Greatest Hits...punch me...
Kate Bellgard ([email protected])
Mon, 31 Aug 1998 15:44:18 +1000
Blah blah blah
So those of us who hate the idea of a greatest hits record are being
elitist and obsessive? SO BE IT....
There though two central reasons that those in the favour put foward:
1. It'll help *hook* in new fans
2. It might contain some new or unreleased tracks and hey we all want
that..
Now I'm not saying they aren't valid, y'all have a point more or less...I
just don't agree.
New fans will be *hooked* (could we pick a more cynical and manipulative
word here!?) for any number of reasons. You hear a song in a film, in a
car, at club it catches your ears, your heart, your feet or when you're
really lucky all three. At one point all of us went through this with U2
cause you don't get to be obssesive fans without being new fans
first...and for me it was a truly amazing high, the music played and my
life really did turn around. So I'm not begruding anyone the else the
opportunity to experience this but really do we need a greatest hits
album
for it to happen? Hell no. I didn't need it, you didn't need it, just
because it could work is no reason to do it cause when you come down to
it
its really just an easy option for the listener and the band. U2 are
smarter than this and so are the people who are and will be into the
music...
As to a Greatest Hits containing some new material...I actaully find this
idea really annoying, sure I'm dying to hear some new stuff but when a
band does this its really just a ploy to help ensure sales....I mean much
as I love Crowded House and sweet as it was of them to release a
"goodbye"
recording I would never of bothered buying Recurring Dream had it not
been
for the three extra tracks...I was mad about it at the time and I still
am
(bitterness is easy) cause no one likes to feel manipulated. And while
we're at it..if its new stuff then it can't really be a greatest hit. Ok
thats being totally and annoyingly pedantic but its true. If they're
gonna
stay true to the title it shouldn't contain new stuff and if indeed it
does then it amounts to cynical manipulation of the audience.
And futhermore the idea of "Greatest Hits" somehow implies that whatever
Hits come after (if indeed any do) will be somehow less great. Its
something bands who have reached the end of the line either in creative
or
commercial terms resort to, or in the case of REM's 1991 "Best of"
compilation a record company venture produced without the bands full
co-operation.
Maybe as Mark Lanigan suggested U2 could do something radical and
worthwhile with the concept, if they do indeed decide to go through with
the project. I hope they do, anything else would be too much like a punch
in the face.
Just my view....
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on Sun Aug 30 1998 - 22:55:05 PDT