Hype no longer sells records
117. Albert Hammond, Jr. "Yours To Keep"
Sales this week: 7,054
Debut
193. Madonna "Confessions Tour"
Sales this week: 4,248
Cume: 81,080
I think both are minor shocks, but in the same way they're completely not. I remember at the end of the chart show they'd look at the videos for songs released in two weeks time, then you'd hear it on the radio every now and then and catch slithers of the video. Thus by time the new 2 Unlimited/Boyzone/blah single was released all the girls were talking about it in school, even the guys would be like "On Friday Take That will be number one with another mince record we'll have to endure for a month. Weak."
It's almost impossible to get real momentum behind an artist now. The new Arcade Fire album's been hype city since pre-Xmas, then people heard the leak and went "Oh. It's not very good is it?" And meanwhile everyone was telling you how good it was, tv, interweb, radio, papers, magazines, fanzines, drunk girls at partys. It finally came out a couple of weeks ago and no one's talking about it anymore. I have no idea how many the debut sold but the new one's almost hit a mill, the real question is how many will the next one sell?
The Strokes are a prime example of it all going wrong. They delayed their last album for over a year because month after month a big release would be set to dwarf it, then when it finally came out no one cared. And thus we've got to today, where a man in such a hype band can release his debut solo album which features big name guests (from the rest of The Strokes to Julian Lennon, Ben Kweller to Fountains of Wayne), he can tour for months pre-release with Incubus and Bloc Party and shift only seven thousand records in a country of three hundred million.
Madonna's live album floping is a clear example of what we all knew anyway, Madonna's no longer a singer, she's a tabloid harpy. Except that no longer sells records. People will pay fifty quid to watch her from half a mile away because she will play all the old songs and everyone can coo and remember their youth. Meanwhile a woman pushing fifty struts around in lycra and spends her weeks planing more press, just so she can stop herself becoming Michael Jackson or MC Hammer.
Celebrity used to be about being Jayne Mansfield or the ratpack, Elizabeth Taylor or Jack Nicolson. About not giving a fuck and doing things your own way. About clandestine pictures of you having drinks on a moonlit balcony with the president of Columbia, or refusing to turn up on set each day unless their was something new from Tiffanys there to greet you. Now it's about doing Max Factor adverts and going out without pants on. What a loss.
Sales this week: 7,054
Debut
193. Madonna "Confessions Tour"
Sales this week: 4,248
Cume: 81,080
I think both are minor shocks, but in the same way they're completely not. I remember at the end of the chart show they'd look at the videos for songs released in two weeks time, then you'd hear it on the radio every now and then and catch slithers of the video. Thus by time the new 2 Unlimited/Boyzone/blah single was released all the girls were talking about it in school, even the guys would be like "On Friday Take That will be number one with another mince record we'll have to endure for a month. Weak."
It's almost impossible to get real momentum behind an artist now. The new Arcade Fire album's been hype city since pre-Xmas, then people heard the leak and went "Oh. It's not very good is it?" And meanwhile everyone was telling you how good it was, tv, interweb, radio, papers, magazines, fanzines, drunk girls at partys. It finally came out a couple of weeks ago and no one's talking about it anymore. I have no idea how many the debut sold but the new one's almost hit a mill, the real question is how many will the next one sell?
The Strokes are a prime example of it all going wrong. They delayed their last album for over a year because month after month a big release would be set to dwarf it, then when it finally came out no one cared. And thus we've got to today, where a man in such a hype band can release his debut solo album which features big name guests (from the rest of The Strokes to Julian Lennon, Ben Kweller to Fountains of Wayne), he can tour for months pre-release with Incubus and Bloc Party and shift only seven thousand records in a country of three hundred million.
Madonna's live album floping is a clear example of what we all knew anyway, Madonna's no longer a singer, she's a tabloid harpy. Except that no longer sells records. People will pay fifty quid to watch her from half a mile away because she will play all the old songs and everyone can coo and remember their youth. Meanwhile a woman pushing fifty struts around in lycra and spends her weeks planing more press, just so she can stop herself becoming Michael Jackson or MC Hammer.
Celebrity used to be about being Jayne Mansfield or the ratpack, Elizabeth Taylor or Jack Nicolson. About not giving a fuck and doing things your own way. About clandestine pictures of you having drinks on a moonlit balcony with the president of Columbia, or refusing to turn up on set each day unless their was something new from Tiffanys there to greet you. Now it's about doing Max Factor adverts and going out without pants on. What a loss.