fair warning slow start ?????

[hard rock]

Here is some more food for thought. Why didnt the Fair Warning album take off like the 3 albums before it. Since then it has increased in appreciation and many of us consider it to be one of their best if not the best.

Why did it not grab fans interests right away? How could it not with tunes like mean street and unchained????


Any ideas or thoughts bring them on!!!!!

[DavidLeeNatra]

maybe it was a bit too "dark" ...who knows...it's my favorite VH album because I got "infected" with unchained...

[DLR7884]

Did they release any singles off of this album?

I know Unchained WAS NOT a single.

DLR7884
?

[academic punk]

DLR7884 is right. Warner Brothers - because they viewed the material as "too dark" - decided to not release any singles from the album.

It was also the most bizarre album cover on a VH album to that point. (VHI had the logo and the band, VHII the logo, WACF had the band).(Albums featuring a pic of the artist tend to do better)(why, I don;t know)

The album was also something of a rush job at the time. Ed was making a lot of noise that he wanted to quit, resulting in Dave writing his lyrics as quickly as possible. And because Dave is at his best when he allows himself to be spontaneous he came up with his best, most diverse lyrics of his career yet.

WB also kept expecting the VH bubble to burst, viewing it as a fad. After the success of VHI you would think they would get a higher studio and promotional budget from their record comapny, right? Wrong. Each successive album - until Diver Down - got less and less record company support.

[CROWBAR]

I liked it from the get go, but then you know, I'm biased about that!

[hard rock]

i thought they released So this is love and Hear about it later as singles. I guess i was wrong?

[cwsmith17]

Unchained is a song that inspires you to get up and kick ass.

Maybe it was poor marketing?

[UGS]

Just goes to show that you don't need a video to sell a song. Provided, that is, the song is FUCKIN EXCELLENT. All these years later, Unchained is considered by many (diehards and casual fans alike) to be the best VH song, and it is also one of the most popular considering the playtime it gets at major sporting events.

[Cathedral]

Originally posted by hard rock
i thought they released So this is love and Hear about it later as singles. I guess i was wrong?

That is a common misconception actually, because So this is Love, Hear About it Later and Unchained were all 3 recorded LIVE on Don Kirshners Rock Concert and played on TV before MTV began it's programming.

Unless you went to the show, it was the first and mostly only exposure that album had beyond the shit job Warner did advertising that release.

One major fact of the music biz is that they had a habit of missing the mark on what people actually wanted in their music.
If i am not mistaken, Van Halen was in debt to Warner Brothers prior to Fair Warning being released as well.
They were given way too big of an advance on the VHII tour and ended up in the hole, you can thank their management for that since they worked on 5% and never negotiated in the bands favor realistically. They went for over the top numbers to maximize their take because the responsible parties for paying back overages belonged to the band after the lawyers took their money and ran.
Those advances then had to be paid back at 8% interest....

There was a shitload of cash flowing, just not much at all made it into the bands pockets until they got wise to the tricks that were being played on them.
On the plus side, Van Halen owned all the Merchandising rights, basically, and guess who was at the healm there?
You guessed it, David Lee Roth...

Spammy should be licking Dave's feet for building the empire he drove into the ground while lining his fat-ass Capri Pant-Pockets.

I still have nightmares seeing Spam do a split kick to the beginning of Jump in New Haven Ct., and barely got his ass 2 ft. off the ground.

Man, now i'm depressed.

[Bill Lumbergh]

Just goes to show that sales dont have ANYTHING to do with the quality of the music.

[DLR7884]

Originally posted by cwsmith17
Unchained is a song that inspires you to get up and kick ass.

What song makes you want to get up and burn down people's houses?

And which one makes you want to slit someone's throat from a David Lee Roth message board?

DLR7884
Just curious.

[DlocRoth]

Originally posted by DLR7884
What song makes you want to get up and burn down people's houses?

And which one makes you want to slit someone's throat from a David Lee Roth message board?

DLR7884
Just curious.

lol... relentless.

[academic punk]

Originally posted by DlocRoth
lol... relentless.

And deserved!

[DlocRoth]

Originally posted by academic punk
And deserved!

Agreed.

[Carmine]

Originally posted by Bill Lumbergh
Just goes to show that sales dont have ANYTHING to do with the quality of the music.

Right on!!

" If it sounds good...It is good!"

[tydhurst]

Here's something i tried...

They listening to "I can't drive 55" then listen to "unchained". It's the most wierd experience!