Kevin Christopher Boneberg ([email protected])
Tue, 27 Oct 1998 21:21:56 -0600 (CST)
Bands like R.E.M. and U2 who once decried the urgings of Pepsi, Coke, Walt
Disney, and other corporate giants (including their own record companies)
are now embracing commercialism, so-called "selling out," to the point of
self-reflective absurdity. By seemingly making fun of Corporate America,
these once-"rebel" bands can at once empty both their sponsor's wallets
and their fan's.
Case in point is U2's recent PopMart tour. A megalomanic's wet dream, this
tour purposely sought out the ironies of the Dollar Bill, denouncing all
its evils while kissing its feet--the proverbial Kiss of Judas, no doubt.
After all, the band's press conference announcing the tour was held in a
K-Mart. In a scene right out of Roy Lichtenstein's pop-art, the band poked
fun but also quietly conceded to a necessary evil.
Ironically, the four-man Irish band, christened "Rock's Hottest Ticket,"
after their biggest comercial hit to-date, The Joshua Tree, made that
very album a canvas for scathing pictures of America and its evils.
Again, biting the hand that would propel them into Superstardom.
Their latest outing comes in the form of nothing more than what is the
Industry's most blatant pick-pocketer--The Greatest Hits Album. On the
heels of a multi-million dollar record deal, U2 is graciously making
available to the public its greatest hits from 1980 to 1990 all on one
convenient CD or tape. Imagine their generousity. And then to get those
die-harders who see through this veil of blood-sucking, a limited edition
B-sides compilation will be packaged with the GH CD for a limited time.
You know the Vice President of Marketing was in on this one.
Another peer of U2 is the band R.E.M. This band paralleled U2 for much of
the time in the '80s, but fell way behind with the release of The Joshua
Tree. Both of these bands maintained a steady income during down-times
with tour-documentary releases (i.e. Rattle and Hum, TourFilm) and side
projects.
The Georgian trio (once quartet, now sans drummer) has released "Up." Not
a commerically viable release, i.e. not radio-friendly, the band was
obviously forced to invent some gimick. Along comes Marketing with a
brilliant idea--encase the CD in some sort of "limited edition" packaging.
Sound familiar, yet? Another limited edition prank. Hence, the funky
blue-yellow cellophane limited edition print of "Up." Nothing different
except some added pictures and a cardboard box "ups" the price by $13!
These tactics are nothing new; old tricks in a different light. Some
would pretend otherwise and capitalize on the weaknesses of die-hard fans
or those just passing by--whatever the reason, it is blatantly obviously
that somebody (perhaps the Marketing Department) needs to go away and
dream it all up again...
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Tue Oct 27 1998 - 19:23:07 PST