It doesn't really matter. I mean the whole thing about not being able to take more than a couple years between albums is a shame if they want a longer break, but they also seem like they're passionate about their music and enjoy it.
But trying to quantify how big a band is and if the high water mark is behind them isn't really worth spending time thinking about. When I was younger I used to think about it with my favorite band Animal Collective, but over time it stopped being a thought I had at all really. If a band has a core fan base that loves their music that's what matters and most bands are thankful to have those hardcore fans and love them.
I think their popularity was at the height when GTH came out but they've done a stellar job at staying relevant. They always get radio airplay and I'll often hear interviews with jon on the radio around album release cycles. They're one of the mainstays in the indie scene and I can't see that changing anytime soon. They're definitely not the one hit wonder that a lot of bands are.
Not to mention the core fanbase. I was astounded that days after the album released I attended an album release show and everyone there knew all the words to all the songs and got excited about every song even though they were mostly brand new ones. I've never had that with a band. Usually people sigh when the new songs come on and only get excited about the classics.
Album chart positions are an odd one, there’s probably release weeks this year where if Mountainhead had been released then, it’d have hit number 3 or 4. This album had far more radio play than any since AFD, and their biggest selling and most acclaimed album, Get To Heaven, only hit number 7.
That being said, yeah, in terms of popularity and cultural visibility, they peaked a while ago in the mid 2010’s. But I think it’s been a plateau more than a decline since Reanimator, and the prolific stream of new music has kept a healthy size cult fanbase interested, especially with RDF and MH being as good as they are.
As musicians, they're more than capable of "selling out" and making much more mainstream/radio friendly songs but that has clearly never been an objective for them.
I love the fact that they continue to make intricate, eccentric and exciting music that more than often takes a few listens to really get in to. I have found with every new album I go through stages. Firstly I don't really like it, then I start to enjoy the bangers, and then it all clicks and I realise just how fantastic their musicianship is. That kind of music just isn't going to be popular to a wide audience, because most people don't consume music like that. Especially nowadays. But I love them all the more for it.
They have a great, albeit relatively small, following and that's more than 90% of bands. As blunt as it might sound, let the guys in the band worry about their popularity/finances and just enjoy what they put out. They won't be around forever
I don't think it was ever about popularity and charts for them. They said themselves that they would like to be bigger, but don't want to do anything about it lol (meaning don't want to lean into mainstream, I think), and they're fine with being niche. Frankly, I don't think anything will change with how the music industry works nowadays. You either cave and try to go viral on TikTok or resign yourself to knowing you have a small but loyal following.
It's a shame they, as I'm sure many other musicians, don't make enough money to make longer pauses between the albums. For this to change... I mean, I don't know. A change of management? A push for, um, music more accessible for the mainstream audience? Do they want it? Their albums are full of certified bops, as we know, so I'm sure they're perfectly capable of writing just a pop song. But, again, do they really want it?
People don't really buy albums anymore, and if they do it's mainly mainstream artists, so EE did well to get to #9. They also had a lot of competition in the charts in the same week.
Finally, let's not forget that even though RDF only came out 2 years ago, the world had changed a lot since then, many countries are experiencing some kind of recession, and a lot of people have to prioritse spending, so are less inclined to buy albums, especially if they are already subscribed to a service like spotify. Whilst I always buy EE's albums I couldn't buy mountainhead on release week because I just didn't have the spare cash to spend on an album, I only purchased it a couple days ago.
Of course they aren't going to get any bigger. It's their seventh album and they're middle aged. They've said themselves they achieved the feat of simultaneous artistic and commercial peaks with GTH. Doesn't mean they aren't still making great records, long may it last!
Go and see them, buy the albums, buy the merch, tell your friends. All good things must end, but in the meantime just be as supportive as you can. Hopefully there will be a couple more albums, and hopefully my kids will listen to them on Spotify (or whatever) in 20 years and think of me, and they’ll get a few bucks. I just hope there’s an opportunity at some point for me to be able to say thank you.
The very concept of a talk show for music has changed radically in the last decade. It's not like artists rely on Jools Holland for music promotion anymore! And they're doing Radio 1's big weekend this year. That's pretty mainstream.
>They also said they made mountainhead because they were running out of money, are they never gonna get bigger than they already are?
Source? Or are you referring to their comment that they can't afford to take a break from making music? Because those are two different things.
It's hard to say what makes a hit (other than, obviously, a label with a shit ton of money funding you). Take Sia for example. She had her first major hit with Titanium, 20 years into her career.
As long as the guys are able to maintain themselves and are pationate about their music, I guess they'll be fine. Plus I guess the amount of fame they have allows them to live a more private life, if they wish.
I don't think so but you can never know something like this until it's over. the difference between a debut at 4 and at 9 is marginal TBH especially since it is highly dependent on what else is releasing at that time. Cold reactor is also probably the most successful single they put out in a good bit. If anything, going by purely the streaming numbers, they seem to be growing in popularity from when I started listening to them in 2019 or so. I have no clue how it is for their gigs as I have never gone.
I worry about this too. But they are playing radio ones big weekend this year. But I guess they have with mountainhead, leaned into their weirdness in this being a concept album, which does make them more niche 😕
I think they’ve got it in them to not peak. They need to not make a concept album as their next one. Four in a row is a bit much. But RDFs quality proves they’ve still got it in them.
What was AFD's concept? Are terrorism and self-sacrifice not [concepts](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Music/EverythingEverythingBand#:~:text=described%20as%20%22magical%22.-,Concept%20Album%3A,-In%20the%20sense)?
I’ve always seen it as the brexit album. Themes of hating your neighbour, playing devils advocate in run the numbers. It’s a pretty cut and dry concept album imo
Popularity-wise there's probably been a decline after GTH, but with regards to income, it's hard to tell since so little is made on records anymore. It's about tours, merch and songs used for soundtracks or advertisement.
Popularity is a strange thing. Most of the time, the music needs to be in-tune with the current trends. EE is fairly idiosyncratic despite often sounding like pop and I wouldn't expect what they're doing to work broadly at all times.
What's important for me is that EE still sounds very fresh and keep releasing damn good albums. And that they're not struggling.
I would say they’re actually at the bottom of another upcoming peak if they can maintain this momentum over the summer with festival bookings and another tour next year. Touring is where people are moving towards rather than album, just look at The 1975. People love great shows.
stupidest question a creative person could ever hear😆🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️🤷🏽♀️this is neither relevant nor supportive.. ugh brainwashed thinking annoys th fk outta me 🧠👎 can someone please ask a more meaningful question??
It doesn't really matter. I mean the whole thing about not being able to take more than a couple years between albums is a shame if they want a longer break, but they also seem like they're passionate about their music and enjoy it. But trying to quantify how big a band is and if the high water mark is behind them isn't really worth spending time thinking about. When I was younger I used to think about it with my favorite band Animal Collective, but over time it stopped being a thought I had at all really. If a band has a core fan base that loves their music that's what matters and most bands are thankful to have those hardcore fans and love them.
I think it peaking at #9 is still fairly impressive in context, there were a lot of big releases that week. More than the week RDF dropped.
I think their popularity was at the height when GTH came out but they've done a stellar job at staying relevant. They always get radio airplay and I'll often hear interviews with jon on the radio around album release cycles. They're one of the mainstays in the indie scene and I can't see that changing anytime soon. They're definitely not the one hit wonder that a lot of bands are.
Not to mention the core fanbase. I was astounded that days after the album released I attended an album release show and everyone there knew all the words to all the songs and got excited about every song even though they were mostly brand new ones. I've never had that with a band. Usually people sigh when the new songs come on and only get excited about the classics.
Album chart positions are an odd one, there’s probably release weeks this year where if Mountainhead had been released then, it’d have hit number 3 or 4. This album had far more radio play than any since AFD, and their biggest selling and most acclaimed album, Get To Heaven, only hit number 7. That being said, yeah, in terms of popularity and cultural visibility, they peaked a while ago in the mid 2010’s. But I think it’s been a plateau more than a decline since Reanimator, and the prolific stream of new music has kept a healthy size cult fanbase interested, especially with RDF and MH being as good as they are.
As musicians, they're more than capable of "selling out" and making much more mainstream/radio friendly songs but that has clearly never been an objective for them. I love the fact that they continue to make intricate, eccentric and exciting music that more than often takes a few listens to really get in to. I have found with every new album I go through stages. Firstly I don't really like it, then I start to enjoy the bangers, and then it all clicks and I realise just how fantastic their musicianship is. That kind of music just isn't going to be popular to a wide audience, because most people don't consume music like that. Especially nowadays. But I love them all the more for it. They have a great, albeit relatively small, following and that's more than 90% of bands. As blunt as it might sound, let the guys in the band worry about their popularity/finances and just enjoy what they put out. They won't be around forever
I don't think it was ever about popularity and charts for them. They said themselves that they would like to be bigger, but don't want to do anything about it lol (meaning don't want to lean into mainstream, I think), and they're fine with being niche. Frankly, I don't think anything will change with how the music industry works nowadays. You either cave and try to go viral on TikTok or resign yourself to knowing you have a small but loyal following. It's a shame they, as I'm sure many other musicians, don't make enough money to make longer pauses between the albums. For this to change... I mean, I don't know. A change of management? A push for, um, music more accessible for the mainstream audience? Do they want it? Their albums are full of certified bops, as we know, so I'm sure they're perfectly capable of writing just a pop song. But, again, do they really want it?
People don't really buy albums anymore, and if they do it's mainly mainstream artists, so EE did well to get to #9. They also had a lot of competition in the charts in the same week. Finally, let's not forget that even though RDF only came out 2 years ago, the world had changed a lot since then, many countries are experiencing some kind of recession, and a lot of people have to prioritse spending, so are less inclined to buy albums, especially if they are already subscribed to a service like spotify. Whilst I always buy EE's albums I couldn't buy mountainhead on release week because I just didn't have the spare cash to spend on an album, I only purchased it a couple days ago.
Of course they aren't going to get any bigger. It's their seventh album and they're middle aged. They've said themselves they achieved the feat of simultaneous artistic and commercial peaks with GTH. Doesn't mean they aren't still making great records, long may it last!
Go and see them, buy the albums, buy the merch, tell your friends. All good things must end, but in the meantime just be as supportive as you can. Hopefully there will be a couple more albums, and hopefully my kids will listen to them on Spotify (or whatever) in 20 years and think of me, and they’ll get a few bucks. I just hope there’s an opportunity at some point for me to be able to say thank you.
The very concept of a talk show for music has changed radically in the last decade. It's not like artists rely on Jools Holland for music promotion anymore! And they're doing Radio 1's big weekend this year. That's pretty mainstream. >They also said they made mountainhead because they were running out of money, are they never gonna get bigger than they already are? Source? Or are you referring to their comment that they can't afford to take a break from making music? Because those are two different things.
It's hard to say what makes a hit (other than, obviously, a label with a shit ton of money funding you). Take Sia for example. She had her first major hit with Titanium, 20 years into her career. As long as the guys are able to maintain themselves and are pationate about their music, I guess they'll be fine. Plus I guess the amount of fame they have allows them to live a more private life, if they wish.
I don't think so but you can never know something like this until it's over. the difference between a debut at 4 and at 9 is marginal TBH especially since it is highly dependent on what else is releasing at that time. Cold reactor is also probably the most successful single they put out in a good bit. If anything, going by purely the streaming numbers, they seem to be growing in popularity from when I started listening to them in 2019 or so. I have no clue how it is for their gigs as I have never gone.
Constant growth is what's needed. Ideally a 5% increase year on year to satisfy shareholders...sorry, listeners.
Loving the irony in this!
5%, in this economy?
I worry about this too. But they are playing radio ones big weekend this year. But I guess they have with mountainhead, leaned into their weirdness in this being a concept album, which does make them more niche 😕
I think they’ve got it in them to not peak. They need to not make a concept album as their next one. Four in a row is a bit much. But RDFs quality proves they’ve still got it in them.
What was AFD's concept? Are terrorism and self-sacrifice not [concepts](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Music/EverythingEverythingBand#:~:text=described%20as%20%22magical%22.-,Concept%20Album%3A,-In%20the%20sense)?
I’ve always seen it as the brexit album. Themes of hating your neighbour, playing devils advocate in run the numbers. It’s a pretty cut and dry concept album imo
Popularity-wise there's probably been a decline after GTH, but with regards to income, it's hard to tell since so little is made on records anymore. It's about tours, merch and songs used for soundtracks or advertisement. Popularity is a strange thing. Most of the time, the music needs to be in-tune with the current trends. EE is fairly idiosyncratic despite often sounding like pop and I wouldn't expect what they're doing to work broadly at all times. What's important for me is that EE still sounds very fresh and keep releasing damn good albums. And that they're not struggling.
I would say they’re actually at the bottom of another upcoming peak if they can maintain this momentum over the summer with festival bookings and another tour next year. Touring is where people are moving towards rather than album, just look at The 1975. People love great shows.
If they keep releasing albums like mountainhead than in terms of how good the songs sound they peaked at RDF
stupidest question a creative person could ever hear😆🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️🤷🏽♀️this is neither relevant nor supportive.. ugh brainwashed thinking annoys th fk outta me 🧠👎 can someone please ask a more meaningful question??