I Sold My Soul To Rock 'N Roll

I have to say that there is no other artist out there today who has consistently produced as amazing album covers as Meat Loaf, particularly the Bat into Hell Trilogy. I have to also say it makes me feel a little bit like a Lord of the Rings geek that I love these album covers so much, but there is no denying that they are really magnificent.

The covers are epic, they are tortured. They depict a moment at the end of the world, through the ashes of what has come before. They depict moments that are all-or-nothing, now-or-never, kill-or-be-killed. Just looking at them inspires me as a writer.


The first Bat out of Hell was released in 1977 and has gone on to sell approximately 43 million copies, including 200,000 per year to this day. It is just a classic album that really spans the generations, in my opinion. Plus songs like "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" and "You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth" are still played constantly on classic rock stations. This albu…

Is the music industry a case of the chicken or the egg? In other words - does the poor quality of music these days cause consumers to only purchase a song or two off the album from Itunes? Or is it the consumers who have contributed to the low sales of albums by only buying a few songs instead of a full album?

So which came first: bad albums or cheap consumers?

Interestingly, the cost of a CD seems to be at an all time low. (In my not so scientific opinion, based on purchasing CDs since 1995, at the ripe age of 9)...it's easy to find certain albums for $8 or $9. Yes, even new releases. I don't think I've paid more than $11 for a new release in the past few years...usually more like $9.99. It wasn't so long ago that I was willing to pay $15 or even - god forbid - $18 for an album by one of my favorite artists. Now I shop around on Amazon, WalMart, and Circuit City (by far the 3 cheapest places to buy a CD - FYE is a joke with ridiculous "sales", like $5 off …

Searching through Billboard's website today, I noticed a question and answer column where a reader had inquired about the album sales of a few notable female artists. The response was:

That said, here are the to-date U.S. sales, through Sept. 7, of the most recent albums released by the artists listed above, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Duffy, "Rockferry" (462,000)
Estelle, "Shine" (110,000)
M.I.A., "Kala" (302,000)
Leona Lewis, "Spirit" (1,064,000)
Natasha Bedingfield, "Pocketful of Sunshine" (411,000)

If this was 10 years ago, or maybe even 5, the album sales would look more like this:

Duffy - 1 million

Duffy has that British soul singer appeal that is unparalleled in recent years. Oddly a crop of similar soul singers has emerged lately (ie: Amy Winehouse, Adele) but Duffy is by far the most appealing in appearance and voice. Although her performance of "Mercy" on a recent late night show (either Letterman or Leno) was ab…