Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Now that CB has been out for a while we see that they aren't too succesfull in Europe.

And I don't understand why, because I really like the album alot. I already read some opinions of people seeing them at the festivals and they weren't really enthusiastic. And I know that people will always trash a band made out of super stars but I thought they would have been a bit more succesfull than this.

If FTP doesn't become a hit then it's pretty sure that they won't come back for a full European tour. And that would be my only chance to see them.....

What went wrong? With so much promotion and stuff.....

 ???

Where at?  Mostly everything I read has been enthusiastic, and nothing less than positive. 

As far as I know, the touring is going well, both sales and review-wise.  So I think were talking about why Contraband wasnt huge...Im not sure.  Some of its probably due to Europeans really loving the Guns N' Roses name, and not being as warm to it since its not GNR and doesnt include Axl.  STP wasnt huge over there either.  Those are my guesses, but I know very little about Europeans so...who knows?

Well, I read some message boards in Holland and Belgium and there the ppl weren't that enthusiastic. And the sales aren't too great either. In Holland they are at 94 in the charts and Germany almost the same.... they need a "hit" too make it huge.

But I hope that FTP will be huge, eventhoughit's not my fave ballad on CB

Vr isn't that sucess all around the globe. Most of people know them now, but there isn't a so huge sucess like some people say.

I suppose it depends where you read reviews and how serious you take them.  I have read nothing but good positive reviews about the band and the album ( i'm talking outside the GNR fan world).

And it depends how you judge success.  They haven't done enough promotion over here in the UK, To really kick up a storm from the buzz that's around them - i'd be the first to say that.  But as was said by someone in another topic,  it's probably down to restrictions with Scotts problems and that's why they have been concentrating on America.

But here they still have a buzz about them.  I have heard a few tracks off Contraband in the rock clubs.  They should definatly do more promotion over here and more live dates, so that they gain a momentum.  But hey their success so far and they have sold alot of albums.  You don't want them everywhere, like you see most artists today - you don't want people to get bored of them.  So aslong as they don't forget the world outside the U.S.  With each album i think you will see them grow and gain a bigger audience, outside of the GN'R/STP circle.

 I know many people who were really gutted at the way the tickets went for their Uk dates.  Those dates proved people really want to see them, if you dont get tickets fast. someone else will - that's a pretty healthy thing for a band to have.

Because the hype has been a lot bigger in USA than in Europe.

It's also harder to do that kind of thing over here since we don't really have one magazine that covers the whole of Europe. In USA, you can do interviews with a few magazines and most of the country will be able to get it. Not over here. The Germans don't read the same music magazines as the French and they don't read the same as the English etc etc. Same thing with TV, we got many "local" MTVs while USA basically got one.

I also think they concentrated on promoting the album in USA and it shows.



/jarmo

Most logical explanation...

No promotion at all in Sweden. I doubt people 10/100 people would know who Velvet Revolver are over here. Still they debuted at no. 5 (or was it 3?) on our chart. Pretty good actually.

Agree with Jarmo. In Europe, the average Joe doesn't have any clue who VR is. In America, the average Joe does. Slash is still a big name over here, but as Booker pointed out, not too many people are familiar with Scott Weiland or STP in Europe. In America, the promotion started with the merge of two supergroups, GNR & STP. Although the promotion has been huge in the States, it was easier in a way due to the impressive line up. In Europe, there are a lot of people who still think Slash is with GNR!! Not too mention they don't have any clue who Scott Weiland is.

Also, the different markets make it so difficult. If you take a look at the biggest selling artists in Spain, France, UK, Italy, Germany...you'll prob have 1 o 2 artists in common, that's all. What maybe huge in Italy, it's unheard of in Spain and viceversa.

The lack of radio play is also a big factor. I don't about other countries, but I've only heard once the song " slither" since came out months ago. It seems like there's no room for such music over here. While in the States, although VR is considered as modern rock, it's still mainstream. In America, "Slither" has been played in every rock radio station everywhere. You even have to listen to indie radio stations to hear VR over here.!!!  :o

I don't know anything about european promotion or radio play and I am not gonna pretend to. My only insight is that maybe it is Scott. While the album does have better guitars than most of the grunge/alternative era music Scott carries that stigma of "alternative rock" with him and I don't know if that ever caught on in europe like in the states. I could be completely wrong tho so if STP sold 20 million units in europe someone let me know.

Agreed

Any label A & R guy will tell you the money is made by domestic (US) sales and domestic  (US)touring.  Unfortunate as it is, Europe and everywhere else for that matter, are considered necessary evils.  The costs of doing full blown album promotion and tours outside of the US are astronomical with success hardly guaranteed.

you are of course talking about record companies in the USA.  Companies like EMI in the UK have HUGE selling European artists, such as Robbie Williams, who have loads more UK and Europe sales than the states... and Robbie has sold a lot of albums I will add.

So it's nothing to do with the US being the biggest selling market, as it's all down to where the artist, and record company, is situated.

Vr did tons of promotion in the states, and it debuted 1 in the usa n canada, remember they're a new band.. They need one big hit to go global, the tour helped in europe, they just need to have that break through song... Slither was 1 on the modern rock charts.. Album was #1..Damn good...

The album debuted in june, I'd say give it time, it took afd (not comparing the 2) about a year to rise to the top with the power of scom, and today's music scene is different..
I think they need a vmas performance...

Once fall to pieces hits, it will help...

On a side note everyone that I've seen posting about them said the shows are awesome..

Things take time, we're use to having everything huge being gnr fans...Patience..

If people are talking bad about them in Europe because of the festivals it might be because of the limited time they get to play. When I seen them in Detroit, it was an hour show. The show was great but it just seemed to happen so fast. If they are only playing 45 minutes the show might go really fast infront of them before they know it. I hope they do a huge US tour where they can play upwards of 90 mins

I agree with other posters in this thread that one of the reasons is that STP (and therefore Scott) were not as popular in Europe as they were in the states.

I spoke to some people when the album was coming out, and although they knew about Slash & Duff, Scott was about as well known as Dave Kushner.

Also, I think that the album has a more "American rock" kind of sound, as opposed to a "British" or "European" rock sound, and that makes it appeal to the American listeners more than it does Europeans.

I think that they would have had more success if they had released YGNR or Set Me Free at the beginning of the summer (They are great "summer" songs IMO).

Having said all that, VR didn't do too badly in Europe did they? The album sold well, got good chart positions, sold out concerts etc.

GNR-Chris