Soot and Stars
I AM SOOT!
I think the difference today is more audience based. There's is so much music out there right now period, venues to get it out and venues to hear it that it's not about acquiring that legendary status. It's about finding that individual taste. The legend or classic status has become a really cliched thing and one mostly Classic Rock fans hold onto. I've been doing the mod thing for years now, I've partaken in discussions like this for years and the wheel keeps spinning but the arguments are really stale and not even applicable to a sensible approach. Really anyone who's known me here over the long haul knows that I mix in as much music from ANY era as I can. My heart will always be in the creative value and output from the 90's on but really while the 90's is my peak era it's each year that accelerates my love for music. Does it get better each year? I don't know really. It's just exciting because I keep pulling up gems. You keep asking for examples but there are actual threads like Cosmic and I creating a 2011 countdown of probably over 100 albums/artist we loved just from that year. When the negative threads come up I peacefully just post examples by the criteria listed of artist that contradict that. Usually it's met with "Oooh, that's too much" or nothing.
Listen, the same thing would happen here. I could name any rock band that has a steady career with a lot of creative output and it would just be a matter of your taste not meeting mine. It would either be the typical commercial statement or it wouldn't match that sound of 70's riffage that you guys have a bias towards. Regardless, whether anybody sits on that altar of criticism there are tons of us mindless zombies who get more of a sincere connection with music now and will never have the issues you are experiencing. Whether it be old or new, the proof has been in my post over the years, that the well never runs dry unless you choose for it to be that way. I'll see you when I'm 60 and jamming with the current generation and still not forgetting to add that Simon and Garfunkel album in the mix!
Listen, the same thing would happen here. I could name any rock band that has a steady career with a lot of creative output and it would just be a matter of your taste not meeting mine. It would either be the typical commercial statement or it wouldn't match that sound of 70's riffage that you guys have a bias towards. Regardless, whether anybody sits on that altar of criticism there are tons of us mindless zombies who get more of a sincere connection with music now and will never have the issues you are experiencing. Whether it be old or new, the proof has been in my post over the years, that the well never runs dry unless you choose for it to be that way. I'll see you when I'm 60 and jamming with the current generation and still not forgetting to add that Simon and Garfunkel album in the mix!
The first album like a lot of new artist is a slow burner and can have consistent sales but never hit a high number on the actual charts. It just means the sales overall have found an audience. The debut O when he first caught on went Gold and in it's native base on the Irish charts as well as the UK (3x platinum). On the second album he had a built in audience and peaked at #22 on the charts. He had a single as well called 99 Crimes which got a lot of VH1 and radio play. He may have hit his commercial peak already and his seperation from the female collaborator Lisa Hannigan (seen in the vid) may hurt him some. Regardless he has enough of an audience to hone in if he even decides to release another album. It seems to be a possibility but the guys a little pretentious and he may shoot himself in the foot. He's a great artist but sometimes artist start going a little too inward and defiant and cost themselves a fanbase instead of the industry itself being to blame.
