If anyone in the music business was hoping that the one-two punch of a holiday weekend and big-name releases would magically convince people to pay for music one last time, they may want to pour themselves a stiff drink, or at least spike their morning latte: Billboard is reporting that the No. 1 album, Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak, sold 425,000-450,000 copies over the course of last week, while Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy woefully underperformed, moving between 250,000 and 260,000 copies during its first week on Best Buy’s shelves. And that’s not all: Depending on who you ask, overall music sales were down anywhere between 10% and 30% when compared with last year’s holiday weekend, although online numbers were OK. Meanwhile, a UK tabloid is claiming that bigwigs at Universal Music Group are blaming the soft landing of Chinese Democracy squarely on Axl, because he didn’t do enough press for the album. Even though it probably received more free press than any other record this year. Yeah, it couldn’t be that people currently see Guns N’ Roses as something of a novelty act, and that people who liked Appetite probably aren’t so into the new sound, and that even those people who wanted to give Axl a shot were a bit weirded out by the whole preserved-in-1999-amber feel of the final recorded product, could it?
Bosses at label Geffen are blaming unpredictable Axl for the disappointing sales after he went AWOL for two months before the release date.
Despite all the effort put into one of the most extravagant rock albums of all time, staff could not contact Axl to get him to promote his rock epic.
In fact, they failed to make contact with him from the day he delivered the final cut. …
An insider said: “Everyone knows Axl is a bit of a maverick genius and won’t do anything he doesn’t want to do.
“The label is really glad to have him back. But it is frustrating because the album would have had a much better chance of going to No1 if he had only been prepared to show his face.
“People have been trying to contact him for two months and he’s been completely AWOL.
“You would have thought after spending 15 years on an album you might do a few weeks promotion.”
Of course, this has to be taken with the usual Grain Of UK Tabloid Salt (approximate diameter: 12 inches), but you have to admit that the idea of Axl going into hiding immediately upon handing in his album, and only speaking through his lawyers when he wants to get pissy with carbonated-beverage manufacturers over their online coupons not working, doesn’t seem all that far-fetched.
Axl goes AWOL [The Sun]
@How do I say this … THROWDINI!: And how much of Appetite and Lies are even Axl? This is a bad analogy, but I almost thought that Axl leading GnR was kind of like Roger Daltrey leading the Who by himself (which might actually happen in our lifetimes). It was my understanding that he was actually a small part of the songwriting equation early on.
No idea how reliable it is, but the ‘Appetite’ Wikipedia page has a specific list of who wrote what (the whole band is credited in the liners, as we all well know):
[en.wikipedia.org]
Not a lot of people/bands make something as great as appetite.
@Lucas Jensen: I think Duff wrote many of the arrangements on all the albums.
“because he DIDN’T doing enough press for the one album.”
@2ironic4u:
Must be tuff bean perfect.
The Axl press blackout could’ve worked in CD’s favor if this was 5 years ago and there weren’t tons of advance leaks. Once the music was out there he should’ve just done the big videos and TV appearances and everything. I get the feeling he was more fed up with the long process than anyone else and doesn’t really care anymore.
The Kanye album was never going to be the blockbuster his previous ones were, but once he decided he needed to put it out in the 4th quarter of course the label and everyone else half-expected it to be. Those first week numbers were total best case scenario for him.
@2ironic4u: sigh, it’s too early :(
“Maverick Genius”???
That kinda talk is reserved for people like Scott Walker…
“Out-of-touch Primadonna”
Now that is more fitting…
Best Buy wasn’t the venue for ‘Chinese Democracy.’ It would have done twice those numbers at Wal-Mart.
@Maura Johnston: Figured you were just bumming over the low sales.
@Chris N.: I think you are totally right there. Best Buy barely stocks CDs anymore. At least Wal-Mart gives them decent-enough real estate.
And the record execs are being dishonest here. It’s not like Axl is the JD Salinger of rock and roll. The guy has played shows and made public appearances in the last decade or so. If he was out there pounding the pavement in halcyon venues like E! and Access Hollywood, I think it would lessen the mystique of the record a bit. Plus, a lot of people got the leaks a while back and said “pass!” That’s the REAL reason.
@Chris N.:
exactly … in the economy people who remember Guns N Roses aren’t going into Best Buy … but they are in Wal-Mart and if they’ll throw a Journey or AC/DC cd in the cart, they probably would have done the same for GnR
i wonder how it did in Canada which doesnt allow corporate exclusives?
that picture makes it look like axl and kanye are duetting. which is now something i really want to happen.
@westartedthis: mission accomplished!
@Al Shipley: I think there’s something to be said about releasing follow-ups too quickly. While it’s annoying for fans to wait 3 years for your latest opus, if you release a follow-up within a year you just don’t have the interest you initially had. Case in point, if Coldplay releases a new album next year, they won’t see half the sales Viva saw because they’ve been in the public eye consistently for the past year.
“Robocop” is awesome.
@sydbarrett05: An insider said: “Everyone knows Axl is a bit of a maverick genius and won’t do anything he doesn’t want to do.
I’m with you. This comment really surprised me. I mean, I liked Appetite and a few of the songs off the Use Your Illusion discs, but is there anyone out there who really thinks Axl is a musical/maverick genius? Appetite was really good, great even, but a lot of bands put out really good albums at least once. That doesn’t make the lead singer a genius. I guess people (read: the record company) must have had to think so, or else they would not have kept funding the record, but really, Axl is a lot of things, but genius?
As far as Guns goes, they should have sold the album everywhere. This exclusive crap is not good for anybody except giant corporations. The reason AC/DC sold as well as it did, is because their fanbase is basically the typical Wal-Mart shopper(read between the lines). Believe it or not, most rock fans would rather buy their music from a local music store or a small chain, even though the few stores left are struggling because of this great economy. Downloading isn’t as much of a factor for people over 25(Guns fanbase) in most rural areas of this country.