Every huge artist has their "New Jersey" - a huge event album that ultimately feels a bit hollow & signals a career decline

I'm not so convinced SFIJ belongs here - it's just a slumping sophomore album, right? Strong first-week sales on momentum, then completely dropped off the radar.

Before These Crowded Streets MAYbe, although I maintain Crash is their NJ.

the correct title is "Don't Drink The WatEEYAEEYAYEEER"

Crash is definitely their Slippery When Wet, easily their biggest album

Yeah, I was the first to say SFIJ but now I'm doubtful it's really a good example. If memory serves, nobody thought Alanis was poised to become a permanent megastar.

xpost No wayyyyy dude, Under The Table and Dreaming is that. Sold a little less but it's easily the catalog choice for them, and "What Would You Say?" and "Ants Marching" are the long-term radio staples in my experience. Which I'll grant is striking given that the Crash singles generally did way better on release. But that's a New Jersey for you!

But I think I've got a good one: Boston, THIRD STAGE. The return of Boston after the long hiatus was a big deal, to the point that I went to the record store and bought this the day it came out. Sold 4 million and topped the album charts; the lead single, "Amanda," was their only #1! But nowadays Boston is pretty much just thought of as the '70s records, right? I mean, I can still hum "Amanda," and "Cool The Engines" too, but I don't think anybody else can.

good call

xpost No wayyyyy dude, Under The Table and Dreaming is that. Sold a little less but it's easily the catalog choice for them, and "What Would You Say?" and "Ants Marching" are the long-term radio staples in my experience. Which I'll grant is striking given that the Crash singles generally did way better on release. But that's a New Jersey for you!

― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, August 8, 2012 11:05 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

dude, on Spotify's most popular DMB tracks there are four Crash tracks before the most listened to Under The Table track

Third Stage sounds legit to me too.

Elvis Telecom brought up For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge but Van Hagar probably have like three of these records. Consider their Mainstream Rock top-tenners:

Why Can't This Be Love (#1)
Dreams (#6)
Love Walks In (#4)
Black and Blue (#1)
When It's Love (#1) (also Hot 100 #5!)
Finish What Ya Started (#2)
Feels So Good (#6)
Poundcake (#1)
Runaround (#1)
Top of the World (#1)
The Dream Is Over (#7) (lol)
Right Now (#2)
Won't Get Fooled Again (#1)
Don't Tell Me (What Love Can Do) (#1)
Can't Stop Lovin' You (#2)
Amsterdam (#9)

"Why Can't This Be Love" is the only one of those I ever hear. As Wiki succinctly puts it:

Although the four studio albums produced during this period reached No. 1 on the Billboard pop music charts and 17 singles breached the top 12 of the mainstream rock tracks chart, overall sales showed a marked decline with each release selling less than its predecessor.

Like, you open any karaoke binder and like 3/4 of the Van Halen songs are shit you can't remember and that they never play anymore. These guys spent the majority of their career deep in New Jersey.

huh, wow, okay, I may be wrong about the Crash material's staying power then.

so here's my question, what's the BIGGEST SELLING "New Jersey"? Is it "New Jersey"? It's 7 times platinum US, 18m sold worldwide.

While Michael Jackson's Dangerous is his NJ if he has one, I necessarily want to argue he does. but does anything else on these lists count as one? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_worldwide
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_in_the_United_States

haha i mean i DON'T necessarily want to argue he has one

ha wait forgot about backstreet's black & blue that beats it

8m Us, 24m worldwide

Black and Blue Jersey.

I'm guessing ABBA had a New Jersey but I don't know enough about them to say...anyone?

in the US they barely had a 7800 Fahrenheit.

hey, what about the Bee Gee's Spirits Having Flown? Only registered as platinum in the US but 35 million sold world-wide with three #1 hits you don't hear anywhere as much as the Saturday Night Fever stuff.

the Garth Brooks album Sevens I mentioned yesterday was 10x platinum

but no fences was 17X and ropin' the wind was 14X

btw has their ever been an artist that sold THAT MANY records and just dominated his genre that's been as forgotten as quickly as garth brooks?

maybe Hammer/Vanilla Ice but yeah

Garth Brooks is the New Jersey of artists

except that he does get played on country radio still, at least "Thunder Rolls" & "Friends in Low Places" & "Two of a Kind"

"That Summer" is a jam

he's still played in country stations here. He'd seem less ephemeral if he kept recording music.

garth brooks hasn't really been forgotten has he? He just semi-retired. Dude had a song debut at #1 on the country chart in 2007 from a hits comp. He also got to sing at the Obama inauguration.

maybe Hammer/Vanilla Ice but yeah

― some dude, Wednesday, August 8, 2012 10:51 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah i guess hammer even more so....he's more comparable to garth because he had multiple successful albums....vanilla ice was destined to be more of a one hit wonder and those guys can't really new jersey by definition.

Sly & The Family Stone - Fresh

^ that's the kind of album where i get the logic but you're really going to have a hard time getting everyone to agree it "ultimately feels a bit hollow"

the country station i listen to NEVER plays garth but they don't seem to play much in the way of '90s recurrents in general

though there's something different about Garth's ephemerality: while I hear e.g. John Anderson & Trisha Yearwood on country radio still, it's because those songs resonate; whereas Garth's songs rarely did (the quality that pushed his sales so high, paradoxically)

i guess i base it mostly off my sister and bro-in-law who have always been big fans of pop country etc....they were big garth fans but never seem to listen to him now...kenny chesney kinda captured that crowd, they just went to see him in concert a month ago w/tim mcgraw opening

if Garth put out a new album today it would sell millions

yeah, it's not like garth is running around trying to woo them though, unlike hammer and vanilla ice

ugh my sister adores Chesney.

"it's because those songs resonate; whereas Garth's songs rarely did (the quality that pushed his sales so high, paradoxically)" what does this even mean

if Garth put out a new album today it would sell millions

― Listen to this, dad (President Keyes), Wednesday, August 8, 2012 11:59 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

no way

it would sell millions if garth did the media blitzkrieg he was a god at and could still swing on a rope over a stadium, but if he just plopped something out from his castle and ran away yeah it wouldn't work

Wait, Garth Brooks is country royalty! Pretty sure a lot of those albums have never left people's disc-changers, let alone gotten sold back to the store or forgotten about. But I haven't followed his career with any attention at all so there could be one that's thought of as more of a dud, I guess.

Spirits Having Flown is a total New Jersey.

just saying songs like "Rodeo" or "Papa Loved Mama" don't tell great stories & so what's appealing about them is that everyone else likes the songs, not that you like the song

I dunno, maybe it's bullshit

yeah that's crack talk, sorry

Garth's crack

you can turn on a country radio station right now and you have a pretty good chance of hearing a Garth song within an hour

xpost to da croupier

I wouldn't say 'hollow', necessarily, but I doubt that many would argue that it was a step down from Riot and a sign that the Sly magic was starting to wear off (although you could easily argue that Riot, genius as it is, was a surefire indicator of an impending slide).

That it wasn't a step down, I mean.

i said i got the logic! it's just harder to play this game with critical deities because people aren't as likely to concede the affair was weak

he dropped a double CD of hits everyone already had in 2007 and it went 5X platinum

alright I'm gonna listen to K102, Minnesota's Rockin' Country right now and on I Heart Radio and see if I hear Garth Brooks song

ok first up, some toolbox named Luke Bryan who says kiss tomorrow goodbye

"Drunk On You" is good!