1. Godsmack "Oracle"

Sales this week: 117,481
Debut

Once upon a time, the "Billboard" chart was evidence of overall popularity, you could peruse it and get the pulse of what was happening in America.

But that was before SoundScan.  When suddenly math entered the picture and opinion dropped out.  Yes, in the old days, the "Billboard" charts were fixed.  And I don’t advocate a return to those days.  But I will say that without interpretation, this chart is only marginally meaningful.  It tells you what is selling this week.

Some acts aren’t selling almost anything this week, but are playing to soldout crowds.

Other acts may have never reached the pinnacle of the chart, but have maintained a midlist position for dozens of weeks.  In other words, can you tell me the number one movie a month ago?

Doubtful.

And can you tell me the number one album a month ago?

That’s questionable too.

But everyone knows "Avatar".  And everyone knows GaGa.

Well, it turns out everybody doesn’t.  Andy Rooney famously claimed he was out of the loop.

But I’ll guarantee you almost no one knows Godsmack.  Take a survey, in a country of three hundred million how many even recognize the name, never mind know the music.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.  Godsmack has a hard core fan base.  Which rushed out and bought this album this week. After they’ve all got it, then what?  Maybe there’ll be airplay and sustaining sales.  But I doubt they’ll be anywhere near enough to put "Oracle" at the top of the chart.

In other words, Godsmack had the number one album this week and that doesn’t mean a whole hell of a lot.  Old wave media will trumpet the band’s success…and you wonder why people are avoiding newspapers in droves, tuning out vapid television.  Because in a world of endless information, we want no information not relevant to us, certainly without explanation as to why it should be relevant to us.

And it’s not only music.  They make many fewer movies than record albums, so looking at the movie grosses gives you a better idea of what’s happening in the marketplace.  Then again, what is really happening?  A bunch of adolescents dying to get out of the house went to see a hundred million dollar extravaganza, a visual pinball machine?

But you can fool the audience once, which is what movies are about, but it’s hard to fool the audience again and again, which is why we’ve had so few career artists in the past two decades.  We’re selling our acts like movies, all flash and expensive marketing.  Few care, and those who do partake oftentimes leave the experience claiming it’s crap.  Furthermore, they can go online and find out everybody else thinks it’s crap too.

This baffles the purveyors.  They want to believe nothing’s changed.  But in pursuit of ever higher grosses, to support their lifestyles, they’ve removed the rough edges, they’ve homogenized the product for consumption, they’ve removed the essence.  They’ve turned Coke into New Coke.  And you remember that debacle…

Godsmack is more dependent on airplay than other hard rock acts.  And funnily enough, the less you’re dependent on airplay, the longer and deeper your shelf life in the hard rock world.  But at least the band can claim a number one, can take pleasure in still having a career a few albums in.

But most of us don’t care.

Doesn’t mean the music is good or bad.

Just means that we don’t care and there’s almost nothing the machine can do to make us care.

4. Carole King & James Taylor "Live At The Troubadour"

Sales this week: 77,664
Debut

As I told Felice, I don’t hate Carole King and James Taylor, I hate their audience.

Let me make it even clearer.  This weekend, these two are playing the Hollywood Bowl.  Am I gonna go?  Sure, I’d attend for free. But I wouldn’t pay.  There’s nothing new.  They’ve just run out of ways to charge people to get in.  They’re both touring on the work they did forty years ago.

Creepy if you think about it.

But it was great work.

But it’s not like it’s been unavailable.  Not only on record, but endless tours.  Why would someone go now?

For pure nostalgia.

I want you to look around after the performers leave the stage, before the encores.  You’ll see empty seats, you’ll see people streaming towards the exits.  Because they hated the music?  No.  Because they want to beat the traffic!

If you’re worried about the traffic, the music can’t be that riveting, can’t be that good.

I remember when you’d clap after the lights went on.  You rarely see that anymore.  The lights come up, everybody stops making noise.  Used to be people made noise even when they started playing a record over the PA.  Come back!  More!  More!  MORE!

And oftentimes, the performers would respond, come out and do something special, something unanticipated.

There’s nothing unanticipated about this show.

Having a Napster subscription, I played this album from beginning to end.

Stunningly, Carole sounded good and James sounded bad.  Which is the opposite of their recent public performances.  I’ve lamented James becoming a crooner, but at least he got rid of the nasality in his voice.  Now he’s crooning nasally.  Listen, you won’t love it.

But he did perform "Blossom".

And "Machine Gun Kelly" and "You Can Close Your Eyes".

But this project is not about music, it’s about money.

And that’s a shame.  Almost as bad as the lemmings without brains who are overpaying to see these aged performers trot out the warhorses one more time.

Special?

Give me a break.

6. Deftones "Diamond Eyes"

Sales this week: 62,267
Debut

See Godsmack above.  But the Deftones are just a little less mainstream, which means they’ve got a little more credibility and ultimately a little more longevity, they are even less hit dependent.

7. Court Yard Hounds

Sales this week: 61,119
Debut

Does anybody expect this to have legs?

I certainly don’t.  Nice girls.  Not without talent.  But Natalie Maines is the star.  Hell, we know this because the Dixie Chicks were barely more than stiff BEFORE she joined the band.  Why should they suddenly be successful without her now?

11. Lady GaGa "Fame"

Sales this week: 37,611
Percentage change: +38
Cume: 3,306,181
Weeks on: 80

I want you to read this story:

Internet Killed the MTV Star: A new breed of director is taking the music video in audacious directions

What this "New York" magazine article posits, and I’ll distill it, so you don’t have to read it, is we’re living in a golden era.  Sure, there are no music videos on television, but they’re thriving on the Net.  Best example being Lady GaGa.

Mmm…  Is that true?

That begs the question…  If you spend a fortune and make a great video, can you build a superstar act?

Then again, maybe it isn’t even about money.  OK Go’s whole career is based on innovative videos.  But the now indie act doesn’t sell much product.  Then again, I believe everybody would agree Lady GaGa has much better songs.

Which brings us to the Eagles.  If they spent a million or two doing a video for the title track of "Long Road Out Of Eden" would the album sell again, or at least the single, would ticket revenue go up, would they escape the nostalgia badge?

Then again, let’s say the Eagles make a great video.  Unlike with GaGa, there’s nowhere for the track to cross over.  Top Forty radio is never going to play "Long Road Out Of Eden".  Nor Hot AC.  Which leaves the rock channels…   And Active Rock is about heavier bands and the even more irrelevant AAA is about wimpy acts, often with good intentions but marginal talent.

So…

If you’ve got a hit song, which is very rare indeed, despite the protestations of creators and purveyors, and you have access to a ton of money and make music that can be played on Top Forty or Hot AC, can you replicate GaGa’s success?

I’d posit you can.  I’d posit GaGa’s outfits are superfluous.  She had hit tracks and innovative videos.  And, she made beat-infused music that works on radio and in clubs.  Replicate this and…

This is what major labels do.  Exactly.

But let’s stick with the Eagles, because "Long Road Out Of Eden" is a very powerful track, with meaning.  Which is not the case with almost all the new work of the dinosaurs.  Sure, we don’t want to hear new tunes by old acts, but if they could only record something good, give us something to work with, then what?  In other words, if you’re an oldster and you have one incredible track, despite the genre, can you create a video so good that it pays incredible dividends?

I’d say yes.  I’d say you can put yourself on the national radar.

What I’m talking about here is the power of Internet video.  If we see something good, no, great, we tell everybody we know about it. And everybody’s online.  And the message is sent instantly.  So growth can be extremely quick and exponential.

All this focus on the Long Tail, how you can make marginal music and make a living…  Most people don’t care, the only ones enticed are the marginal musicians themselves, and their tiny number of fans.  But at the opposite end of the spectrum, can we make big acts BIGGER?

It starts with one track, that’s all the public can digest.  Fans might want more, but nobody else does at first.  Can you support that one stellar track to the point where it pays dividends?  Is this the new paradigm?

You might call it the rich getting richer.

But today, most of the rich are getting poorer, and very few new people are getting rich making music.

So, is it about money.  And marketing.  Online.

It’s definitely about quality.

P.S. The sales bump can be attributed to GaGa’s "American Idol" appearance.

27. Black Eyed Peas "E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies)"

Sales this week: 22,821
Percentage change: +16
Weeks on: 48
Cume: 2,498,892

Once upon a time, "Rolling Stone" was the Bible.  More important to its readers than any newspaper, than any radio station.  It was truly the heartbeat of America.

But then its core audience got older.  And the music became less important.  Do you play to your core values, or sell out?

"Rolling Stone" sold out.

But never as badly as it did in the article "40 Reasons To Get Excited About Music".

Number one reason?

The Black Eyed Peas.

Huh?

That’s what I thought.  And I also didn’t see any reasons why we suddenly should be excited about music.  We’re in a fallow period, hoping for a revolution.  But rather than focus on that revolution, "Rolling Stone" decided to put forth the premise that we’re in the best of times.  By trotting out the Black Eyed Peas.

"The Most Corporate Band In America".  That’s what the "Wall Street Journal" said.  I read that article.  But stunningly, another "Rolling Stone" reader did also.  And after citing it, went on to write: "Rock & roll is supposed to be guttural, anti-authoritarian and nasty."  I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Other letters were just as good:

"If you can explain how a band in which no one can play an instrument is going to save rock, then I’ll drink the Kool-Aid."

And:

"I’m not upset that the Peas make music for commercials.  I’m upset that you’re calling Will.i.am’s marketing the best thing to happen to the art form."

Then there’s the guy who wrote in to say:

"…their music sounds like it was made by R2-D2 and C-3PO on a laptop."

That nails it.

Sure, we can give "Rolling Stone" kudos for printing dissenting opinions, but there’s a bigger point here.  The magazine eviscerated its credibility, in one fell swoop.

We’ve got the label, the newspapers (not only the "Journal") and TV telling us how great the Peas are.  But we’re sitting at home, scratching our balls, saying WE DON’T BELIEVE IT!

The intermediaries are out of touch.  This is bubble gum music.  Sold to those who will ultimately forget it.  Whereas "Satisfaction" will never be forgotten.

So don’t sacrifice your core values for momentary money.  And know that the public’s not buying it.  People just don’t believe today’s mainstream music counts.