Music 03.30.09

This is my new favourite webpage for the day: 2008 US Music Purchases.  Things I learned from the numbers at that page which surprised me:

• Metallica, with over 51 million albums sold, is the 4th highest-selling artist of the SoundScan era

• 5 of the top 10 best-selling artists of the Soundscan era are country artists (Garth Brooks, George Strait, Tim McGraw, Alan Jackson, Shania Twain)

• let me reiterate something: George Strait, who is awesome but whose name is unlikely to pass the lips of anybody currently working in the entertainment/celebrity industry (excluding those elements which focus on country music) is the 6th highest-selling artist of the last 20 or so years

• Alanis Morrissette's Jagged Little Pill is still the third best-selling album of the SoundScan era

• Guess who has the seventh best-selling album of the SoundScan era?  Seriously, guess.  No, really, go for it.  You're gonna get it wrong.  In fact, when I say the name, not only will you be stunned that these guys are in the top ten, you'll be stunned that you had forgotten they existed.  One last chance: seventh best-selling album of the SoundScan era?  F***ing Creed.  Dude, come on.

• Kid Rock, and I swear I am not making this up, was one of the biggest-selling artists of 2008 (taking the 6th slot); not only that, but his album Rock n' Roll Jesus, was in the top five best-selling albums of the year.  Look, I love Kid Rock, dearly, but it really hasn't been the same since the midget died.  If Kid's last album was that succesful, comparatively speaking, this industry is friggin' dying.

Comments

[Aspiring Geezer]

Where are the internet music superheroes we were told would emerge now that artists don't need labels?

Hell, I'd pay $40 for a CD that wasn't laced with socialist\nihilist propaganda, as is much of pop music I've determined as I get older and more conservative. Take Sugarcane, by Wide Mouth Mason. Good rocking song, until you pay attention to the lyrics and discover that hating and fighting apparently were mandatory credit courses in Canadian high schools in 1968. Well, no wonder the kids think we old folks are all racist angrymen! Examples like that abound like fine ham.

I guess nonfactual accounts of 1960s Canada have their advantages, such as being the first western rock group invited to perform in the Peoples' Republic of China, but I'd be pleased as punch if I could find a resource for new, quality music that doesn't insult me that way.

I've actually started listening to CBC2 now, somewhat counter-intuitively. Nice range of music, no commercials, just perky 25 year old DJs explaining to their 65 year old listeners that Rasputin was more than just a Boney M song, he was a historical figure in Russia! It's cute.