Re: Spotify Global Weekly Top Songs Chart

Bob,

This letter made me chuckle, because you ain’t wrong. And what Spotify shows for last week unwittingly aligns with what we sell as PHYSICAL copies in an indie record store in St. Louis (Euclid Records).

When it comes to sales of FMac Rumours, they should just issue that album to every child at birth!

And that Goo Goo Dolls ranking is not surprising to us.

Here’s a snapshot of our top sellers for 2024. The totals are a combination of new and used vinyl & CDs:

DESCRIPTION NAME SALESLAST365

1. Aerovons “Resurrection” 330

2. Chappell Roan “The Rise and Fall 184

of a Midwest Princess”

3. Taylor Swift “The Tortured Poets 172

Department”

4. Fleetwood Mac “Rumours” 95

5. Goo Goo Dolls “Greatest Hits Vol. 1” 75

6. Charli XCX “Brat” 65

7. Vince Guaraldi “Charlie Brown 60

Xmas”

8. Taylor Swift “Midnights” 58

9. Taylor Swift “1989 T.’s Version” 57

10. Miles Davis “Kind of Blue” 52

11. Billie Eilish “Hit Me Hard and 52

Soft”

12. MF DOOM “Mm…Food” 52

13. Vampire Weekend “Only God Was 52

Above Us”

14. Led Zeppelin “IV (ZOSO)” 51

15. Pink Floud “Dark Side of the 47

Moon”

16. Beatles “White Album” 46

17. Jack White No Name 46

18. The Cure “Songs of a Lost 44

World”

19. Kendrick Lamar “Good Kid 43

M.A.A.D. City”

20. Sturgill Simpson/ “Passage Du Desir” 43

Johnny Blue Skies

21. Weezer Blue Album 43

22. Beatles “Revolver” 42

23. Noah Kahan “Stick Season” 42

24. Hozier Hozier 39

25. Beyoncé “Cowboy Carter” 38

26. Olivia Rodrigo “Guts” 38

27. Smile “Wall of Eyes” 37

We sold 30 copies of Arctic Monkeys AM in 2024. And this year, it remains a title we can’t get enough of to keep in regular stock.

And we are continually astounded at how much Journey (and Kansas!) gets scooped up. It’s used vinyl, because the labels haven’t re-issued them yet. Meaning, we can only sell what used copies come in the door, so their sales are limited by inventory.

It’s intriguing to see Spotify numbers translating to when people of all ages decide it’s time to have a physical copy of it.

And side bar to a previous letter topic:

We need a music streaming service on our iPad to play sealed new releases in the store to generate in-store interest and sales (labels just don’t send promo copies like they used to).

We recently canceled our Spotify subscription and hooked up with Tidal.

The sound quality is noticeably better.

And many of our popular sellers (like King Gizz) are no longer on Spotify. We need a streamer that HAS the artists whose new titles we’re trying to sell.

Thanks for another intriguing letter,

Toby Weiss

At what point did you give up your fandom for a band…if ever?

And what made you become a fan of the band to begin with?

Now a band needs a lead singer, a front person, usually a man but it can also be a woman. Look, Linkin Park is now fronted by a woman. And that front person must have a personality. Alice Cooper was the name of the band, not Vince Furnier, but because of his antics up front, Vince became known as Alice and continued to have a career when the rest of the band did not.

Now it’s best if that front person is edgy. After all, a band is the antithesis to society. We don’t need you to agree, but to point out all the inequities, all the injustices. The more you stick it to the man, the more we like you. Furthermore, we want you to live a lifestyle we cannot, because we neither have the cash nor the opportunities, never mind the road manager with a roll of hundred dollar bills to make any problem go away. We like that you elude the law. We even like it when you’re drunk and out of control, proving that society’s norms have no purchase on your soul.

As for big pronouncements… The Beatles bigger than Jesus? How come I’m still referencing this offhand remark by John Lennon over half a century later. He’s rich, he’s got fans, he can say whatever he wants, whereas those working for the man cannot…their entire lives are compromised, they’ve got to give to get, it’s a network of obligations, most of which you don’t want to fulfill, but you need to.

As for solo acts…

There’s a reason acts are wary of going out sans the band’s name. Kevin Cronin just experienced this. He’s the front person for REO Speedwagon, but without that moniker…the populace is confused, they think they’re not getting what they used to, if they’re even aware of the fact that it’s the same guy who sings the songs.

Starting as a solo act… You’re best if there’s a penumbra, more than your music. Elton John had the outfits, the outrageousness. That’s fallen away today, but if you were around back then it was a key part of a fan’s attachment to him.

In other words, the music is not enough. You need a personality. Hopefully with some rough edges that can hook the audience.

Which is why you can have hits but no career. What is your IMAGE? And an image is more than beauty.

Speaking of beauty… We loved that our acts went out with models and actresses. They WON! Peter Wolf with Faye Dunaway? Everybody in America was salivating over her and this scruffy guy from a band got her. Rod Stewart and his babes?

Rod Stewart’s a good example… What did it take for me to turn on him?

Those execrable “American Songbook” albums he did with Clive Davis. If you’re only doing it for the money… Then again, like Frank Zappa, you can poke fun at the whole thing, saying WE’RE ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY!

Was this the same Rod the Mod who grew up in Gasoline Alley? Who was up on deck when she bit his neck? This guy didn’t know who his audience was, and he alienated me. But I’ve still got a soft spot in my heart for Rod…I remember those early records.

Trump is an incredible front man. He acts like the rules don’t apply to him. Does whatever he wants, damn the consequences, someone else will clean up the detritus.

He’s traded one babe for another, he’s married to a model now.

He’s beaten the system time and again. Stiffing banks and contractors.

He’s a rebel I tell you, a veritable RENEGADE!

But those battling against him point to the facts. It’s like a classical music aficionado trying to convince you why Ozzy Osbourne sucks. Who cares, they don’t get it!

Trump jets around and acts like a bozo with world leaders… Isn’t this like Keith Moon? If you’re a fan of the man you’re loving it, you’re not wincing, you’re WINNING!

So what is it going to take for you to abandon Trump? I mean you’ve drunk the kool-aid, you’re a fan.

Well, you could become a fan of a new band.

But the Democrats don’t have any acts they’re purveying other than Gavin Newsom, who they’re sidelining.

Schumer? He’s not even as credible and desirable as the Carpenters.

Who amongst the Democrats inspires the base, makes them fans?

I can’t think of a single person. I can think of a few people who are good on paper, like Shapiro, Pritzker and Whitmer… But I wouldn’t go to the show. Get in my car, travel and pay to see any of them. As for their greatest hits…what exactly are they? There’s no there there.

So the Democrats keep trying to convince Trump voters that they shouldn’t, be fans of Trump.

They point to cuts that will hurt the Trumpers… But the Trumpers are not listening, it’s like parents trying to tell their kids about the evils of Elvis Presley, they’re doubling-down.

Now in music there’s been a tradition of outlaws, which has now been squandered. Do you remember the turn of the decade, from the eighties to the nineties, when Snoop started singing about gin and juice and there were these rap wars and all we heard was f*ck the police? Not only were these rappers dangerous, they were spewing truth! And isn’t it funny how even today when a rapper goes to jail it doesn’t hurt their career.

But that dangerous front person paradigm is hard to find in today’s music. Because you just can’t repeat what’s been done before, you must plow new ground. So if you sing music that hearkens back to the days of yore and you’re dating models…we’ve seen that before, how about something new?

And you’re ripping us off all the while.

We don’t need your stinking merch, even though you keep telling us so. Trump executed on this model before it became completely burned out, before the Kardashians perfected it, proving that you don’t even have to have any talent to sell merch, that it’s all a big grift. At the core of it you’ve got to have something…

So if your songs are written by committee…

It’s harder for the audience to embrace you. We want to believe they’re YOUR words, YOUR story. Which is one of the reasons music blew up back in the sixties and seventies. Now the focus is on hits. Whatever it takes to make a hit. Give the audience something palatable. Whereas it used to be about the audience coming to the act, not compromising whatsoever. Have you listened to “Are You Experienced”? There’s not a hit on it. But when you first heard “Purple Haze” you wanted more of that.

Norms… Stars challenge the norms.

As for today’s record labels, they’re just like the consultants who convinced Biden he could win. They wanted to keep their jobs, they wanted their bonuses. But the joke was on them, because the audience knew…

Hell, look at the recent concert grosses. They’re not so big if you’re not a big star. As for some long in the tooth stars… How many times are you going to go back to the well and rip me off? I’ve seen the show, and you want how much money?

It’s tough for a fan.

And we all want to be fans. That’s part of our identity, part of our well-being. And music has punted here, believing commerce triumphs artistry.

What did Trump say during his first run? I’M RICH AND I DON’T NEED YOUR MONEY! Imagine a musical act saying that today.

You can challenge the veracity of that, but musical acts have been lying from day one. The show is sold out? Yeah, right. You’ve sold a million copies of your independent album? I’d be stunned if you sold a hundred thousand. Or, as Jerry Heller once told me regarding N.W.A…my company, my number!

So you Democrats keep trying to poke holes in the Trump edifice. You might as well try and convince young girls not to believe in K-pop.

But it’s even worse. The Democrats are abdicating all their power. They’re all about old media when it’s been trumped by new media…everybody gets their information online and what do the Democrats say? SOCIAL MEDIA IS THE DEVIL! And when you ask them if they’re on TikTok, they say they wouldn’t deign to be so…but the joke is on them.

Don’t think of it as binary, us vs. them… There are more than two acts in music, and there is more than one politician. You can be successful without basing your entire ethos/marketing campaign on putting another act down. You’re just rounding up all the people who don’t believe in the other act, giving them something to invest their time, money and belief in. And if your act is powerful enough, some of the fans of another act will come to you.

And one thing is for sure, acts are not forever. Some have long careers on the road, but their hitmaking days are far behind them. You need new blood. Where is the new blood in the Democratic party? NONEXISTENT!

Beto O’Rourke said some good things, but he looked like a prep school kid out on a lark, not dangerous. Which was a criticism of Fetterman, that he hadn’t done an honest day’s work in his life, but at least he had tattoos and was wearing those damn SHORTS! And when he showed up in Congress in them and his hoodies… The old farts were offended, youngsters said they could see one of theirs in office. (However Fetterman had his stroke and his power has been to a great degree neutered.)

We’re looking for leaders. And leaders also have a sense of humor about themselves.

What we’re looking for is stars.

There are plenty of people with talent, but how many are stars?

Very few.

And gaining an audience is about more than talent, it’s an ability to be warm, to communicate. There are variations on the theme, but talk to anybody in the music business, they know what a star is and who is one. Hell, there are stars with imperfect voices. That’s why “The Voice” and other competition shows never mint stars, because it’s not solely about the voice, that’s just the starting point.

We want unconstrained people who can give the middle finger to the status quo. Trump fires on all cylinders. The Democrats? They can’t even start their electric car.

So the next time you criticize people for being Trumpers… Ask yourself what you’re offering in return. Also, know that generally speaking very little is being offered anyway, which is another reason why politics is king. Actors have been revealed to truly be two-dimensional as a result of social media and the “musicians” are all whored-out, who you gonna believe in in this topsy-turvy, difficult world?

And you’ve got to believe in someone.

And it’s never just yourself. Unless you’re John Lennon. Isn’t it funny that despite his cutting personality, his poor treatment of women, that he’s still revered, more than Paul McCartney? Paul NEEDS it, John didn’t seem to. He wasn’t begging for your attention, you were drawn to him.

Who is drawing us to them in the Democratic party?

No one.

But the Republicans, they’ve got TRUMP! 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/5pGdWJIkt47ovJcBOKHl2S?si=37b1eea995ea47c9

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlR8JwdB8Qk

You’ve got to listen to the whole thing. While you’re doing something else, distracted. So you can suddenly turn your head and say to yourself WHAT IS THIS?

I don’t want to oversell “Sushi and Coca-Cola,” that would do the track a disservice. Keep your expectations low and let your mind drift. When done right music penetrates you in a way nothing else does. Sure, there are some great in your face numbers that demand your attention, but what you really want is something to ride shotgun, something personal that can lift your mood and make you think you can conquer the world…or at least survive!

I know St. Paul & The Broken Bones had their moment a few years back, when that video from Letterman was ping-ponging around the internet. I didn’t get it, I liked the emotion, but I didn’t find the song to be that good. But this, THIS I LIKE!

I spent hours today trying to penetrate new music. Got to say the new Justin Bieber album is listenable, but do I want to listen to it? Unnecessary. It scares me that Olivia Rodrigo is a respected act. Have we sunk so low that we’re kissing up to this two-dimensional stuff? This is paint by numbers, commerce. As for Chappell Roan…good for her that she’s got success but do I think her music is for the ages, do I think it truly adds something to the canon? No.

Needless to say I burned out on the Spotify Top 50.

So then I started checking out Americana playlists. The best one was the best from 2024, but this is 2025, and I wanted something more current. And I heard a bunch of tracks that I understood, but didn’t move me. And now I’m thinking of why “Sushi and Coca-Cola” moves me.

It’s certainly not the lyrics. This is not Bob Dylan, this is simple, serviceable.

But there’s no 808, THANK GOD! It’s kind of like tattoos…if you want one, cool, but don’t think you’re rebelling.

And then there’s the piano bed. Underpinning the entire thing.

And let’s be clear, the vocal is EXQUISITE! Hearkens back to the days of yore, fifty plus years ago, before everybody thought they could sing and deserved Spotify royalties and you’d go to the local bar and there’d be a soul singer…

But then soul was eclipsed by hip-hop.

But really, what puts “Sushi and Coca-Cola” over the top is the HORNS! Do you know why we don’t have more horns in today’s music? IT’S TOO EXPENSIVE! That’s one of the reasons we’ve got solo acts, not bands…no one wants to split the money that many ways. A drummer is necessary. A bassist. But can’t you just hire horns when you need them? But the budgets of yore are out the window. Who is sitting in their home studio saying they’re going to call in the horns?

Now this sounds nothing like Chicago. But once upon a time, there were horn bands…really started with Al Kooper and the initial iteration of Blood, Sweat & Tears. But that sound went out of favor…

Now if you were in the venue and St. Paul & The Broken Bones started to play “Sushi and Coca-Cola,” you’d find it impossible to stay in your chair, you’d stand up and start to groove, and you wouldn’t even need a partner, even though one would be fine. When the music penetrates you this way you put your phone down, you stop shooting selfies, you don’t want to impinge upon the experience, you just want to revel in the mood.

Not that a major label is interested in a band like this. They don’t want music, they want hits, they want instant commerciality. Something that just feels right, that might infect the populace and grow upon people…there’s no room for that. And this isn’t smooth, like the Average White Band, but that was fifty years ago itself. This is not a soul revue, this is too many musicians on a small stage playing for the love of it, because believe me, they can’t be making much money.

Maybe you don’t like this. You’ve got to know there are so many people immersed in the punk sound that if there’s more than a couple of guitars and if the singer is not shouting they’re out. Good for them, but most people have broader tastes.

Then again, the world is so broad that most music doesn’t reach most people.

This is the kind of music you want at your Bar Mitzvah party, at your corporate retreat, the kind that makes people move and just feel good.

Once again, “Sushi and Coca-Cola” is not classic, but we haven’t really had this sound since the Commitments thirty plus years ago, and St. Paul & The Broken Bones are more authentic.

So what we’ve got here is a journeyman band. Spreading their sound around the globe. You don’t go to the show to hear the hits, you go to enter a trance, to levitate from this everyday world in a way that music used to specialize in but is hard to find today.

This is basic, this is human. It evidences talent. It’s not about the looks, but the music. Do I expect everybody to glom on on instantly? Hell, this song has been out for a month and doesn’t have significant traction, that’s how hard it is to break through. You’re on your own.

The record business is run by lemmings, but not all the acts are such.

We’re looking for something authentic, that doesn’t say BRAND in bright lights. Something that is basic, that is just music.

Like “Sushi and Coca-Cola.”

Hulu/Disney+ trailer:

I know this show is a year old, but an e-mail put me over the top, I decided to check it out and I highly recommend it, I’d like to think everybody would watch it, but not everybody likes a Holocaust drama and not everybody has Hulu or Disney+.

So… There was a book, back in 2018. A million seller. The attendant hype told us that a woman found out that her relatives were Holocaust survivors and ultimately wrote this thinly fictionalized book. People loved it, not that the highbrow reviewers were on board, but having read so many true stories of that era, I was not up for anything that was made up.

And then last year the miniseries came out. And the initial reviews didn’t resonate, but a relative told me it was great and it would come across my transom now and again, but a couple of weeks back someone I don’t know insisted I watch it and the cumulative effect got me to dive in. And I went down the rabbit hole for eight episodes.

Now this is TV Holocaust. What I mean is in big screen Holocaust dramas it’s all about the look and feel. Figuring if the visuals are right you’ll suspend disbelief and get into it. But at no time are you watching “We Were the Lucky Ones” and not thinking it’s TV. The accents alone…which are far from perfect. And everybody speaks English, unlike in real life. HOWEVER, the emotions…this is about as good a depiction as I’ve seen. What it was like to feel the walls closing in, being hated and abandoned with no options.

You’re going to think this story is too unbelievable to be true, but I was stunned after the fact to find that almost all of it was. When you’re done I point you here for a comparison of the show and reality:

“How Accurate Is ‘We Were the Lucky Ones’? History vs. Hollywood”: https://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/we-were-the-lucky-ones/ 

Watching made me feel more Jewish. Now let me say, it’s a rare friend who is actually a believer, but there are these rituals that we’ve partaken of from youth that we don’t think twice about, but when you see them documented…

I guess in December we’re all implored to please come home for Christmas… Well, Jews are implored to come home for Passover, and Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur too. Over the years memories are built via seders. There are inside jokes, searches for the afikomen, arguments about the afikomen… Little kids trying to substitute wine for grape juice. The Four Questions… Jews have been doing this for millennia.

And the New Year and the Day of Atonement… Funny how so many non-Jews think Hanukkah is a major holiday. Actually, it’s quite minor, but it coincides with Christmas and little kids have gift envy and…I guess it’s another way we’re separate but equal to the rest of the population.

Now I’ve been thinking a lot about the Israel/Gaza conflict and I think it’s different if you’re a boomer as opposed to someone younger. You see we grew up with concentration camp survivors in our communities. With numbers tattooed on their arms. I always wondered how they could march forward, but Benny the butcher did…that’s what he was always referred to as, “Benny the butcher,” that’s what he did, cut meat.

So you’ve got this Jewish family, solidly middle class, with a son studying engineering in Paris, coming home for the High Holy Days, and then he cannot.

Borders close. The Nazis invade.

Where does that leave you?

They take your house, they put you in the ghetto, you lose touch with your family and it’s hard to maintain your optimism.

You can feel the fear. That’s what makes the series so great. Bombs nearby. People disappearing. And seemingly everybody from the Germans to the Russians just following orders. Some escape to Palestine, but most thought it would never come to this, but it did.

There’s a visceral quality that you’ll resonate with if you’re a Jew, certainly a boomer Jew. When you realize your possessions are meaningless. When you see people packing suitcases for no reason. When you see people bribing others just to survive. You’re on your own. And the odds are not good. There were 30,000 Jews in Radom, Poland. A few hundred survived the war.

If you’re a dedicated fan of Israeli TV you’ll recognize Moran Rosenblattt as Herta. She is always good. And Lior Ashkenazi as the patriarch. And even Michael Aloni from “Shtisel” as Selim.

And Robin Weigert, who was so great as Calamity Jane in “Deadwood,” plays the matriarch…she keeps the family together.

But it’s hard to put yourself in their situation and keep your chin up. Luck played a big factor. But in order to survive you also had to break the rules. That’s something in the offing in America, if it gets really bad.

Then again, if you’re Jewish, there’s one place you can go…

Israel.

Especially when people are marching in the U.S. chanting “Globalize the Intifada.”

Watch this.