I've been reading a good book called Record Store Days and it goes into a lot of interesting detail about how Soundscan changed the charts in 1991. It touches on a lot of these same issues of "how to you find out what's actually popular" - before Soundscan the majors were gaming the charts, afterwards, it was discovered that indies had a 20% market share that hadn't previously been accounted for. I'm pretty sure some aggregator algorithm will come along in the next few years that will quantify more of the ephemeral stuff like Youtube views into all-encompassing social media charts that will at least give industry & artists bragging rights (if not the sales of yore).
― sleeve, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 03:45 (thirteen years ago) link
how DO you find out etc.
makes me think of the way grunge supposedly killed hair metal. i'm sure that millions of poison and motley crue fans continued to listen to their favorite poison and motley crue albums, but they were no longer in step with the youth culture they'd once represented. they'd aged out or otherwise been isolated by a cultural shift. if all those fans had kept on buying, the artists in question wouldn't have seen their careers drop off so precipitously. but they didn't, and so the end came suddenly. point is that the interest was probably still there, at least in some circles, but the willingness to buy had evaporated.
I gotta admit, this kinda doesn't make sense to me...why would the hair metal diehards stop dropping cash on albums just bcz MTV started playing Nirvana videos???
― Ned Rag & the Evil Olive Gardens (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 03:56 (thirteen years ago) link
i've gotten emails from this site forever and i've never actually looked at it. but they have a top 50 and you guys like those kinda things:
http://blurt-online.com/features/view/782/#
― scott seward, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 04:11 (thirteen years ago) link
and blurt writers weigh in!
http://blurt-online.com/features/view/780#
is blurt a magazine? or just a webpage. i've never seen it if its a magazine. fred mills used to edit magnet, no? or write for them. does ilxors write for blurt?
― scott seward, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 04:15 (thirteen years ago) link
BY THE BLURT CRÜE
As part of our year-end wrap-up, we first yield the podium to the staffers and writers and their personal picks for 2010. We think we have a pretty diverse and lively crew here at the BLURT ward (it helps that we ply them hourly with tequila and Oxycontin), and their selections reflect a true music aficionado's eclectic ideals. Guarantee: all dialogue reported verbatim. (Go here for Part 2 of the Writers' lists.)
LEE ZIMMERMAN
MIAMI, FL
BLURT CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Top 10 New Releases
Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More (Glassnote)
― Rockcrit from the Tuoms (nakhchivan), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 04:17 (thirteen years ago) link
Worst New ArtistLady Gaga - or should we say, Lady Gag Gag. First of all, m'lady, your name strikes three blows against you before we even proceed to the music. Secondly, The make-up thing and silly props idea was done to death way before you ever came along - by the likes of David Bowie, Madonna, Elton John and even Cher. Give it up - you already seem redundant.
― lyrics is weak ... like clock radio similes (deej), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 04:18 (thirteen years ago) link
i dig some of the blurt writer top tens:
Len Price 3 - Pictures (Wicked Cool)
Christine Ohlman and Rebel Montez - The Deep End (Horizon)
The Jim Jones Revue - Burning Your House Down (Pias)
The 88 - The 88 (88 Records)
The Grip Weeds - Strange Change Machine (Rainbow Quartz)
The Mother Truckers - Van Tour (World Records)
The Sights - Most of What Follows Is True (Alive)
Edward O'Connell - Our Little Secret (Oaf Ramp)
The Greenhornes - Four Stars (Warner Brothers)
Farrah - Farrah (LoJinx)
― scott seward, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 04:19 (thirteen years ago) link
not that i've heard any of those albums...
terry adams is number one! that's pretty hardcore:
MARY LEARY
SAN DIEGO, CA
www.sdentertainer.com/author/mleary/
Terry Adams Rock ‘n' Roll Quartet - Crazy 8's (Clang!)
Robert Wyatt - For the Ghosts Within (Domino)
Lake Street Dive - Lake Street Dive (Signature Sounds)
White Noise Sound - White Noise Sound (Alive Records)
Jaill - That's How We Burn (SubPop)
Kelley Stoltz - To Dreamers (Sub Pop)
Surfer Blood - Astro Coast (Kanine Records)
Dead Confederate - Sugar - (Old Flame)
Unnatural Helpers - Cracked Love and Other Drugs (Hardly Art)
Ty Segall - Help (Goner Records)
― scott seward, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 04:20 (thirteen years ago) link
another gaslight anthem mention at least
― k3vin k., Wednesday, 29 December 2010 04:21 (thirteen years ago) link
this seems to be quite a biggy with the blurt crowd:
Justin Townes Earle - Harlem River Blues (Bloodshot Records)
― scott seward, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 04:22 (thirteen years ago) link
seriously some of these top tens are friggin' cool in some alternate universe way:
The Riot Before (Paper + Plastick)
Bad Religion - The Dissent of Man (Epitaph)
The Posies - Blood/Candy (Ryko)
Jesse Malin - Love it to Life (SideOneDummy)
Off With Their Heads - In Desolation (Epitaph)
The Successful Failures - Three Nights (FDR)
Moneybrother - Real Control (Bladen County)
Ike Reilly - Hard Luck Stories (Rock Ridge)
Flogging Molly - Live at the Greek Theatre (SideOneDummy)
David Ford -Let the Hard Times Roll (Original Signal)
― scott seward, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 04:23 (thirteen years ago) link
the posies! who knew??
― scott seward, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 04:24 (thirteen years ago) link
why would the hair metal diehards stop dropping cash on albums just bcz MTV started playing Nirvana videos???
well, diehards are a tiny portion of the overall buying public. and it's clear that there was a generational shift away from hair metal among pop/rock fans in general. i don't deny that, and that's the sense in which this is a poor analog for what whiney & deej were talking about. but maybe another part of the story is that many hair metal fans just got older, started raising families, stopped participating in a social culture that encouraged the purchase of sleazy party metal albums. it's like not the crue were well equipped to cater to the aging of their existing fanbase.
i don't know that this meant that no one was interested in listening to motley crue anymore. maybe yes, maybe no. what we do know is that no one was interested in paying money out of pocket for new motley crue albums. similar, but not exactly the same thing. they continued to tour profitably for quite some time, iirc.
― contenderizer, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 04:26 (thirteen years ago) link
That Mother Truckers album is pretty good, Scott! It was #109 on my year-end list. (I just checked the thread you started, to make sure.) I liked their previous two albums too, and they are loads of fun live. (Saw them once; they're in Austin.)
Also, that Jimmy Edgar album, #38 on the DJ Magazine list that Matos posted, made my "honorable mentions" list below my Top 150. So I am hip with both the Blurt and DJ Magazine crowd, ha! (I actually used to do a column for Blurt, a few years ago. But then they disappeared, and then came back to life. But I didn't. Or something like that.)
― xhuxk, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 04:31 (thirteen years ago) link
Also, fwiw, plenty of people who used to buy old Bon Jovi albums are still spending money on new Bon Jovi albums (not to mention albums by various Nashville country acts who sound like hair metal bands used to, a few of which have even been known to cover old hair metal songs.)
― xhuxk, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 04:35 (thirteen years ago) link
how long did you do a column for blurt????? did i read any of them? maybe you linked to some. i am easily confused by the internet.
― scott seward, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 04:37 (thirteen years ago) link
Lady Gaga... or should we say, Lady Gag Gag.
http://kimberlyburton.typepad.com/memoirs_of_a_redhead/images/2007/12/15/ist2_4358818_nothing_but_net.jpg
― nog it out with (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 04:38 (thirteen years ago) link
xp Me too. Actually, I did two columns -- one with brief reviews of whatever random new albums I liked that I couldn't land reviews of anywhere else, and one on old indie 7-inches that were in my collection, in alphabetical order. (I even wrote about an old Bunny Brains 45 once!) But I'm pretty sure only the first one ran in the actual magazine; the singles one was only on line.
I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have me anymore, though, seeing how I like Ke$ha so much.
― xhuxk, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 04:41 (thirteen years ago) link
Ke$ha? more liek Ke$hit
― markers, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 04:42 (thirteen years ago) link
"like"
you need to start listening to more posies albums. and go to my morning jacket concerts.
x-post
― scott seward, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 04:44 (thirteen years ago) link
Worst New ArtistI avoid commercial music like the plague, to avoid hearing any. My credo for decades has been, ‘the best music is always in the underground.'
~~~hmmmmm~~~ do i really care what else this guy has to say? sorry, NO
― i genuinely thought when i first joined that he was the admin (ilxor), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 05:03 (thirteen years ago) link
"I avoid commercial music like the plague, to avoid hearing any."
great sentence
― markers, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 05:05 (thirteen years ago) link
that sentence reads like something off of P. Scaruffi's website after the Google Translate...
― Ned Rag & the Evil Olive Gardens (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 05:06 (thirteen years ago) link
My credo for decades has been, ‘the best music is always in the underground.'
Me too! In fact, I am listening to a Skin Yard album from 1986 right this second. Grunge will kill hair metal yet, mark my words.
― xhuxk, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 05:10 (thirteen years ago) link
Paul Blurt: Mall-Punk Cop
― nog it out with (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 05:12 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW55n1JLBUQ&feature=related
― Ned Rag & the Evil Olive Gardens (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 05:20 (thirteen years ago) link
deej? whiney? any more relevant topics you guys wanna beef about?
― Ned Rag & the Evil Olive Gardens (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 05:25 (thirteen years ago) link
It's the "iStock Photo" that makes it.
― slow a cat sample down 800 percent (Matos W.K.), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 05:33 (thirteen years ago) link
i dig the underground too. this is KILLING me tonight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhiRzu8QTkk&feature=related
― scott seward, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 05:36 (thirteen years ago) link
and this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs8fOfwVqyk&feature=related
― scott seward, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 05:50 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CLbkq5UIB4
― scott seward, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 05:52 (thirteen years ago) link
but carry on. sorry.
Silent Ballet is really dragging out their countdown 'til the last minute this year. They're only to 51 of 100! As usual there's at least a couple dozen I haven't heard, and I'm too spent to go digging for them for a couple weeks. Who knew J.G. Thirlwell put out an album? Looks like another good list, even if Ufomammut is at 71. http://www.thesilentballet.com/tsbt/2010/100_91.html
― Fastnbulbous, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 06:23 (thirteen years ago) link
lol @ me being two days out on this but ~rmde~ (omg! omg!) @ deej arguing that gangsta rap is "as popular as ever". hmmmmmmm
― Hyrule's (Lamp), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 06:42 (thirteen years ago) link
i wld totally marry her
― Hyrule's (Lamp), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 06:45 (thirteen years ago) link
oh lol
― Hyrule's (Lamp), Wednesday, December 29, 2010 12:42 AM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
why is that 'lol' and the argument is from earlier today
― lyrics is weak ... like clock radio similes (deej), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 06:52 (thirteen years ago) link
oh sorry misread, why are you *rmde* at that? i think i made a pretty solid case here that sales arent reflective of the popularity of the genre as a whole
― lyrics is weak ... like clock radio similes (deej), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 06:54 (thirteen years ago) link
or are you just trolling per usual
i mean i basically think the music critic line on rappers 'finally' getting over the 'staid' template of gangster rap is pretty much one of the most tiresome conceits of writing from writers who basically fuck with only the 1st rap artist they hear. afaik nonviolent drug offenses still impact an overwhelmingly huge number of black men & this is basically what 'gangster rap' is and has been about. yuppie rap fans trying to turn the genre into a 'post-gangster' 'art form' are imo basically doing the musical equivelent of destroying public housing, watching the poor scatter & then acting like anything has been 'fixed'
― lyrics is weak ... like clock radio similes (deej), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 06:59 (thirteen years ago) link
http://i40.tinypic.com/1zqzvjt.jpg
― BIG SANTA aka the sleighdriver (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 07:03 (thirteen years ago) link
fleeing children otm
― contenderizer, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 07:27 (thirteen years ago) link
http://premiumplusmagazine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/drake-so-far-gone-retail-front1.jpg
― nog it out with (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 07:40 (thirteen years ago) link
hahahahaha
― markers, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 07:52 (thirteen years ago) link
"yuppie rap fans"
1 result (0.09 seconds)
guess the 1 result ; )
― buzza, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 08:14 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsaW5wLHY64
― President Keyes, Wednesday, 29 December 2010 12:52 (thirteen years ago) link
deej i think there's obviously some merit to what you're saying, but you're still overstating your case. fact is gangsta rap was more or less the norm, or one of them, in mainstream rap 10-15 years ago, and the majority of the biggest stars qualified in one sense or another, or were kind of positioned as a much cleaner alternative (Will Smith, Nelly, etc.). now most of the biggest mainstream rappers are either as non-gangsta as possible (Kanye, Drake) or are kind of apologetic reformed ex-gangsta rappers like Jay-Z. only Lil Wayne kinda sorta still flaunts that angle of his music, but he's not nearly as associated w/ it as 50 Cent. a lot of minor and mid-level stars w/ a lot of gangsta content in their music, but nobody near that peak 50/Snoop level no matter how you measure their popularity.
― hann am0n tana (some dude), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 13:02 (thirteen years ago) link