In an effort to pump the Chicago Martyrs’ gig on Saturday, June 9th, for which tickets are now on sale at (800) 594-TIXX , I will dedicate as many blogs as possible between now and then to topics related to the Refreshments.
Here are some more numbers graciously supplied by John, our friend in radio with Soundscan access. Take it away, John.
As far as Bottle goes, 58,508 total copies sold. (3,420 cassettes and 1,076 digital) Of that 58k+, 255 were in 2007. Top 10 markets for sales of TB&FH are (in order):
Phoenix (9,847)
NYC
Portland
Denver
Chicago
LA
Boston
Minneapolis
Washington DC
SF/Oakland/San Jose
Interesting that NYC is number 2, and that Minneapolis, DC and the Bay Area made the Bottle list over Atlanta, Detroit and Philly, three from the Fizzy top ten. If I had to guess, I'd say some of these markets gave "Good Year" a few extra spins back in the day. At a total of 58k records sold, only a few hundred copies separate one city from another.
Back to John:
TB&FH sold 7,136 copies the first week it was out (9/21/97) compared to Fizzy's 2,847 first week ending 3/3/96. (Fizzy had a run of almost 2 months in the summer of 96 where it sold 10,000+ per week.)
Ah, do I remember those first 2,847 Fizzies!
Fizzy was released the same week as five or six other Mercury acts marketed to alternative radio. As I remember, most of those acts sold somewhere between 50 and 500 copies that first week. The Refreshments were the big winners at over 2,800, and that led the label to continue to work the band at radio, which led to all of our later success. From this, you could reasonably argue that all of the band’s national success was dictated by that first week of Fizzy sales--in other words, by the buying power of our grass roots fans from well before our record deal, mostly in the Phoenix area (If I remember correctly, 2100 of those 2800 were sold in Phoenix. John?) They were the reason we got serious consideration early on, which is the only way we had a chance.
Thank you, grass roots fans!
And I also remember that month or two when we sold 10k a week. I don’t think I slept from June to August 1996.
Back to John:
And since I have way too much free time at work today, here are the top 10 stations that led the nation in spins on Banditos for 2006 only:
KMXP, Phoenix- 193 (ed. note: John’s former employer. Thank you, John.)
KEDJ, Phoenix- 151
KFTE, Lafayette- 141
WRTT, Huntsville- 141
KVGS, Las Vegas- 138
WXRK, Cleveland- 109
"Lucy"- XM Satellite- 108
KMYZ, Tulsa- 88
WBBB, Raliegh- 85
WHTG, Monmouth, NJ- 79
This list seems all over the place. Phoenix I understand, but of the rest of those places I only remember playing Las Vegas (Blush would’ve probably quit the band if we hadn’t), Cleveland and Tulsa. (Anyone out there from Lafayette, Huntsville, or Monmouth?)
Tune in next week for the last Refreshments blog before the law gets laid in Chicago. Hey, I’ll even let you pick the topic! Add a comment to this post stating what you’d like me to write about next week, and I promise to give it serious consideration.
Getting ready to rock,
Art
11 comments:
So many to choose from. Recording and selling out Wheelie? Hearing yourselves on the radio the first time? PH joining the band? Getting "Discovered" by Mercery?Touring? Making videos? The break up? So many topics. I just can't choose!
hey arthur
i love hearing about all this old stuff
here's a topic
dusty leaving and getting PH
chole
Since it's going to be your last Refreshments blog in the series, how about blogging about the months/weeks/days leading up to the Refreshments breakup?
I'd love to hear more about the development of the band, first shows, etc., but since we're down to the last blog, I'd most like to hear your perspective on the break up. Not laying blame, just the series of events that led up to the break up.
A book about the Refreshments, from beginning to end, would probably sell a lot of copies.
Very interesting reading. Hope to catch your show in Chicago....
Thanks for all of the ideas, folks.
And just to clarify: I have no intention of stopping writing about the band after the gig. It may slow down, but I'll hit still hit it as I have time/space/inclination.
You all love it, and I love doing it, so there you go.
Art
Well, being that we can look for more Refreshments blogs in the future, I vote let's not jump to the breakup yet, since we've only just begun to hear the beginning of this story. I like the idea of hearing how PH was brought in.
Maybe the stories behind some more of the songs, read what they're about. I know you can only speak on a primary source level on the ones you wrote but you might have some insight into others.
One example is that I heard that "Carefree" was about an A&R person. Is that correct or not? Maybe dispell some of the myths floating around, or let us know the the symbolism in the songs you wrote.
Sorry for the second unrelated post. But maybe after the big gig, and when you in between Refreshments posts (which as a fan and historian I love) you could let us know who's books you're reading now. I'm curious what genres you're interested in as an author and with so many books out there.
Personally I've gotten into the detective/fantasy books of Jim Butcher in his Dresden Files series.
I'm curious as to whether you read book of the same genre you write in, and if so what other good ones are out there.
Blush. You need more Blush. One of the greatest guitar players to come from bands in the 90's, we need to know more about him. How P.H. hooked up would be good, too.
I spent a lot of time in Huntsville last year, and I can confirm that the Rocket, WRTT, played the Refreshments a lot. I'd usually hear Banditos or Down Together about every other day or so. I really liked that station.
I'm loving the stories, by the way. Bringing back some fond memories.
Woo hoo!
Go, Huntsville!
Art
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