Records That Were Hits Because Of Internet Buzz

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Have there actually been many/any? When that awful awful Baz Luhrmann thing went to no.1 it was talked about as "the first ever Internet hit" - any others though? I think it's much more common for a record to be a hit within its niche because of interweb hype (loads of indie records I'm sure), but making a national crossover? No. Even in the sense of becoming an online 'meme' like Mahir and the Hamster Dance* I can't think of any.

*the Cuban Boys single that samples this exists because of the net but I don't know how much net buzz had to do with its success.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 26 January 2004 14:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Wasn't that "Bunsen Burner" rot a hit because the guy's message board/mailing list or whatever all mobilised to buy a copy in the same week?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 26 January 2004 14:40 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't know *What* you mean....

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 26 January 2004 14:42 (twenty-two years ago)

wasn't that Junior Senior hit the product of internethype?

― DV (dirtyvicar), Monday, 26 January 2004 14:46 (twenty-two years ago)

I think Dom means the 2nd hit by John Otway. His fans decided, that for his 40th Birthday present, they should get him his 2nd chart hit. Previously he had made his 'career' based on the fact that he had only 1 hit. So now he goes round promoting himself as that guy who's had 2 hits.

― jellybean (jellybean), Monday, 26 January 2004 15:07 (twenty-two years ago)

His 50th birthday.

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 26 January 2004 15:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I agree with Tom. I think once you get to the point where you are on the internet, getting caught up in new music (probably before it reaches your local radio station), then you have a greater stake in new music than most people just listening to the radio.

― dleone (dleone), Monday, 26 January 2004 15:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Would Milkshake maybe count here? Has clearly been kicking around since august and everyone who has written anything about it anywhere recently has felt obliged to mention that they've had it since summer. Not taking into account pre/post xmas single-sale-ebb'n'flow and recent giant-video-rotation and radio play and stuff, if it had come out in october as originally scheduled it looked likely to nudge into the top 30/20 purely on basis of interweb buzzz and things.

― Alex in Doncaster (Alex in Doncaster), Monday, 26 January 2004 15:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I think that OutKast's massive success (or at least, "Hey Ya"'s) has a lot to do with the Net. Buzz on blogs etc., passed via IM and email, then through to downloads on P2P. Tons of people who climbed on board the OutKast wagon would never have usually listened to (or bought) a hip hop album: buzz plus the song's easy accessibility on KaZaA/Gnutella/slsk had a lot to do with its ascendancy, i think.

― Sean M (Sean M), Monday, 26 January 2004 16:26 (twenty-two years ago)

surely the dizzee counts here?

― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 26 January 2004 16:27 (twenty-two years ago)

!!!

― Jon Williams (ex machina), Monday, 26 January 2004 16:28 (twenty-two years ago)

is "boy in the corner" a hit?

(no)

― Sean M (Sean M), Monday, 26 January 2004 16:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Dizzee Rascal definitely. In the states so far the only exposure I've had to his music has been the internet.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 26 January 2004 17:07 (twenty-two years ago)

but I don't think Dizzee is a hit, though....is it?

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 26 January 2004 17:12 (twenty-two years ago)

depends on your definition of hit. it won the mercury music prize, had a decent run in the uk album charts, spawned two top 40 singles, got him a handful of brit award noms...

― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 26 January 2004 17:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Avalanches, The Streets, 2 Many DJs, Dizzee Rascal and Junior Boys

― Paul (scifisoul), Monday, 26 January 2004 17:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Belle & Sebastian's "Legal Man", perhaps? The Sinisterines certainly went into overdrive to win them their Brit, leading to a high chart position for the single, TOTP immortality etc.

"Danger! High Voltage!" as well, due to its presence on many 2manydjs comps, all of which originally existed only online. I certainly hadn't heard of it til I read something on ILM.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Monday, 26 January 2004 17:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

― Felcher (Felcher), Monday, 26 January 2004 17:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I agree with Charlie, I think B&S as a band were a hit because of internet buzz - they benefitted from being on the cusp of fanzine culture and mp3 culture... Tigermilk certainly wouldn't have become such a mythical artefact if you could have downloaded it rather than write to some cool stranger 1000s of miles away to ask for a hissy 5th generation tape.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Monday, 26 January 2004 17:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I think the internet (mainly Pitchfork, of course) had a big hand in making the Broken Social Scene album catch on (granted, to call that disc a "hit" would be preposterous, but it is certainly buzzed about in tiny indie circles).

― Ben Boyer (Ben Boyer), Monday, 26 January 2004 17:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Surely I wouldn't know about half the stupid CDR only releases without the internart

― Jon Williams (ex machina), Monday, 26 January 2004 17:37 (twenty-two years ago)

In my world, every record is a hit due to internet buzz, since I basically no longer read anything new about music that isn't online. ILM=journalism!

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Monday, 26 January 2004 17:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

That's a pretty good example...that actually debuted pretty high on the charts....and they were streaming that for along time on their site...

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 26 January 2004 17:48 (twenty-two years ago)

How exactly is "internet buzz" significantly different for any of the records listed here (with the possible exception of Dizzee Rascal) than any other earlier avenues of promotion or hype? To say that the success of the Outkast track for instance is due to the web seems like truly wishful thinking. At best, hype on the web may have helped push the process along. But is the web "creating" hits (the way MTV did in '83)?

― don davies, Monday, 26 January 2004 17:50 (twenty-two years ago)

But is the web "creating" hits (the way MTV did in '83)?

No.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 26 January 2004 17:51 (twenty-two years ago)

the last few radiohead cds too.

― Felcher (Felcher), Monday, 26 January 2004 17:52 (twenty-two years ago)

But why? And how? Radiohead had an audience prior to most people getting on the web, and that audience was growing anyway. So how is internet buzz any different than college radio or print advertising or tv commercial or video buzz?

― s woods, Monday, 26 January 2004 17:53 (twenty-two years ago)

the whole Kid A lack-of-a-marketing-plan marketing plan along with boards etc. hyping it up is what helped Kid A become the only #1 without a lead single. it still would've been successful, but it wouldn't have made history.

― Felcher (Felcher), Monday, 26 January 2004 17:57 (twenty-two years ago)

as someone who only has dial-up:
lcd soundsystem "yeah,yeah,yeah" -it was so hyped that even i downloaded it.

it hasn't made the national crossover yet but...

― ddd, Monday, 26 January 2004 20:49 (twenty-two years ago)

I think Felcher is right--YHF may be the only genuine "hit" 'net record in the sense of selling a lot of copies. the others mentioned, like Paul K's list, are critical/subcultural hits but not gigantic sellers, though I think the Avalanches are in Australia. which reminds me, a retailer recently told me that Since I Left You went out of print--in the U.S. at least--last month. anyone know anything about this?

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 26 January 2004 20:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Avalanches were reasonably big here, as well - Top 10 album, and two Top 20 singles.

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Monday, 26 January 2004 21:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Since I Left You was huge in Australia almost from the very moment it came out here (November 2000 or so, I think) and even before then the group were getting major props from The Face and other mags on account of their mixtape, so I think their (measured) success elsewhere was somewhat inevitable.

The (very tentative so far) advancement of the Junior Boys *does* count I think because they didn't even have a record label when Hyperdub featured them in '02. Then some Hyperdub readers picked up on them and Nick Kilroy (ILX poster/gabba co-orchestrator extraordinaire) signed them onto his just created record label. Before this there was I imagine no way for people who didn't write to Junior Boys personally to hear these songs. Getting into top ten lists for Boomkat and the like is hardly "hit" status yet I suppose but I have faith that they'll find their market.

Dizzee's an interesting one. One thing to ask: on what intelligence were XL acting when they signed Dizzee and Wiley? If they had A&R with their ear to the ground then it's not at all surprising they'd sign Dizzee. "I Luv U" was as huge within the scene as it was around here. The critical hype probably wouldn't have generated as fast without the internet but it would have happened eventually I suspect.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 26 January 2004 22:55 (twenty-two years ago)

a retailer recently told me that Since I Left You went out of print--in the U.S. at least--last month. anyone know anything about this?

It's handled by Sire here in the states, isn't it? Not surprising it's slipped out of print. Even after the label's grand rebirth a short while ago, it's still a huge mess.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Monday, 26 January 2004 23:50 (twenty-two years ago)

UK hits I can think of...

Sugababes "Freak Me"!!!!!
Mad Donna "Wheels On The Bus"!!!!!
Electric Six "Danger!!! High Voltage!!!!"!!!!!
Franz Ferdinand "Take Me Out"!!!!
Outkast "Miss Jackson"!!!!!
Girls Aloud "Sound of the Underground"!!!!!! (Well, partly!!!)
Also, wasn't there that Invasion of the Gabber Robots tune "All Your Base Are Belong To Us" tune in tha UK hit parade?!?!?!?

― Old Fart!!! (oldfart_sd), Tuesday, 27 January 2004 14:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Girls Alahd? you've got to be joking

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 27 January 2004 14:06 (twenty-two years ago)

don't recall the All Your Base song ever charting either

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 27 January 2004 14:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, Steve I do seem to remember a lot of "AT LAST!!!! A DECENT SONG FROM THOSE POP IDOL CRETINS!!!" type talk from the ILM/NYLPM crowd when the Girls Aloud number came out!!!!!!

― Old Fart!!! (oldfart_sd), Tuesday, 27 January 2004 14:12 (twenty-two years ago)

yeh but how many people from ILM voted for them and bought it? a few granted, but there's big difference between this and the success of 'Freak Like Me' I feel, let alone 'Cognescenti vs Intelligensia' (best title ever) - Franz Ferdinand owe no more to internet buzz than Kelis, Outkast or anything else recent and popular either really.

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 27 January 2004 14:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah Old Fart I have a feeling that the popular television show "Popstars" may have been more a factor in Girls Aloud's success than NYLPM.

(I bought it btw Stevem! I didnt vote for them though. I only paid attention when Jel started saying they were good.)

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Tuesday, 27 January 2004 14:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Hence the "Well, partly" bit next to their name, Tico!!!!

― Old Fart!!! (oldfart_sd), Tuesday, 27 January 2004 14:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Las Ketchup

also:
Howard Dean

― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 27 January 2004 15:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Not the Shirokuma record. Only Ned responded. Mind you, he's pretty buzzin'

Shirokuma GO!

― Lynskey (Lynskey), Tuesday, 27 January 2004 15:20 (twenty-two years ago)

lcd soundsystem "yeah,yeah,yeah" -it was so hyped that even i downloaded it.

it hasn't made the national crossover yet but...

No but it did land on Entertainment Weekly's "Top 10" of the week (a list of books, movies, tev shows, music, etc. that they like), which for a vinyl only single is pretty impressive.

It's handled by Sire here in the states, isn't it? Not surprising it's slipped out of print. Even after the label's grand rebirth a short while ago, it's still a huge mess.

It was reissued by Elektra after Sire/London folded. A quick look at Elektra's Avalaches page indicates that it's out of print (click on "Buy Now" and it shows nothing).

― Vic Funk, Tuesday, 27 January 2004 15:35 (twenty-two years ago)

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