Of all the appearances of a Fox-based Mercury Cougar in any medium, the video for Madonna's "What It Feels Like For A Girl" is perhaps the most well-known. But if you've never seen it, that might be because of its inherent controversy. Released in 2001, the video met with initial resistance from U.S. music television stalwarts MTV and VH1 because of "excessive violence". In the video directed by Madonna's husband, Guy Ritchie, the Material Girl goes on a self-destructive bent with her grandmother, stealing and crashing cars all the way. Eventually the two music channels did show the video, with an initial simultaneous showing that was billed as a "one-time" event. The video was played several more times on the channels but only during late-night hours. Ironically it was in heavy rotation on the Lifetime cable channel for women.

Truth be told...we love the video. We love the story line. We really love the song (the video actually uses a modified version of the "Above & Beyond" remix of the song, in case you're looking for it). We're just not so sure if British-born Guy Ritchie is the genius that some people say he is. True, having a woman as the protagonist (and this destructive) is rather unusual, although Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up" was released first and probably had more impact than this. Still, at the very least Ritchie has great taste in American cars, with the Cougar, a Firebird Trans Am, and a Camaro Z-28 all featured prominently in the video.

If you'd like to own your own copy of the video it is available via Apple's iTunes Store for $1.99 US.
It is also viewable on YouTube here.

Commentary for each frame by Eric.

Here we have Madonna's character at the beginning of the video. She is lean and lithe, tattooed, gun loaded, metal suitcase packed and ready for serious assault.

Madonna stops by to take her grandmother for a joyride, from...

Oh no he didn't. zOMG!!!

Madonna steals this Camaro for her day of joyriding. Uh, what does that plate say?!?!

Aaahhhhhhhhhh. Now we get it! ;)

OK, here we go. At the beginning of their spree, Madonna and grammy roll up to a traffic light. And what do we have on the left there: a light blue Mercury Cougar. Hmmm, we're going to need a closer look.

That's better. Stand-up hood ornament, clear front turn signal markers, vent windows, chrome rocker trim...sure looks like an '83 LS. Cool. Note the lack of a front license plate on the Cat.

A tempting look.

Whassup, baybee.

Hey, sport.

Madonna peels off...

...in an illegal left turn on red. Say, what happened to her front plate? It's gone.

Can't really see much about the car here. Straight-across dash and big poofy headrests still indicate an '83.

A back shot reveals...1985 taillights? What's going on here?

Alright, now the vent windows are gone!

Oh, this can't be good...

...nope...not good at all...

Hmmm. Now we see a front plate, flat hood ornament, and amber turn signal lenses. I'm sensing this was a second, "stunt double" car used for just the crash shots. More evidence below.

A great view of the front plate. Note that there's only the driver...the two other guys are gone.

Looks like the door bent open.

Nice plastic stunt double! There's also a dummy driving the Camaro, with a blonde wig and all. Again, the vent windows are gone, indicating the second crash-only car.

Yep, definitely a second car.

Lack of vent windows for further proof. So two Cougars were used in the video shoot: one for crashing, the other for not crashing. Hopefully the latter survives somewhere. Although it sucks to see one of our cars getting smacked around a bit, it could have been worse...

Case in point: take this beautiful Trans Am, which Madonna's character steals from a gas station...

...then, in slow motion, gently wraps around a telephone pole to end the video.

I was watching, in 2001, the world premiere of this video on VH1. My first thoughts were, "Hey...that's my old car!" After the crash into the Cougar, I was--understandably--not happy. But my eyes were still glued to the television, compelled by the story. There are so many memorable moments: some hilarious, some downright raunchy, some poignant, some disturbing, some ridiculous...but all riveting. I practically wore out the videotape of the recording I'd made. My brother, who owns a 1980 Trans Am, was also not happy that "his" car was sacrificed at the end. Quite literally, this video is exactly like watching a train wreck: it's unsettling but you cannot take your eyes off it from beginning to end. You feel violated yet satiated. I think it helps that the song is incredibly seductive, almost trance-like, and it perfectly contradicts what's going on with the characters. It is all about the juxtaposition of these elements that makes "What It Feels Like For A Girl" so entertaining.

Sucked for the cars though!

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