nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (Doug Alan) (10/15/85)
> Bert S.F. Lo (lo@harvard.ARPA) > Madonna's "Like A Virgin" had already been knocked out by some K-TEL - > ish UK top 20 hits collection. That's what Kate Bush dethroned. Depends on which charts you look at... In any case, KB is #1 on all of them.... Which just shows that even though it sometime seems that the world is overrun by by people with lousy taste, there are a lot of people out there with good taste too -- which is encouraging. (There are other artists who do really well too that also help to show this: Pink Floyd, King Crimson, etc.) > Yeah, right. WFNX does not even rank in the top 20 in the Arbitron ratings. > #1 songs on WFNX are popular among college students and the Spit crowd but > that's it. Who represent one of the major record buying groups! It's a big enough croud to put The Cure in The Orpheum, which Kate Bush could undoubtedly sell out if she came here. Which explains why KB's album is selling like mad in all the record stores. KB's huge success isn't just limited to Boston, though. I know someone in Maryland who went to buy "Hounds of Love" the week after it came out. He went to three different types of record stores, and they were all sold out. One had just received a shipment of 50 two days previous. And another had sold their 50 in under a week. He had to settle for Husker Du. > V66 has to be commended for playing a lot of stuff that the CHR radio > stations and syndicated/network video programs don't touch. However, > that is the same music that WFNX plays and as I've said, it has a > limited following. Maybe, but they are primarily mainstream commercial. And KB's video was number one. And Kate Bush is also now in "active rotation" on MTV (though it's not the real video). > I'm making no comments on Kate Bush or "Hounds Of Love" but I have to agree > that this Bushmania that Doug perceives is exaggerated. Hey, I just stated the facts. Her record is being pushed heavily by all the record stores (and is #1 in one and #3 in another), and there are TV, radio, and newspaper ads for it. Maybe I'm a little less ambitious in my criterion for someone to be a "huge success", but I consider Peter Gabriel to be a big success, and right now, Kate Bush is in the limelight in Boston much more than Peter Gabriel ever was. It's also very strange to suddenly see TV commercials and stuff for someone who you have loved for years, but have never before even *ever* heard one of their songs on the radio. > Over the last 3 years, there have an uncountable number of 1.5 hit > wonders that were hyped beyond belief and then disappeared (Dead Or > Alive, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Depeche Mode, Animotion, Berlin, > Re-Flex, Real Life, Toto Coelo, General Public, Bananarama, ...). Kate Bush has been a superstar in England since 1978 -- she's had 5 hit albums and 10 or so hit singles over the years. So, I don't think your saying that she's the next Frankie holds much water. > Just wait about 5 weeks, Doug, when Kate peaks outside the top 20 in > the US and suddenly all her new "fans" desert her for someone new. And if that were to happen, what would it prove? I wasn't saying that Kate Bush's new-found success in the U.S. proves anything at all about the quality of what she does. It's just interesting to watch.... -Doug Alan nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (or ARPA)
lo@harvard.ARPA (Bert S.F. Lo) (10/16/85)
> > Bert S.F. Lo (lo@harvard.ARPA) > > > Yeah, right. WFNX does not even rank in the top 20 in the Arbitron ratings. > > #1 songs on WFNX are popular among college students and the Spit crowd but > > that's it. > > Who represent one of the major record buying groups! It's a big enough Emphasis. ====== > croud to put The Cure in The Orpheum, which Kate Bush could undoubtedly > sell out if she came here. Which explains why KB's album is selling > like mad in all the record stores. > > KB's huge success isn't just limited to Boston, though. I know someone > in Maryland who went to buy "Hounds of Love" the week after it came out. > He went to three different types of record stores, and they were all > sold out. One had just received a shipment of 50 two days previous. > And another had sold their 50 in under a week. He had to settle for > Husker Du. > > > I'm making no comments on Kate Bush or "Hounds Of Love" but I have to agree > > that this Bushmania that Doug perceives is exaggerated. > > Hey, I just stated the facts. Her record is being pushed heavily by all > the record stores (and is #1 in one and #3 in another), and there are > TV, radio, and newspaper ads for it. Maybe I'm a little less ambitious > in my criterion for someone to be a "huge success", but I consider Peter > Gabriel to be a big success, and right now, Kate Bush is in the > limelight in Boston much more than Peter Gabriel ever was. OK. Then we're definitely talking about different things when we mean "huge success". > > Over the last 3 years, there have an uncountable number of 1.5 hit > > wonders that were hyped beyond belief and then disappeared (Dead Or > > Alive, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Depeche Mode, Animotion, Berlin, > > Re-Flex, Real Life, Toto Coelo, General Public, Bananarama, ...). > > Kate Bush has been a superstar in England since 1978 -- she's had 5 hit > albums and 10 or so hit singles over the years. So, I don't think your > saying that she's the next Frankie holds much water. I'm not saying she's another Frankie. I'm saying that the US music industry and the buying public have had this habit in the last few years of turning everyone into one hit wonders, regardless of how long they've been around. Depeche Mode have been around since 1980 with 4 hit albums and 11 hit singles in England, yet look what happened to them in the US. "People Are People" goes top 15 and then the group disappears from the US charts. And what about Bryan Ferry's recent solo LP ? "Slave To Love" did pretty well on CHR radio but can this be said for the album or the followup single "Can't Stop The Dance" ? > > Just wait about 5 weeks, Doug, when Kate peaks outside the top 20 in > > the US and suddenly all her new "fans" desert her for someone new. > > And if that were to happen, what would it prove? I wasn't saying that > Kate Bush's new-found success in the U.S. proves anything at all about > the quality of what she does. It's just interesting to watch.... As I said before, I make no comments on her music, only on her current status and possible future status as an important force in the American music scene from a commercial aspect. Americans over the last 3 years have demonstrated an incredible fickleness in music. Very few artists have had more than 1.5 hit singles in this period and even those that manage to hit with an album don't last long. Look at Sade and Power Station. Lots of initial hoopla. An album in the top 10 for 4 or 5 weeks then POOF! Gone. And the sad part is that after everyone in the US has heard those 1.5 hits by an artist, the artist is more or less washed up (in terms of US success). The only artist in the last 3 years I can remember that has been able to come back after being washed up is ABC. Oh yeah, and maybe Thompson Twins (if the new single succeeds). I agree that it will be interesting to watch what befalls Kate Bush. It would be amusing to see her hit 3 or 4 times and remain a hit, joining the ranks of Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Duran Duran, Wham! and others. _________________________Bert S.F. Lo (lo@harvard.ARPA)_________________________
rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen) (10/19/85)
> Over the last 3 years, there have an uncountable number of 1.5 hit > wonders that were hyped beyond belief and then disappeared (Dead Or > Alive, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Depeche Mode, Animotion, Berlin, > Re-Flex, Real Life, Toto Coelo, General Public, Bananarama, ...). [Bert Lo] I think this bespeaks such a lack of knowledge of the history of some of these groups as to render such an opinion empty of content. Depeche Mode have been around for a number of years, as has Bananarama. General Public's nucleus was once a part of the Beat (alias the English Beat), which was a major force in the British ska revival for many years. Next thing, this person will be calling UB40, or Elvis Costello, or Joe Jackson, or Simple Minds "one hit wonders", too. ("Hey, uh, Simple Minds suddenly released this one song from the Breakfast Club movie out of nowhere, right?") -- Anything's possible, but only a few things actually happen. Rich Rosen pyuxd!rlr
lo@harvard.ARPA (Bert S.F. Lo) (10/22/85)
> > Over the last 3 years, there have an uncountable number of 1.5 hit > > wonders that were hyped beyond belief and then disappeared (Dead Or > > Alive, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Depeche Mode, Animotion, Berlin, > > Re-Flex, Real Life, Toto Coelo, General Public, Bananarama, ...). [Bert Lo] > > I think this bespeaks such a lack of knowledge of the history of some of these > groups as to render such an opinion empty of content. Depeche Mode have > been around for a number of years, as has Bananarama. General Public's > nucleus was once a part of the Beat (alias the English Beat) which was a major > force in the British ska revival for many years. Next thing, this person > will be calling UB40, or Elvis Costello, or Joe Jackson, or Simple Minds > "one hit wonders", too. ("Hey, uh, Simple Minds suddenly released this one > song from the Breakfast Club movie out of nowhere, right?") > -- > Anything's possible, but only a few things actually happen. > Rich Rosen pyuxd!rlr Depeche Mode - Dreaming Of Me / Ice Machine New Life / Shout! Just Can't Get Enough / Any Second Now See You / Now, This Is Fun The Meaning Of Love / Oberkorn (It's A Small Town) Leave In Silence / Further Excerpts from My Secret Garden Get The Balance Right / The Great Outdoors Everything Counts / Work Hard Love In Itself / Fools People Are People / In Your Memory Master And Servant / (Set Me Free) Remotivate Me Blasphemous Rumours / Somebody Shake The Disease / Flexible It's Called A Heart / Fly On The Windscreen Speak 'n' Spell A Broken Frame Construction Time Again People Are People Some Great Reward The Singles Collection (1980-1985) Bananarama (offshoot from Fun Boy Three & Bananarama) - Shy Boy (Don't It Make You Feel Good) Cheers Then He Was Really Sayin' Something Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye Cruel Summer Robert DeNiro's Waiting Rough Justice The Wild Life Do Not Disturb Deep Sea Skiving Bananarama Had enough ? Try rereading the line in context, Rich. All comments were made with respect to the success of the artists in the US. The artists I've listed were all 1.5 hit wonders in the US, regardless of whether they were (1) well established in the UK (Depeche Mode, Bananarama) (2) offshoots of bands well established in the UK (General Public, Bananarama (sort of)) (3) recently humungously successful in the UK (Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Dead Or Alive) (4) dead in the UK (Re-Flex, Real Life, Toto Coelo) or even (5) American (Animotion, Berlin). I am well aware that some of the artists I listed and the ones you added are major forces in the UK music scene. That isn't the point. The point is that in this country (the United States of America (I hope I'm stressing this enough for you, Rich)), not one could be considered a big hit. In fact, not one of them could be considered any bigger than, say, Sheila E. _________________________Bert S.F. Lo (lo@harvard.ARPA)_________________________