I never cared much about on what day an album was released. Usually I'm fine if I know the year. Sometimes though, a specific release day makes you think about the fate of the album.
In 1977 the Beach Boys were hot again. The Brian's Back campaign yielded both a top ten album and top ten single. A lot of pr was done, they sold out stadiums around the world and the band was also getting it's own TV special. Dennis Wilson was about to release his first solo album - the first by any Beach Boy - in the same year.
It seems that Caribou put quite a bit of pr into Dennis' album as well. Magazine articles, radio interviews, record store events, a
promo video, even a solo tour was planned. Yet the album barely made the top 100 when released which to me seems a little low.
The other day I saw a Facebook post about Pacific Ocean Blue, mentioning it's day of release - August 22nd 1977. That got me thinking....
A couple of pictures from appearances by Dennis in record stores to promote POBJust a week earlier the Ohio State University Radio Observatory recorded a signal that when being analyzed by Jerry R. Ehman became known as the "
WOW! Signal"; as to that point the strongest contender to be a message sent by alien life.
Although important science news that under normal circumstances would make for long discussions and reportings by both, scientists and laymen, this event was completely overshadowed by August 16th 1977. That day, as is well known, Elvis Presley died.
On the spot this became a media event like no other. What followed were a giant
sales increase of Elvis records.
Record stores were
out of stock and RCA had problems keeping up with orders and had to use
pressing plants all over the country. This wasn't just going on for a couple of days but
actually quite a while.
The question that comes to mind: Did Pacific Ocean Blue suffer the same destiny as the WOW! signal? Was the chart placement of Pacific Ocean Blue a result of Elvis' passing? As we've seen it certainly took the focus away from everything else.
Epilogue
Mike Eder once told me that when the Beach Boys had a chance to visit Graceland, Dennis broke down crying at the grave of Elvis. Certainly this could be seen as Dennis lamenting the death of his generation's symbol of freedom. After thinking about the events of August 1977, though, one could also wonder if Dennis blamed (or let's say was reminded by) Elvis' death of himself not making a big splash as a solo artist.
What do you think? Am I crazy or do you think there could be something to it? Do you think it's placement on the charts and the numbers it sold wouldn't have been that much different had Elvis not died?
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