{"id":50,"date":"2005-06-15T16:34:59","date_gmt":"2005-06-15T23:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/archives\/2005\/06\/15\/hits-sales-chart-61305\/"},"modified":"2005-06-15T16:37:07","modified_gmt":"2005-06-15T23:37:07","slug":"hits-sales-chart-61305","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2005\/06\/15\/hits-sales-chart-61305\/","title":{"rendered":"Hits Sales Chart-6\/13\/05"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. Coldplay "X& Y"
<\/strong>Capitol
Sales this week: 740,331
Debut<\/p>\n

Enough with the circle jerk.\u00c2\u00a0 This is what’s WRONG with the music business today.\u00c2\u00a0 When cocktail music made for people whose hormones are no longer raging is trumpeted as quality reincarnate.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s nothing wrong with Coldplay, hell, I can even tolerate Chris Martin’s whining…it’s just that there’s not a whole hell of a lot RIGHT!\u00c2\u00a0 "X & Y" is so boring that even the fans on AMAZON are complaining, and that’s a fawning bunch.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather than break the mold and surprise us, do something DIFFERENT, Coldplay has just released 12 new tracks cut from the OLD mold.\u00c2\u00a0 This is not artistry, it’s COMMERCE!\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, I’m sure that the band would disagree with me, but WHO CARES!!!\u00c2\u00a0 These navel-gazers have NO IDEA what great art\/genius is.\u00c2\u00a0 Bottom line: A casual music fan, the one the business needs to get reinvested in order for the numbers to work, hears this, sees it being trumpeted as the best music out there and rolls over and watches television for another year, discounting music completely.\u00c2\u00a0 The scene is vibrant, SALES are vibrant, when music is cutting edge, when it’s new, and different, even CHALLENGING!\u00c2\u00a0 Movie ticket sales have tanked because they’re turning out pabulum.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s the same deal with the record business.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather than using the film paradigm of hyping bland crap to high hell labels would be better off signing something adventurous, letting it percolate, have the casual fans find out about it from FRIENDS instead of the media.\u00c2\u00a0 But labels don’t have that kind of patience…didn’t EMI’s stock price tank when "X&Y"’s release date slipped??<\/p>\n

2. The Black Eyed Peas "Monkey Business"<\/strong>
A&M Interscope
Sales this week: 295,036
Debut<\/p>\n

Hip-hop for Republicans.\u00c2\u00a0 The rap equivalent of Up With People.\u00c2\u00a0 This music is so meaningless and inoffensive as to be safe for three year olds.\u00c2\u00a0 And will be completely forgotten before the fans of this record graduate from middle school.<\/p>\n

3. The White Stripes "Get Behind Me Satan"
<\/strong>Third Man\/V2
Sales this week: 171,348
Debut<\/p>\n

Even the BEATLES ditched the suits.\u00c2\u00a0 ENOUGH WITH THE OUTFITS already Jack.\u00c2\u00a0 And while you’re at it, can you stop dating actress\/models too?\u00c2\u00a0 Only distracts from your music…then again, maybe that’s the point.<\/p>\n

Yes, he’s got a good sound.\u00c2\u00a0 And he’s trying to make cutting edge music, with one foot in the future and one foot in the past.\u00c2\u00a0 And I laud him for this.\u00c2\u00a0 But could he write some memorable TUNES???<\/p>\n

Just because you jaded fucks over forty still wearing black need something to believe in that doesn’t make this album good.<\/p>\n

5. Mariah Carey "The Emancipation Of Mimi"<\/strong>
Island\/IDJ
Sales this week: 151,492
Percentage change: -8%<\/p>\n

I guess Mimi’s lucky, Tom Cruise is now the national joke.\u00c2\u00a0 Still, couldn’t ANYBODY in the mainstream press beat her up for the title of this album and her permanently stuck in adolescence mentality?<\/p>\n

Still, one has to give credit to L.A. Reid.<\/p>\n

Think about it, BMG squeezes this guy out.\u00c2\u00a0 I mean if someone’s spending too much, you bring in ACCOUNTANT, you don’t FIRE HIM if he’s selling records.\u00c2\u00a0 And EMI…you really have that much confidence in your A&R staff, that you couldn’t turn this woman’s career around?<\/p>\n

Still, if I’m on the sidelines, and Mariah Carey has a hit in 2005, with the same kind of meaningless crap she was singing in 1990, I’m keeping my fingers on the Xbox controller, even if she takes off her clothes in her next video, makes a porn tape, I DON’T CARE!!!<\/p>\n

6. System Of A Down "Mezmerize"<\/strong>
American\/Columbia
Sales this week: 86,415
Percentage change: -26%<\/p>\n

Love their politics.\u00c2\u00a0 Love that they’re into it.\u00c2\u00a0 Love that it has meaning.\u00c2\u00a0 Love that they developed over years.\u00c2\u00a0 Just don’t love the music.\u00c2\u00a0 Not a mainstream band.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, mainstream sales, here at number 6 on the chart, but that is just indicative of how the mainstream audience has TUNED OUT!<\/p>\n

7. Gwen Stefani "Love, Angel, Music, Baby"<\/strong>
Interscope
Sales this week: 70,267
Percentage change: -15%<\/p>\n

Will somebody please hollaback that she’s not that good-looking, that she doesn’t have that great a voice, and that her music isn’t that memorable?\u00c2\u00a0 God, any given Top Ten hit of the sixties was better than ANYTHING she’s ever done solo or with No Doubt save maybe "Don’t Speak".<\/p>\n

Really, the emperor has no clothes here.\u00c2\u00a0 One could believe in Diana Ross and I can make an argument that even the hated MELANIE made better music, so to hold up Gwen Stefani as the poster girl of a successful music industry is just laughable.<\/p>\n

9. Audioslave "Out Of Exile"<\/strong>
Interscope\/Epic
Sales this week: 65,737
Percentage change: -33%<\/p>\n

Change the fucking name.<\/p>\n

Some of my peeps tell me this record is actually good.\u00c2\u00a0 But I can only see this band as less than the sum of its parts.\u00c2\u00a0 You take a cutting edge band, Rage Against The Machine, and extract the lyrical edge, and you take the lead singer of an adventurous grunge metal band, Soundgarden, and excise all the musical limit-testing, and you end up with just another bland rock band?\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t get it.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t care what ANYBODY says, this is about banking, not music.\u00c2\u00a0 Tom Morello was done without Zach de la Rocha, and Chris Cornell truly WAS done.\u00c2\u00a0 The reason we believe in bands is THEY’RE NOT LIKE US, they’re not playing it SAFE, they’re RISKING!\u00c2\u00a0 There’s no risk involved here.<\/p>\n

12. Dave Matthews Band "Stand Up"
<\/strong>RCA\/RMG
Sales this week: 60,599
Percentage change: -19%<\/p>\n

Makes you wish they’d work with Glen Ballard again.\u00c2\u00a0 This album isn’t quite unlistenable, but you never want to hear it again.\u00c2\u00a0 They should AT LEAST make peace with Steve Lillywhite and work with him again.\u00c2\u00a0 I mean if Roger Waters and Dave Gilmour can make up…<\/p>\n

16. Keith Urban "Be Here"<\/strong>
Capitol Nashville
Sales this week: 44,410
Percentage change: +13%<\/p>\n

The business got fucked up when the power shifted from the managers to the labels.\u00c2\u00a0 Used to be the manager was the quarterback, he devised the plan, and he worked with the label to EXECUTE it.<\/p>\n

Today the label thinks the manager is superfluous, a pain in the ass they must take the phone calls of and say no to.<\/p>\n

To tell you the truth, I had no idea who Keith Urban was.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, I was aware of the NAME, but just laughed on the inside that a country guy had a hip-hop moniker.\u00c2\u00a0 Little did I know that he was an AUSTRALIAN country artist!<\/p>\n

But then I went to lunch with Gary Borman who not only told me the BACK STORY, but the plan.<\/p>\n

Now this isn’t the first time I’ve been hyped by a manager.\u00c2\u00a0 Not that Gary’s a hypester.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just that it’s the BUSINESS of managers to be excited and sell.\u00c2\u00a0 But, after our conversation, I started to notice, Keith’s name began cropping up everywhere, everything Gary told me happened.<\/p>\n

These acts are not built on luck.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re built on hard work and VISION!\u00c2\u00a0 Nurture and you get results.<\/p>\n

21. Weezer "Make Believe"<\/strong>
Geffen
Sales this week: 39,518
Percentage change: -13%<\/p>\n

If only Jordan Schur paid as much attention to THIS band instead of Ashlee Simpson, maybe the record would be a bit better.<\/p>\n

Then again, can you tell Rivers Cuomo what to do?<\/p>\n

This guy is not likable.\u00c2\u00a0 And it’s only when his music is great that we grant him a pass.\u00c2\u00a0 This is not a great album, nobody wants to help him out, it’s gonna sink.<\/p>\n

22. Gorillaz "Demon Days"<\/strong>
Virgin
Sales this week: 39,179
Percentage change: -27%<\/p>\n

And now you know why you should never believe the mainstream press when it comes to music reporting.\u00c2\u00a0 Not a fucking thing, not their take on P2P, not their take on sales, because you see major media just doesn’t give a fuck about the music business, and as a result will print any lame crap the labels feed them.\u00c2\u00a0 If I were writing for the "New York Times" or "Wall Street Journal" I would have EXPLODED when EMI said it missed its numbers because of the Gorillaz album (they cited this and the Coldplay record).\u00c2\u00a0 If you don’t look critically at the MUSIC then you’re just not paying attention.\u00c2\u00a0 The Gorillaz have no fans, hell, they only made one album and they’re a cartoon!!!\u00c2\u00a0 Great music can triumph, but there’s no momentum anymore, with the audience being sold too much crap and able to preview new records on the Web.<\/p>\n

23. Green Day "American Idiot"<\/strong>
Reprise
Sales this week: 38,179
Percentage change: -6%<\/p>\n

Quite possibly the only real record on this chart.<\/p>\n

Interesting…it’s a band that’s been around in excess of ten years.\u00c2\u00a0 How long did the Spice Girls last?\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t Britney basically retired?<\/p>\n

Rather than play it safe to extend its career, the band threw the long ball into uncharted territory, BEYOND the end zone, and it’s THIS that the audience is resonating with.\u00c2\u00a0 Green Day are like the musicians of yore. They say what they want and do what they want.\u00c2\u00a0 We call these people ROCK STARS!<\/p>\n

Gwen Stefani’s not a rock star.\u00c2\u00a0 And neither is Chris Martin.<\/p>\n

Charisma is something that’s innate.\u00c2\u00a0 You can feel it in a person’s presence.\u00c2\u00a0 They march to the beat of a different drummer.\u00c2\u00a0 They don’t want to get along, they want to FUCK THINGS UP!\u00c2\u00a0 "Safe" is not in their vocabulary.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re willing to risk IT ALL, based on what their heart tells them to do.<\/p>\n

Green Day is a real band.\u00c2\u00a0 If there were more Green Days, the music business would be too busy reaping revenues to complain about piracy.<\/p>\n

And evidence is not solely album sales, it’s the hottest ticket out there.\u00c2\u00a0 Being sold on TODAY, not nostalgia, like U2.\u00c2\u00a0 (AND, at an affordable\/non-rip-off price!)<\/p>\n

Kudos to the band, the label, EVERYBODY INVOLVED!!!<\/p>\n

NOT ON THE CHART<\/p>\n

U2 "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Great music sells forever.\u00c2\u00a0 Just ask Pink Floyd.\u00c2\u00a0 "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb" is overhyped overheated mediocrity.\u00c2\u00a0 Just one element in a giant campaign to solidify the band’s title as the world’s greatest living rock band (forget it Stones, you relinquished the title LONG ago).\u00c2\u00a0 If only the band had experimented, not even booked a tour, not made a deal with Steve Jobs, played the role of MUSICIANS rather than STARS, I’d care.\u00c2\u00a0 And other people would too.\u00c2\u00a0 Just because you sell a lot of records up front on MANIA that doesn’t mean a record is good.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, if "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb" were really great, like Green Day, urban-oriented Top Forty radio would have played it.\u00c2\u00a0 But they didn’t.\u00c2\u00a0 BECAUSE IT JUST WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH!!!<\/p>\n

CONCLUSION<\/p>\n

Yes, I’m negative.\u00c2\u00a0 DON’T tell me to be positive.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what’s wrong with our country, everybody’s an unquestioning beaming idiot, more concerned with the inane life of an accused pedophile than life and death not only in Iraq, but Africa.\u00c2\u00a0 If you don’t question, if you don’t investigate before you believe, then you got a bad education.\u00c2\u00a0 Education isn’t about learning facts, but acquiring the ability to ANALYZE!<\/p>\n

Bottom line, the mainstream music business is in the shitter.\u00c2\u00a0 If you look at the Top Fifty chart from fifteen years ago, never mind twenty or THIRTY years ago, you’d see albums that still sell today, made by acts that you’d STILL pay good money to see.\u00c2\u00a0 Most of the acts on today’s chart are truly evanescent, they’re here today and will be gone tomorrow.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re meaningless, they’re marketing exercises, they’ve got no soul.\u00c2\u00a0 When the media hype of the week, Coldplay, can’t even sell out two Verizon Wireless Amphitheatres in Irvine, and is doing less than sell-out business everywhere but the coasts, you KNOW there’s something wrong with the paradigm.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, even STEVE MILLER, who hasn’t even RELEASED a record in over a decade, never mind had a hit, can do strong business throughout the country.<\/p>\n

It’s an indie business.\u00c2\u00a0 Because that’s the only place where there are acts people can believe in.\u00c2\u00a0 Because these acts are doing it from their hearts, worried about their fans, not the record company, REFUSING to sell out at any cost.\u00c2\u00a0 The Arcade Fire has been trumpeted again and again, but their story is important.\u00c2\u00a0 By not chasing every last dollar by smiling at Katie Couric and doing their own reality show, they’ve retained their DIGNITY, they’re seen as MUSICIANS, not stars.\u00c2\u00a0 And there’s a difference.\u00c2\u00a0 You earn the first, the second is a coronation after the fact.\u00c2\u00a0 Just because you can get news coverage that doesn’t mean you’re gonna have a career, your record is gonna stick.\u00c2\u00a0 Last time I checked, Tonya Harding wasn’t in the news and CERTAINLY wasn’t raking in the dough.\u00c2\u00a0 In today’s global village all publicity IS NOT good publicity, it’s very easy to burn the franchise out, acts must be MANAGED!\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, as stated earlier, this does not comport with the major label short term mentality.<\/p>\n

Music is healthy.\u00c2\u00a0 Fans know it.\u00c2\u00a0 Small shows sell out.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just the big time business that is dying.\u00c2\u00a0 And it’s not about P2P, it’s about lame music performed by soulless acts.\u00c2\u00a0 You may not want to admit it, but it’s just that simple.<\/p>\n

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1. Coldplay "X& Y"CapitolSales this week: 740,331Debut Enough with the circle jerk.\u00c2\u00a0 This is what’s WRONG with the music business today.\u00c2\u00a0 When cocktail music made for people whose hormones are no longer raging is trumpeted as quality reincarnate.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s nothing wrong with Coldplay, hell, I can even tolerate Chris Martin’s whining…it’s just that there’s not […]<\/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":[2,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business","category-the-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-O","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50","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=50"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}