(09-03-2004) Exclusive: First-Hand Report on 'Rippin'' U2 Song -- Interference.com*

[dsmith2904]

Exclusive: First-Hand Report on "Rippin'" U2 Song

While most of us anxiously await the day we finally get to hear "Vertigo," the first single from U2's upcoming album, some people are lucky enough to have already gotten a taste. Steve Craig, DJ with 99X Radio in Atlanta, had this to share with Interference.com about the song he can't wait to play:

"the record label rep came in earlier in the week and played 'Vertigo' for us... several times I might add! I begged him to let me play it once, but (and I'm being serious... this isn't radio station bulls**t) he said he would get fired if I did... and I believe him...!

"I listened to it a couple times, and it sounds like old-style U2... quick, tight guitar... rippin' vocals, attitude, and a hook that's reminiscent of 'War' and 'October'... it's the kind of U2 song that fans hope for... it's not a drony departure from a band's best loved style, like others I won't mention...to me it's a perfect U2 song!

"I just hope I'm the first one here to play it!"

Stay tuned to Interference.com for the latest news on U2's next album.

 

[L03VIk]

Were there strange talking spanish men on this version too?

 

[Judah]

It's nice U2 corps have reps going throughout the world giving reporters and DJs a taste of this thing.

How about a few morsels for us average humans?

Oh, f*** it...it's been four years...what's another few weeks.

 

[Lo-Fi]

Oh man, this is just getting unbearable! I wanna hear!!!

 

[cm]

I sent an e-mail to the music director at Cities97 in the Twin Cities and this is his reply:

Sorry, don't have the clip yet, although I've heard the song..it's one
of the rockiest songs they've done since New Year's Day..listen for it
soon on Cities 97. Thanks for listening!

Mike Wolf
Cities 97 (KTCZ) Music Director

 

[Popmartijn]

So basically, this is another 'news' blip that's essentially saying nothing. A radio DJ has heard the song, likes it, but is not allowed to play it for the moment. Don't we already have 254 stories like this in the U2 News section?

C ya!

Marty

 

[swizzlestick]

I emailed the local station as well...From 97.3 The Planet in Kansas City

I have HEARD Vertigo. It's not "In my hands" though. Our local Interscope rep brought it by and played it for us. Barring a leak we will start playing it as soon as it arrives on Sept. 24th.
It is definately a rock tune. Great guitar riffs. You'll love it.

thanks for tuning in,
jason

 

[Sneaky Neil]

99x is my radio station here..............yeah us! Very good to hear. Steve always plays the best stuff and is extreamly knowledgeable about music in general and espeacially 80's stuff. I can't wait to hear it!

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

i e-mailed k-rock in new york earlier today... will post their reply if and when i get an answer

 

[POPMatt]

I also emailed Cities97 here in Minneapolis, and this was the reply I got:

Ironically, (also being a crazed U2 fan), I just heard the single moments ago. It rocks a bit more than their more recent releases. Pretty cool. The label won't be leaving it with the station, tho'. We'll get it to play in about a week!!! Gonna be a big 2005 tour, too!

~Lauren

 

[Angtre01]

I just emailed WBCN Boston (U2 has close ties) and got this reply...

its amazing..I think 9/24 is the release day. You'll love it

 

[Angtre01]

And from WFNX Boston....the station that "supposedly" played the clip.

I don't think we have it yet. The DJs were saying they had to listen to it in some record label reps. Car. We will have it soon enough for listening pleasure...

 

[Judah]

re: the Cities97 Minniapolis person: "We'll get it to play in about a week!!!"

Well, the 24th is still more than a week off, but i'm hoping this person was being literal.

With all these Interscope reps walking around the country with their copies of Vertigo, surely someone can "accidentally" misplace a copy and it gets on the 'net. Then U2 can get their wish of selling something off of iTunes and rush the single out couple weeks ahead (though not the whole album)...a nice little iTunes marketing experiment for them.

 

[U2dork]

That's so great Steve shared this! He plays a lot of U2 on his show and gives U2 trivia sometimes as well. He's really the only DJ I can stand listening to. I guess I should have known if he had access to the song he would have played it. I mean, this is the station that played Nirvana's You Know You're Right over and over before its official release and then aired a phone call from the label representative who was pissed...

 

[U2girl]

Judah: I'm not sure, if label representatives carry singles on them, and if they won't give out the song before Sep 24th I can't see how a leak could happen. (a real one, that is - not the talking ones there were of All because of you and Vertigo) Didn't they say they'll send the song via MP3s when it's to be played?

 

[Judah]

Too much wishful wishing on my part, U2girl.

 

[MrBrau1]

So basically, this is another 'news' blip that's essentially saying nothing. A radio DJ has heard the song, likes it, but is not allowed to play it for the moment. Don't we already have 254 stories like this in the U2 News section?

C ya!

Marty

Very true.

 

[saltwaterkiss26]

21 days. 21 days. 21 days. 21 days. 21 days. 21 days.

I can definitelty do this without having a nervous collapse.

 

[violetfly]

Like October huh? Sounds good to me!

 

[AussieU2fanman]

I can't believe they'll release the SINGLE one and a half months after everyone has heard it a BILLION times and is sick of it by now! Am I missing something here? Is that what record companies usually do. I fail to see the logic in it. Someone enlighten me as to why they'll release the single in November and not a bit after the radio release.

 

[PhoenixGNX]

I can't believe they'll release the SINGLE one and a half months after everyone has heard it a BILLION times and is sick of it by now! Am I missing something here? Is that what record companies usually do. I fail to see the logic in it. Someone enlighten me as to why they'll release the single in November and not a bit after the radio release.

I thought the single was being released in a few weeks. Its the album thats coming out in November. Or am I missing something???

 

[AussieU2fanman]

i heard reports that the single would be released around November 10th and the album on the 24th which doesn't make sense.

 

[beli]

So basically, this is another 'news' blip that's essentially saying nothing. A radio DJ has heard the song, likes it, but is not allowed to play it for the moment. Don't we already have 254 stories like this in the U2 News section?

C ya!

Marty

10 million euro minus cost of reps to personally drive single to radio stations just so people can drool and hype = ?

 

[EvolutionMonkey]

I can't believe they'll release the SINGLE one and a half months after everyone has heard it a BILLION times and is sick of it by now! Am I missing something here? Is that what record companies usually do. I fail to see the logic in it. Someone enlighten me as to why they'll release the single in November and not a bit after the radio release.

Yeah i've never got that either, talk about dumb marketing move, why don't they sell it the same day as it hits the radio, not wait 2 weeks until everyone is slowly moving on to other songs. Of course we'll buy it but i'm talking about casual fans. Wake up Interscope !

 

[AussieU2fanman]

2 weeks? 2 weeks isnt that bad, im talking about 6 weeks which is what is reported to be happening. 2 weeks should definately be fine but by 6 everything would have died down. Does anyone have confirmation on the release of the single, not the radio release which is Sept 24th?

 

[u2ulysses]

i heard reports that the single would be released around November 10th and the album on the 24th which doesn't make sense.

The actual CD for the single might be released around then, but the song will have been on the radio for a while. Why release the CD for the single so late? Because these days, many artists don't even release CD singles at all - especially in the U.S.

Many years ago, singles (or 45 rpm records) would outsell albums. Releasing singles was the way to go - and this is why many albums would have as many "single worthy" material as possible. However, albums easily outsell singles now - sometimes to the point that releasing a single isn't even cost effective. A lot of time and $$ is spent in getting a single ready and to have it sell maybe 50,000 copies (in the U.S.) isn't really worthwhile. U2's last big CD single in the U.S. was "Discotheque" and that went Gold - meaning 500,000 copies shipped. ATYCLB, in contrast, has been certified as 4x Platinum, meaning 4 million copies shippped (and sold to stores). As you can see, even a successful CD single has sales 8x LESS than a hit album.

Billboard has acknowledged how poorly a lot of CD singles sell - and those that do sell at least somewhat (a few thousand copies a week) may linger at the top of the sales charts as a result. This unfairly biases how big of a hit a song is, because those CD singles sellling decently might NOT be the ones getting tons of airplay on the radio.

Therefore Billboard has changed their charting system. Songs that receive tons of airplay can often reach the top of the charts. If a song also happens to sell VERY well (hundreds of thousands of copies), that will have an impact - so sales are not completely disregarded. But it wouldn't be fair for the #1 song to be something that sold just 3000 copies in a given week while the #10 song is receiving 3x the airplay.

As a result, record abels, acknowledging that CD singles don't always sell (the big exception is the U.K., which does base single rankings on the success of the CD single), usually push the song at radio stations and only promote the CD single in certain countries. This is why we are hearing stories of Interscope reps talking to all the DJ's (and most likely, station managers/programmers). They want to get them interested and excited into playing the new song. A CD single won't even be released in the U.S.

Australia is different - a CD single will be released there. I don't know the rules about single charting in Australia - maybe someone from the "Peeling Off Those Dollar Bills" forum can answer how songs are ranked. But in the past, Australia has always received a CD single (which only minorly makes up for the lack of touring U2 has done there lately), but it's not unusual to see the CD single become available weeks after the song is on the radio. Radio is the hype needed to sell the CD single. The U.S. won't get a CD single - barring imports.

Of course, U2 typically throws in a new song or two and various covers or remixes on their CD singles. So often they are worth purchasing - even as imports.

 

[AussieU2fanman]

ok thanks for that, but why, if they will release a single anyway, release it so late, and not at the approximate time its on the radio? They will release it in Australia and UK etc in November so whats the economic reason to release it in November?

 

[U2girl]

While I know singles don't sell as much as they used to - in US, like you said they still have singles in UK/Europe/Australia - I think this is the longest break between radio airplay and CD single in stores they ever had.

I know they want the hype to build up, but it's a while between Sep 24 and Nov 8. Let's just hope it won't hurt them and piss of potential buyers who will be at the stores soon after airplay seriously hits the radio.

 

[mikeuk]

Re: (09-03-2004) Exclusive: First-Hand Report on 'Rippin'' U2 Song -- Interference.com*

Exclusive: First-Hand Report on "Rippin'" U2 Song


"I listened to it a couple times, and it sounds like old-style U2... quick, tight guitar... rippin' vocals, attitude, and a hook that's reminiscent of 'War' and 'October'
.

Now come on really, we all know that October & WAR are very different beasts - and October (Gloria apart) didn't really do hooks. Sounds as if this DJ doesn't really know U2 of that period.

Mike

 

[u2ulysses]

ok thanks for that, but why, if they will release a single anyway, release it so late, and not at the approximate time its on the radio? They will release it in Australia and UK etc in November so whats the economic reason to release it in November?

This is actually normal for CD singles (at least these days). The song is heard on the radio for a while - that's its promotion. Then the CD single becomes available.

For the first song, I suspect that the release of the actual CD single so close to the album release is intentional. That is, for weeks now people have heard the song on the radio. They *could* spend so much money on the CD single - or they can wait just a few more token weeks and spend just a bit more for the entire album! CD singles aren't cheap! In the U.S., they are often $5-6. Why buy that if you can have the album for $12-15 (providing you don't go to some ridiculously expensive store)?

In any event, it's not unusual for the CD single to be released weeks after the radio release. I do admit though that the rather long delay here is a bit odd - and I suspect it's being done to really push album sales (and not CD single sales).