Given the track’s title, I was anticipating something that saw the group getting in touch with its cacophonic Norwegian doom metal blood lust.
OK, maybe not that heavy. But at least something that was raw and unapologetic about its rock riffage. Instead, they delivered foreign influences from the other side of the globe the tune is heavily influenced by a Thai pop song from the late ’60s. The song streamed on the group’s Facebook for one day and was available the next on iTunes and Amazon.
This is now the industry standard for press on new albums. The labels get the media’s anticipatory drum beat pounding and then drop a single. With distribution services such as iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Napster and numerous others making songs available for purchase individually, a trove of tracks is easily accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.
This has given rise to the return of the single, a format of release that laid mostly dormant for the better part of 30 years.
Singles had a good run in the 1950s and early 1960s. It was so good, in fact, that labels didn’t bother putting an artist’s most successful songs on its records.
As anyone who owns The Beatles’ discography could tell you, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” is not on any of the Fab Four’s proper, British records but it is lumped into a few singles collections.
This was a common practice for the time. As albums increased in popularity thanks in part to concept records such as The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band the cry for singles died down.
With the introduction of the compact disc in the ’80s, the market for singles became virtually nonexistent. However, in the last five years, with the launch of digital music services, single tracks are becoming a mainstay once again.
They’re so powerful that one track can be enough to form an artist’s identity. It’s something Amy Winehouse showed with “Rehab.” Lady Gaga made herself a household name behind the strength of “Poker Face.” More recently, there’s British songstress Adele. Like her voice, she is soaring behind the strength of “Rolling in the Deep,” which was the No. 1 selling track on iTunes earlier this week. She’s never seen success like this before in America.
“Rehab,” “Poker Face” and “Rolling in the Deep” are examples of how the increased focus on singles makes an individual track’s value that much greater.
With all of that said, however, it’s difficult to say artists who sell millions of copies of an individual song, as Adele has done with “Rolling,” have flipped the script on the album-selling crowd.
The industry is geared differently now than it was in The Beatles’ day.
Independent labels weren’t as prevalent then. Many artists who went unsigned in that era would likely find a home on a small, indie label today.
There’s more recorded music to absorb today. The Internet has managed to cater to an individual’s musical whims in a way we never have before.
The growth in labels and exposure to a variety of sounds means there’s viability now for artists of all styles and commercial levels.
This brings us back to My Morning Jacket.
The quintet makes its home on ATO Records. It’s not exactly an indie label. It’s a division of RCA, which is itself a part of Sony Music Entertainment.
But the point remains. Its singles are not heatseekers on the Billboard charts. “Holdin’ On to Black Metal” is a single, but that hasn’t been the band’s milieu.
It’s telling that Billboard doesn’t keep stats on the group’s highest-charting singles, but notes that 2008′s Evil Urges was its first top-10 album.
How does an artist crack the top 10 without the strength of a well-known single? By having a reputation for quality albums and great word of mouth.
In My Morning Jacket’s case, being the singular fixation of Stan Smith in an episode of Fox’s “American Dad!” didn’t hurt either.
The group’s sixth album, Circuital, drops in late May. Expect it to crack the top 10 in album sales. Don’t hold your breath on “Black Metal” doing the same.
Fortunately, the music industry is in a place where that’s OK. Groups such as My Morning Jacket can co-exist with single-driven artists. That’s good for music listeners everywhere.
It’s especially good for those holding out hope My Morning Jacket does, in fact, still have an unreleased track showcasing its Norwegian doom metal blood lust.