GaryAlan
Well-Known Member
^^I do agree that many factors were involved.
But, I also believe that the "Sedaka-incident" has been purposely downplayed. In other words,
American DJ's stopped playing their singles. For instance, Please Mr. Postman sold over a million copies,
(that's around January 1975), Only Yesterday sold approx. 600,000 copies (as of late 1977),
and Solitaire might have made it to 150,000 copies. These are huge declines from previous Singles.
But, the real signal (USA) is that Horizon only went Gold, and only much much later (1998) reached Platinum status.
Of course, I do not know the actual impact of Sedaka, but whether (or not) the single released was Goofus,
I believe at that juncture, American dj's were not going to play any Carpenters' single.
I can only speak for USA, as we know Internationally their career reached new heights.
And, yes, it was only American Newspapers that were on Google-scanned archives,
so, I can not speak for the impact elsewhere.
The People Magazine (August 2nd, 1976) article is more insightful than I:
people.com/archive/cover-story-brother-sister-act-vol-6-no-5/
But, I also believe that the "Sedaka-incident" has been purposely downplayed. In other words,
American DJ's stopped playing their singles. For instance, Please Mr. Postman sold over a million copies,
(that's around January 1975), Only Yesterday sold approx. 600,000 copies (as of late 1977),
and Solitaire might have made it to 150,000 copies. These are huge declines from previous Singles.
But, the real signal (USA) is that Horizon only went Gold, and only much much later (1998) reached Platinum status.
Of course, I do not know the actual impact of Sedaka, but whether (or not) the single released was Goofus,
I believe at that juncture, American dj's were not going to play any Carpenters' single.
I can only speak for USA, as we know Internationally their career reached new heights.
And, yes, it was only American Newspapers that were on Google-scanned archives,
so, I can not speak for the impact elsewhere.
The People Magazine (August 2nd, 1976) article is more insightful than I:
people.com/archive/cover-story-brother-sister-act-vol-6-no-5/