September 12, 2006
THE GAP
Question, after watching Fashion Rocks, etc, and thinking about the Justina, et al albums: Who made it OK to go four years between records? Certainly not The Beatles, or Dylan or Pink Floyd. My money, and Ben’s, is on Michael: Three years between “Off The Wall” and “Thriller,” then another five years until “Bad,” and the same before “Dangerous” in 1992. Record companies like juicing an album up to five or six singles if possible, but they would rather do that AND sell another new album, as singles only make money by moving albums. “Superstition” would end up selling two or three Stevie Wonder records at once. Xtina could get over her Broadway moment and move on, but you know she won’t. She’ll mutz around with it for a year or two, “relax,” and then be off the boil next time she calls the pros. What the eff?
Matos writes in: “Maybe as much as Michael it was Bruce, though that’s kind of on a technicality: three years between ‘Born to Run’ and ‘Darkness On The Edge of Town,’ unheard of at the time and mostly due to the fact that Springsteen was caught up in lawsuits and couldn’t legally record, from what I remember. There’s also Zeppelin: three years between ‘Presence’ and ‘In Through the Out Door.’ (I think that had more to do with Robert Plant’s son dying than any planned-out thing, though.)
Keep in mind, too, that between ‘Off The Wall’ and ‘Thriller’ there was ‘Triumph’ (1980), featuring “Heartbreak Hotel” and “Can You Feel It,” both big hits. Michael wasn’t really considered a solo act until ‘Thriller’ blew the roof off the dump. Also, the live stopgap cannot be overlooked. The Jacksons did a live one in ‘81; you could count Fleetwood Mac here too, who did one in ‘80, during the gap between ‘Tusk’ (‘79) and’ Mirage’ (‘82). And hey, Zep too (‘Song Remains the Same’).”
Posted by Sasha at September 12, 2006 09:37 AM | TrackBack