"EVERY HUGE ARTIST HAS A BE HERE NOW" AKA the UK version

This Is My Truth went triple platinum, gave the Manics their first number one, mad them much bigger internationally than Everything Must Go, set them up to headline Glastonbury and the Millennium Stadium, and contains two of their most well-known hits.

― Minaj moron (Re-Make/Re-Model), Sunday, January 11, 2015 7:00 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah I think you get tweaks to this phenom like when a band is still on an upward trajectory in terms of popular impact but have already crested in terms of quality/importance: I'm sure there a lot of people for whom This Is My Truth... was their first MSP record but when they worked backwards they discovered that it was actually their worst album to date by some distance (though OTOH people who like "If You Tolerate This..." may only really have liked Everything Must Go of the past material in any event).

In this sense This Is My Truth... is as much as a What's The Story Morning Glory as it is a Be Here Now (though it fits neither camp cleanly).

tim maybe. I forget the names . I know you are more likely to be right though.

xps

tim tbh I dont think there is any album that fits a new jersey - slippery when wet exactly anyway

I honestly, genuinely thought the game was up for the Manics around the time of This Is My Truth..., even though the album was successful and 'If You Tolerate This...' went to #1, and the two albums after it (Know Your Enemy and especially Lifeblood) did nothing to convince me that they weren't sliding further still.

That they managed to somehow claw things back a little with Send Away The Tigers and Journal For Plague Lovers was amazing to me, but then they put out Postcards From A Young Man that wasn't the massive commercial smash they hoped it would be, and they've drifted back into being a cult band but with a large following.

I do get bored of the "Richey obsessive" angle of Manic Street Preachers fandom, though, and the relentless worship of The Holy Bible as if its the only worthwhile thing the band has ever done, which is nonsense.

Life by Simply Red definitely applies here. 'Fairground' and 'Remembering The First Time' were the two big hits off the album if I recall, and I guess plenty of people were waiting for it on the back of Stars (I wouldn't know, I certainly wasn't one of them), but it came out in the year that Oasis got ridiculously massive in the UK, and Parklife had already happened in the interim, leaving Mick Hucknall looking a bit old hat really. You gotta remember that at the time whenever Noel Gallagher opened his mouth to criticise or praise something in '95-'96, a lot of people actually hung on to every single one of his coke-tinged words, not having reached that point (like now) where he whines about the state of music and people are like "oh give it a rest, you backwards-looking rockist fuck". Noel could big himself up and get away with it at that time, whereas Mick Hucknall used to do the same thing and people thought he was a deluded, arrogant, womanising prick.

'We're In This Together', the "official" England song for Euro '96 was a track on Life, but was anyone singing it? Were they fuck. They were singing 'Three Lions' instead.

I can certainly think of a few britpop era bands that sorta fit the bill (OCS) but i wanted to avoid making yet another britpop thread lol

Im hoping marcello or someone will give us older examples

Elvis Costello - Spike

the Manics don't fit this sort of treatment, creatively speaking. Their last few records are at least interesting and frequently great, though yes at this point they are a diehards-only proposition commercially

I think This Is My Truth is the correct album for this thread, I actually can't think of a better example. It was obvious from Know Your Enemy's release that was already in motion.

*the slide

haha we're gonna be arguing over the manics for the rest of this thread arent we?

It is so completely their Be Here Now, it sold tonnes but no one was truly satisfied with it. Know Your Enemy was their 'Shoulder', when they were now something of a bit of a joke.

I liked KYE though

The 2nd Cast album I suppose fits too on that it sold loads and had big singles but...

but again there must be non britpop-era examples like dire straits

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_in_the_United_Kingdom

I can certainly think of a few britpop era bands that sorta fit the bill (OCS) but i wanted to avoid making yet another britpop thread lol

― Cosmic Slop, Sunday, January 11, 2015 11:06 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I agree, it would be way too easy to list a whole bunch of Britpop albums. Way too easy.

but im sure Dido must fit the bill all the same

(she has 2 of the biggest selling albums ever in the uk)

Oh shit, that list had just reminded me that The Corrs used to be a thing.

Talk On Corners I remember was quite big here and yielded several hit singles, but the follow-up In Blue was probably their Be Here Now. I'm looking at the tracklisting for it now and the only hit I recall on it is the lead single, 'Breathless'.

Also, maybe The Hush by Texas.

Scissor Sisters' Ta-Dah? Sold loads initially and spawned one giant single and then ran out of steam very quickly

if you compare
looking at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_in_the_United_Kingdom

with

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_in_the_United_States

you really notice how much more gigantic Led Zep were in the US than the UK (not to mention ac/dc and most rawk bands)

I bet any americans looking at it will be stunned at the lack of led zep in the list

Also how on earth are so many 90s albums in the list?

Look at the US sales figures for Pearl Jam's Ten compared to the UK sales figures.

I think the Psychedelic Furs album that followed Talk Talk Talk was sort of an event to anyone who loved Talk Talk Talk--which I did, more than I'd care to admit today. "Love My Way" was their first American hit. I talked-talked-talked myself into liking the album for a few weeks, quickly moved on. (And was surprised when they were even bigger when the John Hughes film came out.)

Turrican - VS outsold In Utero here though

I think the Psychedelic Furs album that followed Talk Talk Talk was sort of an event to anyone who loved Talk Talk Talk--which I did, more than I'd care to admit today. "Love My Way" was their first American hit. I talked-talked-talked myself into liking the album for a few weeks, quickly moved on. (And was surprised when they were even bigger when the John Hughes film came out.

I still love it -- played it New Year's Eve, actually. Just a notch below TTT.

Also how on earth are so many 90s albums in the list?

― Cosmic Slop

CDs, the collapse of the single, the economy, more accurate calculations of sales/shipments.

It came out September 25, 1982; I think Halloween of that year may have been the last major holiday the Psychedelic Furs and I spent together.

but the single sales ROSE in the UK then. the few years of the britpop era were the best singles sales in the past 20 odd years apparently

Jeff Wayne went 5x Platinum in the UK? Never heard of him....

Turrican - VS outsold In Utero here though

― Cosmic Slop, Sunday, January 11, 2015 11:53 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It did!?

If "here" means America, yes.

UK too, i had a mate who worked in our price and he showed me the official industry stats.
Possible in the last 20 years it's sold more now of course.

but the single sales ROSE in the UK then. the few years of the britpop era were the best singles sales in the past 20 odd years apparently

― Cosmic Slop, Sunday, January 11, 2015 11:59 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The fact that almost everyone was releasing 2CD versions of their singles no doubt helped!

Lee626 maybe americans were still shitting themselves after this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_%28radio_drama%29

"The War of the Worlds" is an episode of the American radio drama anthology series The Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on October 30, 1938, and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker Orson Welles, the episode was an adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds (1898). It became famous for causing mass panic, although the extent of this panic is debated.[4]

UK too, i had a mate who worked in our price and he showed me the official industry stats.
Possible in the last 20 years it's sold more now of course.

― Cosmic Slop, Monday, January 12, 2015 12:08 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That's interesting, I always had Nirvana down as a much bigger band in the UK than Pearl Jam ever were.

you would have thought so. After Kurts death and the fact PJ never toured here after their tiny venues tour when ten came out til late 90s didnt help their cause

Yeah, that Jeff Wayne album was incredibly popular here. Even now I still seem to find copies of it nestling in the record collections of people of a certain age. Not too long back I saw a local band play and the bassist kept playing licks from that album in between songs.

when they did tour tix sold so fast i missed out. was raging. (and of course i never saw nirvana as the gig was postponed after his od and rescheduled date never took place..)

turrican there was a big tour of war of the worlds a few years ago then got a dodgy remake

check out who is on it

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jeff-Waynes-Musical-Version-Worlds/dp/B009CAAGCG/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1421021800&sr=1-2&keywords=war+of+the+worlds

In 2012, an all New Generation of artists guest on a fresh recording of one of the most iconic albums of all time. Originally released in 1978, Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of The Worlds remains an award-winning landmark masterpiece that has continually won new fans. For 2012, Jeff embarked on a new interpretation with guest stars every bit as talented as their illustrious predecessors. He has once again brought HG Wells’ classic novel to life on a new double album.
Two of the modern era's most respected artists, Oscar-nominated actor Liam Neeson and celebrated singer/songwriter/producer and Take That’s main man Gary Barlow play the two key roles of The Journalist and The Sung Thoughts of The Journalist. Gary is the new voice of the singles "The Eve of The War" and "Forever Autumn". A life-long fan of the original album, he was most excited at the chance to appear on the new one. He says: "I've been a huge fan of The War of The Worlds score since I was a kid, so to be asked to work with the legend that is Jeff Wayne was a real privilege."
Thirty-four years on, Liam Neeson inherits his role from Richard Burton, whose voice is an abiding memory for a generation haunted by his album narration. While a hard act to follow, he makes the role his own. Liam says: "I knew and loved the book from when I was a teenager and it was an easy persuasion. And I bought the album in 1979 when I was working in Ireland. I still have that little cassette.”
Ricky, from the Kaiser Chiefs, takes over from David Essex’s classic rendition as The Artilleryman. Ricky commented: “Jeff Wayne’s The War of The Worlds is part of the musical landscape and I have always been a fan. It is daunting to do because people love it so much. I got the email from Jeff Wayne inviting me to be part of it and that is not something you can say ‘No’ to.”
Bringing a fresh sound to the role of Parson Nathaniel is acclaimed new singer Maverick Sabre. Originally performed by Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott, Maverick performs with Joss Stone, the stunning choice to play Parson Nathaniel’s wife; their performances on "The Spirit Of Man" are truly mesmerising. Hot new talent, Alex Clare, following his breakout hit "Too Close", takes over as The Voice of Humanity, originally recorded by Chris Thompson.
This is a limited edition hardback digipack format.

Oh yeah, I was aware of the tour (one or two folks I know went to see it), but had no idea about that remake. Gary Barlow? Fuck off, he has no place on this record.

tim tbh I dont think there is any album that fits a new jersey - slippery when wet exactly anyway

― Cosmic Slop, Sunday, January 11, 2015 10:38 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah I agree with this - I wasn't saying that the This Is My Truth was a bad choice for the thread, more that you get these variations around the idea which combine a whole bunch of different factors pointing in multiple directions.

If anything what you see with Manics is the effect of a series of interrelated and rebounding New Jersey moments: Everything Must Go came out while Britpop still appeared to be on top, but itself was probably the first post-Britpop / "Britrock" record (see also OK Computer obv), and TIMTTMY was basically MSP cashing in on the momentum generated by this new widescreen seriousness.

It was over-embraced at the outset as much due to the British press's belated reaction to Be Here Now as due to credit that had been generated by Everything Must Go. Which is both ironic and understandable: TIMTTMY and BHN arguably suffer from many of the same flaws but offer alternative models of rock-identity.

So I think it was as much the New Jersey for an entire notion of what British rock was supposed to do post-Britpop as it was for MSP in particular. You can read the floundering of NME-approved rock in 1999-2000 as a sign that while it was now a truth universally acknowledged that Britpop was over, with TIMTTMY the Manics had failed to establish a viable replacement movement to rally around.

Another album I would say partly fits this thread but with a few key caveats is The Chemical Bros' Surrender.

I thought about that one but Come with Us and Push the Button held their own, no?

Surrender was actually the biggest.

Exit Planet Dust and Dig Your Own Hole both went platinum in the UK, Surrender went 2x platinum, then the next three albums only went gold (though all of them hit number 1).

So this is another example (like with the Manics) where I feel like the New Jersey album is one that still pulls in a lot of new fans and objectively looks like the artist's pinnacle, but it's like they've gone off a ski-jump ramp and the ascent necessarily will be followed by a descent.

I wonder if a Wings album counts. Pretty sure a macca album in the 70s would count as an event and after all "Wings were only the band The Beatles could have been"

can't suss out the Coldplay example of this phenomenon but there must be one.

Muse - The Resistance

I hear what you're saying Tim but I don't think either the Manics or the Chems fit the Be Here Now paradigm at all, ie bloated & self-parodic. Be Here Now was deemed a disappontment within months if not weeks and it contains none of Oasis's best-loved songs. If you see the Manics live now, Tolerate and You Stole the Sun From My Heart are still two of their most popular songs. And Know Your Enemy was an act of deliberate self-sabotage, a rejection of success, rather than diminishing returns. Also, TIMT has a strange sense of depression and defeat (cf The Everlasting) rather than hubris.

Coldplay had two - X&Y and Mylo Xyloto, bouncing back inbetween with Viva La Vida.

this was their fifth number one album - i'm sure i'd remember such an atrocious cover but i have no recollection of it at all:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41HpaP6sfrL.jpg

goes without saying but the stereophonics were the epitome of late 90s shit UK music.

Critical response
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 46/100[18]
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 2.5/5 stars [19]
BBC (unfavourable}[11]
Drowned in Sound (4/10)[10]
The Guardian 2/5 stars[20]
Hot Press 1.5/5 stars[21]
The Independent 2/5 stars[22]
NME (7/10) [23]
The Observer (unfavourable)[24]
Pitchfork Media (3.4/10) [9]
The Skinny 2/5 stars[25]

Pull the Pin received generally mixed to negative reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 46, based on 12 reviews.[18] Contrasting with the negative reviews however, NME - who have been critical of the band's past albums - contributor Paul McNamee praised the album, stating it lives up as a successor album to Language. Sex. Violence. Other? and summarised it as "an unapologetic rock’n’roll record by a band who are hard to like but impossible to ignore."[23]

In the negative, Sonja D'Cruze from the BBC summarised the album as having "no real depth, imagination or anything to connect with."[11] Dorian Lynskey of The Guardian criticised the album, saying "the only things worse than Kelly Jones's aggrieved bellow and flatpack songwriting are his lyrics" and compared them to someone "performing brain surgery in boxing gloves: the patient always dies."[20]

Yeah, the thing is, not everything the Stereophonics did was awful, they'd pull out a good one to give people hope every so often. I used to cry Help me! I like the new Stereophonics single! but in retrospect, I'm not that bothered about that paperback book song anymore.

The point of this thread is really not 'reminisce about shit landfill bands pt. 245' or 'bang on about when you were feeling alienated from music'... like the 'Be Here Now'/'New Jersey' thing really should not be this difficult to grasp.

Still not sure why the original New Jersey thread needed a British spin-off though.

ah, remember when "Wake up boo" got played as much as "Bang bang into the room" does now?

― Mark G, Wednesday, 14 January 2015 14:13 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This was true, but I was not reallly being nostalgic, yeah?

This thread is dreadful.

Still not sure why the original New Jersey thread needed a British spin-off though.

― Matt DC, Wednesday, January 14, 2015 4:11 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

For derails?

this was their fifth number one album - i'm sure i'd remember such an atrocious cover but i have no recollection of it at all

I remember the sleeve, but I couldn't tell you what's on it!

that album cover screams 'terrible flop'

Not familiar with Bon Jovi's back catalogue, but I'd understood 'New Jersey' to mean 'The big hyped album that sold really well but which you could tell just by listening to it that it was the beginning of the end'. Still kind of unclear how this applies to Be Here Now and not Fat Of The Land, but I don't want to harp on about it any more.

because da croupier made a suggestion that he would like to see one and i ran with it matt dc

Fatboy Slim with Palookaville? Or was it the album before?

thread is dead but: I only ever lived in the UK for a couple of years, but got the impression that the album as thing was just always significantly less important to Brit musical culture in general--like, in the US, you have AOR; in the UK, whenever I looked at the album charts some complication "Now That's Wot I Call Meat & Two Veg!" was always at #1......it just seemed like it was more of a pop culture, and therefore more about singles than LPs. Am I completely off base?

for "complication", read "compilation"

Radio has always bee singles chart orientated.
In the 80s, because of compilation albums topping the album charts , they gave them their own compilations chart and were, quite rightly, ineligible for the album chart.

Wonder if there's a Queen album that fits? Turrican?

Hot Space.

obv.

Yeah, I'd say Hot Space too.

was it an event album that sold shitloads at the time?

The opposite of that.

Then it doesn't fit.

Queen recovered just fine after Hot Space anyway. Except for in the US, where the damage was done during The Works campaign

What about James' 'Millionaires'? I have no idea how well it sold, but it came out on the back of their hugely successful greatest hits and was supposed to be the album that propelled them to superstardom, or something. I actually don't think I've heard a note of it, though it seems like it was ultimately the beginning of the end for them.

'albums that came after a greatest hits' is a whole weird make/break kettle of fish though, right?

yeah , tho the huge selling beautiful south greatest hits surprised everybody

I've been wondering what Simple Minds album would fit this. I'd say Street Fighting Years - seemed to be them at their height in the UK, but the exact point where they became despicable in the eyes of everyone who didn't buy it. The album is so overblown and borderline worthless as well.

that's probably the correct choice but 'once upon a time' was definitely a major dry heave before they coughed their guts up

Street Fighting Years is a good one.

yeah on the back of their only UK #1 Belfast Child wasn't it? Definitely a big anticipated album by everyone my age bar me at my school.

It's like a really sanctimonious proto-Be Here Now - the three times I forced myself to listen to it, I was reminded of This Is My Truth as well. No fun.

You never see pro-Street Fighting Years pieces, eh?

http://nobilliards.blogspot.com/2015/07/simple-minds-street-fighting-years.html

heh it seems i ask that question a lot about bon jovi