--------------------------------------------------------------------- T H E G A R Y N U M A N D I G E S T (by subscription only - to unsubscribe, see bottom of this message) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (#2002-115) - Topics this issue: 1) Singles or Top 5/remasters/html/Rip, 2) This Wreckage, ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 01 Aug 2002 19:44:49 -0700 From: Derek Langsford Subject: Singles or Top 5/remasters/html/Rip Seems like responders to the poll are veering away from the official singles to their top 5. So many songs listed have not been singles. Discipline guys! "Mark V. Anderson" asked about "Warriors" and "I, Assassin." Seems to me you have as much knowledge as the rest of us. It can take a while for final layout to be established and weren't BB waiting on something from Gary? "Paul" - please switch of your html in future - thank you. MIME and HTML - the bane of ASCI. And yes, Joey I now see that Rip was to promote Exposure - it's very clear now I have the singles which I did not have before. I guess it should have been obvious from the cover art when I was only thinking song-choice. Derek now from La Mesa, CA ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Aug 2002 13:52:51 +0100 From: "Vickers" Subject: This Wreckage When 'This Wreckage' was released as a single, I remember thinking that this was it, Gary would be back at number 1, instead of the 5s and 6s his last 3 singles had achieved. Like 'AFE', it was heavy in the bass, and it was slow. It seemed to me that that was the winning formula in 'AFE'. Obviously, 'This Wreckage' was not so instantly catchy, but that could even be an advantage. I am sure that one reason that non-fans do not even remember 'Complex', 'We Are Glass' or 'I Die, You Die' is that they peaked in their second week, and were not around long enough to get much radio play! However, what really killed 'This Wreckage' was not that it is a song which some of us have now got bored with, (over 20 years later), but that it was released in December. If you look over the years, all the December releases have had depressed chart positions compared with their relations. 'She's Got Claws' (later than 'This Wreckage') got to number 6, but 'Love Needs No Disguise', a more straightforward song, only got to number 33. None of my friends even heard it or knew that it was out! Every year, they release more records just before Christmas: boring songs by boy bands, Christmassy songs by Cliff Richard, novelty songs by puppets, dogs, ducks, film stars, comedians, etc. And the more cutting edge stuff? It gets lost!!! Plus, the record sales go up dramatically at Christmas. Children buy records for their grannies, and vice versa. So even if 'This Wreckage' sold as many copies in its first week as 'I Die You Die' had done, (which it probably didn't, see above!), it would have entered the chart much lower than IDYD. IDYD was the highest entry into the Top 75 when it came in at number 8, and, significantly, 'This Wreckage' was the highest entry when it came in at number 35. Now, whereas the previous three singles had peaked in their second week, 'This Wreckage', if I remember correctly, peaked in its fourth week. It came in at 35, climbed next week to 28, then again to 27, and finally, in what I think was the post-Christmas chart (I think that one chart covered two weeks that year, because of the dates of chart collection being interfered with by the holiday), it went up to number 20. In other words, Numan fans were gradually discovering that the record was out, and it probably ended up selling quite well, although you can rarely get hold of that sort of information! Moral: don't release records at Christmas, unless you are Jive Bunny, Wizzard, Cliff Richard, or Elvis Exploitation Inc. Paddy Vickers ------------------------------ End digest@garynuman.info Digest [08/02/2002 18:01] --------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------- T H E G A R Y N U M A N D I G E S T is produced, moderated, and distributed by Derek Langsford, Dave Datta, and Joey Lindstrom dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu, davdat@allmusic.com, Joey@GaryNuman.Info Back Issues: http://digest.garynuman.info ------------------------------------------------------------------- To reply to the messages in this list, email: digest@garynuman.info If you want to be removed, or someone wants to be added, email: listserv@GaryNuman.info and include this line as the first line of your message body: SUBSCRIBE digest@garynuman.info (email address) or UNSUBSCRIBE digest@garynuman.info (email address) (email address is optional but useful if you have multiple addresses) If you want to switch between receiving Digests or individual posts, again send to listserv@GaryNuman.Info and include either of these in your message body: NORMAL digest@garynuman.info or DIGEST digest@garynuman.info ------------------------------------------------------------------ Please note: this mailing list is configured to automatically unsubscribe you if mail to your mailbox goes undeliverable for any reason. 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