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05-17-2006, 02:29 PM
This article is excerpted from the May 20, 2006, issue of Billboard magazine. Subscribers can read the issue's content online via billboard.biz.
May 17, 2006
Wes Orshoski
The four men of Tool -- anonymous band members behind vaguely androgynous frontman Maynard James Keenan -- had a credo when they formed the band 16 years ago: "substance over style, art over image."
"We wanted people to get into the music, instead of going, 'Well, how long is their hair?' and 'Are they cute?'" guitarist Adam Jones says. "We just stood in the shadows and worked really hard."
Without ever really leaving those shadows, Tool has quietly become one of the world's most commercially and uniquely successful bands. And it has done so while repeatedly bucking industry convention. Tool often waits up to five years between albums. Its last three singles -— including current hit "Vicarious" -— have averaged more than seven minutes, forcing some radio programmers to create their own edits.
And while the music business clamors to embrace digital formats, Tool has yet to reach an agreement with its label, Volcano/Zomba, for such distribution.
Yet Tool is more popular than ever. The band's new album, "10,000 Days," marked Tool's second appearance at the apex of The Billboard 200, with 564,000 albums sold its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. This follows the sale of more than 8 million copies of its first three studio albums in the United States. In the United Kingdom, "10,000 Days" scored the group its highest bow with a No. 4 debut on the albums chart. The title debuted in the top 10 throughout Europe.
Tool fans span a cross-section from metalheads to emo kids, punks to goths, with its arty, prog-drenched heavy rock. And it seems the more the band follows its own vision, the more it underscores its cult-band cool -- it's just a cult of hundreds of thousands at this point.
Zomba Label Group president/CEO Barry Weiss calls the band a "throwback to the old days when Led Zeppelin came out with an album -- everybody bought the album. It's that simple." Tool's success, he says, is fueled by a double effect of true artist mystique and a less-is-more mentality.
"They don't oversaturate their audience," says Mike Stern, VP of programming for Emmis/Chicago. "There's not a record every 14 months and a tour every summer."
The band has long tended to its mystique. Ballooning from the popularity of its early, pioneering videos -- especially the stop-motion animation of "Prison Sex," rising eerily above the masses of grunge and urban pop on MTV in 1993 -- Tool has carefully cultivated a dark image, through album and T-shirt artwork and onstage visuals.
"We've basically used art as a very strong propaganda tool to coincide with the music," Jones says. In general, he says, the band "is just a really cool experimental project that we're all in."
The experimental approach certainly included the packaging for "10,000 Days." The album is configured like a folding book, with one flap carrying stereoscopic lenses, and the other a booklet containing sets of paintings and photographs on each page. When spied through the lenses, each set emerges as one 3-D image.
Retailers often frown on unusual packaging because of increased concerns regarding shipping and display. But call it one more example of Tool flying—high—in the face of industry convention.
Fans love it, says Bryan Everitt, director of music operations for the 153-store Hastings Entertainment chain. "It's great to see music lovers reading the liner notes and really enjoying holding the product in their hands again," he says, noting that the album set the Amarillo, Texas-based chain's record for midnight sales with 5,000 copies sold on the album's release date, May 2.
A proud Jones, who came up with the concept, says, "[Avant guitarist] Robert Fripp was at our show the other day, and he said, 'This is the best album art since the '70s' ... We're always trying to think of something to do that's never been done before. We want people to get more than their money's worth."
05-17-2006, 02:29 PM
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#1
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Level 9 - Obstreperous
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Bequia
Posts: 1,671
Bincount™: 801
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Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
This article is excerpted from the May 20, 2006, issue of Billboard magazine. Subscribers can read the issue's content online via billboard.biz.
May 17, 2006
Wes Orshoski
The four men of Tool -- anonymous band members behind vaguely androgynous frontman Maynard James Keenan -- had a credo when they formed the band 16 years ago: "substance over style, art over image."
"We wanted people to get into the music, instead of going, 'Well, how long is their hair?' and 'Are they cute?'" guitarist Adam Jones says. "We just stood in the shadows and worked really hard."
Without ever really leaving those shadows, Tool has quietly become one of the world's most commercially and uniquely successful bands. And it has done so while repeatedly bucking industry convention. Tool often waits up to five years between albums. Its last three singles -— including current hit "Vicarious" -— have averaged more than seven minutes, forcing some radio programmers to create their own edits.
And while the music business clamors to embrace digital formats, Tool has yet to reach an agreement with its label, Volcano/Zomba, for such distribution.
Yet Tool is more popular than ever. The band's new album, "10,000 Days," marked Tool's second appearance at the apex of The Billboard 200, with 564,000 albums sold its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. This follows the sale of more than 8 million copies of its first three studio albums in the United States. In the United Kingdom, "10,000 Days" scored the group its highest bow with a No. 4 debut on the albums chart. The title debuted in the top 10 throughout Europe.
Tool fans span a cross-section from metalheads to emo kids, punks to goths, with its arty, prog-drenched heavy rock. And it seems the more the band follows its own vision, the more it underscores its cult-band cool -- it's just a cult of hundreds of thousands at this point.
Zomba Label Group president/CEO Barry Weiss calls the band a "throwback to the old days when Led Zeppelin came out with an album -- everybody bought the album. It's that simple." Tool's success, he says, is fueled by a double effect of true artist mystique and a less-is-more mentality.
"They don't oversaturate their audience," says Mike Stern, VP of programming for Emmis/Chicago. "There's not a record every 14 months and a tour every summer."
The band has long tended to its mystique. Ballooning from the popularity of its early, pioneering videos -- especially the stop-motion animation of "Prison Sex," rising eerily above the masses of grunge and urban pop on MTV in 1993 -- Tool has carefully cultivated a dark image, through album and T-shirt artwork and onstage visuals.
"We've basically used art as a very strong propaganda tool to coincide with the music," Jones says. In general, he says, the band "is just a really cool experimental project that we're all in."
The experimental approach certainly included the packaging for "10,000 Days." The album is configured like a folding book, with one flap carrying stereoscopic lenses, and the other a booklet containing sets of paintings and photographs on each page. When spied through the lenses, each set emerges as one 3-D image.
Retailers often frown on unusual packaging because of increased concerns regarding shipping and display. But call it one more example of Tool flying—high—in the face of industry convention.
Fans love it, says Bryan Everitt, director of music operations for the 153-store Hastings Entertainment chain. "It's great to see music lovers reading the liner notes and really enjoying holding the product in their hands again," he says, noting that the album set the Amarillo, Texas-based chain's record for midnight sales with 5,000 copies sold on the album's release date, May 2.
A proud Jones, who came up with the concept, says, "[Avant guitarist] Robert Fripp was at our show the other day, and he said, 'This is the best album art since the '70s' ... We're always trying to think of something to do that's never been done before. We want people to get more than their money's worth."
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05-17-2006, 02:33 PM
Awesome article, thanks for sharing.
05-17-2006, 02:33 PM
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#2
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Level 7 - Loquacious
Join Date: May 2006
Location: everywhere
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
Awesome article, thanks for sharing.
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It's nice to hear from Adam. Enjoyed reading the article.
Thanks.
05-17-2006, 02:52 PM
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#3
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Level 4 - Thinker
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Toronto
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
It's nice to hear from Adam. Enjoyed reading the article.
Thanks.
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"Tool fans span a cross-section from metalheads to emo kids, punks to goths, with its arty, prog-drenched heavy rock. "
I wish they would've cut that part out.
Good article, otherwise. Thanks for posting.
05-17-2006, 03:19 PM
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#4
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Level 3 - Talker
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Portage, IN
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
"Tool fans span a cross-section from metalheads to emo kids, punks to goths, with its arty, prog-drenched heavy rock. "
I wish they would've cut that part out.
Good article, otherwise. Thanks for posting.
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05-17-2006, 03:21 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Crisispoint
It's nice to hear from Adam. .
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yeah, we haven't been hearing enough from him in recently in all the interviews, yeah man....
05-17-2006, 03:21 PM
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#5
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On Probation
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: NYC
Posts: 1,020
Bincount™: 163
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
Quote:
Originally Posted by Crisispoint
It's nice to hear from Adam. .
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yeah, we haven't been hearing enough from him in recently in all the interviews, yeah man....
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05-17-2006, 03:30 PM
yep, good article.
05-17-2006, 03:30 PM
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#6
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dorkus maximus (the t.d.n crybaby)
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Jackson Mi
Posts: 3,810
Bincount™: 832
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
yep, good article.
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05-17-2006, 03:49 PM
makes you proud to be a tool fan
05-17-2006, 03:49 PM
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#7
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Level 7 - Loquacious
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Sydney, AUS!
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
makes you proud to be a tool fan
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05-17-2006, 04:29 PM
/sarcasm
05-17-2006, 04:29 PM
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#8
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On Probation
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: NYC
Posts: 1,020
Bincount™: 163
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
/sarcasm
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05-17-2006, 05:29 PM
:)`
05-17-2006, 05:29 PM
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#9
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Level 9 - Obstreperous
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Bequia
Posts: 1,671
Bincount™: 801
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
:)`
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05-17-2006, 05:43 PM
thanks :D
__________________
Wake up
05-17-2006, 05:43 PM
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#10
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Level 8 - Vociferous
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: the mountains
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
thanks :D
__________________
Wake up
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05-17-2006, 07:01 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by hbynoe
This article is excerpted from the May 20, 2006, issue of Billboard magazine.
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If this issue is still on newsstands I'll pick it up and scan the rest.
__________________
the anonymous K. // asst. administrator
"Does this person ever post or is he a waste of space?" - fuckBrokers
05-17-2006, 07:01 PM
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#11
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Stealth Bomber
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: West Coast
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
Quote:
Originally Posted by hbynoe
This article is excerpted from the May 20, 2006, issue of Billboard magazine.
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If this issue is still on newsstands I'll pick it up and scan the rest.
__________________
the anonymous K. // asst. administrator
"Does this person ever post or is he a waste of space?" - fuckBrokers
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OFFLINE |
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05-17-2006, 07:07 PM
564,000 isnt that many records
05-17-2006, 07:07 PM
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#12
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Banned.
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: "BY GAWD THE CARNAGE!!!!"
Posts: 2,412
Bincount™: 2701
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
564,000 isnt that many records
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05-17-2006, 07:12 PM
in one week its pretty damn good, i'd like to see you sell more
05-17-2006, 07:12 PM
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#13
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Level 6 - Very Deep Thinker
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
in one week its pretty damn good, i'd like to see you sell more
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05-17-2006, 07:16 PM
over half a milion i say is pretty impressive
esp for now a days post napster/limewire
era...where people dont buy albums any more.
it is the fastest selling tool record so far and i say
that is an amazing feat in itself
05-17-2006, 07:16 PM
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#14
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Level 9 - Obstreperous
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Bequia
Posts: 1,671
Bincount™: 801
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
over half a milion i say is pretty impressive
esp for now a days post napster/limewire
era...where people dont buy albums any more.
it is the fastest selling tool record so far and i say
that is an amazing feat in itself
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05-17-2006, 07:20 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by moneyisevil
564,000 isnt that many records
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It sold more than Lateralus did in its first week.
__________________
Feel pain and prosper...
05-17-2006, 07:20 PM
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#15
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Level 8 - Vociferous
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Waterford, Michigan
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
Quote:
Originally Posted by moneyisevil
564,000 isnt that many records
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It sold more than Lateralus did in its first week.
__________________
Feel pain and prosper...
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OFFLINE |
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05-17-2006, 07:58 PM
Great article thanks for that, and ya 564,000 is a shit ton for 1 week.
__________________
The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.
-Walpole
05-17-2006, 07:58 PM
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#16
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Level 6 - Very Deep Thinker
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: The ATL
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
Great article thanks for that, and ya 564,000 is a shit ton for 1 week.
__________________
The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.
-Walpole
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Great read Hbynoe. Thanks
05-17-2006, 08:04 PM
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#17
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Level 6 - Very Deep Thinker
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Florida
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
Great read Hbynoe. Thanks
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05-17-2006, 08:12 PM
and over 150.000 in the second week of sales
so over 700,000 now...in a month..more than a million
i figure it is even over a million right now with international sales.
05-17-2006, 08:12 PM
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#18
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Level 9 - Obstreperous
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Bequia
Posts: 1,671
Bincount™: 801
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
and over 150.000 in the second week of sales
so over 700,000 now...in a month..more than a million
i figure it is even over a million right now with international sales.
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there is no doubt it is over a million world wide but you have to look at each country seperate if you want to rate platinums and that such
05-17-2006, 10:56 PM
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#19
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Level 3 - Talker
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Vancouver Canada
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
there is no doubt it is over a million world wide but you have to look at each country seperate if you want to rate platinums and that such
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05-18-2006, 05:34 AM
__________________
I'm here to tell ya, we are everyone
If you don't like what you see
Stare at the sun
05-18-2006, 05:34 AM
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#20
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TDN Grandad
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: 3rd Stone
Posts: 4,436
Bincount™: 472
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New Billboaed article
__________________
I'm here to tell ya, we are everyone
If you don't like what you see
Stare at the sun
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05-18-2006, 06:10 AM
Why do articles keep mentioning that Tool members are 'anonymous' or 'mysterious'. Is it in Tool's press kit or something?
05-18-2006, 06:10 AM
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#21
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Drug Crazed Grindfreak
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Melbourne, Australia. Blastbeats: ∞
Posts: 9,266
Bincount™: 5716
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Re: New Billboaed article
Why do articles keep mentioning that Tool members are 'anonymous' or 'mysterious'. Is it in Tool's press kit or something?
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OFFLINE |
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05-18-2006, 06:50 AM
didn't look hard enough
__________________
T00LARMY: BJ
05-18-2006, 06:50 AM
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#22
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Watch the Weather Change
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Room 237
Posts: 6,717
Bincount™: 4444
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Re: New Billboaed article
didn't look hard enough
__________________
T00LARMY: BJ
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OFFLINE |
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05-18-2006, 07:03 AM
Also; wrong subforum. Lock and bin.
05-18-2006, 07:03 AM
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#23
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Drug Crazed Grindfreak
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Melbourne, Australia. Blastbeats: ∞
Posts: 9,266
Bincount™: 5716
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Re: New Billboaed article
Also; wrong subforum. Lock and bin.
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OFFLINE |
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05-18-2006, 07:04 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Misanthrope
Why do articles keep mentioning that Tool members are 'anonymous' or 'mysterious'. Is it in Tool's press kit or something?
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they aren't in the videos, on the album covers etc
and it is part of thier mystique, like Zep before them
__________________
I'm here to tell ya, we are everyone
If you don't like what you see
Stare at the sun
05-18-2006, 07:04 AM
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#24
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TDN Grandad
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: 3rd Stone
Posts: 4,436
Bincount™: 472
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Re: New Billboaed article
Quote:
Originally Posted by Misanthrope
Why do articles keep mentioning that Tool members are 'anonymous' or 'mysterious'. Is it in Tool's press kit or something?
|
they aren't in the videos, on the album covers etc
and it is part of thier mystique, like Zep before them
__________________
I'm here to tell ya, we are everyone
If you don't like what you see
Stare at the sun
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OFFLINE |
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05-18-2006, 07:17 AM
Tool aren't mysterious and neither were Zep.
05-18-2006, 07:17 AM
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#25
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Drug Crazed Grindfreak
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Melbourne, Australia. Blastbeats: ∞
Posts: 9,266
Bincount™: 5716
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Re: New Billboaed article
Tool aren't mysterious and neither were Zep.
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OFFLINE |
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05-18-2006, 07:23 AM
They are mysterious in that they are not attetion whores like Paris Hilton. Shows you how desensitized popular media is.
__________________
Let us now, as Futurists, enter one of these hospitals for anaemic sounds. There: the first bar brings the boredom of familiarity to your ear and anticipates the boredom of the bar to follow. Let us relish, from bar to bar, two or three varieties of genuine boredom, waiting all the while for the extraordinary sensation that never comes.
05-18-2006, 07:23 AM
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#26
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If nothing is everything I've got it all (tdn $upporter)
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 4,496
Bincount™: 5332
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Re: New Billboaed article
They are mysterious in that they are not attetion whores like Paris Hilton. Shows you how desensitized popular media is.
__________________
Let us now, as Futurists, enter one of these hospitals for anaemic sounds. There: the first bar brings the boredom of familiarity to your ear and anticipates the boredom of the bar to follow. Let us relish, from bar to bar, two or three varieties of genuine boredom, waiting all the while for the extraordinary sensation that never comes.
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OFFLINE |
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05-18-2006, 07:27 AM
They're mysterious to the general public, but it's not like no other bands don't succumb to pop culture.
Plus, they're not really mysterious, it's just that people think they're mysterious because they're misinformed and stupid.
05-18-2006, 07:27 AM
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#27
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Banned.
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Connecticut
Posts: 5,321
Bincount™: 360
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Re: New Billboaed article
They're mysterious to the general public, but it's not like no other bands don't succumb to pop culture.
Plus, they're not really mysterious, it's just that people think they're mysterious because they're misinformed and stupid.
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OFFLINE |
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05-18-2006, 07:29 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Misanthrope
Tool aren't mysterious and neither were Zep.
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not to the fans, to the general public
__________________
I'm here to tell ya, we are everyone
If you don't like what you see
Stare at the sun
05-18-2006, 07:29 AM
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#28
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TDN Grandad
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: 3rd Stone
Posts: 4,436
Bincount™: 472
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Re: New Billboaed article
Quote:
Originally Posted by Misanthrope
Tool aren't mysterious and neither were Zep.
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not to the fans, to the general public
__________________
I'm here to tell ya, we are everyone
If you don't like what you see
Stare at the sun
|
OFFLINE |
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05-18-2006, 12:12 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by hbynoe
This article is excerpted from the May 20, 2006, issue of Billboard magazine. Subscribers can read the issue's content online via billboard.biz.
May 17, 2006
Wes Orshoski
The four men of Tool -- anonymous band members behind vaguely androgynous frontman Maynard James Keenan -- had a credo when they formed the band 16 years ago: "substance over style, art over image."
"We wanted people to get into the music, instead of going, 'Well, how long is their hair?' and 'Are they cute?'" guitarist Adam Jones says. "We just stood in the shadows and worked really hard."
Without ever really leaving those shadows, Tool has quietly become one of the world's most commercially and uniquely successful bands. And it has done so while repeatedly bucking industry convention. Tool often waits up to five years between albums. Its last three singles -— including current hit "Vicarious" -— have averaged more than seven minutes, forcing some radio programmers to create their own edits.
And while the music business clamors to embrace digital formats, Tool has yet to reach an agreement with its label, Volcano/Zomba, for such distribution.
Yet Tool is more popular than ever. The band's new album, "10,000 Days," marked Tool's second appearance at the apex of The Billboard 200, with 564,000 albums sold its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. This follows the sale of more than 8 million copies of its first three studio albums in the United States. In the United Kingdom, "10,000 Days" scored the group its highest bow with a No. 4 debut on the albums chart. The title debuted in the top 10 throughout Europe.
Tool fans span a cross-section from metalheads to emo kids, punks to goths, with its arty, prog-drenched heavy rock. And it seems the more the band follows its own vision, the more it underscores its cult-band cool -- it's just a cult of hundreds of thousands at this point.
Zomba Label Group president/CEO Barry Weiss calls the band a "throwback to the old days when Led Zeppelin came out with an album -- everybody bought the album. It's that simple." Tool's success, he says, is fueled by a double effect of true artist mystique and a less-is-more mentality.
"They don't oversaturate their audience," says Mike Stern, VP of programming for Emmis/Chicago. "There's not a record every 14 months and a tour every summer."
The band has long tended to its mystique. Ballooning from the popularity of its early, pioneering videos -- especially the stop-motion animation of "Prison Sex," rising eerily above the masses of grunge and urban pop on MTV in 1993 -- Tool has carefully cultivated a dark image, through album and T-shirt artwork and onstage visuals.
"We've basically used art as a very strong propaganda tool to coincide with the music," Jones says. In general, he says, the band "is just a really cool experimental project that we're all in."
The experimental approach certainly included the packaging for "10,000 Days." The album is configured like a folding book, with one flap carrying stereoscopic lenses, and the other a booklet containing sets of paintings and photographs on each page. When spied through the lenses, each set emerges as one 3-D image.
Retailers often frown on unusual packaging because of increased concerns regarding shipping and display. But call it one more example of Tool flying—high—in the face of industry convention.
Fans love it, says Bryan Everitt, director of music operations for the 153-store Hastings Entertainment chain. "It's great to see music lovers reading the liner notes and really enjoying holding the product in their hands again," he says, noting that the album set the Amarillo, Texas-based chain's record for midnight sales with 5,000 copies sold on the album's release date, May 2.
A proud Jones, who came up with the concept, says, "[Avant guitarist] Robert Fripp was at our show the other day, and he said, 'This is the best album art since the '70s' ... We're always trying to think of something to do that's never been done before. We want people to get more than their money's worth."
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good shit
__________________
"My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music. My pleasures are the most intense known to man: writing and butterfly hunting." - Nabokov
"And yet be clearly aware of the stars and infinity on high. Then life seems almost enchanted after all." - van Gogh
05-18-2006, 12:12 PM
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#29
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Alive With Signs and Stars
Join Date: May 2006
Location: DC for School Austin Tx is home
Posts: 10,169
Bincount™: 548
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
Quote:
Originally Posted by hbynoe
This article is excerpted from the May 20, 2006, issue of Billboard magazine. Subscribers can read the issue's content online via billboard.biz.
May 17, 2006
Wes Orshoski
The four men of Tool -- anonymous band members behind vaguely androgynous frontman Maynard James Keenan -- had a credo when they formed the band 16 years ago: "substance over style, art over image."
"We wanted people to get into the music, instead of going, 'Well, how long is their hair?' and 'Are they cute?'" guitarist Adam Jones says. "We just stood in the shadows and worked really hard."
Without ever really leaving those shadows, Tool has quietly become one of the world's most commercially and uniquely successful bands. And it has done so while repeatedly bucking industry convention. Tool often waits up to five years between albums. Its last three singles -— including current hit "Vicarious" -— have averaged more than seven minutes, forcing some radio programmers to create their own edits.
And while the music business clamors to embrace digital formats, Tool has yet to reach an agreement with its label, Volcano/Zomba, for such distribution.
Yet Tool is more popular than ever. The band's new album, "10,000 Days," marked Tool's second appearance at the apex of The Billboard 200, with 564,000 albums sold its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. This follows the sale of more than 8 million copies of its first three studio albums in the United States. In the United Kingdom, "10,000 Days" scored the group its highest bow with a No. 4 debut on the albums chart. The title debuted in the top 10 throughout Europe.
Tool fans span a cross-section from metalheads to emo kids, punks to goths, with its arty, prog-drenched heavy rock. And it seems the more the band follows its own vision, the more it underscores its cult-band cool -- it's just a cult of hundreds of thousands at this point.
Zomba Label Group president/CEO Barry Weiss calls the band a "throwback to the old days when Led Zeppelin came out with an album -- everybody bought the album. It's that simple." Tool's success, he says, is fueled by a double effect of true artist mystique and a less-is-more mentality.
"They don't oversaturate their audience," says Mike Stern, VP of programming for Emmis/Chicago. "There's not a record every 14 months and a tour every summer."
The band has long tended to its mystique. Ballooning from the popularity of its early, pioneering videos -- especially the stop-motion animation of "Prison Sex," rising eerily above the masses of grunge and urban pop on MTV in 1993 -- Tool has carefully cultivated a dark image, through album and T-shirt artwork and onstage visuals.
"We've basically used art as a very strong propaganda tool to coincide with the music," Jones says. In general, he says, the band "is just a really cool experimental project that we're all in."
The experimental approach certainly included the packaging for "10,000 Days." The album is configured like a folding book, with one flap carrying stereoscopic lenses, and the other a booklet containing sets of paintings and photographs on each page. When spied through the lenses, each set emerges as one 3-D image.
Retailers often frown on unusual packaging because of increased concerns regarding shipping and display. But call it one more example of Tool flying—high—in the face of industry convention.
Fans love it, says Bryan Everitt, director of music operations for the 153-store Hastings Entertainment chain. "It's great to see music lovers reading the liner notes and really enjoying holding the product in their hands again," he says, noting that the album set the Amarillo, Texas-based chain's record for midnight sales with 5,000 copies sold on the album's release date, May 2.
A proud Jones, who came up with the concept, says, "[Avant guitarist] Robert Fripp was at our show the other day, and he said, 'This is the best album art since the '70s' ... We're always trying to think of something to do that's never been done before. We want people to get more than their money's worth."
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good shit
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"My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music. My pleasures are the most intense known to man: writing and butterfly hunting." - Nabokov
"And yet be clearly aware of the stars and infinity on high. Then life seems almost enchanted after all." - van Gogh
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05-19-2006, 10:16 PM
WTF?! is a emo kid.
05-19-2006, 10:16 PM
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#30
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Level 5 - Deep Thinker
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: New Orleans
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
WTF?! is a emo kid.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by prime weed
WTF?! is a emo kid.
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Think of the "Liek, ZOMG! I'm depressed! I want to die! And I want to draw an unnecessary amount of attention to myself because of it! Oh, but I am NOT goth! Does this look like face paint? I'm naturally pale white, like an Irishman!" kind of goth, but with glasses.
Well, maybe not glasses. But a lot of the "emo" dumb asses I've seen run around wear the big rimmed "Harry Potter" glasses, because, you know, nobody else but Harry Potter wears them.
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"The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his." General George S. Patton
05-19-2006, 10:39 PM
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#31
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Level 5 - Deep Thinker
Join Date: May 2006
Location: WA
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
Quote:
Originally Posted by prime weed
WTF?! is a emo kid.
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Think of the "Liek, ZOMG! I'm depressed! I want to die! And I want to draw an unnecessary amount of attention to myself because of it! Oh, but I am NOT goth! Does this look like face paint? I'm naturally pale white, like an Irishman!" kind of goth, but with glasses.
Well, maybe not glasses. But a lot of the "emo" dumb asses I've seen run around wear the big rimmed "Harry Potter" glasses, because, you know, nobody else but Harry Potter wears them.
__________________
"The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his." General George S. Patton
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Quote:
Originally Posted by moneyisevil
564,000 isnt that many records
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the chillies new album sold <450,000, and they're much more well known around the world than Tool.
05-20-2006, 02:37 AM
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#32
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Level 6 - Very Deep Thinker
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: New Zealand
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
Quote:
Originally Posted by moneyisevil
564,000 isnt that many records
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the chillies new album sold <450,000, and they're much more well known around the world than Tool.
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I've never thought of Maynard as particularly androgynous.
05-20-2006, 03:27 AM
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#33
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Level 4 - Thinker
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Rochester, NY
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
I've never thought of Maynard as particularly androgynous.
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05-20-2006, 04:02 AM
Thanks, great article. Although the part about Tool fans spanning multiple categories was pretty ignorant. Sure loads of teens will buy 'cos it's cool hip music, but I think we here discussing the lyrics and music aren't that easy to categorize.
__________________
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it cleaned my wing down to the bone....
Umbillical syllables left to decode,
there was no craddle I can taste it!"
05-20-2006, 04:02 AM
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#34
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Level 7 - Loquacious
Join Date: May 2006
Location: In between my headphones
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
Thanks, great article. Although the part about Tool fans spanning multiple categories was pretty ignorant. Sure loads of teens will buy 'cos it's cool hip music, but I think we here discussing the lyrics and music aren't that easy to categorize.
__________________
"I found the remnants of a crescent fang,
it cleaned my wing down to the bone....
Umbillical syllables left to decode,
there was no craddle I can taste it!"
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05-20-2006, 09:02 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by submachine
yeah, we haven't been hearing enough from him in recently in all the interviews, yeah man....
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but it's his band HIS BAND!!
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I think I fucked your girlfriend once. Maybe twice, I don't remember
Then I fucked all your friend's girlfriends. Now they hate you
05-20-2006, 09:02 AM
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#35
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Level 8 - Vociferous
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Florida
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
Quote:
Originally Posted by submachine
yeah, we haven't been hearing enough from him in recently in all the interviews, yeah man....
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but it's his band HIS BAND!!
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I think I fucked your girlfriend once. Maybe twice, I don't remember
Then I fucked all your friend's girlfriends. Now they hate you
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05-22-2006, 12:06 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by incircles
I've never thought of Maynard as particularly androgynous.
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have you seen Tool live during the Aenima tour when Maynard had tits?
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Feel pain and prosper...
05-22-2006, 12:06 PM
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#36
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Level 8 - Vociferous
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Waterford, Michigan
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
Quote:
Originally Posted by incircles
I've never thought of Maynard as particularly androgynous.
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have you seen Tool live during the Aenima tour when Maynard had tits?
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Feel pain and prosper...
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05-22-2006, 12:18 PM
Thank you hbynoe :) I'll be on the lookout for the full article too.
05-22-2006, 12:18 PM
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#37
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Banned.
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Costa Mesa, CA
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
Thank you hbynoe :) I'll be on the lookout for the full article too.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by prime weed
WTF?! is a emo kid.
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Yeah, you see them a lot in college now. I was overwhelmed in the past two years, cuz I've been in school for fucking six years. I started seeing purportedly heterosexual men wear tight pants and have these really lameass haircuts. They remind me of Buster Brown or something.
They try not to be goth but there's still a lot of this idiotic obsession with a certain aspect of death.
05-22-2006, 12:21 PM
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#38
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Level 5 - Deep Thinker
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: AZ-stuck in subtle realm
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
Quote:
Originally Posted by prime weed
WTF?! is a emo kid.
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Yeah, you see them a lot in college now. I was overwhelmed in the past two years, cuz I've been in school for fucking six years. I started seeing purportedly heterosexual men wear tight pants and have these really lameass haircuts. They remind me of Buster Brown or something.
They try not to be goth but there's still a lot of this idiotic obsession with a certain aspect of death.
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05-22-2006, 10:25 PM
Emo kids don't like Tool. Right now they're all going crazy over the new Taking Back Sunday or Thursday albums.
It was a decent article. Good to hear the industry people weigh in. Tool's success is a victory for NOT following the herd. Shame so few other bands are listening to and looking at what they're doing in terms of following your own rules.
05-22-2006, 10:25 PM
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#39
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Level 7 - Loquacious
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: New York
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
Emo kids don't like Tool. Right now they're all going crazy over the new Taking Back Sunday or Thursday albums.
It was a decent article. Good to hear the industry people weigh in. Tool's success is a victory for NOT following the herd. Shame so few other bands are listening to and looking at what they're doing in terms of following your own rules.
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05-23-2006, 03:09 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Koan
Sure loads of teens will buy 'cos it's cool hip music, but I think we here discussing the lyrics and music aren't that easy to categorize.
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So true. I think we'd all laugh till we crapped ourselves if we saw the range of demographics involved in this and other Tool forums.
There will literally be all sorts. Even the Tool fans I know through my circle of friends are pretty random. Though I notice at a party or something every single person there will claim to be a devoted Tool fan, while in actuality only about 3 (including me of course;) could even name all the albums.
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You can call me Al.
05-23-2006, 03:09 AM
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#40
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Level 6 - Very Deep Thinker
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Australia
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Re: Hard Work Pays Off For Tool's 'Days'- Billboard
Quote:
Originally Posted by Koan
Sure loads of teens will buy 'cos it's cool hip music, but I think we here discussing the lyrics and music aren't that easy to categorize.
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So true. I think we'd all laugh till we crapped ourselves if we saw the range of demographics involved in this and other Tool forums.
There will literally be all sorts. Even the Tool fans I know through my circle of friends are pretty random. Though I notice at a party or something every single person there will claim to be a devoted Tool fan, while in actuality only about 3 (including me of course;) could even name all the albums.
__________________
You can call me Al.
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