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- Communist China
- Rep: 130
Re: VR - Why the Sophomore Slump?
The label pushed hard enough, but the material wasn't very good. SBQM wasn't a great song, the video sucked, they waitied to long to put out TLF, but really those two are just Slither pt.2 demo and FTP pt.2 demo. They're a lessened version of their hits from CB. And those who bought CB were largely unimpressed with the rest of the songs. So why would you buy Libertad?
Re: VR - Why the Sophomore Slump?
The album is way past the point of being saved. Its been out too long. An artist has to strike while the iron is hot, and the Libertad iron is as cold as a witch's tit.
I try not to put down the album too much since music is subjective, but there was nothing on this album to grab people by the balls. There was no rocker that had summer hit written all over it, and the ballads were very average. Two songs that had potential(Messages and Psycho Killer) weren't even on the album.
Psycho Killer would have been a good 1st single. I could easily see that getting a ton of airplay on VH1.
Like I said, you gotta strike while the iron is hot. GNR is going to have to deal with the same thing. The wrong choice of songs or the wrong choice of a 1st single will kill the record. Society is different now. The attention span of the public is very short. You have to release your best song first.
I agree, I still believe SBQM was a shitty choice, it killed the album, that, and bad single promotion. Though the album was advertised, the record company should have been promoting the single more than anything else just to let people know VR is releasing new material.
Sadly, singles are what sell these days, not full albums, a massive single push would have increased sales.
Re: VR - Why the Sophomore Slump?
Shit for a first single and the delay is what took Libertad out from doing well. SBQM was no where near the level that Slither was and didn't click with it's audience. They left good songs off the album and got rid of Rick Ruben as the producer. The album I think is still a good record and I like it but it was just handled all wrong. If the album hit the target audience that bought Contraband and went to see that tour the sales would have been there. The Boss just sold multiple hundred thousand copies in a week. So artists who aren't really "mainstream" can still sell. I think it wasn't what most of the fans and people who bought the last album were expecting.
- BurningHills
- Rep: 15
Re: VR - Why the Sophomore Slump?
I concur with everyone thing else being said - SBQM was a HORRIBLE choice for a first single. The album was D.O.A.
However, I don't think "Messages" is that great either - and it certainly wouldn't have saved the album. A good tribute song, but not the masterpiece that everyone seems to make it out to be.
Let's not forget, VR also technically had a 4th single during the Contraband era with "Come On, Come In" from the Fantastic Four soundtrack. They were just all over during that time, and a lot people bought into the "Stone Temple Roses" supergroup. The novelty has worn off. Same thing happened with Audioslave.
I predict one more album for VR, and a swan song theater tour, and then Weiland goes back to reform STP, and Slash, Duff and (ugh) Sorum - wait for the phone call from Axl.
Re: VR - Why the Sophomore Slump?
However, I don't think "Messages" is that great either - and it certainly wouldn't have saved the album. A good tribute song, but not the masterpiece that everyone seems to make it out to be.
Its not a masterpiece aspect that makes people notice the song, its the fact its the only song in the post 87-93 era that just screams GNR. When hearing the track, you can easily imagine Axl taking that music and adding his unique stamp to it. Even VR haters all over the web were surprised by the track. Its because it reminds people of the band they all loved.
The song brings up "what if?" scenarios in peoples heads about how old GNR would have turned out, and is probably a reason it wasn't included on the album. It hits a little too close to home.
Instead, they allow possibly their best track to be permanently buried, only to be heard by hardcore fans.
I predict one more album for VR, and a swan song theater tour, and then Weiland goes back to reform STP, and Slash, Duff and (ugh) Sorum - wait for the phone call from Axl.
I agree about one more album, but Slash, Duff, and Sorum definitely wont be waiting for anything. They'll continue what they've done since 93: Create and release music.
Re: VR - Why the Sophomore Slump?
There's going to be a LOT of "wheezing balloons" this decade. The music era we live in is unprecedented. There's a ton of bands in different genres all fighting for the small pie known as people who buy music. Without album sales able to gauge the interest in artists, and the huge tours becoming extinct, everything is upside down. You have huge bands like VR having low sales and little media interest, and artists like MIA getting tons of media attention yet very little record sales. Top sellers are Disney fads and other flavor of the month shit selling a max of 2 or 3 million copies. In 2007 and beyond, you can enter the Billboard top 20 by selling 10,000 copies. Thats insane. At that rate, no band can ever become dominant because they are always being pushed down the totem pole by the next artist to sell ten thousand albums. Its bizarre.
The days of Joe Public walking into a record store and buying several cds are long gone. You are lucky if you can even pay Joe Public to go within a mile of a record store, and if he does, he'll buy one album and its likely something he liked in his youth.
Also, the days of people sitting around talking about the hot new band are over as well. There's too many bands out there for a specific band/artist to gain a real buzz.
The industry is in chaos.
It's surely in a horrible state. Especially when bands that genuinely put effort and talent into making an album, to only have it get outsold by Kid's Bop 11. That shows just how fucked the business is.
