Post by rhondar on Dec 18, 2010 7:17:42 GMT -5
The thing is - the band sends out promo packages to press. These days they probably contain EPK's (Electronic press kits) that have videos of the band talking about the new albums, or even written press releases and links to the songs, updated pictures of the band and stuff like that. The press takes that stuff and will come up with their own articles for release, whether it's a full review (in my experiences reviewers get a slightly different kit than media or press people do) or just an article to tell people about the new album coming out.
John could have very well said things similar to this, as have Roger and even Nick and Simon - but the quotes could be taken completely out of context and cut appropriately (or inappropriately!) to be used in order to create an article that benefits whatever message that particular media outfit wants to get out. This is also why we'll see 500 different blurbs or articles that sound almost exactly the same. It's not necessarily because John sat down and said THEIR albums were mediocre (did you catch that? the original article just said that "The audience" were tired of mediocre albums, not that their fans were tired of THEIR mediocre albums...), and we don't know - he could very well have said that they loved RCM and were proud of it but that the fans or public did not, but the article chose not to quote that. We just don't know.
Of course that said, we've all been around long enough to see the band talk up an album only to turn around at a later point and say it wasn't very good. Duran Duran is not the only band out there to do that though. First of all, regardless of how a band feels about a finished product - they aren't going to acknowledge it's weak areas while they're trying to promote it. Promotion is just as much about selling the work as it is getting the word out, so during that time you're never going to hear "Well, it's pretty good but we wished we'd done ______ differently." Then when they are off to promote a new album, hindsight is typically 20/20 of course - they might compare the new work to the older one, and I've yet to see where Duran Duran hasn't downplayed a prior album in the light of a newer one. They even did that with Rio many years back when Simon and Nick were doing promo work for Seven and the Ragged Tiger.
John could have very well said things similar to this, as have Roger and even Nick and Simon - but the quotes could be taken completely out of context and cut appropriately (or inappropriately!) to be used in order to create an article that benefits whatever message that particular media outfit wants to get out. This is also why we'll see 500 different blurbs or articles that sound almost exactly the same. It's not necessarily because John sat down and said THEIR albums were mediocre (did you catch that? the original article just said that "The audience" were tired of mediocre albums, not that their fans were tired of THEIR mediocre albums...), and we don't know - he could very well have said that they loved RCM and were proud of it but that the fans or public did not, but the article chose not to quote that. We just don't know.
Of course that said, we've all been around long enough to see the band talk up an album only to turn around at a later point and say it wasn't very good. Duran Duran is not the only band out there to do that though. First of all, regardless of how a band feels about a finished product - they aren't going to acknowledge it's weak areas while they're trying to promote it. Promotion is just as much about selling the work as it is getting the word out, so during that time you're never going to hear "Well, it's pretty good but we wished we'd done ______ differently." Then when they are off to promote a new album, hindsight is typically 20/20 of course - they might compare the new work to the older one, and I've yet to see where Duran Duran hasn't downplayed a prior album in the light of a newer one. They even did that with Rio many years back when Simon and Nick were doing promo work for Seven and the Ragged Tiger.