Is the man keeping SA down ???

[scandal84]

I am a big SA fan. It greatly irritates me that some bands get more praise and airplay than SOUL ASYLUM. My question is : do you think SA is persecuted, blacklisted for writing great political songs like BLACK GOLD, MISERY, LATELY......??? What do you think ???

[philipgar]

I am a big SA fan. It greatly irritates me that some bands get more praise and airplay than SOUL ASYLUM. My question is : do you think SA is persecuted, blacklisted for writing great political songs like BLACK GOLD, MISERY, LATELY......??? What do you think ???

I doubt that has anything to do with it. It has everything to do with the state of popular music, and honestly I don't really want the band to be huge again. I'm far happier going to club shows, and seeing them in their element, but maybe that's just me being selfish.

I'd like to see their albums do better, and be able to attract slightly bigger crowds, but a return to the GDU times doesn't sound fun to me. I don't want to go to an SA concert and be surrounded by 1000s of people who only know a handful of songs by them. I want to go to a show, be up front with friends, and be amazed to see everyone knows the words to every song, even the songs that never made it to an album.

What's holding them back is the state of the radio/mtv today. They just don't appeal to that group, and I don't think it's a horrible thing. With the major shifts in how people listen to music in the last 10-15 years, the definitions of popular music is changing. At the end of the day, I want to see the band make enough money to live comfortably and continue doing and enjoying what they've been doing for the past 25+ years.

Phil

[sheryl]

and enjoy it enough that they keep doing it for 25 more

[mystic_spiral_3]

I don't want to go to an SA concert and be surrounded by 1000s of people who only know a handful of songs by them. I want to go to a show, be up front with friends, and be amazed to see everyone knows the words to every song, even the songs that never made it to an album.

That's always fun.

Though, I have dragged my sisters to shows and they fall into the "people who only know a handful of songs" category. (And they know those songs because of Big Sis.) However, they have fun anyway. And they are amused when me and Phil know the words to every song and get excited about classic songs.

[lucy]

I completely agree Phillip, I'd like to see them at least get some critical praise for their albums and certainly enough success that they are encouraged to continue, but although i liked Grave Dancers Union when it came out, that album pretty much ruined the band for me in a lot of ways at the time - that Spin Doctors tour sucked having them play these huge stadium type shows and Match Box 20 - yuck! I agree that I really prefer smaller shows / club shows and it seems to suit the band a lot better too in my opinion. I remember seeing them at the Metro in Chicago just before Let Your Dim Light Shine came out after all of the GDU fanfare, and it was a good size venue and the show was awesome! and then I felt better that they were still Soul Asylum. They sure look like they're having fun doing what they're doing right now.

[Homesick]

It's often said that a band's most dedicated fans are those who liked them before they were popular, but I honestly think the most dedicated fans are those who still like them after they've been popular. I'm glad that there are so many fans on here who still think Soul Asylum are great even if they didn't care much for Grave Dancers Union and Runaway Train.

In reply to the original question: No, I don't think so. There are much more politically outspoken bands (such as Rage Against the Machine and System of a Down) who still attract huge audiences and gross large sales. While I appreciate the messages in Dave's more political songs, I hardly think they're radical enough to really anger people—and if they were, I don't think I'd like them as much.

[Sometime to Return]

scandal84
Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 11:42 am

Is the man keeping SA down ???
I am a big SA fan. It greatly irritates me that some bands get more praise and airplay than SOUL ASYLUM. My question is : do you think SA is persecuted, blacklisted for writing great political songs like BLACK GOLD, MISERY, LATELY......??? What do you think ???

I love the effort here; Scandal 84, I really do if only it were true.

If "TSL" was released by some crap as* band like Matchbox 20 or The Goo Goo dolls; it would have made the billboard Top 10 and probably sold over a million copies. But; becuase it was Soul Asylum, it received minimal airplay and sales. Still grinds me to this day; big time.

Although some of the songs are political; they are written so brillantly that (I don't think) it's less offensive that some other artists. "Lately" is one of the most brillantly and intellectually anti war songs ever written. When we go to the shows my wife always says..." I really like that solider song"; always cracks me up when she says that.

I would repeatedly call the only radio station in town that plays Soul Asylum and ask them to play "Lately" or "Oxygen" or "Stand" etc...and the response would go something like "Yeah; I love the new album, let me see what I can do." I'd listen and listen and would never hear a song off of the new album. I'd even check their song list and wouldn't find anything either. Extremely frustrating for a huge fan of the band and this is there hometown!!

[lucy]

Good point, Homesick. I agree - it was never that the music hasn't always been great, but I think that the promoters didn't know what to do with Soul Asylum. (Maybe still don't) I think they were trying to put them in a box with bands like Matchbox 20 and putting them on those tours, and it just was not at all what the band was about from my perspective. It's sometimes frustrating to explain to people who I see the band as if the only familiarity they have with Soul Asylum is that "image" that the label or the "marketing" people were going for. I guess that's why they call it a "label" Ha ha

[CrazyLittleWoman]

Good point, Homesick. I agree - it was never that the music hasn't always been great, but I think that the promoters didn't know what to do with Soul Asylum. (Maybe still don't) I think they were trying to put them in a box with bands like Matchbox 20 and putting them on those tours, and it just was not at all what the band was about from my perspective. It's sometimes frustrating to explain to people who I see the band as if the only familiarity they have with Soul Asylum is that "image" that the label or the "marketing" people were going for. I guess that's why they call it a "label" Ha ha

I think you are right, Lucy. Given the wide range of musical styles and genres that Soul Asylum likes to play around with on any given album, I pity the marketing people who have to figure out how to pitch them. Marketers like things to be simple and easy to explain with an image or even stereotype. Soul Asylum just don't play that way. They just kind of make whatever kind of music they feel like making. It all usually works well together, but it does make it hard to categorize them. That's what I love about Soul Asylum.

[g8trcarol]

I have problems explaining to my sons' friends exactly what pigeonhole box to place them in because they just don't neatly fit in one. Last night I engaged in a conversation with one of the girls and I started to explain about SA's punk roots, but that they are also rock and pop...so at that point I gave up and just started playing tracks. Typically, the only one that sounded familiar to her was "Runaway Train". Her comments included "I really like his (Dave's) voice", and "Oh! I hear the punk in that one".

Peace,
Carol