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Rolling stone gathers moss -- on the charts
By: Marc Lavine - Agence France-Presse
December 7th 2001 3:05pm
LOS ANGELES, Dec 7 (AFP) - Veteran rocker Mick Jagger is discovering that
Rolling Stones do gather moss after all, as he leads a pack of megastars whose
new albums are struggling on the US music charts.
The rubber-lipped singer's new album "Goddess in the Doorway" plunged to
No. 59 in the charts from 39th last week following its somewhat lacklustre
debut on November 25.
Beleaguered "Goddess" sold just 36,000 copies in its second week on the
shelves-- just over half its initial sales level of 68,000 copies in its first
week, industry sources said Friday.
"It's a huge drop and this 50 percent cut seems to be becoming the norm for
the older superstars," said Phil Gallo, music correspondent of entertainment
"bible" Daily Variety.
Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney's "Driving Rain" was suffering a similar fate as
teenagers -- the same market that helped launch "Macca" and Jagger to legend
status more than three decades ago -- stayed away from their music in droves.
McCartney's offering was lagging in 68th place on the US charts from 26th a
week earlier, with just 32,000 copies sold in the week to Wednesday and 145,
000 discs sold since its November 20 debut, according to Billboard magazine.
Ironically, sales of the Beatles' music and that of the group's former lead
guitarist George Harrison have reportedly risen sharply since his death of
cancer last week.
The Beatles album "1" shot into 73rd position -- just below McCartney's
latest effort -- from 146th place a week earlier, while Harrison's "All Things
Must Pass" sold 13,000 copies compared to just 900 a week earlier.
Even Michael Jackson's new album "Invincible" failed to live up to the
success of earlier offerings from the King of Pop, who has just celebrated his
30th anniversary in the business.
"Invincible" slid to No. 17 from 11 last week after five weeks on the US
charts, selling 109,000 copies in the past week.
Only one veteran, Bob Dylan, appeared to be holding his own on the US
charts.
His first album in four years, "Love and Theft," which -- while it stands
in 146th place in the United States this week -- has sold 447,000 copies since
it debuted at No. 5 in September.
But industry experts said that while the "oldies" appeared to be taking a
beating from youth phenomena such as spiritual rockers Creed -- who held the
No. 1 spot for the second week this week -- and teen queen Britney Spears,
they were still doing very respectably after more than 30 years in the
spotlight.
"There is a handful of artists like Mick and Paul who are still meaningful
live attractions, and whether their new albums do as well as they did 20 or 30
years ago is beside the point," said Geoff Mayfield of Billboard magazine.
"Nobody else has lasted as long as these guys and they continue producing
albums that do very well in the charts. That speaks for itself," added
Mayfield, Billboard's director of charts.
In some ways, the longevity of Jagger, McCartney and Jackson works against
them as they find it increasingly tough to live up to their phenomenal past
successes, said Gallo.
"They have set the bar very high and almost anything seems to be a
disappointment after albums like the Beatles and Jackson's "Thriller," even
though they are still doing well," he said.
And, while their names remain global currency, teenagers do not relate to
them in the same way that their parents related to the Beatles or the Rolling
Stones and therefore buy fewer of their albums, both Gallo and Mayfield said.
Another problem that Jagger and McCartney face is a lack of strong singles
on their new albums, a lack that has dented their chances of getting radio
play, crucial to the charts performance of new albums.
Radio stations are already gearing up for the holidays with Christmas music
and are taking only around one new song a week.
"The shortest distance between here and a hit is radio and there are many
more obstacles that you have to overcome if you don't get the radio play,"
said Mayfield.
COPYRIGHT 2001 Agence France-Presse. All rights reserved.
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