Revolution Radio Promotion and Commercial Performance

[jengd]

7 hours ago, CherryBombs&Gasoline said:

I think Green Days "problem" is that two of their records were insanely successful and everything that they released after Dookie and/or AI is constantly compared with these two albums, so even if records like Insomniac, Nimrod or even Warning and 21stCBD were (in terms of sales) more succesful than 90% of the stuff that other rock bands released, it is still seen as a failure I'm comparison to Dookie and AI (which isn't fair).

I couldn’t agree more, I’ve heard Metallica say that everything seems unsuccessful after The Black Album, there is a definite downside to having huge success like that, and Green Day have, unusually, done it twice!  Most bands would give their right arm for “only two or three million” sales.

[gaslight13]

8 hours ago, CherryBombs&Gasoline said:

I think Green Days "problem" is that two of their records were insanely successful and everything that they released after Dookie and/or AI is constantly compared with these two albums, so even if records like Insomniac, Nimrod or even Warning and 21stCBD were (in terms of sales) more succesful than 90% of the stuff that other rock bands released, it is still seen as a failure I'm comparison to Dookie and AI (which isn't fair).

I could be wrong, but I really feel like that’s just the way that a lot of fans think (and maybe critics) not the general public. The general public just doesn’t even register the other albums even happened. 

I really think it’s mostly a question of timing. They were lucky that Rev Rad came out right before Trump was elected. I think that probably helped them. I know it got me to pay closer attention to them again after being a distant fan for 4 years. However, rock music is further from the mainstream than ever and album sales are practically a thing of the past at this point. I think if that wasn’t the case, a song like Still Breathing would’ve been a bigger hit and they’d have even higher sales for Rev Rad. They’re something like 131st in the world for “monthly listens” on Spotify right now. That’s higher than nearly all rock bands. It’s just hard to gauge success when album sales aren’t the same and you have DSLs taking over. That and the overall decline for rock music is (I believe) why so many bands have recently dropped their managers. It’s hard to gauge what these changes mean.

[jengd]

5 minutes ago, gaslight13 said:

I could be wrong, but I really feel like that’s just the way that a lot of fans think (and maybe critics) not the general public. The general public just doesn’t even register the other albums even happened. 

I really think it’s mostly a question of timing. They were lucky that Rev Rad came out right before Trump was elected. I think that probably helped them. I know it got me to pay closer attention to them again after being a distant fan for 4 years. However, rock music is further from the mainstream than ever and album sales are practically a thing of the past at this point. I think if that wasn’t the case, a song like Still Breathing would’ve been a bigger hit and they’d have even higher sales for Rev Rad. They’re something like 131st in the world for “monthly listens” on Spotify right now. That’s higher than nearly all rock bands. It’s just hard to gauge success when album sales aren’t the same and you have DSLs taking over. That and the overall decline for rock music is (I believe) why so many bands have recently dropped their managers. It’s hard to gauge what these changes mean.

Yeah, agreed, I keep hoping the trend for crappy pop music passes soon, but to no avail so far.

[gaslight13]

11 minutes ago, jengd said:

Yeah, agreed, I keep hoping the trend for crappy pop music passes soon, but to no avail so far.

I don’t even mind if it stays because it’s always been there (though it could at least get to the quality of crappy pop from 20 years ago) But I want rock music to have a piece of the mainstream again.

[RedundantIdiot]

Another problem that GD, and other rock bands, have nowadays is streaming and downloading. In the UK, sales of albums are very low, on average an album can get to #1 with only 30,000 copies sold in its 1st week. In the poorest of weeks, maybe an album can get to #1 with only 7,000 copies sold. The lack of album sales is one of the reasons why bands are turning their attention to making money out of touring.

In the UK in the whole of last year we only had 11 number one singles due to the influence of streaking. For every 100 streams that a song gets is equivalent to 1 physical purchase of that song. If only physical sales of singles counted in the UK, Bang Bang would easily have been in the top 40- but because of the lack of streaming, it only got to #82. Its the same story for Dark Necessities (RHCP) which made it to #72 and Bored to Death (Blink 182) which made it to #107, which I'm sure would've charted higher if only physical copies counted.

 

 

[CherryBombs&Gasoline]

I just think that there's less variety in the mainstream than 10 years ago. Sure, (crappy) pop music has always been successful, but back in 2005, there was more than just pop on the radio. Rock bands like Green Day or Linkin Park were doing good, just like many rap and Hip Hop artists. That has somehow changed. Rock isn't dead but you rarely ever hear a rock song on the radio. And if it happens, it's usually an old one.

And just look at the streaming numbers of Green Day, The Chili Peppers and other rock/alternative artists. They are absolutely nothing if you compare them with artists like Drake or Taylor Swift. I just looked it up. Green Day's most successful song on Spotify is Basket Case with 189.698.902 streams. Drakes "One Dance" has 1.346.091.562 streams. 

I think a lot of rock fans are kind of oldschool. They still buy CDs and vinyls. But it's getting easier and easier to consume music. Just open Spotify, click on a song and there you go. That's a development which isn't good for alternative music. I think for a lot of people, music has become something that you just play in the background when you are washing the dishes or whatever, which is a shame.

[MillenniumFan]

I hope rock becomes main stream again at some point, I also have the secret hope that Green Day become really successful / main stream for a third time (I guess I just have this feeling that they could pull it off. I mean, I think they can somehow tap into something: into issues that we all face, thoughts we all have. That and being musically appealing, neither too simplistic nor overthetop or too complex. That’s a thing that very few other bands can do in my opinion).

[pacejunkie punk]

59 minutes ago, CherryBombs&Gasoline said:

I just think that there's less variety in the mainstream than 10 years ago. Sure, (crappy) pop music has always been successful, but back in 2005, there was more than just pop on the radio. Rock bands like Green Day or Linkin Park were doing good, just like many rap and Hip Hop artists. That has somehow changed. Rock isn't dead but you rarely ever hear a rock song on the radio. And if it happens, it's usually an old one.

And just look at the streaming numbers of Green Day, The Chili Peppers and other rock/alternative artists. They are absolutely nothing if you compare them with artists like Drake or Taylor Swift. I just looked it up. Green Day's most successful song on Spotify is Basket Case with 189.698.902 streams. Drakes "One Dance" has 1.346.091.562 streams. 

I think a lot of rock fans are kind of oldschool. They still buy CDs and vinyls. But it's getting easier and easier to consume music. Just open Spotify, click on a song and there you go. That's a development which isn't good for alternative music. I think for a lot of people, music has become something that you just play in the background when you are washing the dishes or whatever, which is a shame.

That’s true. I used to play albums as a teen and listen to them deliberately, start to finish lying on my bed. My kids can’t imagine listening to music now without doing something else at the same time and they never play a whole album of anybody’s. That’s a real loss I think and something that Green Day still values and rewards because song order is still very important to them and their albums are meant to be heard in full and in order. 

I worry that rock is going to become a generational thing in the way that doowop and swing has when they were once popular youth music. I gave up on radio entirely because the only rock you hear is classic rock. What they call alternative sounds like pop music to me.

[CherryBombs&Gasoline]

On the other hand, the lineups of music festivals like Rock am Ring, Hurricane/Southside, Glastonbury, Nova Rock, Download Festival (just to name a few) mainly consist of rock bands. Most of these festivals are more or less made for an audience that enjoys rock music and they are as popular as always. So I wouldn't say that rock or alternative music is loosing its relevance or that people don't care for this type of music anymore. But the mainstream media (I hate this term) clearly isn't interested in anything but generic pop music. Maybe the focus has just changed. I think live performances and touring is much more important for rock bands these days than record sales or radio airplay.

[Beerjeezus]

Trends in music come and go. It's not impossible for rock to make a return, even though I can't see it happening in any near future.

2 minutes ago, CherryBombs&Gasoline said:

On the other hand, the lineups of music festivals like Rock am Ring, Hurricane/Southside, Glastonbury, Nova Rock, Download Festival (just to name a few) mainly consist of rock bands. Most of these festivals are more or less made for an audience that enjoys rock music and they are as popular as always. So I wouldn't say that rock or alternative music is loosing its relevance or that people don't care for this type of music anymore. But the mainstream media (I hate this term) clearly isn't interested in anything but generic pop music. Maybe the focus has just changed. I think live performances and touring is much more important for rock bands these days than record sales or radio airplay.

Touring is more important than sales in all genres. With illegal downloads and Spotify, which doesn't bring much income into the artists' pockets anyway, live shows are the only source of income that's left unreduced. Nothing can substitute a concert. 

I suppose rock fans care more about seeing shows, that's why festivals still focus on rock. I mean, what's the point in going to a show when the "live" music isn't actually live. I like seeing real people playing real instuments. Rock concerts are closer to classical music concerts than to pop shows imo 

[BucksCoEric]

I meant to mention this months ago but forgot, though back in june i was at a neighbors party and there were 7-8 kids there between the ages of 20-25. While none of them were giant green day fans by any measure, all of them were big punk music fans/musicians who love underground music. When i told them green day released an album last october, all of them looked at me surprised. The fact that they didn't know about it really makes me worry about green day's promo team.  

[DookieLukie]

Why is everyone making up all of these excuse? The answer is clear: Green Day is a 30 yr old band from the late 80s/early 90s. They are a legacy act that occasionally puts out a new record, just like Metallica, RHCP, etc. Yes, rock is fading from the mainstream, and what's left of rock radio is just some weird alternative pop blend. Yes, records are basically dead. But let's just face the fact that Green Day is not longer a popular band and will sit along other great bands in history that everyone has heard of but not everyone actively listens to. Honestly, I was surprised to see so many young people at their shows this past tour. I expect they will draw more people as they slide into legacy act territory.

[UNICORN VOMIT]

4 hours ago, DookieLukie said:

Why is everyone making up all of these excuse? The answer is clear: Green Day is a 30 yr old band from the late 80s/early 90s. They are a legacy act that occasionally puts out a new record, just like Metallica, RHCP, etc. Yes, rock is fading from the mainstream, and what's left of rock radio is just some weird alternative pop blend. Yes, records are basically dead. But let's just face the fact that Green Day is not longer a popular band and will sit along other great bands in history that everyone has heard of but not everyone actively listens to. Honestly, I was surprised to see so many young people at their shows this past tour. I expect they will draw more people as they slide into legacy act territory.

The young ones are our kids being introduced to the music they were brought up with I guess.

[Thatsername]

8 hours ago, DookieLukie said:

Why is everyone making up all of these excuse? The answer is clear: Green Day is a 30 yr old band from the late 80s/early 90s. They are a legacy act that occasionally puts out a new record, just like Metallica, RHCP, etc. Yes, rock is fading from the mainstream, and what's left of rock radio is just some weird alternative pop blend. Yes, records are basically dead. But let's just face the fact that Green Day is not longer a popular band and will sit along other great bands in history that everyone has heard of but not everyone actively listens to. Honestly, I was surprised to see so many young people at their shows this past tour. I expect they will draw more people as they slide into legacy act territory.

But let's also face the fact that the boys are still young, they are 45! It's not like they're 70 and likely to retire soon or something. We could have 20 or more years of Green Day ahead of us (and hopefully we do!!)! A lot can happen in 20 years! I think they have proven before that they are capable of almost everything - maybe especially when people least expect it. I agree with @MillenniumFan, it is absolutely possible that they become "big" for a third time. Or not. I'm fine with both, als long as they're healthy and love what they're doing. They don't have to proof us anything anymore, their footstep in the history of rock is already huge.

[gaslight13]

9 hours ago, DookieLukie said:

Why is everyone making up all of these excuse? The answer is clear: Green Day is a 30 yr old band from the late 80s/early 90s. They are a legacy act that occasionally puts out a new record, just like Metallica, RHCP, etc. Yes, rock is fading from the mainstream, and what's left of rock radio is just some weird alternative pop blend. Yes, records are basically dead. But let's just face the fact that Green Day is not longer a popular band and will sit along other great bands in history that everyone has heard of but not everyone actively listens to. Honestly, I was surprised to see so many young people at their shows this past tour. I expect they will draw more people as they slide into legacy act territory.

A Legacy act? No way. They may have formed in the late 80s and started becoming successful in the early 90s but they were at their biggest in the 2000s, their three #1 records came out in '04, '09, and '17. Legacy acts are the artists who are either incredibly old, whose albums don't reach #1 anymore because they have virtually no one under 30 listening to their new music and/or it's bad (ie The Rolling Stones), not putting out new music anymore and doing residencies (Billy Joel), putting out new music still but even big fans prefer the old hits to the new material and the critics couldn't care less (Goo Goo Dolls). Green Day is still pretty young and still putting out quality and relevant music. As relevant as anything in rock is currently. If they stay active and on their game, they've got a long way before legacy act territory. 

5 hours ago, SHART said:

The young ones are our kids being introduced to the music they were brought up with I guess.

Yes, but I think there's more than that. Shows for older acts like Springsteen are maybe 25% kids under 25 because parents bring them or  have introduced them over the years. Green Day's audience is closer to like 40%-50% at least that are that young I'd say. That's not just people bringing their kids. 

I'm not arguing that they should be selling 30-40k tickets a night, but there are changes that could be made to get them up to 15-20k. 

[Chin for a Day]

I have to agree with Lukie. They are a legacy act. They have been around for 20+ years and their style of music is not the popular mainstream music anymore. They will most likely (I will never say never) not be as popular as they once were. The same goes for RHCP, Guns n' Roses and even bands like The Stones. That doesn't mean they won't put out new albums or that they won't sell alot of concert tickets. It just means they will most likely not be the biggest band in the world ever again. And that is OK. They still have a ton of fans, they are still putting out great music and they are still being introduced to a younger audience. Maybe through their parents, but that doesn't matter.  

The band seemed to have the time of their life on this tour. Hopefully the next one will be just as great. 

[gaslight13]

I think your definition of "legacy act" is way too broad. It's not just every band that may never be the absolute biggest band in the world again. 

[Chin for a Day]

22 minutes ago, gaslight13 said:

I think your definition of "legacy act" is way too broad. It's not just every band that may never be the absolute biggest band in the world again. 

I look at Legacy acts as acts that are past their prime. To me GD fits that category.   

[gaslight13]

Just now, Scattered Wreck said:

I look at Legacy acts as acts that are past their prime. To me GD fits that category.   

I guess I see where you're coming from in terms of past their peak in popularity but I think it's too early to say they're past their prime and just a nostalgia act. Especially when, as I mentioned, their highest selling albums have been their most recent apart from the Trilogy (which I count as 1 not 3).  I guess I consider legacy acts to be bands that when they play the big hits the crowd goes WILD and when they play newer songs, the crowd is virtually dead. And that's also reflected in album sales. That hasn't been my experience with GD. 

[pacejunkie punk]

I’m not ready to say that Green Day are past their prime just because they’ve had success in the past. Their current album went number one and had two number one singles. Just because rock isn’t the current mainstream fashion doesn’t make Green Day past their prime. Those are two separate things. 

[Joe.]

4 minutes ago, pacejunkie punk said:

I’m not ready to say that Green Day are past their prime just because they’ve had success in the past. Their current album went number one and had two number one singles. Just because rock isn’t the current mainstream fashion doesn’t make Green Day past their prime. Those are two separate things. 

Green Day are past their prime, that doesn't mean they'll never make a good album again though 

[pacejunkie punk]

9 minutes ago, JoeFrusciante said:

Green Day are past their prime, that doesn't mean they'll never make a good album again though 

Then what does it actually mean?

[Chin for a Day]

35 minutes ago, gaslight13 said:

I guess I see where you're coming from in terms of past their peak in popularity but I think it's too early to say they're past their prime and just a nostalgia act. Especially when, as I mentioned, their highest selling albums have been their most recent apart from the Trilogy (which I count as 1 not 3).  I guess I consider legacy acts to be bands that when they play the big hits the crowd goes WILD and when they play newer songs, the crowd is virtually dead. And that's also reflected in album sales. That hasn't been my experience with GD. 

Rev Rad is far from their highest selling albums. I adore Rev Rad, I think it is one of their best albums. However, the album sales for it have not been great. Even compared to similar artists, such as RHCP and Metallica. Their highest selling album by far was Dookie. Not even AI came close to the amount of sales of Dookie. Dookie's album sales are close to double AI. So, saying that their most recent albums have been their best selling is simply untrue. I personally think their more recent albums are artistically better, but they are not better sellers. 

I love GD to death and I have been one of the few people that have defended their setlist. However, except for a few Rev Rad songs, the entire set is their classics. 

29 minutes ago, pacejunkie punk said:

Then what does it actually mean?

It means they will most likely never sell albums the way they have in the past or sell out multiple nights at a 60K + stadium. It doesn't mean they won't, it is just highly unlikely. It also doesn't mean they won't have a successful album or a successful tour. 

  

[CherryBombs&Gasoline]

So what's the biggest band in the world right now? Coldplay? The Chainsmokers?

Green Day are not selling as many records as they used to. That's a fact. But to me, a legacy act is a band or a artist that is close to retirement so people buy tickets to their shows 'cause they don't know if it's gonna be the last time.

Green Day are not as popular as they once we're, but they keep releasing new material more or less constantly and whenever they release something, it doesn't fly under the radar. Remember, RevRad peaked at no. 1 in the US. The same goes for the Chili Peppers. Their new album wasn't as successful as Californication but it was awarded gold and platinum all over the world. That's not that bad. 

Remember the whole U2/ITunes story? They were/are one of the biggest acts in the world but no one really cared for their new music. And when was the last time the Stones released an actual studio album with new, own songs? 

People still care for Green Day and for their NEW music. Sure, not as much as in 2005, but they are far away from beeing irrelevant imo. So I agree with @gaslight13. Besides, does beeing one of the most successful artists really mean that you are relevant? I seriously doubt that anyone will listen to the Chainsmokers in 20 years but everyone will quite likely remember Green Day. 

[gaslight13]

1 minute ago, Scattered Wreck said:

Rev Rad is far from their highest selling albums. I adore Rev Rad, I think it is one of their best albums. However, the album sales for it have not been great. Even compared to similar artists, such as RHCP and Metallica. Their highest selling album by far was Dookie. Not even AI came close to the amount of sales of Dookie. Dookie's album sales are close to double AI. So, saying that their most recent albums have been their best selling is simply untrue. I personally think their more recent albums are artistically better, but they are not better sellers. 

I love GD to death and I have been one of the few people that have defended their setlist. However, except for a few Rev Rad songs, the entire set is their classics. 

I misspoke. Highest charting is what I meant. Can't really judge off album sales because a) Rev Rad has only been out a year and b) album sales can't be judged the same way anymore no matter the artist. But they've only had 3 albums hit #1 on the Billboard 200 and Rev Rad was one of them. Dookie is 10 years older than AI and came out when album sales were still very much a thing. By the time AI came out, people were already pirating music. I actually burned a copy of my friend's CD for that one (I'm not proud of this).

Their set list is mostly classics but that's their decision. I really don't think they're being forced into that as much as they think they are, and not in the way the nostalgia acts are.