Billboard Bulletin this morning says Beck's _Guero_ has "sold more than 623,000 copies in the US." Whuzza?

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Also says it debuted at #2, which is his best debut ever.

How did this all happen? Do people really like the album? I stopped listening to it a few weeks after I got it, so I'm wondering if I'm missing something. Was "Girl" a big hit? Are they giving away ice cream? What's going on? 623k? Really?

― Eppy (Eppy), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 18:23 (twenty years ago)

"E-Pro" was his biggest hit since "Loser."

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 18:27 (twenty years ago)

And "Girl" was a huge VH1 hit.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 18:27 (twenty years ago)

623k ain't really that much. i heard "e-pro" more than any post-odelay single besides "sexx laws", i've heard "girl" on the radio more than any post-odelay single besides "e-pro" and "sexx laws".

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 18:30 (twenty years ago)

Starbucks Starbucks Starbucks.

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 18:30 (twenty years ago)

hello Starbucks

haha xpost!

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 18:31 (twenty years ago)

I wonder what the numbers on that acoustic Alanis record are.

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 18:32 (twenty years ago)

not enough! never enough!

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 18:32 (twenty years ago)

This is news to anyone who's not in the bizz.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 18:34 (twenty years ago)

er, I'm not in the bizz...but I DO read Billboard!

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 18:35 (twenty years ago)

What's he saying in "Girl" anyway? It's not in the lyrics.

My summer girl?
My Sunn0))) girl?

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 18:39 (twenty years ago)

talking out of my ass here (and only here) but i wonder if beck is reaping the benefits of what's left of alt-rock radio's really ~~longing for~~ embracing 'hey remember the 90s' - i know one station in atlanta really pushes the 'hits of the 90s' angle in their ads and the local onetime active rock station recently switched it's playlist to go whatever you call that alt with a dash of classic format (in atlanta it's called 'dave'; basically 'you don't need satellite radio, we can play LOTS of songs geared toward 35 yr old not-quite-yuppie males too!') has put things back in rotation i ain't heard in ~~too long~~ a while (ie. better than ezra). my friend (who works at this radio station though he mainly focuses/cares about the sportstalk station) and i were riding to see dukes of hazzard yesterday and he mentioned they'd made the switch - 'considerably less classic rock, more alt, more new rock, yes to john mayer no to papa roach, nu metal's gone' - and we switched to it to hear it and they were playing...robert palmer 'i didn't mean to turn you on'? him - 'they're still working out the kinks'. next song played: beck 'girl'.

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 18:43 (twenty years ago)

the local onetime active rock station recently switched it's playlist to go whatever you call that alt with a dash of classic format (in atlanta it's called 'dave'; basically 'you don't need satellite radio, we can play LOTS of songs geared toward 35 yr old not-quite-yuppie males too!')

Yeah, there's been a couple of threads about this new format, started in Canada. The LA equivalent is called "Jack."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 18:44 (twenty years ago)

thetans buy a lotta records

― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 18:45 (twenty years ago)

And Battlefield Earth was too long a film.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 18:46 (twenty years ago)

battlefield earth was too short (but not, alas, too $hort)

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 18:48 (twenty years ago)

in atlanta it's called 'dave'; basically 'you don't need satellite radio, we can play LOTS of songs geared toward 35 yr old not-quite-yuppie males too!'

FUCK OFF WITH USING MY NAME YOU BITCHES!

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 18:49 (twenty years ago)

i have to admit better than ezra sounded pret-ty good (o woah oah uhoh)

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 18:50 (twenty years ago)

scientologists

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 18:51 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, there's been a couple of threads about this new format, started in Canada. The LA equivalent is called "Jack."

Here it's called Hank, if I'm not mistaken.

I've never heard "Sexx Laws", but then again the modern rock radio station here is very limited and only plays the same 10 nu-metal songs for months on end.

― Ian Riese-Moraine: a casualty of social estrangement. (Eastern Mantra), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 18:52 (twenty years ago)

Ha - I was looking for my clips from my "local rag" (The Hartford Courant) earlier, and I saw a Better Than Ezra review, which proclaimed that they've released the 2nd-best U2 album of the year.

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 18:58 (twenty years ago)

I thought U2 did that last year.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 19:18 (twenty years ago)

I'm just telling you what the guy wrote (and got past the editor).

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 19:21 (twenty years ago)

The liberal media at work again.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 19:29 (twenty years ago)

Better Than Ezra's still around?

― Marxism Goes Better With Coke (Charles McCain), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 19:30 (twenty years ago)

i think so, they definitely lingered after their moment, had a real strong regional following down here; not sure if they still do, they came thru enough so that one didn't even notice better than ezra were in town unless, yknow, one cared better than ezra were in town.

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 19:32 (twenty years ago)

Here it's called Hank, if I'm not mistaken.

are you from indianapolis?

hank is country's answer to "jack." and "bob" and all the other generic boy names they came up with.

― katie, a princess (katie, a princess), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 19:39 (twenty years ago)

to agree with Blount's point, even satellite radio has a channel like that.

XM Radio has "Ethel", which does all the post-Nevermind 90's alt-rock with some new stuff mixed in. Beck's E-pro & Girl get heavy play, both on it and the college radio channel.

― kingfish completely hatstand (Kingfish), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 19:48 (twenty years ago)

Nope, I'm in Florida. And the Hank here just plays a weird mix of anything that's ever made the top 40 in the past three decades. xpost

― Ian Riese-Moraine: a casualty of social estrangement. (Eastern Mantra), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 19:56 (twenty years ago)

KCRW was playing Girl at least 3 times a day last week (at least via the internet radio "KCRW Music" feed).

and in Austin it's Bob for the radio.

― patita (patita), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 19:57 (twenty years ago)

er, I'm not in the bizz...but I DO read Billboard!

Why?

― Asthmatic Cajun (Asthmatic Cajun), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 20:05 (twenty years ago)

for fear of becoming an asthmatic cajun

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 20:09 (twenty years ago)

talking out of my ass here (and only here) but i wonder if beck is reaping the benefits of what's left of alt-rock radio's really longing for embracing 'hey remember the 90s' - i know one station in atlanta really pushes the 'hits of the 90s' angle in their ads and the local onetime active rock station recently switched it's playlist to go whatever you call that alt with a dash of classic format (in atlanta it's called 'dave'; basically 'you don't need satellite radio, we can play LOTS of songs geared toward 35 yr old not-quite-yuppie males too!') has put things back in rotation i ain't heard in too long a while (ie. better than ezra).

I dunno....a bunch of people at work bought it and most of 'em are younger than me...more like 25...I think Beck's still a pretty big deal for lots of people....When I went to the Beck/Flaming Lips show, there were tons of young kids....this thread is more just like "Popular Artist sells a good amount of records SHOCKAH!"

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 20:12 (twenty years ago)

haha he's not ~~that~~ popular matt (623K) - how big was the ~~arena~~ hall you saw beck and the lips in?

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 20:14 (twenty years ago)

i never recognize anything they play on davefm ]:

― LOCKER ROOM TOWEL FIGHT: THE BLINDING OF LARRY DRISCOLL (Adrian Langston), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 20:38 (twenty years ago)

haha i'm striking words out for no reason now

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 20:40 (twenty years ago)

yeah....how do you strike out words anyway? I've always wanted to do that....

anyway...I think selling 600K+ is pretty good! for an artist that far into his career....it was at the orpheum theater in downtown mpls....um...geez...I don't know exactly how big it is....maybe 3000? 2000? i'm bad at guessing that kind of thing. That's not bad...I mean, it's bigger than the Quest, which big rappers that have #1 hits at the time usually play (like Twista when he came through).....

but yeah anyway my main point was that there were lots of people that looked under 25 there...not just people in their 30s....

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 20:46 (twenty years ago)

plus the original thread posters seemed to think that 623,000 was a ridiculously high number for a Beck record in 2005 (that and the debut at no. 2 on the charts)....so i GUESS that's "big" sales.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 20:48 (twenty years ago)

Well, considering that neither Mutations nor Midnite Vultures were sales blockbusters (which he's never had) or sleeper hits (like Odelay), it was a surprise to read a few months ago that his new album debuted one spot away from the top. The two million-plus who bought Odelay weren't loyal enough to buy the two followups

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 20:52 (twenty years ago)

it's demographic, as has been said here, though: people of a certain age buy CDs instead of downloading. Beck has since Odelay had big appeal for that certain age, and by basically revisiting Odelay (minus the songs, sez me) he's tapped back into that demo. come on, the biggest blockbuster of the year is Coldplay with something like 464,000 copies first week--that would've been NOTHING c. '99, when 'NSync were doing first week sales of 2 mil or so.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 21:07 (twenty years ago)

That Certain Age = over 30. I'm 30 and bought the damn thing, so...

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 21:12 (twenty years ago)

well, yeah. I'm 30, too. I'm not trying to denigrate any age group here, just delineating demographic differences.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 21:15 (twenty years ago)

silly rockist, massacre had first week sales of 1.14 mil

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 21:16 (twenty years ago)

MATOS IS AN AGEIST!

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 21:17 (twenty years ago)

he's a chocoholic!

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 21:18 (twenty years ago)

ihttp://www.ziyue.com/movies/usa/2000/BattlefieldEarth/co2.jpg
"u got the new beck?"
"yeah,u?"
"yeah"

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 21:25 (twenty years ago)

http://www.oprahwinfrey.de/Bilder/Bilder/Tom%20Cruise_jpg.jpg
"oh shit i think i cracked th jewel case on my new beck cd"
"oh lawdy noooooooooo"

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 21:27 (twenty years ago)

http://www.strangecosmos.com/images/content/102225.jpg
"if i had undulating folds of flesh i could put my beck cd in them,but i dont have hardly any clothes on at all"

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 21:29 (twenty years ago)

http://lostinthepast.shunpike.net/h/MotHH/MHH056.jpg
"i think i heard the amazon.com mailman with your new beck cd"

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 21:31 (twenty years ago)

http://www.scientology.org/pics/std/l-ron-hubbard/chronicle/chron_idx.jpg
"you will buy the new beck cd...you will buy the new beck cd..you will buy the new beck cd"

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 21:35 (twenty years ago)

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/russgmule/beck.jpg
"Fuck You"

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 21:39 (twenty years ago)

http://www.sweetadeline.net/images/beck-smi.jpg
"I'm totally more faceted than you"
"Oh please,why don't you kill me"

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 21:40 (twenty years ago)

I like the path this thread has taken.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 21:41 (twenty years ago)

do you do requests? katie holmes! the cast of that 70's show!

― Al (sitcom), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 21:46 (twenty years ago)

http://www.beckbeckbeck.net/art/beck_trent-reznor.jpg
"And I can drawer"

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 21:46 (twenty years ago)

http://medias.francetv.fr/bibl/url_images/2005/01/06/image_7176790.jpg
"Oh yes Larry my hair was styled ala Beck..he's this great kid out in Silverlake who reminds me of a young Elvis in that he takes negro idioms and makes them his own..want to touch my nose pit?"

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 21:53 (twenty years ago)

dan you are totally clearing me and i want to have your scientologist babies

― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 21:56 (twenty years ago)

http://www.themodernage.org/dailypics/vday-beck.jpg
"The evidence portrays L. Ron Hubbard as ... virtually a pathological liar when it comes to his history, background, and achievements. The writings and documents in evidence ... reflect his egoism, greed, avarice, lust for power, vindictiveness, and aggressiveness against persons perceived by him to be disloyal or hostile."

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 21:57 (twenty years ago)

http://www.ultimate-akademie.com/hansen/alhansen1.jpg
"Grandpa gets gassy"

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 22:02 (twenty years ago)

ihttp://charis.beck.org/gif/everyone-sleeping.jpg
"Translating the record's songs into our live act wasn't hard at all," he says casually. "It took us maybe two weeks. You see, I've been taking this approach for seven or eight years now, so we've got it down. This record is infinitely playable. We just brought all the tracks down, opened up whole files of the songs, picked out the samples we wanted to play, what we wanted Swamp, our DJ, to spin on the turntables, what could be done on the guitar synth, and so forth. The first time we tried to play songs like this live, it was much more difficult. We attempted a lot of different things before we discovered what works. Now it's easy."

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 22:05 (twenty years ago)

fair enough, Blount; still, 1.14 mil is still only half as good as it would've been five years ago.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 22:09 (twenty years ago)

http://beckbeckbeck.net/pictures/beck/6/beck_rockssound94_1.jpg

"I'm the artist formally known as Beck. I have a genius wig. When I put that wig on, then the true genius emerges. I don't have enough hair to be a genius. I think you have to have hair going everywhere.
Beck "
Beck

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 22:10 (twenty years ago)

http://www.ause.org/ezine/0003/002/images/warped-tour/juliette-and-the-licks.jpg
"Don't you be dissin on my beckbaby..juss cuzz we 'tologists dont make us bland,recyclers of the past"

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 22:20 (twenty years ago)

For the record, my surprise was less that that many people would buy a Beck record and more that that many people would buy this particular Beck record.

That said, carry on posting funny pictures, I have indie promo invoices to tend to.

― Eppy (Eppy), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 22:23 (twenty years ago)

(I mean, I didn't think it was gonna be at 30k or something, but my assumption was that it'd creep toward gold around about Christmas.)

― Eppy (Eppy), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 22:26 (twenty years ago)

Why? As Matos suggested, it's a listenable compedium of all Beck does well and not-so-well.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 22:27 (twenty years ago)

Yes, but executed in a boring way.

― Eppy (Eppy), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 22:28 (twenty years ago)

We disagree then. But, yeah, I'm surprised it debuted so high.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 22:29 (twenty years ago)

Obviously I was wrong in both my assessment of the album and its commercial prospects, but I hadn't really heard a lot of positive chatter about the album, so that it's this high was a bit of a shock. Clearly I'm spending too much time doing work and too little time reading websites. I didn't think that was possible, but there you go.

― Eppy (Eppy), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 22:30 (twenty years ago)

http://lp83.com/class-roster%5Cimages-then-200%5Cmichael-barthel.jpg
"I can't believe some dood sold a ton of records..wheres my zit spray"

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 22:31 (twenty years ago)

Ah yes, thanks.

― Eppy (Eppy), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 22:41 (twenty years ago)

ok im done..when i start actually attacking the posters thats a sure sign i should go get sum fresh air.,..carry on

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 22:48 (twenty years ago)

Yes, but executed in a boring way.

So... classic Beck then?

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 22:49 (twenty years ago)

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 22:52 (twenty years ago)

er, I'm not in the bizz...but I DO read Billboard!
Why?

-- Asthmatic Cajun (azefa...), August 10th, 2005.

Asthmatic Cajun, you took the word right outta my mouth!

― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Thursday, 11 August 2005 01:03 (twenty years ago)

I'm totally not kidding. It's well known scientologists use devious schemes involving the recycling of books to make Dianetics a best seller. Like buying a copy, then boxing it up to go back to the store and buying the same copy. How many scientologists are there? Don't you think they'd support their new peeps?

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Thursday, 11 August 2005 01:14 (twenty years ago)

How does that work? Why don't they just buy two copies at once?

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 11 August 2005 01:15 (twenty years ago)

They couldn't afford the e-meter readings if they did that.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 11 August 2005 01:16 (twenty years ago)

that doesn't really wash, Dan--Beck was a Scientologist back when his albums didn't sell very well, too.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Thursday, 11 August 2005 01:17 (twenty years ago)

It would be like the opposite of that old joke: Beck shipped gold but soundscanned platinum!

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 11 August 2005 01:17 (twenty years ago)

dan bunnybrain, you so CRAYZEE!!!

i dunno, i enjoy the beck, but it's getting harder to seperate him from the Scientology angle of it.

ya know, i kinda hope he does a tom cruise sorta deal...just goes ape shit in an interview or something...

― eedd, Thursday, 11 August 2005 10:50 (twenty years ago)

Since this is someone who wants to define the logic of sex laws, the chances that Beck will ever go batshit are nil.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 11 August 2005 11:53 (twenty years ago)

er, I'm not in the bizz...but I DO read Billboard!

Why?

because the .biz bulletin keeps you informed on music news, friend.

ok i'm done now

― katie, a princess (katie, a princess), Thursday, 11 August 2005 13:48 (twenty years ago)

six months pass...

So, seriously, what the fuck is the chorus to "Girl"?

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Friday, 17 February 2006 06:48 (twenty years ago)

Hello?

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Friday, 17 February 2006 16:49 (twenty years ago)

Hey, my sun-eyed girl
Hey, my sun-eyed girl
My sun-eyed girl
Hey, My sun-eyed girl

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 17 February 2006 16:58 (twenty years ago)

That makes sense. Thanks!

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Friday, 17 February 2006 17:01 (twenty years ago)

It's not "my summer girl"? Huh.

― Eppy (Eppy), Friday, 17 February 2006 17:02 (twenty years ago)

My Summer Grill

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 17 February 2006 17:03 (twenty years ago)

my cyanide grrl

― eedd, Friday, 17 February 2006 17:39 (twenty years ago)

The official lyrics on the Beck site simply say "my.....girl"

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Friday, 17 February 2006 18:14 (twenty years ago)

I like the song way more with an LFO reference.

― Eppy (Eppy), Friday, 17 February 2006 18:15 (twenty years ago)

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