Buda
04-21-2006, 05:56 PM
I really want to believe in the concept of a decoy album, and the evidence is convincing... but i cant. Heres why.
Im not sure if there are any lawyers that post to this forum, but im pretty sure that things like this cant be done. If every band that didnt like their label were able to release decoy albums with B-sides, then i guarantee you there'd be a lot more shitty music out there.
More importantly, you have to realize that Tool is a small fry as far as Sony is concerned. Unless the band has an incredible contract negotiator that i dont know of (and dont say that 'good music is the negotiator' - sony does not give a shit about that) no label really has an incentive to go along with this. I mean, the band has sold about what, 13 million copies over the last 10 years? Britany Spears sells more in a week after the realease of one of her albums. In either case, tool, as a band, is a little bit too obscure for this to generate any real press.
Now, the amazon and target stuff was actually ridiculously convincing evidence. But the fact that it was so convincing immediately made me think twice about it being what we expect. The fact is, Target could be trying any number of tactics with this. It could be that they're underpricing an album before it comes out so they can get some market share on release (which is when, for an album as anticipated as this, the most sales occur) and then pricing it as a regular new-album price for when the next (post release period) shipment arrives. The fact that amazon matched two of the same albums together in their 'better together' section means very little either. Do you think someone, fully aware that these were differant albums, sat down and entered those two albums as a a couple? No. All this shit is done by a computer nowadays. It (might be) that they computer analysing this put the two albums together because they're listed as two seperate albums in the inventory and, ofcourse, two items with the exact same name must go well together as far as a computer is concerned.
Secondly: I havent heard the album, so forgive me if i say something really off base here. Keep in mind, we are tool fans, and to be honest, the vast majority would probably go out there an buy the album when it comes out anyway - we're just that intense. Tool is well aware of this fact.
Previous great bands have realeased sub-par albums before as well. (I now going to do something blasphemous and mention other bands on a tool board) Think about listening to Metallica when they released Master of Puppets... then think of them when they released St Anger. Bands with a die-hard fan base (like us) know that they can infact shit on a stick and sell it for a price they command... but that can only be done once the fan base reaches a certain critical mass.. and with Lateralus and Aenima both being platinum albums... this might be Tools time. So, this could in fact be Tools 'Black Album'.. which is a great Metallica album that actually put that band on the map. Metallica fans absolutely hated it when it came out. Metallica fans were just as convinced of their bands committment to the music as we are now, and Metallica hadnt dissappointed them until that stage. Indeed, Metallica, back in the 80's, used to say a lot of the same stuff that Tool says (or we interpret?) now about committment yadda yadda yadda.
Also keep in mind that APC (yes, that other band) also released a pretty stupid set of albums/sets... Emotive, Amotive and what not. They were pretty pointless and sub-par (as far as im concerned).
My last point is one about salt and self-monitoring. It would be an understatement to say that all of us here love Tool. The music is amazing, the art is amazing, Tool is amazing. But, like all other fans of a rock (im using that term to be intentionally vague) band, we all really really want to believe that we are part of something greater than ourselves. That Tool may infact be the last band that really cares about the music. We then site that Tool cares SO much about the music that Maynard could probably defacate on each and every one us even though we're the ones that pay him and we'd accept it - because it might've helped him create better music (which is actually what we care about). If you think about it, Tool gets away with a lot in terms of abusing its fans and saying 'we dont give a shit about you' and we always sit by. Why? Because the music is fucking awesome, inspiring, possibly even life changing; and it has almost never dissappointed.
We've also spent hours deciphering each an every song that they produce, spent a good amount of time reading blairs almost-retarded monologues about gold plated colemans and viking women. We're possibly the best fans a band could have, and the fact that Tool actively ignores that fact excites us.
The fact of the matter is that as fans, we really want there to be something deeper. I really want this new album to be a ruse for another albums, I really want the real album to be ridiculously cryptic so I can spend hours with headphones on trying to figure out what he's talking about. All of us here want to be fans of a band that defies the rules, the band that is trully authentic, the band that care SO MUCH about the music that it would actually trick its fans (all said and done, most of will buy 'fake' 10000 days) so that it can make a point. Tool fans have an awesome habit of reading into things. Why? Because the band INSISTS that everything they've done intentional. They then tell us that our interpretations are wrong, so we keep on looking. So we look, and look further and deeper and we almost always find something. Some of us go so deep as to pay 89 dollars to be part of an army of tools. But dont be surprised if this is all our own creation. It could very well happen.
All im saying is that, as a 'community' we have a habit of reading into things and always finding something. And its fine to be wrong about the interpretation of a song like Eulogy - as long as you got what you wanted out of it, you're happy. However, this level of ruse-running is so perfectly tool-y, that it almost has to be true - we want it to be. But the probability is that its just us thats going to end up looking like tools... or sheep as others like to put it.
Keep your own nature in mind when analyzing something that is so close to you, i know how much i love the band... but that is atleast in part, because of their image. This ruse theory fits into their image so perfectly, but is practically so impossible, that i just cant let my logic fly that far. However, i really do want it to be true
Im not sure if there are any lawyers that post to this forum, but im pretty sure that things like this cant be done. If every band that didnt like their label were able to release decoy albums with B-sides, then i guarantee you there'd be a lot more shitty music out there.
More importantly, you have to realize that Tool is a small fry as far as Sony is concerned. Unless the band has an incredible contract negotiator that i dont know of (and dont say that 'good music is the negotiator' - sony does not give a shit about that) no label really has an incentive to go along with this. I mean, the band has sold about what, 13 million copies over the last 10 years? Britany Spears sells more in a week after the realease of one of her albums. In either case, tool, as a band, is a little bit too obscure for this to generate any real press.
Now, the amazon and target stuff was actually ridiculously convincing evidence. But the fact that it was so convincing immediately made me think twice about it being what we expect. The fact is, Target could be trying any number of tactics with this. It could be that they're underpricing an album before it comes out so they can get some market share on release (which is when, for an album as anticipated as this, the most sales occur) and then pricing it as a regular new-album price for when the next (post release period) shipment arrives. The fact that amazon matched two of the same albums together in their 'better together' section means very little either. Do you think someone, fully aware that these were differant albums, sat down and entered those two albums as a a couple? No. All this shit is done by a computer nowadays. It (might be) that they computer analysing this put the two albums together because they're listed as two seperate albums in the inventory and, ofcourse, two items with the exact same name must go well together as far as a computer is concerned.
Secondly: I havent heard the album, so forgive me if i say something really off base here. Keep in mind, we are tool fans, and to be honest, the vast majority would probably go out there an buy the album when it comes out anyway - we're just that intense. Tool is well aware of this fact.
Previous great bands have realeased sub-par albums before as well. (I now going to do something blasphemous and mention other bands on a tool board) Think about listening to Metallica when they released Master of Puppets... then think of them when they released St Anger. Bands with a die-hard fan base (like us) know that they can infact shit on a stick and sell it for a price they command... but that can only be done once the fan base reaches a certain critical mass.. and with Lateralus and Aenima both being platinum albums... this might be Tools time. So, this could in fact be Tools 'Black Album'.. which is a great Metallica album that actually put that band on the map. Metallica fans absolutely hated it when it came out. Metallica fans were just as convinced of their bands committment to the music as we are now, and Metallica hadnt dissappointed them until that stage. Indeed, Metallica, back in the 80's, used to say a lot of the same stuff that Tool says (or we interpret?) now about committment yadda yadda yadda.
Also keep in mind that APC (yes, that other band) also released a pretty stupid set of albums/sets... Emotive, Amotive and what not. They were pretty pointless and sub-par (as far as im concerned).
My last point is one about salt and self-monitoring. It would be an understatement to say that all of us here love Tool. The music is amazing, the art is amazing, Tool is amazing. But, like all other fans of a rock (im using that term to be intentionally vague) band, we all really really want to believe that we are part of something greater than ourselves. That Tool may infact be the last band that really cares about the music. We then site that Tool cares SO much about the music that Maynard could probably defacate on each and every one us even though we're the ones that pay him and we'd accept it - because it might've helped him create better music (which is actually what we care about). If you think about it, Tool gets away with a lot in terms of abusing its fans and saying 'we dont give a shit about you' and we always sit by. Why? Because the music is fucking awesome, inspiring, possibly even life changing; and it has almost never dissappointed.
We've also spent hours deciphering each an every song that they produce, spent a good amount of time reading blairs almost-retarded monologues about gold plated colemans and viking women. We're possibly the best fans a band could have, and the fact that Tool actively ignores that fact excites us.
The fact of the matter is that as fans, we really want there to be something deeper. I really want this new album to be a ruse for another albums, I really want the real album to be ridiculously cryptic so I can spend hours with headphones on trying to figure out what he's talking about. All of us here want to be fans of a band that defies the rules, the band that is trully authentic, the band that care SO MUCH about the music that it would actually trick its fans (all said and done, most of will buy 'fake' 10000 days) so that it can make a point. Tool fans have an awesome habit of reading into things. Why? Because the band INSISTS that everything they've done intentional. They then tell us that our interpretations are wrong, so we keep on looking. So we look, and look further and deeper and we almost always find something. Some of us go so deep as to pay 89 dollars to be part of an army of tools. But dont be surprised if this is all our own creation. It could very well happen.
All im saying is that, as a 'community' we have a habit of reading into things and always finding something. And its fine to be wrong about the interpretation of a song like Eulogy - as long as you got what you wanted out of it, you're happy. However, this level of ruse-running is so perfectly tool-y, that it almost has to be true - we want it to be. But the probability is that its just us thats going to end up looking like tools... or sheep as others like to put it.
Keep your own nature in mind when analyzing something that is so close to you, i know how much i love the band... but that is atleast in part, because of their image. This ruse theory fits into their image so perfectly, but is practically so impossible, that i just cant let my logic fly that far. However, i really do want it to be true