Lightning Bolt: the official album thread

[Jorge]

Sorry sorry. She's not Australian, she's British. It's been like 10 years since I used to masturbate to that show.

[Thejambi]

Sorry sorry. She's not Australian, she's British. It's been like 10 years since I used to masturbate to that show.

Where in Britain is Australia?
I love playing with my genitalia!
Tee hee!

[MattA75]

I was curious to see if PJ had any other albums that had the chance to reach Platinum status but it doesn't look promising. If Binaural hasn't been able to break 800,000 after 13 years then I doubt any of the 2nd decade albums will reach the mark.

Vastly different music industry these days. In 2013, it is a much much smaller number of acts that reach platinum status. From 10 years ago, the record industry in terms of sales is probably like a half or even a third of the size it was. Total sales in the industry fall around 10-15% each year. It sucks for people selling music, but it's a good time in terms of there not being as many acts that are deliberate knock offs (like the creed and nickelback) and especially in rock you have to have something original to offer in order to be noticed.

So what's an appropriate measure for success I wonder?
If Backspacer reached #1 on Billboard 200 (and S/T would've reached #1 as well if it weren't for that damn Tool album) then is that the mark set for LB to achieve since album sales are a pointless metric at this point?

Interesting question. I'm not sure. I think it's something else in this confusing era. It's more qualitative than quantitative. It's if it gains traction with a fanbase, if the fans come to the live shows, if they enjoy the music, etc. My guess is LB will sell in the half mill range, give or take, which is a moderate success these days. In some ways casue they've been around a long time, PJ is somewhat immune from having a complete career killing flop, and the only way to go anywhere beyond the half million mark to a bigger audience is to ignore the old "sell out or not" arguments (which are obsolete) and just really push hard to get the album noticed.

The Black Keys are basically the biggest selling proper "rock" band (Mumford are something else, more like a DMB) and they sold 1.1 mill or something. That's basically the ceiling of what a rock band consisting of a few white males can sell these days. In some ways, PJ have already lucked out. They play to big audiences regardless of whether an album is out or not. Overall, the audience is already fairly receptive to the material. No one gets the mass breakthrough anymore simply because there are no centralized gatekeepers like there were in the 80 or 90s. There's almost no chance of a "Ten" happening again, and that's not such a bad thing.

I suggest reading this really interesting article from Grantland on the Black Keys. Beyond the group itslef, it goes into where rock music is right now.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/895 ... black-keys

My feeling is that rock is in a contracting phase. Alot of people around here don't care for such things, but I personally want today's 14-16 year olds to experience proper rock music. The issue, as well articulated in the article, is a lack of "gateway" bands anymore. The indie rock community is happy in it's own little ghetto. But the result of that is today's 15 year olds will never experience the gateway and will miss out on alot of cool music as a result. It's worth a read, and the writer has a whole series on where rock music is right now. I think PJ's audience should read it. I'ts good stuff.

Things are less specialized now...kids will listen to anything and everything and don't really care about genres...this started with my generation I think (I'm 33), and has only expanded in the last decade...this is great in terms of them finding a good diverse mix of music, but it unfortunately also results in them liking "songs" instead of "bands." In many ways, where we are now is basically 1955, except instead of 45s, you have iTunes and single track availability. The younger generation doesn't buy albums on the whole, and if they do, it's something like Katy Perry, where there's 4 or 5 hit singles already there so they know half the record anyway.

Also, it's literally been 20 years since a truly groundbreaking rock record came out (Nevermind, or if you want to say Rage's first album, I'll consider that). The rock bands that sell decent numbers these days (Nickelback, Seether, Shinedown (who I think could actually be good with the right producer/person to push them, the singer's voice is tremendous)) are all products of the post early 90s wave. 10 years ago I never would've thought Seether would still be getting new songs onto rock radio, but they are. And that's because there's been a decided lack of new bands that was able to energize things on that front. Older rock fans are bored with new stuff because it's the "same ole same ole", what's left of rock radio plays 80-85% classic rock (including 90s stuff that is 20 years old at this point), and there's been no one to carry that flag the way PJ did in the 90s (along with Soundgarden et al).

[Sgt. Crackpot]

Got this tracklist from a friend. He says he hacked iTunes and got it:

Pearl Jam
Lightning Bolt

1. Cross to Crescent
2. Gold Tongue
3. Mind Your Manners
4. Splintered
5. The Cyclops Approach
6. Data Mouth
7. Radio Waves
8. Lightning Bolt
9. Hypnotized
10. Revolution Spark
11. Annihilation Song
12. Future Days

Sure he did.

[stip]

I was curious to see if PJ had any other albums that had the chance to reach Platinum status but it doesn't look promising. If Binaural hasn't been able to break 800,000 after 13 years then I doubt any of the 2nd decade albums will reach the mark.

Vastly different music industry these days. In 2013, it is a much much smaller number of acts that reach platinum status. From 10 years ago, the record industry in terms of sales is probably like a half or even a third of the size it was. Total sales in the industry fall around 10-15% each year. It sucks for people selling music, but it's a good time in terms of there not being as many acts that are deliberate knock offs (like the creed and nickelback) and especially in rock you have to have something original to offer in order to be noticed.

So what's an appropriate measure for success I wonder?
If Backspacer reached #1 on Billboard 200 (and S/T would've reached #1 as well if it weren't for that damn Tool album) then is that the mark set for LB to achieve since album sales are a pointless metric at this point?

McP's point that the relative positioning is the best way to control for this makes sense

[digster]

McP's point that the relative positioning is the best way to control for this makes sense

I don't know; I think we may see a lot more PJ releases open at #1 on the Billboard charts right now because a) they have a very large hardcore fanbase in comparison to many other bands, and they will buy the album the first week it comes out, and b) that fanbase consists of many people that are more accustomed/willing to buy the album as opposed to pirating it. For example, if Riot Act was released today I think it would definitely open at number 1.

[lecherouslittlestump]

I'd say any Pearl Jam album is likely to do around 100,000 - 150,000 opening week, which is usually enough to go to number 1 (depending on the competition)

Steep drop off after that, though.

[EJ]

I'd say any Pearl Jam album is likely to do around 100,000 - 150,000 opening week, which is usually enough to go to number 1 (depending on the competition)

Steep drop off after that, though.

How do you think Betterman (live) will do when its released as the second single?

[stip]

I'd say any Pearl Jam album is likely to do around 100,000 - 150,000 opening week, which is usually enough to go to number 1 (depending on the competition)

Steep drop off after that, though.

How do you think Betterman (live) will do when its released as the second single?

lightning bolt has already produced several new memes that I thoroughly enjoy, but this one is my favorite

[Norah]

I'd say any Pearl Jam album is likely to do around 100,000 - 150,000 opening week, which is usually enough to go to number 1 (depending on the competition)

Steep drop off after that, though.

How do you think Betterman (live) will do when its released as the second single?

lightning bolt has already produced several new memes that I thoroughly enjoy, but this one is my favorite

Yes, but how many youtube views does it have?

[stip]

a rising contender

[Norah]

You sure are posting a lot for someone whose wife just gave birth.

[stip]

my day consists of sitting in the room watching my wife hold the baby, and then running out to get her iced tea.

Babies are really boring the first few months.

I just took a break from posting to rock her and sing her some pearl jam and tom waits songs

[Norah]

When my oldest nephew was a newborn I was one of the best in the family at getting him to stop crying. I would rock him while singing All Those Yesterdays and he'd just stop his crying on the spot.

[stip]

good choice. i've been using around the bend, but ATY is more fun to sing. I think I shall try that

[LetMeSleep]

Have you rocked the Rock A Bye Baby pearl jam frog croaks yet?

[stip]

i used that with the last kid.

[harmless]

I still think the biggest hope we have that this album might have some great songs on it (as opposed to just OK / decent ones) is that soundchecked song. I really want to hear it, as either my ears are playing tricks on me or it sounds really, really good. When I put all of this material together, including this soundchecked murky non-song, the 'atmosphere' I get from this album is a Yield/Binaural/Riot Act/Backspacer mashup.

[stupidmop]

My only worry about that song is that its gonna lose alot of its murky atmosphere when we're not hearing it through a wall.

That said im choosing to believe that that intro music on the tour vid is definitely on the album, because why not. And that definitely has some atmosphere to it.

[harmless]

My only worry about that song is that its gonna lose alot of its murky atmosphere when we're not hearing it through a wall.

That said im choosing to believe that that intro music on the tour vid is definitely on the album, because why not. And that definitely has some atmosphere to it.

Agreed on both points. The song could become something from Binaural or it could be a slower, duller FON.

But I can't see the tour vid intro music as part of Backspacer. There's too much mood and atmosphere. So even if it's just a few seconds of a song, I can see it adding more atmosphere to the album than the whole of Backspacer, all by itself.