Really Creepy

I have been worrying about Sarah Mclachlan. How can she compete in a changing music world? I was fretting that she might get all Lady Gaga with it and make a painfully awkward CD appealing to kids. My heroes have embarrassed me before. I have a cardboard box full of embarrassment: artist who listened to the freakin' marketing people instead of their own gut. I still have nightmares of old 60's rockers recording disco songs in the 70's. Or artists from the 1970's recording syn-pop or punk in the 80's. Those albums sit in my closet -- to be pulled out on rainy, depressed days when I feel like a loser and want to feel better about my life. I may be a idiot, but at least I didn't put on pink leopard-print spandex and sing "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?"

When will they learn? The kids will always look at "old people" trying to act with-it and hip as, well -- really creepy. Think grandma trying to dress like her teenage granddaughter.  Think Cher. If I were her daughter I'd change my sex and name too. An artist should do what they loved to do (example Tony Bennett) and new generations of fans will find them. Integrity isn't the worst word in the English language. It sure beats "creepy" and "pathetic" all to hell.

I love Sarah's album for being so, well, Sarah. Today I read the reviews that I didn't look at until I heard the album myself (and formed my own damn opinion... thank you very much). "Integrity" isn't the word they used. Try: "Nothing new...", "This could have been recorded in the 90's...", "She's preaching to the converted..." Better yet, they end by giving Sarah advice on how to "fix" her career. Marketing people and meddling record reviewers deserve a very cold place in hell. Abandon all hope ye who take their advice.

It was a relief to hear Sarah staying true to herself. But how would that sell? Her single isn't. I posted a picture of her ass in my last article in hopes of generating interest. The responds? A friend of mine looked at Sarah butt and said "Ohhh, that's kinda hot... in a celluloid kind of way." 

Well, today the critics can kiss her big fat Canadian ass. Sarah knows something they didn't. There are two music worlds now: kids downloading the latest Gaga single for free and the... umm, well... old people like myself. People who love CDs. I have portions of an article by Sarah Rodman below that is hilarious and enlightening. It points out why Sarah McLachlan is still the Queen of the album charts. I particularly love this part: "We're appealing to the last buying vestiges of the public, because adults don't steal, because we don't know how to..."


Music for the older set climbs the CD charts

By Sarah Rodman 
Boston Globe Staff / June 16, 2010 

“Laws of Illusion,’’ the new CD by adult contemporary singer Sarah McLachlan, came out yesterday and will almost certainly debut near the top of the Billboard album chart. Sade had a number one hit in February with her first album in 10 years. Michael Buble, Barbra Streisand, Susan Boyle — all singers who appeal to the over-40 crowd — have recently enjoyed top-five debuts on the album chart.

As consumers buy fewer and fewer CDs, an interesting phenomenon is occurring — artists who appeal to older listeners are showing up surprisingly high on the charts.

The reason: Adults are largely the ones buying CDs these days. Younger people tend to download in general and focus on singles.

“We’re appealing to the last buying vestiges of the public, because adults don’t steal, because we don’t know how to,’’ said legendary producer and songwriter David Foster, who produced Buble’s latest album. Older consumers, he said, are “still married to the concept of ‘put the CD in the car, put the CD in the library.’ We’re still in that zone, and that’s why this is still working.’’

To be sure, the hottest of the pop and hip-hop acts aimed at the younger demographic — Justin Bieber and Eminem, to name two — are still cracking the top spots on the album chart, but more and more it is the acts that appeal to older listeners that rise to the top. Streisand managed to best Mariah Carey when the divas’ most recent releases went head to head for the top spot in October.

Partly this is due to lower overall album sales. The recent reissue of the Rolling Stones’ 1972 album “Exile on Main Street’’ debuted at number two on the strength of only 76,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen Soundscan. Sales in that range have been equally winning for other “heritage acts’’ like Carole King and James Taylor, and Melissa Etheridge. (This has also been a boon to indie acts, which can debut high on the chart with totals in the 40,000 range.)

Mike Mullaney, music director at radio station Mix 104.1, which plays older artists like McLachlan and younger acts like Lady Antebellum, says fans of rock, country, and adult contemporary — largely older listeners — tend to be supportive of individual artists, “whereas the pop world is much more song-oriented.’’

“Most people won’t give you the gift of a download card; they’ll buy you a CD,’’ Pietroluongo said. “A lot of these artists that have done well, like the Susan Boyles and the Michael Bubles and the Josh Grobans. It’s like, ‘Well, what am I going to get my mom, sister, aunt, grandma as a gift or a stocking stuffer that’s under 20 bucks?’ ’’

Sarah Rodman can be reached at srodman@globe.com. 
© Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company.

I have used only the portions of the article that reinforce my snarky point. For the full article, click here.