? Because I’m totally available.
Madonna
American Life (Missy Elliot American Dream Remix)
American Life (Oakenfold Downtempo Remix)
American Life (Peter Raunhofer’s American Anthem Part 1)
American Life (Felix Da Housecat’s Devin Dazzle Club Mix)
American Life (Peter Raunhofer’s American Anthem Part 2)
Die Another Day (Calderone & Quayle Afterlife Mix)
Weezer’s 1996 album Pinkerton was aggressively reviled by both audiences and critics when it came out. Now it’s seen as a classic that helped paved the way for modern rock in the 21st century.
Bowie’s Low and Lodger were both poor sellers that received mixed reviews at best when they were released, but now Low is considered and classic and many believe Lodger to be just as influential and important.
Everyone hated Marvin Gaye’s Hear My Dear at first, but in the decades that have passed, many critics say that the introspective and experimental album is Gaye’s best work.
Sometimes art takes time to take hold. Often, a piece of art can be so ahead of its time that audiences of its era can’t understand it, causing them to lash out against it. Other times it may simply not fit in with the current cultural landscape, a victim of bad-timing more than anything else. Or sometimes a negative view of the artist themselves can cause backlash against a record, whether its deserved or not
None of those things are true with “American Life.”
This song sucked in 2003. It sucks now. And it’s going to suck 100 years from now. It will forever be known as a disaster. A colossal  misfire of epic proportions the likes of which the world rarely sees. It’s such a hideously bad song by such an amazingly talented and popular artist that it’s almost impossible to find another song or piece of creative work to compare it to.
So why do I own it and why am I posting it?
Well, I own it simply because I want to own every Madonna 12″ single, and this happens to be one of them.
I’m posting it because I’m sure someone out there loves this song (I actually know someone who does – and I’m still friends with them in spite of this fact) and they’ll be more than happy to find these remixes. Not all of them are…that bad. The Felix Da Housecat mix is actually pretty listenable, and I’ll even go as far to say that I actually like the second Raunhofer’s mix, most likely because it strips out the stupid rap. Conversly speaking, the Missy Elliot remix actually focuses on the rap (Missy even adds her own parts) and it, in turn, is probably the worst song I have ever put on my blog.
And hey, the b-side is a pretty awesome remix of “Die Another Day,” so it has that going for it, which is nice.
(Disclaimer: If any rabid Madonna fans are reading this, please don’t attack me for my opinion. It is just that, an opinion. If you like this song, good for you! There’s nothing wrong with liking it. I mean, it’s not like it’s a Fergie song or something. Everyone is entitled to their own unpopular opinions. Shit, I own Howard The Duck on laser disc, who am I to criticize anyone?)
The song is not that bad. 😀
After so many computer changes I forgot about this place, glad I remembered to email myself the little bits of awesome that still exist.
Somehow I’m completely ok with you having Howard the Duck on laserdisc – because I can now say I’ve heard of two people owning it. Which is somehow kind of fun.