Revolution Radio Promotion and Commercial Performance

[CherryBombs&Gasoline]

12 minutes 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. 

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. 

  

I don't want to come across as an idiot, but as far as I know, Dookie has sold around 20 million copies and AI a bit more than 15 million, so I doubt that Dookie's sales are close to double those of AI to be honest. But that's just a side note. 

[gaslight13]

14 minutes ago, CherryBombs&Gasoline said:

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. 

Chainsmokers do not count in anything remotely resembling a "rock band" I don't care what people say, haha. Coldplay actually might be the biggest sadly. They've spent a good amount of time in the top 10 monthly global listens on spotify. I will never understand what people see in them. But (and yes I'm just going off just Spotify), I've yet to find a rock band besides them that was ranked higher on there than Green Day. Occasionally a band like Foo Fighters jump ahead for like a week (they did when their new album came out) but most tend to drop back behind GD. Spotify is the second most used DSP (behind youtube) so I think that's significant.

[Chin for a Day]

16 minutes ago, CherryBombs&Gasoline said:

I don't want to come across as an idiot, but as far as I know, Dookie has sold around 20 million copies and AI a bit more than 15 million, so I doubt that Dookie's sales are close to double those of AI to be honest. But that's just a side note. 

I was quoting US sales because that is the only ones I can actually verify. In the US Dookie sold 10M and AI 6 M. According to Wikipedia, which isn't a reliable source, AI sold 16M and Dookie 20M. 

[pacejunkie punk]

Green Day’s entire set may be classics but the songs span their entire career. It’s not like they’re only playing songs from over 20 years ago. They have hits and classics off of every album they’ve made (with an exception for the trilogy because it’s being rested right now but it still had a hit or two and I believe it will be back). They just don’t have room in one setlist for all their hits and the new songs.  I don’t think that’s the mark of a legacy act by itself; legacy or nostalgia acts tend to only play songs that are decades old. GD has enormous hits from as recently as 2010. 

[MillenniumFan]

2 hours ago, Scattered Wreck said:

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

Yes, I like to think of it that way at times. But then, that's probably what many people thought after Warning. Many dismissed the band, because they thought they had their run at fame and had brought out some catchy songs, but that it wouldn't amount to more. Then AI dropped... Is it unlikely that they'll be huge again in the same way? Yes, but I wouldn't coumpletely rule out that possibility, this is Green Day after all!

The truth is, Green Day aren't anywhere near as popular as they were. RevRad is unknown to most people and they haven't really released any earth-shatteringly great album since AI (possibly since 21CB for some). The trilogy was a dissapointment both commercially and musically and while RevRad was alright, it wasn't exactly a commercial success either. Far from it, actually. The days of when Green Day were really popular are over. People barely know any song after 21CB and most hits still come from AI and Dookie. This is all true. However, I still don't think this rules out a third wave of succes... Again, I gave my reasons why. 

[Alan86]

All it takes is one big hit song to be catapulted back into being hugely popular.

[CherryBombs&Gasoline]

It's not only about sales though. Yes, RevRad isn't their most succesful album in terms of sales. However, it is a good record. High sales numbers don't mean that an album is actually good. Just look at the charts. Coldplay have sold millions of albums in the last years, even if those records are mediocre at best. And I don't even wanna start talking about other artist (have I mentioned the Chainsmokers yet? )

They set the bar really high with AI and Dookie and most of their other albums look weak when you compare their sales to those two masterpieces. However, GD are still more succesful than most other rock bands, which is why I don't think it's correct to call them a legacy act, even if I do know that they are selling lass records than in the past. That's all I'm trying to say.

[pouty bitch]

I wouldn't say that they're past their prime - just because they're not as popular as they used to be, doesn't mean they're not releasing good music anymore. In terms of rock music, RevRad was pretty successful. I think it's pretty unfair to say that they're a nostalgia act just because RevRad didn't sell anywhere near as many copies as Dookie or AI. Around Warning era, nobody expected GD to release a massively successful album ever again, but they did - there's always a chance that could happen again, even if it is extremely unlikely. It seems they've still got a long career ahead of them, so I'd say it's way too early to pass them off as a legacy act.

But what I've gathered from the last couple of pages in this thread is that we all seem to have different ideas of what a legacy act is.

[pacejunkie punk]

Everybody sells less records than in the past so that’s not a fair indicator of anything. I think what really counts is are people still into their new music or do they only go to hear them play 20 year old hits and to that I would have to say no. Yes people go to shows to hear hits from 1994-2010 and they are enjoying the new songs as well. That’s not a band that’s had it’s day.

[Joe.]

3 hours ago, pacejunkie punk said:

Then what does it actually mean?

It means they're on the decline

[Christian's Inferno!]

1 hour ago, Alan86 said:

All it takes is one big hit song to be catapulted back into being hugely popular.

I think they could've had that with this album if it was promoted properly. SB is a song that could've done really well but it wasn't promoted enough. I mean, it still did well on the Rock Charts but it definitely could've charted in the Hot 100 at least

[Joe.]

11 minutes ago, G-L-O-R-I-A said:

I wouldn't say that they're past their prime - just because they're not as popular as they used to be, doesn't mean they're not releasing good music anymore. In terms of rock music, RevRad was pretty successful. I think it's pretty unfair to say that they're a nostalgia act just because RevRad didn't sell anywhere near as many copies as Dookie or AI. Around Warning era, nobody expected GD to release a massively successful album ever again, but they did - there's always a chance that could happen again, even if it is extremely unlikely. It seems they've still got a long career ahead of them, so I'd say it's way too early to pass them off as a legacy act.

But what I've gathered from the last couple of pages in this thread is that we all seem to have different ideas of what a legacy act is.

They're clearly on the way down - the trilogy and RevRad were by no means awful but certainly mediocre - their setlists focus on Dookie/AI (understandably) as these are what 70% of people turn up for. That's fine but they're certainly heading towards the nostalgia act era of their career - if the next album is similar in quality to last two releases. Of course they'll still write some great songs, but the days of tens of millions of album sales are over, or whatever the equivalent in streams is.

[Jonas01]

2 hours ago, MillenniumFan said:

Yes, I like to think of it that way at times. But then, that's probably what many people thought after Warning. Many dismissed the band, because they thought they had their run at fame and had brought out some catchy songs, but that it wouldn't amount to more. Then AI dropped... Is it unlikely that they'll be huge again in the same way? Yes, but I wouldn't coumpletely rule out that possibility, this is Green Day after all!

The truth is, Green Day aren't anywhere near as popular as they were. RevRad is unknown to most people and they haven't really released any earth-shatteringly great album since AI (possibly since 21CB for some). The trilogy was a dissapointment both commercially and musically and while RevRad was alright, it wasn't exactly a commercial success either. Far from it, actually. The days of when Green Day were really popular are over. People barely know any song after 21CB and most hits still come from AI and Dookie. This is all true. However, I still don't think this rules out a third wave of succes... Again, I gave my reasons why. 

Who actually cares if htier popularity is going down, album sales and airplays? As long as they still are happy and play the music they love then i'm happy... Sure they won't be as popular as the Dookie period or AI or maybe a bit 21st CB period. But hey they played Hyde Park this year with 60 000 people which is great. They are the most popular rock band today on Spotify if i'm not mistaken so sure it isn't that bad. Of course the overall promotion for RR was bad and album sales not the best compared to earlier albums but hey we are in 2017. 2017!!! Alan Walker, Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran, Kygo, Drake and all those guys are the people who rules the music industry today, and will probably for a long time. Guns n Roses are on tour in 2017 but so what? Rolling Stones too but ...? Yeh you see. Rock music is nowhere near as popular as it was. Accept the fact, and that GD aren't as popular as they were. I will still love GD no matter if they are the most popular band on earth or the lowest selling rock act today. I DON'T CARE AS THE GUYS ARE HAPPY, HEALTHY AND STILL PLAY MUSIC. 

[Daddy.]

1 hour ago, Alan86 said:

All it takes is one big hit song to be catapulted back into being hugely popular.

This is the first thing off the top of my head so it may be shit, but Arctic Monkeys - first two albums did amazing, next two - pretty mediocre, last album - that drove them right back to the top again. 

[gaslight13]

18 minutes ago, MysticManiac said:

I think they could've had that with this album if it was promoted properly. SB is a song that could've done really well but it wasn't promoted enough. I mean, it still did well on the Rock Charts but it definitely could've charted in the Hot 100 at least

I agree, but I also think the overall decline in rock music popularity is a big factor as well. 

15 minutes ago, JoeFrusciante said:

They're clearly on the way down - the trilogy and RevRad were by no means awful but certainly mediocre - their setlists focus on Dookie/AI (understandably) as these are what 70% of people turn up for. That's fine but they're certainly heading towards the nostalgia act era of their career - if the next album is similar in quality to last two releases. Of course they'll still write some great songs, but the days of tens of millions of album sales are over, or whatever the equivalent in streams is.

The trilogy was way too ambitious and can't really be viewed like a normal album. Who knows what the sales would've been if a) it hadn't been 3 albums. That's a lot to ask people to buy and b) Billie hadn't had that melt down and gone to rehab preventing them from promoting and touring on it properly. 

I think you're way off on Rev Rad being mediocre. I think it's great. Definitely on the upper half if you were to rank their albums. 

The majority of concert attendees will always be more casual fans who want to hear the hits. That goes for anyone. The question is, does the crowd go dead or run off to the bathroom en masse when Still Breathing or Revolution Radio get played? Not that I saw on the three US dates I went to. I'm not saying they won't head that direction with the next album. Who knows. But this album went to #1, people attending the shows are still very into the new music, and they're getting more streams than virtually any other rock band on Spotify, so I'd say it's premature to say that anything is over in terms of their success. 
 

2 minutes ago, Jonas01 said:

Accept the fact, and that GD aren't as popular as they were. 

I don't think anyone's arguing that they're as popular as they were in like '04, just that they're not a nostalgia act yet. There's a whole lot of in between.  

[CherryBombs&Gasoline]

9 minutes ago, Jonas01 said:

Who actually cares if htier popularity is going down, album sales and airplays? As long as they still are happy and play the music they love then i'm happy... Sure they won't be as popular as the Dookie period or AI or maybe a bit 21st CB period. But hey they played Hyde Park this year with 60 000 people which is great. They are the most popular rock band today on Spotify if i'm not mistaken so sure it isn't that bad. Of course the overall promotion for RR was bad and album sales not the best compared to earlier albums but hey we are in 2017. 2017!!! Alan Walker, Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran, Kygo, Drake and all those guys are the people who rules the music industry today, and will probably for a long time. Guns n Roses are on tour in 2017 but so what? Rolling Stones too but ...? Yeh you see. Rock music is nowhere near as popular as it was. Accept the fact, and that GD aren't as popular as they were. I will still love GD no matter if they are the most popular band on earth or the lowest selling rock act today. I DON'T CARE AS THE GUYS ARE HAPPY, HEALTHY AND STILL PLAY MUSIC. 

This. Music is highly personal, there's actually nothing that is more irrelevant than sales. If it was about money, the Transformers movies would be better than than the Godfather. 

I enjoy this era of their career, it's a great time to be a Green Day fan. As long as the boys are having fun, everything is perfect. 

[pacejunkie punk]

Not only are people not sitting down or going to the bathroom during the RevRad songs, they are singing along to those too just like with the past hits. Crowd seems to enjoy them just as much.

[Christian's Inferno!]

25 minutes ago, gaslight13 said:

I think you're way off on Rev Rad being mediocre. I think it's great. Definitely on the upper half if you were to rank their albums. 
 

I think he means mediocre in terms of commercial performance, not quality. I could be wrong though

[DookieLukie]

Rock on radio is dead now. "Still Breathing" is about as sure of a mainstream rock hit they could have ever written these days, and that didn't even crack the Hot 100 and barely hit pop radio. 

[The Bellie]

I discovered Green day without my parents, randomly, and to me there's no doubt they are currently the best rock band in the world, and the fact they've been for 25 years only makes it better. Green Day have worked hard all their career, reinventing themselves and getting incessantly deeper. This hasn't slowed down, on the contrary, we're plainly in it and it's wonderful. The RevRad era, with all its positiveness, energy and joy on stage and in the band's speeches, is a brand new start for them much rather than the beginning of their decline. But I don't know what I would have thought of Green Day if I had stopped to the image I could get of them from common music industry, or the idea random non-fan people can have of them. Yeah, many people don't know Green Day's current music, others don't even think of them as very big; perhaps music industry doesn't help people to find what great music is to themselves, and people may easily feel lost if they go searching for what isn't just immediately presented at them. I guess I was really lucky to fall on the band on my own; for me, it's certain, as Green Day have built up their 30-year career in their personal, brilliant, gradual way, they could totally not do anything further from here and be considered as a legacy act from now, it would be entirely okay and relevant; but it's just the thing I believe they will never do. The instant we're writing, they're being the best band in the world, for the outstanding shows they're putting today, and the music they've been putting out until now.

[Chin for a Day]

I agree that the music industry has changed. Physical album sales are not what they were. However, the music industry has an alogrithm they use to adjust streaming and downloads to album sales. 

The RIAA set the new Album Award formula of 1,500 on-demand audio and/or video song streams = 10 track sales = 1 album sale.  https://www.riaa.com/riaa-debuts-album-award-streams/

While comparing album sales from 20 years ago to album sales today is still apples to oranges, a band that sold 20M albums worldwide 20 years ago and now sold 700K units shows a decline.

Also, the music industry actually grew revenues by last year. http://www.ifpi.org/facts-and-stats.php

Rock music, in general, not just GD, is in decline. It is not the popular format anymore. Maybe it will be someday but for now, it is not.

However, there are plenty of bands that are doing well, for rock bands, GD is one of them. 

What I don't understand is why people are upset that this is the stage of their career that they are at. It is a fantastic stage to be in. They can do whatever the hell they want and not have to worry about being #1 anymore. They have a solid fanbase that will continue to go to their shows and have a great time. And they will continue to grow their fanbase. I believe they will continue to be able to play around 10K arenas. But they can go out and just have the time of their lives. They are beyond the stage of having tons of pressure put on them. And with less pressure, you can always do great things.    

[gaslight13]

32 minutes ago, Scattered Wreck said:

What I don't understand is why people are upset that this is the stage of their career that they are at. It is a fantastic stage to be in. They can do whatever the hell they want and not have to worry about being #1 anymore. They have a solid fanbase that will continue to go to their shows and have a great time. And they will continue to grow their fanbase. I believe they will continue to be able to play around 10K arenas. But they can go out and just have the time of their lives. They are beyond the stage of having tons of pressure put on them. And with less pressure, you can always do great things.    

Haha, someone should tell them that so maybe they would mix it up a bit. From a personal standpoint, I agree. I like that they're at the level they're at because I can still get tickets to arena shows without paying $300 on stub hub. I just think they COULD be doing better. Not bigger than Taylor Swift or anything, just better. And I still take issue with the term "legacy act" being applied to them .  Well established act that will never drop below a certain level of success, sure. 

[Asik]

   Im pretty sure the vocals from 2004-2005 but the footage is fresh. Maybe some dvd will come out

Oh Nvm

[The Bellie]

16 minutes ago, Scattered Wreck said:

What I don't understand is why people are upset that this is the stage of their career that they are at. It is a fantastic stage to be in. They can do whatever the hell they want and not have to worry about being #1 anymore. They have a solid fanbase that will continue to go to their shows and have a great time. And they will continue to grow their fanbase. I believe they will continue to be able to play around 10K arenas. But they can go out and just have the time of their lives. They are beyond the stage of having tons of pressure put on them. And with less pressure, you can always do great things.    

This exactly! I'm so happy to be following them at the present time, for it's the best time, and their best time. To me they've never been as #1 as now, and this is independent from how they may be seen by people in general, or music industry, or their official level of success. People who think Green Day have done their best time in the past are just missing the best part now.

[MillenniumFan]

12 hours ago, JoeFrusciante said:

They're clearly on the way down - the trilogy and RevRad were by no means awful but certainly mediocre - their setlists focus on Dookie/AI (understandably) as these are what 70% of people turn up for. That's fine but they're certainly heading towards the nostalgia act era of their career - if the next album is similar in quality to last two releases. Of course they'll still write some great songs, but the days of tens of millions of album sales are over, or whatever the equivalent in streams is.

I don't like how you closely tie commercial success to how good an album is. Personally, I don't think RevRad comes close to their best work, so that definition kind of works to me, but then I love albums like Insomniac and Nimrod, not anywhere near as successful as the big two: AI and Dookie. Commercially, they are most probably past their prime and a third wave of success is very unlikely, but I wouldn't rule it out. I still think they could produce a really good album, hell, I even think they could produce a better album then AI and Dookie. Is it unlikely? Sure. But they're not exactly 70 already (far from it actually). Just because other bands might have followed that general scheme of decline (in quality) like Metallica, Guns 'n Roses etc., doesn't mean they won't produce another great album, nor does it mean that Green Day will. Yes, both an earth-shatteringly good and successful album from Green Day is unlikely, but it's not exactly impossible, that's my point...