"who's buying this stuff?"

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kind of the flipside to the "top 10 in a perfect world" thread. a while ago tico tico asked the people that put snow patrol on the charts what they were "getting at" - thing is, i'm sure tico knows (and laments) that the song's evocation of "gary jules covering blur's sing" sounds like a dream collab to a whole mess of people. has there ever been an instance when you genuinely couldn't figure out who a popular song's target audience was (or at least couldn't understand how they could be so numerous as to make the song as popular as it was?) (i'm sure there'll be lots of accusations of radio station payola and limp bizkit singles and such but i'm hardly ever convinced by these arguments)(feel free to make them tho)

― m. (mitchlnw), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 19:18 (twenty-one years ago)

who's going to buy the new Prodigy album?!

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 19:25 (twenty-one years ago)

No one.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 19:25 (twenty-one years ago)

sasha frere jones.

― m. (mitchlnw), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 19:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I feel this way about prolly 95% of music discussed on ILM.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 19:26 (twenty-one years ago)

He got sent it for free!

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 19:26 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe i should've called it "who's liking this stuff?"

― m. (mitchlnw), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 19:28 (twenty-one years ago)

You rockist, M.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 19:32 (twenty-one years ago)

"who's pretending to like this stuff?"

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 19:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Mandy Moore's '70s cover collection. I didn't think it was half-bad, but it seemed designed to alienate everyone on at least one level.

― Joseph McCombs, Tuesday, 10 August 2004 19:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Haha I sense this thread will end in a Chuck Eddy vs. Amateurist fite!

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 19:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Modern Talking has sold over 120 million albums and singles through their career. That's just bizarre.

― Siegbran (eofor), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 20:03 (twenty-one years ago)

It's funny; I hardly ever think in these terms, but the first time I heard "Go Your Own Way" from the new Wilson Phillips album, I immediately thought "Who do they think is going to buy this?"

― Rick Massimo (Rick Massimo), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 20:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I've had this reaction to plenty of things, but usually -- after about a minute and a half of really facing the world for the vast and glorious thing that it is -- I think of some person I know, and realize, in some depressing, sinking way, that I know exactly who's buying that stuff.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 20:07 (twenty-one years ago)

See, now when I saw Wilson Philips on the Tonight Show years ago singing "Hey Santa" from their Christmas album all I could think was: "Who do I have to kill to kill someone around here?" I didn't even get as far as: "Who would buy this shit?"

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 20:09 (twenty-one years ago)

"Who do I have to kill to kill someone around here?"

Question sorta answers itself, doesn't it?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 20:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Come to think of it, It might have just been the Wilsons without Philips! Which made it even more excruciating somehow. And they were so off-key it made my teeth hurt.

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 20:12 (twenty-one years ago)

it probably was wilsons without the phillips; i don't think the dream team reunited til more recently - chyna had to learn the hard way (no 'i' in team)

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 20:13 (twenty-one years ago)

iTeam, the latest offering from Apple

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 20:14 (twenty-one years ago)

As I've stated elsewhere, Usher's "Confessions Part II". Ridiculous.

― frankE (frankE), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 20:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, years ago, in Wilson Phillips's first go-round, I understood why people were buying their stuff - vapid, but catchy and "uplifting," and two of 'em (or all three, depending on your taste) were hot. Why anyone thought anyone was clamoring for them to come back and release a new record this year (particularly one so unbearable) is what's completely beyond me.

― Rick Massimo (Rick Massimo), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 20:16 (twenty-one years ago)

And they were so off-key it made my teeth hurt.

That's their thing. Isn't it?

There's no "i" in "Chyna" the way she spells it either. I never thought of it that way before.

― martin m. (mushrush), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 20:16 (twenty-one years ago)

the local rock radio station played and still plays several - repeat Several - cuts from sammy hagar's 'marching to mars' and 'red voodoo' in heavy heavy rotation - wtf

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 20:17 (twenty-one years ago)

o come on 'i love the nineties' + key placement in harold & kumar + 'class never goes outta style' = the public was definitely clamoring for some wilson phillips

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 20:18 (twenty-one years ago)

o come on 'i love the nineties' + key placement in harold & kumar + 'class never goes outta style' = the public was definitely clamoring for some wilson phillips
-- cinniblount (littlejohnnyjewe...), August 10th, 2004.

That explains the album's current Billboard chart position, three months after its release, of - um, wait, I'll find it ...

No I won't.

Who was ever supposed to like Sammy Hagar is completely beyond me.

― Rick Massimo (Rick Massimo), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 20:29 (twenty-one years ago)

class never goes outta style rick

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 20:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Carnie's weight loss thing got her some publicity and I'm sure they all thought "If we don't do this now there will never be another opportunity."

― nickn (nickn), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 20:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Who's Nelly?

― peepee (peepee), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:00 (twenty-one years ago)

nelly mckay? only the most wonderfullest wunderkind to ever hit the world (this year)!

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm always surprised at Brian Adams' success. I mean, I guess he was ok in the 80's but for the last 15 years? Why do his songs always go to #1? Does he have die-hard fans or is it mostly casual listeners who hear his latest ballad on the radio and think "that would make a nice present for my mom, I'll go buy it"?

― Seb (Seb), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:14 (twenty-one years ago)

cancon

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:17 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah i don't think he's torn up the charts stateside since his 'three musketeers' trio -- not even his duet with mel c made radio here!

― maura (maura), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Too bad, the one with Mel C was actually good.

― Seb (Seb), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Ok, what about R&B ballads??? Boys II Men, Mariah Carey, Ashanti, Usher's "Burn", etc. Do people really like that or is it only popular because the radio plays them a lot? (I'm honestly asking, because this music doesn't speak to me at all so I'm wondering.)

― Seb (Seb), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:40 (twenty-one years ago)

seb -- it was one of the first mp3s i ever downloaded!

― maura (maura), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:42 (twenty-one years ago)

sterling clover wrote (um, somewhere) this great piece on learning how to listen to r&b ballads using, i think, "crazy" by k-ci and jojo as his example... it's a song i used to find pretty irritating and now really dig.

― dave k, Wednesday, 11 August 2004 04:12 (twenty-one years ago)

i hear more people singing r&b ballads while waiting in bus stations/browsing stores/standing in line etc than any other pop music, i think.

― m. (mitchlnw), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 07:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I've also been sent the new Prodigy album, so I don't suppose I'll be buying it either.

Three offices down from me they were singing along to Wilson Phillips' "Go Your Own Way" on Magic FM yesterday afternoon.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 11 August 2004 08:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Maroon 5. MAROON 5, for feck's sake.

― Huey (Huey), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 08:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Who buys Feeder records?

― Huey (Huey), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 08:36 (twenty-one years ago)

And does anyone actually own a copy of "Dancing in the Moonlight"? Like, who? I demand to know.

― Huey (Huey), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 08:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Well I do, but only 'cos it's on one of the Now compilations. Not by deliberate choice.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 11 August 2004 08:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Maroon 5 make catchy pop - I thought 'This Love' could've been Will Young! And we know that Young is bought by 40-something Mums.

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 09:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Feeder records: Sixth-formers and undergrads of course

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 09:05 (twenty-one years ago)

"I've had this reaction to plenty of things, but usually -- after about a minute and a half of really facing the world for the vast and glorious thing that it is -- I think of some person I know, and realize, in some depressing, sinking way, that I know exactly who's buying that stuff."

Nabisco is sadly and depressingly OTM.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 09:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I can't get my head around the latest soft-spoken singer/songwriter crop: Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, Bob Schneider, etc. John Mayer called James Taylor "the blueprint" (I'll stick with Jay-Z, thank you), and that helped me understand why they're popular (and why they make my skin crawl). That said, every woman I know under 25 swoons for these fuckers. They say Jack Johnson is soulful (feel free to snicker--I do). I'm lost, and slightly jealous, on this one.

― Bradley, Wednesday, 11 August 2004 16:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I guess this is more of a "why are people buying this stuff" rather than a "who's buying this stuff." But isn't that what we're really driving at?

― Bradley, Wednesday, 11 August 2004 16:08 (twenty-one years ago)

What are British people buying:

6 Music Chart: updated each Saturday
http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/presenters/chart/index.shtml
What is it?
The 6 Music Chart is based on the records you buy - rock, urban, R&B, indie or any other genre heard on 6 Music. Artists are only eligible for this chart if they've never been in the UK album chart.

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 16:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Lollapalooza 2004?

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 16:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm liking Stewart's posts today, but that's nothing new, either.

― Bimble (bimble), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 16:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Arf. Some of the things listed here I understand, but others are screwing with me and making me hope they're sarcastic. Don't know who's buying Mariah Carey, Sammy Hagar, or Wilson-Phillips? Heal yourself. Watch The View. Talk to people over the age of 30. Drive through Indiana. Go to cheap bars in San Diego. Work at Wal-Mart. This is America, people.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 16:36 (twenty-one years ago)

WORK IN A SUBURBAN OFFICE COMPLEX

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 16:45 (twenty-one years ago)

The notion that anyone would willingly want to buy a Trans Am record seriously toys with the limits of my imagination.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 16:46 (twenty-one years ago)

I bought one last week! It was $1.99

― kit brash (kit brash), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 21:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Rap and R'n'B?

― Sasha (sgh), Thursday, 12 August 2004 00:12 (twenty-one years ago)

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