Perfect Mainstream Albums

[oasisfan35]

i mean we haven't even talked about payola yet

The promoter would offer "promotion payments" to station directors for putting their client's artists on the station's playlist, sidestepping Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations[...]In 2002, investigations by the office of then-New York District Attorney Eliot Spitzer uncovered evidence that executives at Sony BMG music labels had made deals with several large commercial radio chains.[24] Spitzer's office settled out of court with Sony BMG Music Entertainment in July 2005, Warner Music Group in November 2005 and Universal Music Group in May 2006. The three conglomerates agreed to pay $10 million, $5 million, and $12 million respectively to New York State non-profit organizations that will fund music education and appreciation programs. EMI remains under investigation.[25][26][needs update]

Concerns about contemporary forms of payola in the US prompted an investigation during which the FCC established firmly that the "loophole" was still a violation of the law. In 2007, four companies (CBS Radio, Citadel, Clear Channel, and Entercom) settled on paying $12.5 million in fines and accepting tougher restrictions for three years, although no company admitted any wrongdoing.[27] Due to increased legal scrutiny, some larger radio companies (including industry giant Clear Channel) now refuse to have any contact with independent promoters.

Clear Channel Radio, through iHeartRadio, launched a program called On the Verge that required the stations to play a given song at least 150 times in order to give a new artist exposure.

It's really difficult for me to look at any charting artist from the TRL era and think they had any sort of organic crossover appeal, rather than just being crammed down the buyer's throat.

The judgments $s really don't push the needle at all for me.

[tragabigzanda]

Top 10 maybe?
Hello Morning
Close Captioned
The Kill
Place/Position
Do You Like Me?
Latest Disgrace
Recap Modotti
Nightshop
Break
Life & Limb

I'd maybe bump Life & Limb for Epic Problem

[oasisfan35]

Yes but you love Oasis

I'm a fan, yes

[dad]

Yes but you love Oasis

I'm a fan, yes

he’s mad fer it.

[bodysnatcher]

There’s probably a Garth Brooks or Shania Twain album that could be named

[oasisfan35]

There’s probably a Garth Brooks or Shania Twain album that could be named

I thought 'The Woman in Me' initially but 'Come On Over' is probably accurate, Mutt Lange strikes again.

[bodysnatcher]

Whitney Houston probably had several. But I’m not going back to see if anyone mentioned her already.

[liebzz]

I read this topic quite literally to mean albums we all kinda know but think are so great they are perfect. The list started that way. Now we are fighting over what appears like a discussion of what is mainstream anyway, and how can we morph the definition of perfect to effectively turn this into a gaslighting session where I am somehow lead to believe there’s a perfect Whitney Houston album. Is this the most RM topic ever?

[knee tunes]

This thread belongs in the de bait forum

[knee tunes]

Graceland

Ok this

[knee tunes]

Ten

Another one

[knee tunes]

Rumours

[knee tunes]

If you can find a t-shirt of a band/artist in a store in a mall, that's mainstream

[liebzz]

If you can find a t-shirt of a band/artist in a store in a mall, that's mainstream

So yes, Avenged Sevenfold, no Pearl Jam.

[Kevin Davis]

I really don't think the definition of "mainstream" is as complicated, or examples fitting the definition as elusive and rare, as the last few pages of discussion make it seem.

Spoiler: show

main·​stream | \ ˈmān-ˌstrēm \
Definition of mainstream (Entry 1 of 3)
: a prevailing current or direction of activity or influence

mainstream adjective
main·​stream
Definition of mainstream (Entry 2 of 3)
: having, reflecting, or being compatible with the prevailing attitudes and values of a society or group

mainstream verb
main·​stream | \ ˈmān-ˈstrēm \
mainstreamed; mainstreaming; mainstreams
Definition of mainstream (Entry 3 of 3)
transitive verb

1: to place (a student, such as a disabled child) in regular school classes
2: to incorporate in the mainstream

Because there have historically been cultural value judgments associated with something being considered "mainstream," I think people have always kind of moved the goalposts on what it ought to entail in order to project their own values/biases onto it, making it seem like this highly subjective, open-to-interpretation thing that it really isn't. Speaking for myself at least, there was certainly a time when I would have insisted that no artist that I listened to could rightly be considered "mainstream," because that word had a negative connotation in my social circles and I didn't want to be associated with it, even though the rock bands I was listening to had a massive pop culture presence and were significant reference points for non-music audiences (ex: in one of the early episodes of Frasier, Lilith calls into Frasier's radio show and tells him that the first time she heard him on the radio, she kept expecting him to introduce "Pearl Jam's latest hit," only to find out he was doling out worthless psychiatric advice). Not saying that's happening here necessarily, but I totally did that and it was really silly in hindsight.

The dictionary definition of the word is vague, and it should be; most things that simultaneously had significant cultural and commercial presence are probably fairly categorized as "mainstream," even if that presence required some kind of engagement with the area of culture where the thing existed. The additional criteria being put forward here -- namely, that (a) the thing must have lasting, cross-generational cultural influence; (b) the thing must be absorbed into the daily lives of the absolute least invested consumers, or; (c) the thing must appear on playlists designed for 54-year-old women shopping for candles at Bed Bath and Beyond -- are entirely arbitrary. I think there's a conversation in there that could be interesting to have -- i.e. music that achieves massive levels of popularity while seemingly evading entire demographics, or music that gets absorbed into mainstream culture while seemingly going against the values of what such a thing typically entails -- but I don't think trying to give a new definition to a word that already has a perfectly good one is the most effective context for it.

[Kevin Davis]

If you can find a t-shirt of a band/artist in a store in a mall, that's mainstream

So yes, Avenged Sevenfold, no Pearl Jam.

You could absolutely get PJ shirts at malls through the majority of the 1990's

[liebzz]

If you can find a t-shirt of a band/artist in a store in a mall, that's mainstream

So yes, Avenged Sevenfold, no Pearl Jam.

You could absolutely get PJ shirts at malls through the majority of the 1990's

My malls (Spencer’s) was not so good. I could get countless Ramones t-shirts and Nirvana.

[Kevin Davis]

If you can find a t-shirt of a band/artist in a store in a mall, that's mainstream

So yes, Avenged Sevenfold, no Pearl Jam.

You could absolutely get PJ shirts at malls through the majority of the 1990's

My malls (Spencer’s) was not so good. I could get countless Ramones t-shirts and Nirvana.

We had, at various times, a Sam Goody, a Musicland, a Spencer's, a Hot Topic, and some random store that only sold pop culture t-shirts. The most recent PJ t-shirt I remember buying at the mall was around 2001 or so; it was designed like the 2000 boots, with a bunch of the setlists written on the back. Wore that one to death.

[liebzz]

I don’t think I have see a Pearl Jam t-shirt at a mall since 1994. Then again I haven’t been to a mall very often in the past 20 years so it may not be a fair assessment.

[bodysnatcher]

I hate this thread