Backspacer being first PJ album to go Platinum since Yield
Do you think Backspacer will sell a million albums in this day and age of illegal downloading and shitty music? What do you think and why? I say yes...the fixer is appealing to a different group of people and the sound of this album seems like it very listener friendly. I feel some old fans will resurface and some young new fans will discover the best band in the world!
bjmac11
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However unless there is a big commercial release on the 20th Backspacer stands a very good chance of debuting at #1.
The last PJ record to do that was No Code!
Not that it matters but it would be nice.
Soundgarden - 1996-10-15
Pearl Jam - 2000-06-30
Fugazi - 2000-10-10
The Mars Volta - 2003-03-24
not many albums do a million anymore.. pearl jam hasn't done it in a long time.
even for the albums they sell.. there best week is the first week... and the decline is huge. Albums used to be able to stay in the top 20 for months/years. Now most rock artists get that first week, and it dwindles from there.
I still wonder if the vs. record for most albums in a week would ever of been broken if they didn't change the math involved (vs. were actual albums sold, they changed the match to albums shipped which is bullcrap).
I'm amused by the person who said it'd be amazing if it went Gold.
Even Riot Act and Binaural have gone gold, and most consider those as their weakest albums, and with the backing of Target on this, I find it hard to believe that it would sell less than Riot Act.
I'd say 300,000 in the first week is a pretty good bet, and if they do get a second radio hit out of this album, it has a chance, a slim one I'll admit, but a chance at Platinum.
Never heard of them...are they supposed to sell better than PJ? What has the world come to? :oops:
2000 Roskilde, 2006 Barcelona, 2007 London, Copenhagen, 2008 New York 1, New York 2, 2009 Berlin, 2010 Dublin, Belfast, 2012 Amsterdam 1, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, 2013 Brooklyn 1, Brooklyn 2, Philly 2, 2014 Milan, Trieste, Berlin, Stockholm, Milton Keynes
EV
2012 Manchester, London 1, London 2
I read somewhere that Self-titled actually sold more than a million worldwide, but only the 700,000-750,000 range in the US.
Force Of Nature and Amongst The Waves both sound like they could be successful singles, very catchy stuff.
Unfortuntaley, it does not matter if they sound good or are catchy. Only hot new artists get anything other than their lead single get pushed on to radio. The last three albums second singles were virtually ignored by radio. Which pisses me off. Life Wasted should have been much bigger. It did not even get played on my local station. And that was coming off WWS which lasted 4 weeks at #1 on the rock charts.
Second singles make a slight dent upon their release, and then they drop off playlists. Even satelite radio dissapoints me with their decisions.
I don't think there's any hard and fast rule on it, it's a case by case situation. As good as Life Wasted is, it's still not what I would consider mainstream rock, the two tracks I mentioned, seem far closer to the more direct and mainstream-friendly Pearl Jam of yesteryear. To my ears, there are two major differences from what I've heard, Ed's vocals sound a lot cleaner than they have on the last few records, and the production sounds a lot crisper and more modern, for the first time in a very long time I don't think PJ sound out of place on the radio.
As much as I love Life Wasted, its another song you have to listen to a few dozen times to appreciate. Same with anything on the last three albums. Backspacer on the other hand seems quite catchy, and less complicated. Ed's vocals are more straight forward. It is after all, a self-decribed pop album. Ed even mentioned in an interview they made this new album less complicated because you needed a special skeleton key to unlock the previous albums.. Save You, also one of my favorite songs, was a bad single idea. Grievance, awesome song, but not for radio. Both songs I had to hear 20 or 30 times before it started to click..
The average non-fan audience needs the song to click after just a few times of hearing it. Thats what the band seems to be accomplishing with Backspacer.
Definitely. I've said it before, but this is their most direct album since Vs. I think a lot of people expected the last album to be the big return to the mainstream, and whilst it got a lot of initial attention, I don't think the songwriting was always strong enough to grab the attention of the casual fan. Even Yield turned out to be a different record than a lot of people were expecting after Given To Fly came out. It was a great record, but it wasn't quite the return to the anthemic early style that GTF hinted at. I'm not saying the new stuff sounds like the old stuff per se, but it does have the same kick to it, and the radio-friendly melodies seem to be back too.
I care only because more record sales equals more shows.
Usually.
Sadly, that may also mean more bandwagon jumpers at the shows, yelling for the one or two songs they know, just like people yell for "Sex On Fire" and "Use Somebody" at Kings Of Leon shows. Then we may never see "No Way" played live...or foxymop.
Agreed. The Fixer is still #2 on Billboard's rock songs after 6 weeks...and I think others could even do better. I do agree that mainstream music stations won't be playin PJ, but rock stations may really be pushin more of these songs than normal, which would make a difference in sales. I could envision the best sales since Yield and this could be my fav since YIELD or No Code. The albums where PJ has went "outside the box" have always been my favs. Some would say all would qualify, but thats my 2 cents.
http://www.billboard.com?bcpid=14441702 ... 7198666001
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