Morrissey - "Back On The Chain Gang": #28 of Top 50 Songs of 2018 - CoS

from: https://consequenceofsound.net/2018/12/top-50-songs-of-2018/full-post/

28. Morrissey – “Back on the Chain Gang”
Single
Sounds Like: The greatest f***ing song The Smiths never wrote.

Key Lyric: “A circumstance beyond our control, oh oh oh oh/ The phone, the TV and the news of the world”

Why Song Matters: Few artists ever truly run away with someone else’s song, no matter how good their cover may be, but Morrissey hijacked The Pretenders’ legendary anthem this year. It all started when the song first began appearing in his setlists, and now that he’s parading it around like a single, it’s as if it’s always been a part of his catalog. You know, like the Berenstain Bears/Mandela Effect. –Michael Roffman
 
took almost a year for Hi Hello :barf:
to get those hits, Moz basically equaled it in a couple of days.:laughing:

Tracers has measly 148 ooo hits in the years time. Low in HS outsold the poor miserable Comet album several times over.
:laughing:
 
Not sure why the amount of views for more established artist don't translate into sales. 680k is a lot of views and Spent The Day In Bed has had 3 million. Johnny also has a lot with Hi Hello having 750k and Easy Money having 1.9m yet neither set the charts alight?

Well in a lot of cases I think it’s just that there’s so many ways to listen without buying. I didn’t really like easy money or it’s parent album that much but didn’t hate it either so when I do find myself in the mood to listen to it I just go to YouTube or other places and listen. I bought the morrissey albums in physical format because I’m a bigger fan but honestly I’m older with a toddler and don’t have a bunch of time to seek these things out etc and if I’m home and want to listen to music I’ll just play YouTube through my tv. I think now adays the live draw is a much better barometer of an artists popularity especially older artists whose fans have jobs and other responsibilities. Younger people have more time to buy etc
 
Not sure why the amount of views for more established artist don't translate into sales. 680k is a lot of views and Spent The Day In Bed has had 3 million. Johnny also has a lot with Hi Hello having 750k and Easy Money having 1.9m yet neither set the charts alight?

If this was 2008 it would be odd to get a lot of hits and radio exposure but no chart success, but it isn't. Everything's changed. You haven't got a hope of top 20 in the singles charts these days unless hundreds of thousands of school kids are streaming your songs. Even massively successful albums (e.g. those by Take That and Liam Gallagher that sell over 100,000 in their first week) can't yield top 40 singles. Marr's Easy Money was his biggest airplay hit to date and propelled his album sales way beyond what they would have otherwise reached.
 
Good lord the amount of people in the youtube comment section who think Johnny Marr was a serious member of the pretenders and wrote this song is to high. He was in there for a min appeared on a cover song never had any writing credits with the band and left. The things people want to believe
 
If this was 2008 it would be odd to get a lot of hits and radio exposure but no chart success, but it isn't. Everything's changed. You haven't got a hope of top 20 in the singles charts these days unless hundreds of thousands of school kids are streaming your songs. Even massively successful albums (e.g. those by Take That and Liam Gallagher that sell over 100,000 in their first week) can't yield top 40 singles. Marr's Easy Money was his biggest airplay hit to date and propelled his album sales way beyond what they would have otherwise reached.

Your thoughts make sense but I wonder how record companies make money nowadays, can only assume they get a cut of the tour money as that is where the big bucks seems to be nowadays.

Talking of you tube views my eldest daughter was at school at the same time as Matt Healey who sings in the 1975 and I was chatting to his dad one night ( who I loved watching in Auf Wiedersehen Pet and Benidorm) and he was going on about his lads band making this shit god awful music. Fast forward 5 years and their video for Girls has had 55 million views but that leads to my confusion as the younger element watch the videos and buy the music, the 1975's first 2 albums have sold nearly a million in both the UK and US?
 
Last edited:
Good lord the amount of people in the youtube comment section who think Johnny Marr was a serious member of the pretenders and wrote this song is to high. He was in there for a min appeared on a cover song never had any writing credits with the band and left. The things people want to believe

:)
so true the DramaJ acolytes tho few in number have the annoyance power of millions.
they carry on here as well. they would have their idol inventing the wheel and whiskey in
a bottle, very very annoying.o_O

he probably was 'lefted' from the Pretenders.
 
Your thoughts make sense but I wonder how record companies make money nowadays, can only assume they get a cut of the tour money as that is where the big bucks are made nowadays.

I think probably so about the tour etc but it's also maybe important to note that the cost of things has gone down as well. Studio cost goes down with tech advances, it's easier than ever to promote and you don't have to spend money on pressing records and cds cases storing them and eventually shipping them. Sure morrissey has three million views on YouTube and a healthy amount of streams but it's also worth noting that those people blowing up the charts have hundreds of millions of views, some over a billion. Morrissey does well imo. He's had a long run of being semi mainstream and not really indie. He tours all over the world and makes a good fee for performing (better than a lot of acts despite maybe having better numbers as he can sell tickets) and is known for all sorts of causes and formats. He's been a fashion icon written a best selling auto biography and is the subject films. If I were he I'd be pleased
 
I think probably so about the tour etc but it's also maybe important to note that the cost of things has gone down as well. Studio cost goes down with tech advances, it's easier than ever to promote and you don't have to spend money on pressing records and cds cases storing them and eventually shipping them. Sure morrissey has three million views on YouTube and a healthy amount of streams but it's also worth noting that those people blowing up the charts have hundreds of millions of views, some over a billion. Morrissey does well imo. He's had a long run of being semi mainstream and not really indie. He tours all over the world and makes a good fee for performing (better than a lot of acts despite maybe having better numbers as he can sell tickets) and is known for all sorts of causes and formats. He's been a fashion icon written a best selling auto biography and is the subject films. If I were he I'd be pleased

Again good thoughts, had never thought about the reduced costs, similarly to Morrissey, New Order also make a great living from the modern day approach, I live near Bernard Sumner and they still make a minimum of £2m a year from touring alone, nice work when your in you late 50's early 60's!!
 
Again good thoughts, had never thought about the reduced costs, similarly to Morrissey, New Order also make a great living from the modern day approach, I live near Bernard Sumner and they still make a minimum of £2m a year from touring alone, nice work when your in you late 50's early 60's!!

Agreed and I'm pleased for all of them to have made something g for themselves. I always get annoyed at those who don't want there fav artists to do well and make money though I can sorta understand why even if I don't agree. Here's a quote from the book I'm currently reading that I plan to say to whomever I hear making a disparaging comment about morrissey being a millionaire

"His intellect made him a millionaire. It's no small matter to become rich and famous by saying exactly what you think- to say it in your own words, without compromise."
 
Good lord the amount of people in the youtube comment section who think Johnny Marr was a serious member of the pretenders and wrote this song is to high. He was in there for a min appeared on a cover song never had any writing credits with the band and left. The things people want to believe

Johnny Marr actually co-wrote the ballad "When Will I See You" that appears on the Pretenders' 1990 album Packed!
 
Not sure why the amount of views for more established artist don't translate into sales. 680k is a lot of views and Spent The Day In Bed has had 3 million. Johnny also has a lot with Hi Hello having 750k and Easy Money having 1.9m yet neither set the charts alight?

I guess why pay to download a track when you can just stream it anytime on YouTube for free? Hence the large amount of views. This is how many people consume music today, it seems only diehard fans will plonk money on the counter and actually buy a physical copy
 
Johnny Marr actually co-wrote the ballad "When Will I See You" that appears on the Pretenders' 1990 album Packed!

Interesting as I didn’t know that. Was it an older song used for that albumn R did he come back and do write it with her
 
Interesting as I didn’t know that. Was it an older song used for that albumn R did he come back and do write it with her
I believe it was probably written while he was in the Pretenders as he doesn’t play on the record. During this period of 1989/1990 he was already playing with the The, Electronic and Kirsty MacColl. Busy guy!
 
Interesting as I didn’t know that. Was it an older song used for that albumn R did he come back and do write it with her

it was during a time DramaJ was being very prolific, with electronic, the the etc, it was an endless roll out of musical catastrophes.:mask:
 
You are being rather silly, but the The and Electronic were successful bands that made great music.





Electronic were a great band and their debut album sold over a million copies. Ignore the troll, he doesn’t deal in fact and posts shit to try and provoke people to respond. Vegan Trolls claim to fame will be that he posted a million troll messages, unfortunately most people just laugh at him and don’t respond lol
 
Electronic were a great band and their debut album sold over a million copies. Ignore the troll, he doesn’t deal in fact and posts shit to try and provoke people to respond. Vegan Trolls claim to fame will be that he posted a million troll messages, unfortunately most people just laugh at him and don’t respond lol

I never viewed Electronic as a band, more of a project. They did have that one good song but I don’t remember the whole record as being memorable at all.

The The was more of a band, especially around the time of Mind Bomb, which IS a memorable record.
 
I never viewed Electronic as a band, more of a project. They did have that one good song but I don’t remember the whole record as being memorable at all.

The The was more of a band, especially around the time of Mind Bomb, which IS a memorable record.

I suppose it depends how much exposure you had to them. In the UK they were definitely seen as a band, they were all over the TV at the time, had 3 top 10 albums and and were brilliant live, their set at Cities in the Park was stunning.
This is a great track from their 2nd album, for anyone who is into The Doves, that's Jimi Goodwin on bass.

 
You are being rather silly, but the The and Electronic were successful bands that made great music.




:straightface:


catastrophes!!! DramaJ used the same clippity clop tune for both:squiffy:
they sound like perfume commercials. :oops:

Luck was on our side when Moz found good collaborators. Imagine DramaJ submitting
comet tunes to Moz:eek:
 
Tags
back on the chain gang single

Trending Threads

Back
Top Bottom