Mick Aneworderfan wrote:
....I mean, with this competition, it would have been hard for everyone... Krafty was much luckier, and it was the comeback single... also some people might have been disappointed by Krafty, probably not strong enough for the indie kids, and especially by the lack of B sides.
Still, it's a disappontment, because Jetstream is a great pop song and I can't understand how it can't be Top 10... if Madonna made such a song she'd have been number one.
The same should be said for 60 Miles An Hour, a great commercial guitar pop single, if released by a young band it would have worked.
This can mean only one thing: New Order have a huge fanbase, but every time they try to conquer other fans by venturing into areas which are not properly of their own they lose a fair share of that fanbase.
Actually I thought the strategy of winning new fans for a band of fiftysomethings was wrong, because what can happen is they don't win any and then lose some of theirs, and that's what happened. If New Order released a single like Crystal it would have sold better because all the New Order fans would have bought it, and then some of those who usually are Joy Division - only fans, and fans of other new wave bands like The Smiths and Depeche Mode... alright, so you don't sell to the kids who're buying Bloc Party, but who fookin cares when you can sell to the old farts who're still buying The Cure?!
In this perspective, if they can't release the title track as a single, that would really be a tragedy, because that's a New Order classic and I think it'd sell better.
So maybe I was wrong when I thought Turn would have been a hit in America, the truth is New Order must stick to what they do better and what pleases most their fanbase, though they don't have to stick to the same formula, maybe the time for the experiments is over.
Maybe. But saying you're never gonna win any new fans and just appeasing an aging and diminishing fan base is a bit depressing innit?. Not sure if Warners would see that as a winning business case.
If some of the 'ardcore fans, are gonna be alienated cos of one single, then they aren't that 'ardcore after all. NO have enough good-will built up to risk an alternative approach to marketing an album. We used to love all the wacky Factory marketing ideas....cassettes in linen boxes, 12" only releases, the cataloging system...didn't matter then did it ?. Or was that cool, but collaborating with the new star on the block aint cool ?
So I don't buy the stick-to-your-fan-base theory. Prefer them to be brave, even if it means making a few mistakes. I love that about NO.
The mainstream embracing WiM could have sent a lot of old skool fans packing, did it ? I dunno, but three years later NO delivered their biggest selling studio album.
I would have preferred them to have asked Ana to sing on Guilt, a more commercial track IMHO. We agree on the title track tho - a classic !