Can album singles be miss leading?

[Tish-the-Scorpion]

the reason why i asked is because i remember when a artist named dionne farris who use to be an exstended member of the hip-hop group arrested developmemnt,camed out with her own album.and she had a hit song called i know.the album was called wild seed---wild flower.the song "i know" was verry pop rock like.people baught her album expecting more of the same.but the album was a mixture of delta blues,soul,folk,and hip-hop in addition to rock.

so i'm wondering is it always a wise choice to release a radio friendly song when it doesn't represent the rest of the album??

[Spike-X]

If it results in more sales, I'm sure the suits at the record companies would consider it a wise choice.

I wonder what teh housewives who bought Extreme's second album on the stength of More Than Words though when they put the CD on and Decadence Dance came blasting out of the speakers?

[Tish-the-Scorpion]

If it results in more sales, I'm sure the suits at the record companies would consider it a wise choice.


i think that'll back fire in the long run,once word of mouth spreads.in fact i think thats what killed dionne's album it started out strong then stalled on the charts.

[DDM]

I wonder what teh housewives who bought Extreme's second album on the stength of More Than Words though when they put the CD on and Decadence Dance came blasting out of the speakers?

Extreme did not last as a group because they came to prominence with "More Than Words" & "Hole Hearted" which are dichotomies on their album, Pornograffiti. Heck, "Hole Hearted" is a bonus track which became a big hit. The rest of the album sounds nothing like these songs. Therefore, Extreme's audience left them...

This is what happens when a new band hits it big too much too fast without building a devoted audience.

[Aggie]

the reason why i asked is because i remember when a artist named dionne farris who use to be an exstended member of the hip-hop group arrested developmemnt,camed out with her own album.and she had a hit song called i know.the album was called wild seed---wild flower.the song "i know" was verry pop rock like.people baught her album expecting more of the same.but the album was a mixture of delta blues,soul,folk,and hip-hop in addition to rock.

so i'm wondering is it always a wise choice to release a radio friendly song when it doesn't represent the rest of the album??

i thought i was the only one who bought that one...:D

i think that's pretty much how the biz goes...i think it also has a lot to do w/ when the album is released too...summer time is key period for pop albums...and you have to open w/ something that it beat heavy and make you want to get up and shake your ass...i think the best example of this is "the emancipation of mimi"...people were all over that all summer long...the question always is...is there enough to back up the first cut ??...sometimes yes, sometimes no...i happen to dig that album by the way...i love that cover of "black bird"...

[Athena Bast]

If it results in more sales, I'm sure the suits at the record companies would consider it a wise choice.

I wonder what teh housewives who bought Extreme's second album on the stength of More Than Words though when they put the CD on and Decadence Dance came blasting out of the speakers?

Prolly the same ones who bought Sugar Ray's "Floored" expecting lots of "Fly" but getting much more "RPM".

Crazy Town's "Butterfly" from "The Gift of Game".

[blackdragon6]

I wonder what teh housewives who bought Extreme's second album on the stength of More Than Words though when they put the CD on and Decadence Dance came blasting out of the speakers?
reminds me of what happened to digable planets sophmore album "blowout comb".people were expecting this cool accessible album like their first.but what they got instead was a more "afrocentric" album.


i thought i was the only one who bought that one...:D

i think that's pretty much how the biz goes...i think it also has a lot to do w/ when the album is released too...summer time is key period for pop albums...and you have to open w/ something that it beat heavy and make you want to get up and shake your ass...i think the best example of this is "the emancipation of mimi"...people were all over that all summer long...the question always is...is there enough to back up the first cut ??...sometimes yes, sometimes no...i happen to dig that album by the way...i love that cover of "black bird"...my sister had her album.she won it off of a radio station i belive.at the time i know was the only song i liked,but the rest of the album grew on me.

BTW its strange when you ask black people who dionne farris is they'll automatically think of the song hopeless from the love jones sound track,ask a white person they think of "i know" lol

[KenK]

Prolly the same ones who bought Sugar Ray's "Floored" expecting lots of "Fly" but getting much more "RPM".

Crazy Town's "Butterfly" from "The Gift of Game".

Shit, I bought Gift of Game off the strength of Butterfly, and very much enjoyed the rampant mysogony and degenerate macho postering.

[Aggie]

reminds me of what happened to digable planets sophmore album "blowout comb".people were expecting this cool accessible album like their first.but what they got instead was a more...


i was just thinking about that earlier today...what ever happened to them??...

[Athena Bast]

Shit, I bought Gift of Game off the strength of Butterfly, and very much enjoyed the rampant mysogony and degenerate macho postering.

Same here. I was sitting here thinking.. what's the name of the damn album.. i have the damn thing.. what is it?

[Tish-the-Scorpion]

i was just thinking about that earlier today...what ever happened to them??...
like dragon said their tone changed,and they became more militant,and afrocetric.keep in mind their core audience was white.i'm asuming thats what turned them off.but acording to wikipedia they have reunited as of 2005.

[Aggie]

like dragon said their tone changed,and they became more militant,and afrocetric.keep in mind their core audience was white.i'm asuming thats what turned them off.but acording to wikipedia they have reunited as of 2005.

pity...that "cool like that" single was hot...nothing is ever the same after a group spends a lot of time away from each other...that magic some how isn't there anymore...

[Adam C]

the song "i know" was verry pop rock like.people baught her album expecting more of the same.but the album was a mixture of delta blues,soul,folk,and hip-hop in addition to rock.

so i'm wondering is it always a wise choice to release a radio friendly song when it doesn't represent the rest of the album??

Based on your description of the album alone, it sounds like a somewhat difficult feat to do if the album style-hops. I certainly wouldn't know what constituted a "representative" single for albums like Sandinista! and the White Album.

[G. Wayne]

...
so i'm wondering is it always a wise choice to release a radio friendly song when it doesn't represent the rest of the album??

Wise, no. Profitable, likely.

On a much more unknown note, I picked up Sunna's One Minute Science years ago on the strength of the song Power Trip, which is an awesome industrial rock song. I forget where I even heard it first, but Power Trip got notice on the Hollow Man soundtrack. Hoooowwweeever, the rest of the album is like crappy low key nigh ambient folk music. One Minute Science is one of the like 5 albums I've gotten rid of, ever.

[bert]

Same thing happened w/ Berlin:

they picked up LOTS of fans on the strength of "Take My Breath Away". . which turned out to be the only thing even CLOSE to a ballad on the CD.

I am a Berlin fan, and I bought the CD despite that horrid single.


same thing also happened w/ the Verve Pipe, where people picked up the Villains CD expecting a whole album of "the Freshmen" -- an anomoly on a pretty rocking album ("Photograph" and "Villians" being the standout tracks).

But it's always been that way.

heck, I'm a huge KISS fan, as many here know. I could almost always pick out what would be the radio single -- it would always be the song that I liked least on the album (and sounded least like KISS)

[Spike-X]

And then of course, there was Dancing In The Dark.

[stealthwise]

What the hell is a "single"? I just download albums now, and haven't watched a video station or listened to the radio in months.

[Buried Alien]

Earlier this week, I shared a critical opinion of George Harrison's acclaimed ALL THINGS MUST PASS album. I was expecting the album to contain songs in a similar vein to its breakout hit single, "My Sweet Lord," but there was nothing else on ALL THINGS MUST PASS similar to "My Sweet Lord."

That's a significant reason that I don't like the album as much as I thought I should.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Karl O'Neill]

Yes they can.

i remember when a guy called slim shady poped up, no one could have predicated this fun loving guy(my name is) would turn out to have an album mired with disturbing reality