Not hip hop..but How are songs like “smells like teen spirit” by nirvana only 1x platinum in the US?

DoomzdayzV

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Rock Singles never did well. There was no DJ culture behind Rock. And Singles were more off a Rap, R&B thing, cause you had remix, video mix, radio etc.

plus white people dont have clicks or hoods......when a rapper dropped something back then the whole hood would get behind them.
 

L. Deezy

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In 1991 how much sense did it make to spend $4 to buy a single when the album was $12?


to add.. it made a lot of sense.. you had no way of knowing you were gonna like the whole album. it wasnt no leaks.. nothing. you bought albums based on pure chance of liking it.
 

tremonthustler1

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How come Nirvana never had no chains made?

Imagine a big ass chain with "Nirvana" on a ice out pendant:banderas:

They dont rep the label right either. They should've been screamin' "Geffen Records up in this muthafukka"


Oh, Smashing Pumpkins>>>>Nirvana


The song "1979" shyts on everything Nirvana did.
No lie 1979 might be top 3 rock songs of all time for me.


If you watched MTV at any point growing up you had to know these songs. To get to any time they played hip hop you had to sift through these songs. If you wanted to watch the VMA’s and you wanted to know who won best rap video, cool, but you had to sit through a Nirvana performance, a Pearl Jam performance, Soundgarden videos, etc. At worst, those songs are earworms.

Rock (or anything else other than rap really) I wasn’t spending money on or dubbing tapes. That was some shyt where you saw it on TV. When Napster blew up, then it was like “well fukk it. It’s free :manny:” so I stocked up on all those songs I heard on MTV.


If it was rap, I might have copped the single at Nobody Beats The Wiz or dubbed it off another tape or the radio.
 
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Able Archer 83

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Honestly might be one of the most recognizable and known songs of all time across all genres ..it peaked at #6 on the charts for one week

were people not buying singles like that in the early 90s? ..it’s listed as 1x platinum (the album went diamond)....why were labels releasing singles if people were only buying full albums?

As others have said, the singles especially in rock were meant to promote the album, rather than stand on their own (for the most part). Rock was a historically album-oriented genre.

The single (as a release) was a marketing tool, while the album was the complete artistic statement. That's how you end up with some bands (like Led Zeppelin) barely releasing any singles at all

Occasionally, you'd have artists releasing singles early on, then those singles being folded into a later album. For instance, the punk band The Sex Pistols released Anarchy in the UK and God Save The Queen; the label attached these to their debut album against the band's wishes. There would also be a case--especially in punk--where artists would release independent singles, whether to keep the band's name circulating, or simply because they didn't fit into an album, or as a quick release while touring.

Smells Like Teen Spirit album is like diamond tho...all those rock albums were making cake back then

Metallica Black Album like 15x Platinum last I checked

This. And keep in mind that Nevermind went platinum in two months. People weren't rushing out to buy the single, they were rushing out to buy the album. Geffen had to switch manufacturing to fill the demand for the album.
 

mobbinfms

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I don’t know if they were counting radio plays towards streams in 91 yet
Streaming didn’t exist in 91.
If you meant towards sales, then no. Radio play did not count towards sales or certifications.
 

Art Barr

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Actually nevermind is a tape boom release.
Plus it is a residual death to record sales from the almoet death of music erosion era release.
made from hair bands and disco meets house based rnb.
Trying to follow the sales success of thriller.
To completely declining any relevent sales.
to almost null and void as well.
To the point rap only got to flourish because it was so profitable. Before they ruined rap. It made administrative sense on the books.
before spreadsheets were known to be sourced correctly or if at all.
Nevermind being a grassroots indie to major release was not a cd era release.
It came on cd. Yet that album is a tape boom era album.

It was released later as a gold plated cd.
From their impact as artists.
Which should be the cd version people purchase.
if they wanted a recommended physical cd copy.

In this era.
Cds were a novelty still.
To the point nin broken came as a mini.
Just to try to boost cd sales.
To illustrate cd were nt fully phased in or out as a medium.
They were there and probably pumped from the distributor to retail.
Woth mad gamesmanship in oricing from chains and supply.
Yet the era was distinctly and solidly tape completely.

Also sales were real in the fact.
For that era.
As a certain someone had not committed fraud in the soundscan system then.
So sales were really more than likely what said group sold. After being scanned. Plus soundscan was a baby then as well.
Couple this together with the winds of change. Nirvana brought to the entire music community. Especially for nirvana who hated commercialism.
that it is the content summary.
of how kurt is viewed to have brought along his passing.

So it was much different time from the sales spike era.
This occurred in the small segueway of delay of big l and nas first albums on columbia.
Plus the weird winds of change.
leading to nas ushering in the technical skill base era in winter of 1994.
Then later to the sales spike era.
After the glass ceiling was shattered from pac and big.
After puff gen one sellout.
in the wake and grief from death of big jiggy era died on pe 2000.
[fukk puff]
where mostly all if not all of your are apart of as a gateway.

This era acted as the higher quality precursor. To the sales spike era.
Plus attention to high quality records.
created how the sales spike era b*stardized the idea of buying an album and phasing out single purchases. To the death of the gateway of the music consumer.
from their greed. Which kurt was against.
The single to nevermind going platinum in that era is an actual triumph.
As it was the era in which.
they ruined the gateway single consumer.
By systemic elimination of the maxi single.
As a physical purchase.
Plus why they fail and scapegoat everything to digital erroneously. When their fall off in sales occurred because of low quality of product. Coupled with fascination of making all of music into penny stocks level releases from koch on streaming. Where thy systemically creatd the payola fake web farm penny stock atream model in play now.

Nirvana in their day.

Actually liberated rock singlehandidly giving it drawing legs.
saving it as a almost dead defunct drawing genre for white misappropriated acts of black artistry driven blues. If nirvana had not of come along. The same stagnation for all of music we see now. Would have occurred back then.
Plus rap would never have had the sale spike era or technical revolution by nas.
To establish any cultural level of quality.
after hammer and vanilla ice singlehandidly ruined the quality of rap moving forward on a major as well.
So nirvana plays an interesting part.
in how we got quality music for another five to ten years.
By proxy and trickle down. As other indie labels or subsidiaries of larger labels. Still could see the huge profitable return. Associated with signing indie style acts woth small pr cycles and guerilla marketing budgets. Or none at all...in regards to most rapper signed in this envelope of time.



Art Barr
 
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