In defense of Bryan Adams, king of used CD shops

Posted about 1 year ago

Artist:

Bryan Adams
Album:

Waking Up The Neighbors
Track:
- PLAY
- QUEUE
Is Your Mama Gonna Miss Ya

I'm a little puzzled as to why certain CDs seem to be in EVERY rack of used CDs for sale at shops, i.e. Bryan Adams' Waking Up The Neighbors or the Rembrandts L.P.. You may have noticed others. Did too many get manufactured? Too many review copies sent out? Is the ratio of dissatisfied buyers extremely high? Anyway, on to the main topic. Ever since Adams did I Do It For You, an admittedly repulsive power ballad from the Robin Hood movie, he is a critical whipping boy. But I bought this CD (used, of course) at a shop and was pleasantly surprised by the infectious music therein, this track being an excellent example. I've since bought another or two of his, but am still avoiding the early big-hit-MTV-80s period. More iTunes cherry-picking may be called for.

Comments (18)

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ivylander says He seems like a decent enough guy and was never as bad as he was made out to be. But in honesty, this sounds like a creditable genre exercise that I've already heard too many times.....

Permalink posted 02/27/2008
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Cody B says The used CD market is full of Bryan, especially albums like this, because folks were only looking for that one song and when they got tired of it, they were not attached to the disc..they might not have even listened to the rest of the record. You will also find the same used logjam for these records, all of which sold well because of 1 saturated radio hit, thereby generating sales among the non-adventurous, but with no allegiance to the artist. Some of the records aren't shabby at all.. Dionne Farris-Wildflower Sophie B. Hawkins-her debut Melissa Etheridge-Yes,I Am Another case: k.d lang-All you can eat (the bomb follow up,I think, to her monster hit record)..A huge pop smash followed by " a different direction record" that non-fans buy and return after 1 listen. Then there's monster records that got an incredible push from the label and then folks just got tired of... Hootie and The Blowfish Spin Doctors Then there's,"I grew up" records: No Doubt Green Day ▲Never pay more than 2.98 for any of the above records▲ The strange thing about these records is that they are still all in print and priced at 9.99 and up while 1000's of major label properties languish in vaults even though many could easily fetch 15.99... But these analyses really only hold true to the time I was working with used records..2000 or so. Nowadays people are flipping everything to go digital and many,many quality used titles are out there amongst the used perennials above. The place Bill and I go to sometimes has indie jazz, indie rock,box sets, and quality classic rock titles coming in by the truckload. Thanks for the opportunity to chime in.

Permalink posted 02/27/2008
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ivylander says By the way, "repulsive power ballad" is one of the great redundant phrases of our times....

Permalink posted 02/27/2008
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dermahrk says Cody B: I really appreciate your weighing in and giving some insight to the "used CD glut" I could not explain. Fascinating comments. Ivylander: I *knew* there was a reason to start off my post with the words "In defense of..."

Permalink posted 02/27/2008
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Anna says You lost me in "In defense of Bryan Adams". ;)

Permalink posted 02/27/2008
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Anna says Or "at", instead of "in". Somebody get me an English grammar.

Permalink posted 02/27/2008
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Cody B says There is always a lot of garbage in the used section..but many gems. i no longer have the patience to go through unsorted piles o'used..but I'm always glad if there's a new arrivals section,or like smart used sellers, an alphabetized used section. If the seller doesn't treat there used stuff like crap and buys and prices appropriately, it can be a good business.

Permalink posted 02/27/2008
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dermahrk says Anna - you had me at "in". Or you had me at "at". Or maybe you had me at "of". WTF am I saying? I have no idea. So now, are going to revoke my hipster license? If so, I will be posting about Carrie Underwood tomorrow. Just to put a stake in it. :-) Cody, I only go to used CD shops when I'm on vacation and have time to kill. That way all the CDs are new to me. The used ones, of course. OK, I'll shut up now....

Permalink posted 02/27/2008
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Spike says No, dermahrk, don't stop....As for your hipster license, if it's revoked, you're no longer one of my Trusteds, so be careful. "Is Your Mama Gonna Miss Ya" is perfectly fine, but like a lot of recent rock, it sounds not so different from rock thirty or forty years ago.

Permalink posted 02/27/2008
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The Time Machine says

Even out here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean - Hawaii has that Bryan Adams CD in every used CD store that I've stepped into. It does remind me of when there too many copies of "Saturday Night Fever", "Grease" and "Frampton Comes Alive" back in the late seventies and early eighties used vinyl sections.

Put me down as someone who actually got Bryan's "Waking Up The Neighbors" when it was released and still have it (although haven't played it in a few years).

Permalink posted 02/27/2008
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darmuzz says Yeah, "I Do It For You" was a real jumping the shark moment... This guy is one of only a handful of artists I can't listen to at all

Permalink posted 02/27/2008
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ROCKNROLLPIMP says Put me down as someone who actually got Bryan's "Waking Up The Neighbors" when it was released and still have it (although haven't played it in a few years). same here as well as all the others above...DAMNIT

Permalink posted 02/27/2008
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Groon says I actually don't mind some Bryan, but more for nostalgia reasons than anything else. I don't think "I do it for you" was a jump the shark moment because it was a bad song. It was perfectly fine for what it was supposed to be. However, afterwards the only thing Bryan Adams could do that anybody wanted to hear were power ballads for film soundtracks. You got "Have you ever really loved a woman?" from Don Juan, plus one or two more I don't care enough for to go and look up. That being said, here in Charleston our used CD stores are full of Silverchair, Hootie ('cause, you know, they're partly local), and Izzy Stradlin.

Permalink posted 02/27/2008
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ROCKNROLLPIMP says Silverchair,yup Hootie,yup Izzy Stradlin,yup

Permalink posted 02/27/2008
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Bartleby says A very engrossing post, Mark. I've never given much thought to Mr Adams but you must be right about his key role in the used CD market. -- I got rid of my entire collection some years ago. I wonder what people must have thought when they saw "Count Down To Estasy" in their second-hand store.

Permalink posted 02/28/2008
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ROCKNROLLPIMP says they said SHIT gimmie dat!

Permalink posted 02/28/2008
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Anna says You'll always be Hipster Spice to me, love :)

Permalink posted 02/29/2008
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Jonh Ingham says In defense of Bryan Adams....several years ago in London, he had a problem with a pub near his home that was always very noisy at night. He had many a chat with the landlord about the noise but nothing was ever done. So he bought the pub. Then closed it.

Permalink posted 03/01/2008