Credit where it’s due…..here we are bleating about recorded
rock music being dead
and Royal Blood pop up and
score a number one album. Not only that but it’s the fastest selling rock album in three years. I
usually have issues with some of the music lumped under the label of rock but
there’s no doubts here, Royal Blood is a proper rock album.
Kudos to them of course and slings and arrows to those who
claim that the charts no longer mean much, that may be true but in the absence
of many other measures of success it’s the best we’ve got. If you really want
to criticise them you could say that the album is a bit short, one-paced and
contains too many singles already released. It’d be pretty churlish though, it’s
a great album, fine songs and we should all be celebrating the return of rock,
it can only bring good things.
At any rate 66,000 albums in one week is pretty nifty, it
means they outsold Ed Sheeran and everyone else last week. The only one who might
claim more cumulative sales is Kate Bush with eight albums in the top 40 and
eleven in the top 50.
It’s a feat not equalled by many, very few will ever have that opportunity
since getting to the stage of having eleven albums recorded is a significant
feat in itself.
The key to success is obvious: record some massive chart hits, evolve into
more serious music (gradually), give very few (if any) interviews, play no gigs
(for 35 years), act reclusive, get nominated every year for Brit Awards without
having any records out, release highly-acclaimed material sporadically then
surprisingly announce a tour playing only one city. I’m surprised no one else
has managed it.
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