{"id":236,"date":"2005-11-23T09:46:45","date_gmt":"2005-11-23T16:46:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/archives\/2005\/11\/23\/hits-sales-chart-112105\/"},"modified":"2005-11-23T10:58:15","modified_gmt":"2005-11-23T17:58:15","slug":"hits-sales-chart-112105","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2005\/11\/23\/hits-sales-chart-112105\/","title":{"rendered":"Hits Sales Chart-11\/21\/05"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. Madonna Confessions On A Dance Floor"<\/strong>
Warner Brothers<\/p>\n

Sales this week: 344,061
Debut<\/p>\n

Madonna is sleeping well tonight.\u00c2\u00a0 If she’s sleeping at all, if she’s not busy planning her next attack on society.<\/p>\n

On one hand I feel sorry for Madonna.\u00c2\u00a0 Who can SHE talk to?\u00c2\u00a0 Who can understand and relate to HER story?\u00c2\u00a0 I mean at least Bob Dylan can talk to other musicians, they share that bond.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas all Madonna possesses is fame.<\/p>\n

It’s a living movie.\u00c2\u00a0 Woman believes success will solve all her problems.\u00c2\u00a0 But it never does.\u00c2\u00a0 Sean Penn dumped her.\u00c2\u00a0 Dennis Rodman kissed and told.\u00c2\u00a0 Now we’ve got the Kabbalah fiasco.\u00c2\u00a0 Really Madge, what’s the difference between you and the Scientologists, between you and the Evangelical Christians, that you need a book for insight.\u00c2\u00a0 I thought enlightenment came from within.\u00c2\u00a0 But I guess if all you’ve got inside is raw desire, a hunger to let people know you’re better than them, you’ve got to place your faith in something OUTSIDE yourself, because to look inside…<\/p>\n

Maybe Madonna should join a twelve step program.\u00c2\u00a0 I’d like to see her make amends.\u00c2\u00a0 Apologize to all the people she stepped on and ripped off to get to where she is.<\/p>\n

But really, I don’t give a fuck about all that or her music.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just that I’ve got to keep HEARING about it.\u00c2\u00a0 You wonder why the kids have tuned out.\u00c2\u00a0 You see the hype is DEAFENING!\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like the entertainment business is on a scorched earth mission to reach every human being on the planet, to let them know…there’s a new Madonna album out?\u00c2\u00a0 God, if the entertainment business promoted John Kerry, he’d be President now.\u00c2\u00a0 People would know that Iraq had nothing to do with Al Qaeda\/9\/11.\u00c2\u00a0 But in the topsy-turvy world we live in the lives of celebrities and their so-called "work" is important, but education and knowledge of public policy are not.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like the sixties have been eviscerated, everything music stood for is now gone.<\/p>\n

I about puked when I saw Madonna on the cover of "Rolling Stone".\u00c2\u00a0 But read Neil Strauss’ article.\u00c2\u00a0 It goes nowhere, but it does reveal one thing crystal-clearly: Madonna needs to have the biggest dick on the planet.\u00c2\u00a0 Kabbalah shmabbalah, this woman is as enlightened as a turnip, and just about as musically talented.\u00c2\u00a0 Her desperate need to be at the center of the public eye is evidence of how low society has sunk.\u00c2\u00a0 Please, take your money and recede into the sunset.\u00c2\u00a0 But all her money and fame ain’t gonna make her life work, ain’t gonna insure immortality.<\/p>\n

I leave the Michigan queen with the legendary words of the aforementioned Bob Dylan, from "It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)":<\/p>\n

For them that think death’s honesty
Won’t fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely<\/em><\/p>\n

That’s Madonna.\u00c2\u00a0 She thinks her shit doesn’t stink.\u00c2\u00a0 She’s perched herself alone, at the top.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s not a place anybody wants to be.\u00c2\u00a0 The rewards come from being in the pit, with everybody else.<\/p>\n

4. Mariah Carey "The Emancipation Of Mimi"<\/strong>
Island<\/p>\n

Sales this week: 182,873
Percentage change: +370%<\/p>\n

Mariah Carey, the comeback queen of 2005, shocked the industry with her deservedly successful album "The Emancipation of Mimi." (See my 4-star review for my thoughts on the music) It achieved what was considered unthinkable just three years ago: multiplatinum sales and a string of hits for the once-troubled diva. Apparently, that’s not good enough for Universal, the parent company of Mariah’s label. This week, they’ve released two additional editions of "Mimi," and, frankly, neither of them is worth your time and money. The "Ultra Platinum Edition" has four bonus tracks and a DVD featuring the music videos "It’s Like That," "We Belong Together," "Shake it Off," and "Get Your Number." Before I get to the bonus material, I can’t help but wonder why Universal felt the need to release a total of FOUR versions of the same album within one year. It’s part of an unsettling trend in the music industry (forcing fans to pay for the same music at least twice), and it proves just how desperate these labels are for sales. The additional bonus songs include the single "Don’t Forget About Us" and a remix of her Number One hit "We Belong Together." They’re not bad, but why couldn’t these tracks be released separately on an EP? Adding a mere four songs onto previously released material is frankly insulting. As I mentioned before in another review, I have nothing against labels that reissue classic records. But re-releasing a multiplatinum album within months of its release is tacky and it’s an all-too-transparent way to milk a cash cow dry. If you have no version of "Mimi," and you really love Mariah, then this edition is the way to go. But if you already have the original release and you feel the urge to grab this one, then you should follow the advice of one of Mariah’s titles: shake it off.<\/p>\n

And you say the public is stupid.<\/p>\n

This was the review of the album on amazon.com by Addicted To The Groove under the heading "Universal Milks Its Latest Cash Cow Dry".<\/p>\n

Let’s call it a fire sale.<\/p>\n

8. Green Day "Bullet In A Bible"<\/strong>
Reprise<\/p>\n

Sales this week: 96,991
Debut<\/p>\n

The old days live, in a punk band from San Francisco.<\/p>\n

How come Green Day is the only act to put its beliefs on the line.\u00c2\u00a0 No other major act would name its new album this.\u00c2\u00a0 Applaud Green Day.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re the last best hope.\u00c2\u00a0 Madonna may shock us, but she’s got nothing to say.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s what between the ears that counts, not what’s on the outside.<\/p>\n

14. Bruce Springsteen "Born To Run: Anniversary 3-Disc Set"
<\/strong>Columbia<\/p>\n

Sales this week: 58,270
Debut<\/p>\n

How many copies of one CD does one man need?\u00c2\u00a0 Newly-remastered?\u00c2\u00a0 What about my GOLD CD, that you charged so much for.\u00c2\u00a0 Am I supposed to believe that’s just SHITE now?<\/p>\n

And enough with the remastering bullshit.\u00c2\u00a0 CDs sound horrible.\u00c2\u00a0 The sampling rate is just too low.\u00c2\u00a0 And nobody can play SACD and DVD-A.\u00c2\u00a0 Really, if you wanted to impress the cognoscenti, the people who pop for this box, the original album should have been reissued in a half-speed mastered vinyl edition.\u00c2\u00a0 More people have turntables than SACD or DVD-A players and vinyl sounds warm in a way that CDs don’t.<\/p>\n

Shy of that, why not release the DVDs only?\u00c2\u00a0 That’s all the true fan needs.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, they probably will, in a few months, next year, after they’ve ripped off the true fans who MUST own and see the DVDs now.<\/p>\n

When even Bruce Springsteen resorts to ripping off his audience you know the business is in the dumper.\u00c2\u00a0 Bruce, what do you say to all those steelworkers who bought "Born To Run" on CD already, FUCK YOU?<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, let’s just go on record, one of the great things about "Born To Run" WAS the lousy sound.\u00c2\u00a0 It was made to sound like a 45 coming out of an AM car radio speaker in the dash.\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t a crystal clear version an oxymoron?<\/p>\n

20. Santana "All That I Am"<\/strong>
Arista<\/p>\n

Sales this week: 47,742
Percentage change: -32%<\/p>\n

This is nothing that you are Carlos.\u00c2\u00a0 You were a guitar player who took us on astral trips.\u00c2\u00a0 A San Franciscan Moody Blues, if you will.\u00c2\u00a0 "Timothy Leary"?\u00c2\u00a0 Now you’re just another oldster shilling for a buck.\u00c2\u00a0 "Soul Sacrifice" indeed.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve sacrificed yours to Clive Davis.<\/p>\n

This album is tanking.\u00c2\u00a0 Will Clive reach into his bag of tracks and buy a hit track?\u00c2\u00a0 Oops, Elliott Spitzer’s made it harder.\u00c2\u00a0 And now that he’s angling to remove Andy Lack, Clive has got bigger fish to fry.<\/p>\n

Carlos Santana might be making some bucks, but he’s sacrificed his integrity.\u00c2\u00a0 And your integrity is all you’ve got.\u00c2\u00a0 Money can’t buy you fan love or belief.<\/p>\n

24. Neil Diamond "12 Songs"
<\/strong>Columbia<\/p>\n

Sales this week: 43,167
Percentage change: -53%<\/p>\n

12 songs you can’t buy at any price, since Sony recalled all the discs because they compromised computers.\u00c2\u00a0 More evidence that labels don’t care about careers, only the bottom line.\u00c2\u00a0 Look at the 52 acts whose CDs and careers have been compromised.\u00c2\u00a0 Their public is mad at them.\u00c2\u00a0 They look like pansies.\u00c2\u00a0 Even though under the onerous contracts they signed they couldn’t prevent their albums being released in a compromised form.<\/p>\n

This would have never happened thirty five years ago, when the acts had power.<\/p>\n

Wouldn’t have happened twenty five years ago, when Tom Petty refused to have his album released at $8.98, a new high price.\u00c2\u00a0 MCA needed the money, Tom needed his credibility.\u00c2\u00a0 He didn’t want his fans to be guinea pigs.<\/p>\n

Neil Diamond’s comeback has been compromised by some suits completely out of touch with not only the street, but careers.\u00c2\u00a0 And these fucks want a percentage of ROAD business, are you kidding me??<\/p>\n

35. Ashlee Simpson "I Am Me"<\/strong>
Geffen<\/p>\n

Sales this week: 31,522
Percentage change: -17%<\/p>\n

Yes, it’s you, a pathetic loser.<\/p>\n

At least Milli Vanilli is remembered.\u00c2\u00a0 At least its members did a mea culpa.\u00c2\u00a0 When are you going to apologize Ashlee, for being a vapid, ignorant scab on the backside of the entertainment industry?<\/p>\n

In the old days, Ashlee and her dimwitted sister would have been the sideshow, not the main show.\u00c2\u00a0 They’d exist in some "16" ghetto.\u00c2\u00a0 But in today’s train-wreck society, quality is secondary to salability. We’ve had to endure oppressing hype about Ashlee.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve had to see her on SNL TWICE!\u00c2\u00a0 (Then again, I stopped watching again.\u00c2\u00a0 Even Tina Fey is no longer funny.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t they know it’s not about set-up, but punch line?\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t they know the basic rules of comedy?)<\/p>\n

I’m stunned David Geffen hasn’t insisted, like the Nazi in "The Producers", that they remove his name from the label.\u00c2\u00a0 And, Herb and Jerry, I know you have a contractual provision ensuring the moniker A&M continues to exist, but all this does is sully the brand name in the mind of the consumer.\u00c2\u00a0 Let it go.<\/p>\n

37. Alicia Keys "Unplugged"<\/strong>
J Records<\/p>\n

Sales this week: 28,809
Percentage change: -13%<\/p>\n

All that hype, and after a month nobody cares?<\/p>\n

That’s the business.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s one of hit singles.\u00c2\u00a0 No hit, no sales.<\/p>\n

Alicia Keys doesn’t have fans of herself, she has fans of her HITS!<\/p>\n

Actually, who could be a fan of Alicia.\u00c2\u00a0 Always in a different headdress.\u00c2\u00a0 Always existing in a rarified world the rest of us don’t inhabit.\u00c2\u00a0 Aretha Franklin didn’t need outfits, she just stood up on stage and SANG!\u00c2\u00a0 Aretha can still sell out today.\u00c2\u00a0 Alicia Keys in a few years?<\/p>\n

The business has to stop forcing acts down our throats and let acts grow organically.\u00c2\u00a0 WE’VE got to kick the tires and decide where to place our belief, the labels can’t do this for us.\u00c2\u00a0 But that’s what they’re doing.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a circle jerk comprised of the labels, radio and the complicit acts.\u00c2\u00a0 The public’s not involved.\u00c2\u00a0 The public doesn’t believe in Alicia Keys, doesn’t believe in anybody other than a few rappers and those on indies.\u00c2\u00a0 Rap needs the hype, for you can’t break it on the road.\u00c2\u00a0 As for acts not reliant on turntables, TURN THE HYPE DOWN!<\/p>\n

41. Jimmy Buffett "Live At Fenway Park"<\/strong>
Mailboat<\/p>\n

Sales this week: 27,578
Debut<\/p>\n

Make no mistake.\u00c2\u00a0 Jimmy Buffett might be at the bottom of this chart, but he’s making the most MONEY!\u00c2\u00a0 Because he distributes his records himself.\u00c2\u00a0 And takes the lion’s share of the revenue.<\/p>\n

Then again, you can only sell your records yourself if you don’t need the hype, the major label machine.\u00c2\u00a0 You can only get people to buy your albums if they BELIEVE!<\/p>\n

Jimmy Buffett’s big hits are decades in the past.\u00c2\u00a0 But go to see this guy in concert.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s the best party you’ll go to all summer.\u00c2\u00a0 Jimmy’s the anti-Madonna.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s not saying LOOK AT ME, he’s saying I’M WITH YOU!\u00c2\u00a0 We’re going to hang here tonight, laugh, get high and have a good time.\u00c2\u00a0 And, you have such a good time that you’ve got to buy some merch, and you come back next year and buy the endless retread product.<\/p>\n

Jimmy Buffett has built an empire.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not much different from the Eagles’ empire.\u00c2\u00a0 Or Metallica’s.<\/p>\n

You see, it’s about the ACT, not the label.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, these acts have OUTLIVED not only the tenure of the executives who signed them, but the labels THEMSELVES!\u00c2\u00a0 Jimmy was signed to ABC.\u00c2\u00a0 The Eagles were on Asylum.\u00c2\u00a0 Metallica, Elektra.\u00c2\u00a0 They all had incredible managers legendary for beating up the labels, not being in bed with them.\u00c2\u00a0 And isn’t it funny that they still exist.<\/p>\n

Now the businessmen are part of a cartel.\u00c2\u00a0 Including the label execs, the attorneys and the managers.\u00c2\u00a0 THEY continue to exist, and the acts are gone.\u00c2\u00a0 Last time I checked I thought these people were supposed to be IN SERVICE to the acts.\u00c2\u00a0 Ain’t that a joke.<\/p>\n

42. Alanis Morissette "The Collection"<\/strong>
Maverick\/Reprise<\/p>\n

Sales this week: 27,187
Debut<\/p>\n

How many times can the same tracks be repackaged?<\/p>\n

Who’s buying this, ZOMBIES?\u00c2\u00a0 Do they not realize they already own it three times?\u00c2\u00a0 Assuming, of course, they continued to buy Alanis’ records.<\/p>\n

Really, you only need the first.<\/p>\n

But they re-released that ALREADY this year, albeit in an acoustic form.<\/p>\n

Alanis got freaked out by her success.\u00c2\u00a0 And then she got happy.\u00c2\u00a0 She lost her raison d’etre.\u00c2\u00a0 She’s got nothing to sing about anymore.\u00c2\u00a0 Until she gets divorced, I say we enforce a recording embargo.<\/p>\n

46. Blink-182 "Greatest Hits"<\/strong>
Geffen<\/p>\n

Sales this week: 24,002
Percentage change: -29%<\/p>\n

See Jimmy Buffett above.\u00c2\u00a0 Only a handful of years later, no one cares about this MTV band that used to sell out arenas.\u00c2\u00a0 Shit, who wants to admit to liking these guys.<\/p>\n

Oh, they weren’t great to begin with.\u00c2\u00a0 But isn’t it funny how nobody wants the sensation of just a few years ago, the Spice Girls aren’t selling any albums and the Backstreet Boys don’t mean much, yet acts with even less success from DECADES ago still sell records?<\/p>\n

No one needs these greatest hits albums anyway.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve just downloaded the tracks they need P2P.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Can you see the cliff?\u00c2\u00a0 At the edge of the horizon?\u00c2\u00a0 This is going to be one of the worst Christmases of all time.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s no HIT PRODUCT!\u00c2\u00a0 Would you buy this shit?\u00c2\u00a0 I got e-mail from Bob Welch and he put reality into words.\u00c2\u00a0 You used to rely on the major label to weed through the shit, to find the best of the pack.\u00c2\u00a0 Now you know if it’s on a major label it’s shit.\u00c2\u00a0 Really, there’s some great music out there.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just that it hasn’t been hyped by million dollar campaigns.\u00c2\u00a0 Sold out to Madison Avenue.<\/p>\n

Indies are like cable channels.\u00c2\u00a0 They play to niches.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what the business has become, one of a million small fan bases.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet the major labels still continue to search for the lowest common denominator.\u00c2\u00a0 Stuff that is so bland it will offend NOBODY!<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, compare the above chart with that of CIMS (Coalition of Independent Music Stores).\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t see My Morning Jacket or Sun Kil Moon or Imogen Heap or Iron & Wine or Broken Social Scene in the HITS chart, but at indie stores, where real music fans shop, where records are still hand sold by knowledgeable people, real music flourishes, these are Top Fifty acts.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet, the majors have fucked these indie stores every step of the way.\u00c2\u00a0 Selling their wares to the big boxes at below indie store wholesale.\u00c2\u00a0 The labels are always crying about the state of affairs they’re in, saying it’s not their fault.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s their incredible missteps and heinous behavior that accounts for their sales tanking.\u00c2\u00a0 They put indie retailers out of business.\u00c2\u00a0 They only focused on instant sales.\u00c2\u00a0 They didn’t worry about touching souls, rather just quarterly revenue.\u00c2\u00a0 And they’re paying the price.<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. Madonna Confessions On A Dance Floor"Warner Brothers Sales this week: 344,061Debut Madonna is sleeping well tonight.\u00c2\u00a0 If she’s sleeping at all, if she’s not busy planning her next attack on society. On one hand I feel sorry for Madonna.\u00c2\u00a0 Who can SHE talk to?\u00c2\u00a0 Who can understand and relate to HER story?\u00c2\u00a0 I mean […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-3O","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}