What Makes An Album A Hit?

Post by **Mystik Tomato** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 1:08 am

ludovica64 @ December 03, 2008 05:17 am wrote: I've never heard it.. am I missing anything?

Well, here's the link to it.

au.youtube.com/watch?v=u-vNZs39NUI

I'll let you figure out if you were missing anything before you heard it.

Post by **ludovica64** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 2:15 am

Mystik Tomato @ December 02, 2008 11:08 pm wrote: Well, here's the link to it.

au.youtube.com/watch?v=u-vNZs39NUI

I'll let you figure out if you were missing anything before you heard it.

That's kinda irritating, (but Al could make something awesome out of that if he wanted, and it would be great)

Having just seen Britney's video .....

*****Yes Al..... PLEASE do this song! I can imagine it already!!

Post by **RyanHippFTW** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 1:37 am

I wouldn't consider Scissors a flop. It sold over a million copies in under 2 years (which is great considering how long it took a lot of them to just reach gold) and its tour was Al's most successful for a while.

spmahn · Post by **spmahn** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 7:51 am

Now I'm really only familiar with Al's career starting around 1996 or so, but what I'd like to know is whether or not the music industry or media ever given Al any mainstream credibility? Obviously as we've seen throughout the last decade or so they seem to hold him with very little esteem despite all his contributions, but was that always the case?

In these days of corporate controlled radio and television, you will never hear Weird Al played on any Top 40 station on terrestrial radio, and his videos get very little attention from the few outlets that air those anymore as well, but in the 80's or 90's was it entirely possible to hear Eat It or Fat or Smells like Nirvana in regular rotation on the radio the way you'd hear anything else at the time? Were his videos played regularly on MTV outside the usual AlTV specials?

I think Al does phenomenally well considering the lack of mainstream press he receives, but I can only imagine how much bigger he might be if the media gave him the respect he deserved.

Post by **Wizzerkat** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 2:30 pm

In the 80's and 90's I recall Al's videos getting a fair enough amount of air play. I remember MTV playing as far back as Ricky (for a comedy video anyway) fairly regularly. I first heard Al via MTV playing his videos.

Post by **weird_el** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 3:29 pm

To answer the other part of the above question

No, Al's songs didn't get regular rotation radio airplay. I only ever heard them on the Dr Demento show. Fortunately, for me, I lived in cities where they had Dr Demento on every week.

minnick27 · Post by **minnick27** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 3:47 pm

Al's songs always had rotation on radio for about a week after their release. As far as MTV, I saw videos outside of Altv in the 80's but don't recall too much in the 90's. I didn't even see RWS special at all.

Post by **weird_el** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 4:43 pm

minnick27 @ June 24, 2009 07:47 am wrote: Al's songs always had rotation on radio for about a week after their release.

You must've lived in a more Al-friendly part of the country than I.

flusher5 · Post by **flusher5** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 6:47 pm

I think Al is one of the artists that can sells tons of CDs even years after they are released. I don't really know how to explain why.

and then theres the bands that will NEVER sell anymore CDs now, like the backstreet boys (I have seen there cds on sale for $2 before and still, none sold)

Post by **weirdojace** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 6:49 pm

Yeah, that's one of the things that keeps Al going. His albums (and not just the new ones) sell consistently.