question, how did bands get radio airplay for "non singles"?
06-19-06, 07:27 PM
#1
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question, how did bands get radio airplay for "non singles"?
this is mainly for bands like led zeppelin, metallica, and pearl jam. Did stations play whatever they wanted (in regards to pearl jam in the vs./vitalogy era when they didnt release singles or videos) and for metallica, did the old stuff (and justice for all and back) get played after the black album came out, or even later then that.
06-20-06, 11:13 AM
#2
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Metallica had no airplay on major radio until "Enter Sandman". They were played extensively on college radio station metal shows (along with Slayer, Mercyful Fate, Venom, Onslaught, Kreator, Anvil, Tygers Of Pan Tang, etc...). Hell, Metallica refused to even put out a video until "Justice..." was released. And they got a hell of a lot of shit for it once they did!
ALL of the bands you mentioned though, did have the giant major labels to back them (well, Metallica didn't really until Elektra (sp?) re-released "Ride the Lightning", but even then, Elektra was more into "nursing" the band for superstardom, which is unheard of in this day and age).
When you have major label backing, you can get played almost anywhere. There are many tricks they can do (even these days to avoid payola schemes) to get their artists played on the radio. Stuff like "If you play our new song by soandso, we'll give you an advance of the new Aerosmith single" or give the radio stations giveaways in order to promote the bands. If the audience picks up on it, it snowballs from there.
Radio almost never picks the songs. (The only example I can even think of off the top of my head was KROQ picking "Name" by the Goo Goo Dolls, which they played on a whim, and it took off from there). The label picks the songs and would sends them out as a "single" to the radio stations so they will "know" which song to play. If every radio station was playing a different song off "Ten", then Pearl Jam wouldn't chart on the radio airplay charts. But if they all play the same song, then it would chart pretty high.
ALL of the bands you mentioned though, did have the giant major labels to back them (well, Metallica didn't really until Elektra (sp?) re-released "Ride the Lightning", but even then, Elektra was more into "nursing" the band for superstardom, which is unheard of in this day and age).
When you have major label backing, you can get played almost anywhere. There are many tricks they can do (even these days to avoid payola schemes) to get their artists played on the radio. Stuff like "If you play our new song by soandso, we'll give you an advance of the new Aerosmith single" or give the radio stations giveaways in order to promote the bands. If the audience picks up on it, it snowballs from there.
Radio almost never picks the songs. (The only example I can even think of off the top of my head was KROQ picking "Name" by the Goo Goo Dolls, which they played on a whim, and it took off from there). The label picks the songs and would sends them out as a "single" to the radio stations so they will "know" which song to play. If every radio station was playing a different song off "Ten", then Pearl Jam wouldn't chart on the radio airplay charts. But if they all play the same song, then it would chart pretty high.
Last edited by nodeerforamonth; 06-20-06 at 11:16 AM.
06-20-06, 12:24 PM
#4
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Wikipedia "B" side songs
There still has to be more than listed above.
On a few occasions, the B-side became the more popular song. This was usually because a DJ preferred the B-side to its A-side and played it instead. Then the B-side would in a sense become the A-side, by virtue of being the preferred side. Examples:
* Gene Vincent - Woman Love/Be-Bop-A-Lula
* Righteous Brothers - Stuck on You/Unchained Melody (that the cover of 'Unchained Melody', an already widely recorded 1950's hit, enjoyed more airplay and popularity than the A-side when it had only originally been intended as something of a throwaway B-side greatly angered producer Phil Spector)
* Madonna - Angel/Into the Groove
* Rod Stewart - Reason To Believe/Maggie May
* ABBA - Eagle/Thank You For The Music
* Deee-Lite - What Is Love?/Groove Is In The Heart
Sometimes the B-side is so popular that the single is 'flipped' and the b-side officially becomes the main track in its own right. Such as:
* The Stone Roses - Fools Gold
* Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive
* New Order - True Faith
Even more rarely, both sides of the single would become hits. This feat was done repeatedly by some artists. Examples:
* Elvis Presley - Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog
* Fats Domino - I Wanna Walk You Home/Walking To New Orleans
* Queen - We Are The Champions/We Will Rock You
* The Beatles - Hey Jude/Revolution
* Gene Vincent - Woman Love/Be-Bop-A-Lula
* Righteous Brothers - Stuck on You/Unchained Melody (that the cover of 'Unchained Melody', an already widely recorded 1950's hit, enjoyed more airplay and popularity than the A-side when it had only originally been intended as something of a throwaway B-side greatly angered producer Phil Spector)
* Madonna - Angel/Into the Groove
* Rod Stewart - Reason To Believe/Maggie May
* ABBA - Eagle/Thank You For The Music
* Deee-Lite - What Is Love?/Groove Is In The Heart
Sometimes the B-side is so popular that the single is 'flipped' and the b-side officially becomes the main track in its own right. Such as:
* The Stone Roses - Fools Gold
* Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive
* New Order - True Faith
Even more rarely, both sides of the single would become hits. This feat was done repeatedly by some artists. Examples:
* Elvis Presley - Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog
* Fats Domino - I Wanna Walk You Home/Walking To New Orleans
* Queen - We Are The Champions/We Will Rock You
* The Beatles - Hey Jude/Revolution
06-20-06, 01:39 PM
#6
Moderator
Originally Posted by DAC
Wikipedia "B" side songs
There still has to be more than listed above.
On a few occasions, the B-side became the more popular song. This was usually because a DJ preferred the B-side to its A-side and played it instead. Then the B-side would in a sense become the A-side, by virtue of being the preferred side. Examples:
* Gene Vincent - Woman Love/Be-Bop-A-Lula
* Righteous Brothers - Stuck on You/Unchained Melody (that the cover of 'Unchained Melody', an already widely recorded 1950's hit, enjoyed more airplay and popularity than the A-side when it had only originally been intended as something of a throwaway B-side greatly angered producer Phil Spector)
* Madonna - Angel/Into the Groove
* Rod Stewart - Reason To Believe/Maggie May
* ABBA - Eagle/Thank You For The Music
* Deee-Lite - What Is Love?/Groove Is In The Heart
Sometimes the B-side is so popular that the single is 'flipped' and the b-side officially becomes the main track in its own right. Such as:
* The Stone Roses - Fools Gold
* Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive
* New Order - True Faith
Even more rarely, both sides of the single would become hits. This feat was done repeatedly by some artists. Examples:
* Elvis Presley - Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog
* Fats Domino - I Wanna Walk You Home/Walking To New Orleans
* Queen - We Are The Champions/We Will Rock You
* The Beatles - Hey Jude/Revolution
* Gene Vincent - Woman Love/Be-Bop-A-Lula
* Righteous Brothers - Stuck on You/Unchained Melody (that the cover of 'Unchained Melody', an already widely recorded 1950's hit, enjoyed more airplay and popularity than the A-side when it had only originally been intended as something of a throwaway B-side greatly angered producer Phil Spector)
* Madonna - Angel/Into the Groove
* Rod Stewart - Reason To Believe/Maggie May
* ABBA - Eagle/Thank You For The Music
* Deee-Lite - What Is Love?/Groove Is In The Heart
Sometimes the B-side is so popular that the single is 'flipped' and the b-side officially becomes the main track in its own right. Such as:
* The Stone Roses - Fools Gold
* Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive
* New Order - True Faith
Even more rarely, both sides of the single would become hits. This feat was done repeatedly by some artists. Examples:
* Elvis Presley - Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog
* Fats Domino - I Wanna Walk You Home/Walking To New Orleans
* Queen - We Are The Champions/We Will Rock You
* The Beatles - Hey Jude/Revolution
There still has to be more than listed above.
Dubstar:
"Elevator Song' (A-Side)/non-album track: "The View from Here"
remixed and included on "Goodbye" album
06-20-06, 02:02 PM
#7
Retired
Originally Posted by j123vt_99
Pearl Jam had singles.. Alive, Even Flow, Jeremy, Spin the Black Circle, Daughter, Betterman, etc were all singles from that era?
Yep, they've put out multiple singles for every album. They just stopped doing videos for the most part (only Do The Evolution and Life Wasted have had videos since Ten).
06-20-06, 09:21 PM
#8
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Originally Posted by j123vt_99
Pearl Jam had singles.. Alive, Even Flow, Jeremy, Spin the Black Circle, Daughter, Betterman, etc were all singles from that era?
The official Vitalogy singles were Spin The Black Circle, Not For You, and Immortality...
Matt
06-21-06, 04:03 PM
#9
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Originally Posted by nodeerforamonth
Metallica had no airplay on major radio until "Enter Sandman".
This also brought in a lot of fans for the Tap album I would think. Was ONE ever released as a single? Asking because I am not sure.
