Taking Stock of the Latest Pop Record Surprises
Imagine that you’re the buyer for a major record retail chain, and it’s your job to decide how many copies of upcoming albums to order for your stores.
Order too many and you’re in trouble: Most record companies have tightened their policies on how many unsold albums can be returned without penalty. Order too few and you’re also in trouble: If you run out of stock, customers will take their business elsewhere.
Now that you have the general idea, how confident would you have felt turning in big orders for these “long shots�
--The sequel to the “Dirty Dancing†sound track, the late 1987 blockbuster whose success was viewed by most of the industry as a non-repeatable fluke.
--A debut album by Tracy Chapman, a critics’ favorite in a field (socially conscious, folk-accented music) that hasn’t enjoyed much commercial success since the ‘60s. Background: Joan Armatrading, who works in the same genre, has released a dozen widely admired LPs and never made it into the Top 25.
--The sound track to a Robin Williams comedy about--of all things--the Vietnam War. Note: The lead-off single from the album is a 20-year-old recording by Louis Armstrong.
A bunch of duds, right?
No way. You can bet that most stores ran out of stock on all three releases at some point this year. They were all big successes.
At the other end of the spectrum, how safe would you have felt putting in big orders on these “sure-fire†hits?
--A single-disc album by Prince, whose five previous releases (including two double-record sets) made the Top 10. Special bonus: The album carries a provocative cover to attract extra attention.
--The latest from Foreigner, whose five previous studio albums cracked the Top Five. Bonus: The LP contains two hit singles.
--The first albums in years by Boz Scaggs and Daryl Hall & John Oates, artists who helped define the blue-eyed soul sound that has been taken to new heights this year by George Michael.
If you went along with the conventional wisdom and placed a big order for any of those albums, you probably have unsold inventory on your hands. All of them have been commercial disappointments.
Every year sees the release of albums that confound the experts. Two years ago, few expected Paul Simon’s “Graceland†to be a hit--much less a 3-million-seller that dominated the Grammy Awards two years running. And the failure last year of albums by the Bee Gees and Donna Summer to even get out of the starting gate caught many in the industry off-guard.
Even knowing that there are bound to be surprises, insiders are at a loss to explain the enormous success this year of “Dirty Dancing†and its sequel, “More Dirty Dancing.â€
“That’s shocking,†said Michael Lippman, who co-manages George Michael. “No one could have predicted that.â€
“Dirty Dancing†has been in the Top Five on Billboard magazine’s pop album chart for 39 weeks--longer than any album since Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.†three years ago. Between them, the two “Dirty Dancing†sound tracks have sold more than 6 million copies in the United States since January--far more than any one artist has sold in the same period.
If the smash success of the original “Dirty Dancing†was considered phenomenal, the success of its sequel is unprecedented. It is, in fact, the first sequel to a hit sound track ever to reach the Top Five. Another sign of how well it has done: “More Dirty Dancing†has sold as many copies as the original “La Bamba†sound track, one of the most successful album/film tie-ins of the ‘80s.
“I thought the sequel would sell a little bit, but certainly not to the extent it is selling,†said Mitch Perliss, director of purchasing for the Music Plus chain, which has 50 stores in Southern California. Perliss pointed out that the first “Dirty Dancing†contained three new hits, while the sequel contains only oldies, some of which weren’t even featured prominently in the film.
The industry is also puzzled by the fate of Prince’s “Lovesexy†album, which peaked at No. 11 last month, and has since bellyflopped to No. 29. It’s Prince’s first album to miss the Top 10 since “Controversy†in 1981.
The album’s disappointing performance is especially surprising because it received glowing reviews, and its first single--â€Alphabet St.â€--was a Top 10 hit. Most of those polled cited the clamor over the cover--which depicts Prince in a coy nude pose--for the album’s spotty sales.
One might reasonably have expected the uproar over the cover to help a renegade rocker like Prince, in the same way that the furor over the Rolling Stones’ “Some Girlsâ€--which was branded racist and sexist by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, among others--helped make that album the cause celebre of the summer of 1978.
Lippman suggests that the real problem with “Lovesexy†may not have been the nudity as much as the fact that Prince is depicted striking an “effeminate†pose. “The album cover has turned a lot of people off,†the manager said. “I just don’t think people want to see him in that way.â€
Ron DeBlasio, who co-manages the rock group X, added that fans may have been confused by all the reports about Prince’s so-called “Black Album,†which the rock star shelved a few months before the release of “Lovesexy.†Though the album wasn’t officially released, copies of the album were widely distributed among Prince cultists and industry insiders.
“There might have been some confusion when word got out that (the ‘Black Album’) was really the hot one,†he said, noting all the talk about the shelved album may have made the release of “Lovesexy†seem an anti-climactic substitute.
Other records that have been sales disappointments in the past six months include Hall & Oates’ “Ooh Yeah!†which peaked last month at No. 24, and Boz Scaggs’ “Other Roads,†which appears stalled now at No. 47. It’s Hall & Oates’ lowest-charting album since 1979 and Scaggs’ poorest showing since 1974.
Both artists had been away from the market for a long time. This is Hall & Oates’ first studio album in nearly four years, and Scaggs’ first in more than eight years. That long layoff doubtless hurt Scaggs, but it wasn’t by itself fatal: Boston took eight years between albums and came back in 1986 with a smash, “Third Stage.â€
Many observers were also surprised by the disappointing performance of Foreigner’s “Inside Information,†which failed to reach the Top 10 despite yielding two Top 10 singles. The problem, according to John David Kalodner, who signed the band to Atlantic a decade ago: The group is perceived as having “gone soft†because of ballad hits like “Waiting for a Girl Like You†and “I Want to Know What Love Is.â€
“They make good records, but they don’t make rock records anymore,†said Kalodner, now a top executive at Geffen Records.
Other disappointments: Billy Ocean’s “Tear Down These Walls,†which peaked at No. 18 two months ago and has since fallen to No. 46, and Eurythmics’ “Savage,†which peaked at No. 41 in February. Ocean’s two previous albums sailed into the Top 10, while Eurythmics’ four previous LPs cracked the Top 15.
On the plus side, Guns N’ Roses’ “Appetite for Destruction†has sold nearly 2 million copies with minimal airplay. The debut by the Los Angeles-based metal band sold more than 1 million copies even before a single was released.
Another surprise was the success of Cher’s album, which has been certified gold (500,000 sales) and has spawned two Top 15 hits. Kalodner, who oversaw the project, said he faced more skepticism within the industry--and even within his own record company--on that album than on any project he has ever worked on. It’s Cher’s first gold album since 1979.
Other unexpected successes: Cheap Trick’s “Lap of Luxury,†which appears certain to be the veteran rock group’s first gold album in nearly a decade; Ziggy Marley’s “Conscious Party,†the first gold record by the son of reggae legend Bob Marley, and “The California Raisins,†a novelty collection that has gone platinum (1 million sales).
“That’s part of the fun of this business,†said Music Plus’ Perliss. “It would be a lot easier for me if I knew what everybody was going to buy, but it wouldn’t be nearly as enjoyable.â€
BEST-SELLING ALBUMS OF 1988
1. ‘Dirty Dancing’ sound track; U.S. sales of 4 million copies in 1988/7 million total; released August, 1987
2. ‘Faith,’ George Michael; 3 million/4 million; October, 1987
3. ‘Bad,’ Michael Jackson; 2 million/6 million; August, 1987
4. ‘Tiffany,’ Tiffany; 2 million/4 million; June, 1987
5. ‘More Dirty Dancing’ sound track; 2 million/2 million; March, 1988
6. ‘Hysteria,’ Def Leppard; 2 million/4 million; August, 1987
SOURCE: Recording Industry Assn. of America
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