I just read this in a little blurb in Rolling Stone. Does anyone know anything else about this? I thought they were a better band than THAT! Did they not tour? Did the lead singer die? I mean, what gives?
[sub](This is the group that sang the good-but-overplayed tune “Butterfly” for those not in the know.)[/sub]
A UK perspective, if nothing else: why would you expect more sales from a band who were a one-song wonder? (in the UK, “Butterfly” got MTV play, but barely scratched the charts). I realise this may not explain the US position, but I didn’t even know they’d had one album, let alone two,
Good riddance. They sampled Red Hot Chili Pepper’s “Pretty Little Ditty” through the entire song and never gave RHCP an ounce of recognition. I’m glad they’ve faded into total obscurity and I hope they spent lots of money on mansions and bentleys during their fame, so they now can have it all repossesed and be forced to move into a small flat in downtown Harlem.
I don’t have a cite or anything, but from the sheer number of times this song got played it must have been at least a top-20 hit here. I mean, it was EVERYWHERE. I’m not holding Crazy Town up as some kind of great group that deserves everlasting success, but to have a follow-up to an album with a hit like THAT sell only 55,000 copies is just amazing. It’s almost unnatural. Their first album went platinum; you’d think their follow up would at least attract 10% as much business.
I hadn’t heard they sampled RHCP ont hat song. That hurts my enjoyment of it a little. 
But now I’m going to get the original tune! 
Erm, couldn’t you tell? Crazy Town was an insipid band that brought nothing new to music, good riddance. I remember hearing on The Osbournes that everyone on Ozzy’s tour used to make fun of them (they were on that tour).
Is that the “come my lady, come-come my lady” overplayed song you’re talking about?
I don’t think I’ve ever heard the name Crazy Town before.
I’ve never heard of the song or the group! (I know, that’s not saying much I suppose.)
Warren Zevon is much more well known than Crazy Town, and he’s one of the best songwriters of the last thirty years. And his albums sell about the same.
Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot got a five star review in Rolling Stone, and was listed as the best album of the year by a number of critics. And it only sold about 250,000 copies.
That’s the music biz today. A handful of acts get massive promotion, and everyone else twists in the wind. And acts like Wilco, Crazy Town, and Zevon don’t fit into the increasingly niche-driven radio industry. If it’s not classic rock, hip-hop, modern pop, or country it doesn’t make it onto radio station playlists. And that’s the major form of advertising for new music.
The net promises to break this oligopoly and allow these bands to flourish, which is why the record labels are attacking it.
Really? I wouldn’t have guess they sucked THAT bad. Did they say on the show why everybody made fun of them?
Crazy Town got booed on the first performance on the Ozzfest tour.
they consequestly went a bit off the rails and the singer had a nervous breakdown.
So are you saying Crazy Town is comparable to Wilco?
I don’t know, the lead singer went on to do 'starry eyed surprise, with Paul Oakenfold, which I thought was pretty good.
Thats what they get for covering “New Noise”
Gah…I just recently read about some big band - I mean BIG band, I almost want to say The Rolling Stones - that had an album that only sold like 19,000 copies. Does anyone have any idea what I could possibly be thinking of? I’ll try to remember or find where I read it and come back.
Crazy Town selling 55k should not be a surprise at all. I’m surprised they sold that much, they’re horrible. They put out a pop song and then tried to get ‘street cred’ as a hip hop band. Even the worst of the worst know it goes the other way around.
I’ve never heard Crazytown, other than to hear them mentioned occasionally. I was just lumping them into the ‘indie’ music crowd to make a point.
I think Wilco is a fantastic band. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is a masterpiece, and ranks up there with Exiles on Main Street in my opinion.
Folks, I love you all.
Before you get down on the Town, try listening to more of their music than the released singles from each album.
I personally love them, and hope they come up from this. I find their music connects with me in a way very little music has in the past… Little Black Cloud from Gift of Game is one of my favorite songs to date.
I think the problem is they got lumped in with the pop crowd because of Butterfly… they’re not really pop.
Give them a try, then we’ll talk.
In how many weeks of release did the band sell that many copies?
“Revolving Door” was a tight track from them.
This number is no surprise. “Butterfly” drove the sales for that Platinum album. No other videos were pushed by MTV that hard. The band failed to take advantage of their fleeting moments in the limelight to pitch the rest of their wares. 55k is great sales for them. I can think of 55,000 better bands whom will never sell that many discs due to the powers-that-be and the nature of the biz.
Well, I think Dark Horse has been out about 3 months. I got it about 3 days after it was released.
They’ve said in interviews that they want to tour again, but it’s hard to find groups to tour with them. They’re a rock band that had a pop hit, with an edgy hip-hoppish sound on a lot of their stuff.
Maybe they’re not touring because Shifty Shellshock is busy trying to think of an even dumber name to perform under.