Yesterday, a song from Gnarls Barkley’s forthcoming album The Odd Couple leaked, and late last night, the Daily Swarm wondered if it was a sign that the viral marketing for the duo’s next album, out in April, had already begun. This sounds like a job for our long-dormant feature Track Marks, in which we track the popularity of a blogger buzz band–especially since the hype cycle on this traveled so fast, and even made a pit stop at our inbox. So without further ado…
ARTIST: Gnarls Barkley
HOMETOWN: The Internet Los Angeles
ALBUM: The Odd Couple, out April 8
Artists: Lil Wayne/Zac Efron.
Rumor: The two of them are not only collaborating on a High School Musical remix album, they’re totally making out. And Weezy’s rubbed off so much on Zac, the Disney-bred cutie is dropping the N-bomb!
First Mention: The OC Weekly printed “The Efron Scandal,” which made these claims, on Thursday, and author Ben Westhoff tipped us off to the story Friday. But we didn’t run it, because it was pretty freaking obvious that it was a goof. Take this sentence: “‘I’m just being me,’ Wayne insists, leading a tour of his recently purchased oceanfront house, which features a faux-bronze statue of his own nude figure, and a Juicy Fruit-dispensing bathroom attendant who lives on the premises full-time.” I mean, in ninth grade I fell for the old “gullible isn’t in the dictionary” joke and even I realized this was someone having a 675-word laugh.
Artist: Chris Brown
Rumor: Because of the lukewarm response to his first single, “Wall To Wall,” the R & B singer’s forthcoming album, Exclusive, may be scrapped by his label, Zomba.
First mention: That Grape Juice, which had previously broken the news about Mya’s album suffering the same fate, posted the rumor on Sunday. The item cited the lackluster chart performance of “Wall To Wall,” which leaked in May and is currently at No. 84 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Build-Up: Vibe Confidential tried to link to the That Grape Juice post in question yesterday, although someone stuck a huge break tag in the middle of the HREF.
Welcome to another edition of Track Marks, in which your Idolators perform an autopsy on the latest band burning up the MP3-blogger charts. Today, however, we’ll take a look at one of the week’s most popular listicle subjects:
Artists: Music journalists and bloggers looking for something to write about in a sorta-slow news cycle.
Project: Lists of “overrated music.”
First mention: Ever? Good luck trying to pin it down.
The Build-Up: This most recent bout of idolatry-sabotage was no doubt precipitated by the 40th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, what with the piece that sparked it being called “Sgt Pepper Must Die!” (Exclamation point in the original.)
Artist: 50 Cent
Project: A $400 million windfall from the sale of Glacéau, the company that makes the punch-with-a-kick beverage line Vitamin Water, which counts the 50-branded “Formula 50” among its flavors.
First mention: Coca-Cola announced that it had bought Glacéau for $4.1 billion dollars broke on Friday–the same day the news that 50’s forthcoming album Curtis had been pushed back to September (from its original July release date) hit the blogs.
The Build-Up: Shortly after the Curtis news broke, a 50-related item on AllHipHop appeared, and it contained a claim that 50 had little reason to worry; even though his tired sex metaphors weren’t catching on with audiences, he was still going to make a lot of money–50 apparently owned a 10% stake in the company, and that he would net a cool $400 million from the deal. The news got picked up by a bunch of news agencies, and news of Curtis‘ woes seemed less important in the purplish-tinted light of this huge payday.
Welcome to another edition of Track Marks, in which your Idolators perform an autopsy on the latest band burning up the MP3-blogger charts. Today, however, we’ll take a look at today’s second-most blogged-about rumor:
Artists: Kelly Clarkson
Project: A complete revamp of her forthcoming album, My December.
First mention: An April 30 post on the Velvet Rope claiming that label head Clive Davis savaged the first four songs on the album at a corporate conference, asking the crowd, “Remember, we’re all family here and this project is worth hundreds of millions of dollars and does this sound like a Number One single to you?”
The Build-Up: A piece running with Davis’ displeasure and claiming that Clarkson was completely overhauling the album ran today in the UK newspaper The Daily Star, a Page 3 Girly tabloid that we had never heard of until it was cited in…
Welcome to another edition of Track Marks, in which your Idolators perform an autopsy on the latest band burning up the MP3-blogger charts. Artist: Sir SalvatoreHometown: San FranciscoAlbum: Those Men Are Not AstronautsFirst blog mention: A June 29, 2006 show notice on Advance Cassette. More »
Welcome to another edition of Track Marks, in which your Idolators perform an autopsy on the latest band burning up the MP3-blogger charts. Artist: ThrushesHometown: BaltimoreAlbum: Sun Come UndoneFirst blog mention: A December 15 mention on Instrumental Analysis. More »
Welcome to another edition of Track Marks, in which your Idolators perform an autopsy on the latest band burning up the MP3-blogger charts. More »
Welcome to another edition of Track Marks, in which your Idolators perform an autopsy on the latest band burning up the MP3-blogger charts. Artist: YACHTHometown: Portland, Ore.Album: I Believe In You. More »
