i saw a comment on a man man track expressing confusion at the lack of hits ("only" 200,000) and it got me thinking.

a band like man man isn't going to headline festivals any time soon, but they're virtual locks in any "best of 2000s" or "best of 2010s" list that may be compiled ten or twenty years from now. and, at that point they're sure to see an uptick in sales and recognition. it may take a while, but those tracks are going to continue generating hits deep into the future. meanwhile, whatever pop sensation was popular in 2008 (i think it was katy perry) is basically just out-of-date porn, now. over time, those tracks are going to plateau and plummet to almost nothing.

man man might not be able to catch up, but something a bit bigger like radiohead might be able to.

there's a historical analogy with record sales if you look at pink floyd - which is really the only example that's old enough yet to talk about. yes, dark side was successful on release, but it wasn't at the level of today's pop sensations. but, consistent sales have slowly brought it up to the second best selling album of all time, by some accounts. in 1979, the saturday night fever soundtrack became the highest selling record of all time (it was surpassed by thriller in 1985). dark side hasn't just caught up in total sales, it's now exceeded saturday night fever by over five million copies. that is, dark side sales have continued at a decent pace while saturday night fever sales collapsed when it went out of fashion.

so, twenty years from now, can we expect records by radiohead or bjork or the smashing pumpkins to catch up? they've got a long ways to go, but we can certainly expect them to outpace records by alanis or avril.....or the titanic soundtrack.

but, what that means is that a band like man man is, in a real sense, writing music for future generations.

and i'd like to think i am, too.

and, in fact, dark side has outsold thriller by over ten million copies since the beginning of soundscan. another ten-fifteen years, it might surpass that.

and, if that happens, i wish the rest of the planet luck in ever catching it.

i hope at least one of them (preferably waters) lives long enough to see it.