Idolator

much like "parental advisory" stickers, i was never of the opinion that store-wide boycotts actually did anything to discourage sales of an album. are there any well known cases where a walmart (or any other megachain) refused to stock an album and consequently fewer copies were sold than expected?

i remember when alainis decided to only ship copies of her jagged little pill unplugged album to starbucks locations, and chains like HMV removed all of her albums from their shelves in response, but that's the closest thing i can come up with.

@borntohula: (fyi, i edited your comment to fix a not-closed italic tag.)

@Maura: tanks.

@borntohula: HMV Canada did the same for Rolling Stones album after they signed a Best Buy exclusive for the Four Flicks dvd set.

Nirvana was in a similar situation in the 90's with In Utero. Kurt chose to change "rape me" to "waif me" because it was non-gender specific. In the end he chose to make this edit because for many children (he said himself included) of low income families, the only commercial resource they have to buy music is their local Walmart. So if he chose to not alter the album, these kids would have less a chance of owning a copy. Musicians typically want their music available to anyone who wants to buy it. The kids that buy from Walmart probably don't have internet at home to download this stuff legally or illegally; by making the album unattainable at Walmart, you are effectively shutting them out.

Green day is "supposed" to be a "punk" band right? Why are they turning their backs on the kids? Walmart is making bank with or without Green Day. If Green Day were smart, they would subvert Walmart and make their album available to the kids who really need it - the outcasts.

@Thierry: Ah! My favorite Queens Of The Stone Age Song. Nice.

@Vulture.Protein I think you're making a pretty big leap from "people who shop at Wal-Mart" (especially "people who shop at Wal-Mart and have the luxury of buying CDs") to "people who probably don't have internet." And again when you assume that those are the only outcasts in teenage society. And you're forgetting other outlets for relatively cheap CDs, like Best Buy and Target.

And anyway, as a "punk" band, as you put it, Green Day has just as much of a theoretical obligation to refuse to sell their CDs through companies that have deeply unethical business practices--like Wal-Mart. But really I think where & how they choose to sell their album is up to them.

If Green Day were really punk, they'd release an edited version of the album at Wal-Mart, but it would be 74 minutes of fart noises.

@saintvee: I'm speaking about communities where the only store in town is Walmart, like Hayward Wisconsin, where the nearest best buy is 50 miles away. A place where Walmart IS the place to shop. Have you ever been to a Walmart in the sticks? Where people go to buy decorations for their double wide trailer? I'm talking about the bowels of America. No, you clearly haven't. I did not state that they were the only outcasts in "society", but I can definitely say that they are a faction of outcasts you've never considered.

What business in America doesn't have unethical business practices? This is a nation that outsources all of it's jobs to the poor in other countries, because they don't want to have to pay their own citizens a livable wage.

How they sell their albums IS up to them and that's not what I was talking about. I was talking about the kids they are marginalizing based on that decision.

@lokimotive: Nah, if Green Day were truly punk, they'd be called Green Dick.

@Vulture.Protein First off, assumptions about my background? Not particularly cool.

As for Wal-Mart, its practices are more unethical than most. There are some good documentaries on it--check one out. For these communities where the only store is Wal-Mart, that's often Wal-Mart's fault.

My point was that we can expect Green Day to do any number of things as a group with some sort of message. Some of those things are contradictory--you think they should sell at Wal-Mart so a subset of the population can buy their music that otherwise wouldn't be able to, I think they (and, in a perfect world, every other company) should boycott Wal-Mart because it's a really shitty company. They're not going to please everyone. That's why I made the comment about the choice ultimately being up to them.

@saintvee:

I've already seen the documentaries on Walmart. I know all of this already.

Walmart and Green Day are both reducing peoples choices, and therefore - they have something in common. Green Day's boycott of Walmart is more of a collaboration if anything: Both of them are working together (by not working together) to keep a certain demographic marginalized.

Good job boys.

I could care less what Green Day has to sell. The only noteworthy thing I've ever heard come out of their mouths was that they name checked Schlong's "Punk side story". They clearly understand that they have to bow to their masters. I will give them credit for that.

@Vulture.Protein Then I guess I'm just surprised you think denying a few kids some music is worse than denying many employees basic working rights, and forcing other companies to do the same by making them price products far, far too low.