Exactly that. It's the song of the common people, the people of the street, not those in charge. Maybe it helps to know that the residents of Grenfell were those who were far from wealthy. Far from powerful.
A large part of what makes this album an epic one is the subject matter Pete chose to tackle. He's made the old Who relevant to now, I think.
Into the top 40? That would be interesting, but I’m still skeptical. Hitsdailydouble just posted their chart and it didn’t make their top 50 (number 50 had about 13,500 “album equivalent” units this week). HOWEVER, on another industry site I follow, I see WHO was #11 in actual sales for the week, which IS an improvement - it bettered Abbey Road (#28 in pure sales) this time. Will be interesting come Tuesday to see if it re-enters Billboard’s charts, and where. I hope you get your wish, Mr. Moondog, but I still think it’s overly optimistic.
Good news! Elon Musk has agreed to send 20,000 copies of WHO into perpetual orbit around Mars! Back up the charts we go! I wish @RayS would come back.
Joking aside I was told about just one vendor that shipped around 10K in backed up preorders & orders for WHO 2019, that will/should be counted for the coming weeks charts. That's just one vendor order for the coming week. There are other orders. In a strange "parallel story, the American woman that runs-is president of the Grammys & all that stuff.....was swiftly removed from office the other day...Apparently because of an internal email she sent, about corruption in Grammy awards, financial irregularities & charts, & stream irregularities etc, & I guess there is some kind of corporate board or something above her, & she was immediately ( immediately ) suspended from her duties after sending the internal email, with concerns about corruption. That is according to the media & her attorney, it's all over the news... How any of that relates or doesn't relate to WHO 2019 I have no idea...but obviously it wouldn't be surprising...at any rate one vendor shipped & charged credit cards for about 10,000 copies of WHO 2019 they finally just shipped the other day....but i'm told there are more strange occurences with streams & youtube views, apparently youtube views are counted as sales on the charts now or something.
Well Simon Townshend just confirmed he plays the piano part on Break The News & Pete replaced his guitar part & he played percussion also. Said Simon.
I do admire how Simon (on the surface at least) appears content with his success as a musician. Being Pete's kid brother must be both a blessing and a curse, professionally.
I'll try & say this with all due respect & sensitivity... In the last 20 years, Simon Townshend has released 8 studio albums, 2 compilation albums, several live albums & at least 14 singles & 2 or 3 EPs... To my knowledge, & i'm no expert, none of the albums, singles or EPs have done anything, beyond a few copies sold commercially....in the beginning at least, he had the backing of Polydor for the earliest album(s) & I believe ( could be wrong ) went to a smaller less powerful label.. He ( Simon ) had the additional luxury of his brother Pete guesting, along top name players, & engineers.. That's a lot of shots at albums, singles & EPs in 20 years for no commercial hits...now again maybe he had a hit single or album in Norway or Portugal, or something i'm unaware of. But this guy not only has 8 studio albums, but two best of's & at least 2 or 3 live albums, 2 EPs & at least 14 singles wuth no hits !!! Now as a writer & or producer-co-producer -session player he has additional credits, including producer of a couple WHO songs Real Good Looking Boy-Old Red Wine.. etc.. I'm not knocking Simon Townshend or his abilities as an artist, singer, writer, player, I think he's quite good, I haven't heard all his stuff, but I have heard several tracks he aint bad imho.. But that's a lot of shots-opportunities, I'm not sure anybody else has ever gotten that many without a hit or fairly large following...so imo, it's been more a blessing than a curse...8 long plays 14 singles ! & 2 best of's ! 3 live albums that's a lotta shots ! Just to illustrate a couple examples, I have an old buddy that was on polydor in the later 70's, they turned in one album on a budget of around 35K & sold around 35-40K copies, & were released from their Polydor contract as a result...my pal wrote 2 really big songs for others, they got one more deal about 2 years later with United Artists, again turned in a studio album on a similar budget, I believe they even had Jimmy Miller the Stones one time producer, working as an engineer co-producer....that album wasn't even released !!! & they were released from their contract ! & they had something of a track record, with 2 HUGE songs for others..... there was nothing wrong with the music, that was typical...that happened to me as well, I was with a division of MCA in late 80s, They released 2 singles with no video or promo support, 1 became a regional hit, then died without support, & I was released from my contract after 12 months typical... So I'm sure he's talented, has a smaller following of WHO-Simon fans, he got his music, a lot of it out to the people, the public, I don't how many copies he sells, but honestly in the real world, if you sell five or ten thousand copies, you could theoretically be asked back once, ( probably not ) but no way in heaven, someone's in the rock-pop world will fund you & promote you 8 times in 20 years with no hits... I think it's more a commentary on a sorry music business, more than any reflection of his talent....Finally he's getting a little bit of a radio hit in Britain with the WHO & Break The News..& of course the albums a hit in several countries too. But yeah it's helped him, he could've always changed his name. Look at Mike McGear ( McCartney's ) little brother, he's pushing about 75 years of age, he actually had a hit single, in his group Scaffold & did I think 2 albums as McGear, they didin't hit, that's it 2 strikes & yer out !!! It's a brutal wrong headed business most of the time imo.
I got my 2 45rpm disc set and the 10" "sand" single today.... its odd that the 10 inch single has a blank label...
Why is that odd ? Because it's an unusual marketing technique ? Or because it's an error only made on 27 copies accidentally, & in the year 2061 it's estimated value will be $47,000 because only 27 were made ?
I always feel for those people. Simon Townshend, Chris Jagger, Mike McCartney . . . . tough being in someone's shadow for life.
Well... Mike McGear McCartney is a whole different kettle of fish to Simon T or Chris Jagger, though - no disrespect to either - because even though he's certainly flirted with it, he was/is always more of a 'multimedia performer' than a straight-up 'thwarted rock star languishing in his more famous sibling's shadow'. He and bandmates Roger McGough and John Gorman always had other careers outside Scaffold/GRIMMS etc.
Chris Jagger's had a number of studio albums, got on stage with The Stones at least once, and helped with the writing of "Blinded By Love". Simon Townshend's also had a number of studio albums, toured with his brother's band, and got a song on their latest album! Mike McCartney had two albums of his own, a number of varied projects by himself and as part of various groups (as noted above by @Surferghost ), and managed to net a Christmas #1 with McGough and Gorman. None of 'em have gotten near their brothers' success, but they haven't done too poorly.
Simon's solo career goes back a lot longer than that actually. His first album (Sweet Sounds) came out in 1983. That seemed like his best shot at the big time as it had a bit of promotion and the backing of the same Big Country rhythm section that backed Pete on some of his solo work. It tempted many of us Who fans, but I'm not sure any of us actually bought it.
I remember seeing the video for I’m The Answer on MTV, but I had no interest in it. A little while later he was in a band, Simon Townshend’s Moving Target. I saw the LP in Strawberries. It looked kind of lame. If you ask me, he’s finally found himself supporting his big bro.
Depends. If the sibling in question is happy to enjoy the secondhand fame, the money, the (secondhand?) groupies afforded by being closer to the Principal than anyone save those in the Principal's band, then great. Beats selling copy machines. If however, the sibling secretly thinks themselves more talented than their famous brother/sister in the first place... yikes.
I've got it! I quite liked Sweet Sounds. The split on this is that having the name Townshend will have given him opportunities he wouldn't otherwise have had, but equally he would always be destined to be defined by his brother - it's just inevitable that he'd forever be introduced as Pete's sibling and that he'd not be given the opportunity to be judged in his own right. It's probably fair to say his career has been a lot longer than his modest success deserved, but it's just one of those things. I mean, in our conversations here we too are effectively defining him against Pete, and we're more likely to be well disposed to him than most. Either way, I do hope he's content with his professional life. He's clearly very proud of getting one of his songs on a Who album. Rightly so.
I did some research and it was 113 copies that got the blank label. They ran out and it was going to take at least 6 weeks to get more but they had a deadline to ship copies out. They thought about having a rubber stamp made but in the end, they just shipped them blank figuring some folks would get artistic and design thier own labels.
Note to @johnny moondog 909: WHO did not chart on Billboard's 01/25/2020 chart (posted this morning).
They are doing some promotional shows soon in intimate venues (besides L@L 50th anniversary) with possibly several WHO tracks ..........but probably too late now to stage a chart resurgence.
I just want to point out that your numbers and some facts are a bit skewed, giving the impression that his releases were all major labels. Everything Simon Townshend/Simon Townshend Band/Casbah Club released since 1994 has been SELF released STIR label = Simon So, he's free to fund and promote himself as often as he wishes - k