THE CARPENTERS IN 2002/2003

Can the Carpenters have another superhit?

  • yes

    Votes: 6 37.5%
  • no

    Votes: 10 62.5%

  • Total voters
    16
Status
Not open for further replies.

Rick

Member
There are so many wonderful Carpenters tunes. Just out of curiousity how many of you feel the Carpenters, with the proper promotion, could reach the top 5 on the singles charts today?
 
Not a chance!This was discussed in great detail on the previous post "Karen's cleanest vocal performance"-page 2. There are many "wonderful Carpenters tunes",as you stated,but these don't qualify as "top 40" or "radio-friendly".While richard designed some tracks to be radio singles-like "please mr postman" or "Touch me when were dancing"-its amazing that many of their hit singles actually got on the radio!But,back in the 1970's,"easy listening" was much more "in vogue".As a record reviewer once stated-"only Richard's slick arrangements could get such downbeat lyrics on the radio".A good example of this situation would be Jazz singer Diana Krall.Her remake of the title track THE LOOK OF LOVE ,released last year,was programmed as a single.While many smooth jazz and light -rock stations played the song,it didn't become a top 40 hit!In all likelihood,this would have been a smash 30 years ago.Diana's a great singer,made several great albums with great songs-but she's not "TOP 40".This same assessment would apply to Karen Carpenter.
 
You've got to be kidding! There is no way that a 20-30 year old Carpenters tune would ever be played on a top-40 radio station. Heck, you hardly ever hear the C's played on oldies stations anymore! :sad:

I don't think that it would even make a difference if Karen were still alive and recording new music. When was the last time that you heard a new Olivia Newton-John, Melissa Manchester, Anne Murray, or Linda Ronstadt song on the radio? All these ladies are still alive, and occasionally record albums of new material, but they get no airplay. Two reasons: 1. They don't produce the kind of music that most young people want to listen to. When you were young, did you listen to the music that your parents liked? 2. They aren't young, hard-bodied, half-clothed, "video-friendly" babes that can achieve chart success even with only marginal talent (like Britney Spears). Admit it guys, when you were young you bought some albums just for the cover picture, didn't you? :wink:

Top-40 radio has always been interested in what's new and trendy, the "flavour of the month. The Carpenters had a good, long, successful run on the charts, but their time at the top has long since passed. Get over it already!

Murray
 
The way I see it, there is one way and one way ONLY that the Carpenters can have a "smash" hit. Their music needs to be featured in a future hit move. And I don't mean like in Tommy Boy. Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't "Unchained Melody" top the charts a few years back after it was featured in a movie?
 
Murray said:
You've got to be kidding! There is no way that a 20-30 year old Carpenters tune would ever be played on a top-40 radio station. Heck, you hardly ever hear the C's played on oldies stations anymore! :sad:

Geographer said:
The way I see it, there is one way and one way ONLY that the Carpenters can have a "smash" hit. Their music needs to be featured in a future hit move.

Combining both ideas above would be my own view of the situation. Today's radio programming "suits" have no use for Carpenters music. You're likely to find their music on nostalgia stations and very infrequently on one of the more adventurous Oldies stations. (Also, on satellite radio, where there are dozens of station formats.) But it would take some kind of (pardon the expression) freak situation for them to climb Top 40--a prominent feature in a hit movie, another death :sad: ....??? And in that case, it would be a hit because of some circumstance, not because it's good music. Universal's happy mining the old Carpenters catalog over and over, ad nauseum...they have no interest in the next big hit single for a group that, to them, is past their prime in terms of burning up the charts. They'll put their money into the next bland boy band or bare-midriffed songstress.

I'd be happy just to hear "Close To You" on an oldies station as a pick-me-up once a week!

-= N =-
 
Yes "Unchained Melody" enjoyed a resurgence in popularity after it was featured in a movie ("Ghost") but the radio landscape is markedly different now than in was then (mid '80s). Back then, a song with a killer melody could make the top 10 with proper promotion...these days, melody is not as important as a big beat (which the Carps songs don't have), a killer video (impossible), risque lyrics (ditto), and overall coolness factor (zero).

You might say "What about Elvis Presley and the Beatles? They have both hit the top of the charts with compilations lately." Well that's true, but they are still perceived as "hip" whereas the Carpenters, sadly, are not.

Now if Richard was to get himself a new singer, and go after the Adult Contemporary charts with new material, absolutely he could make the charts again. He could contemporize the sound somewhat, but still turn in a killer ballad and it could happen. Crossover potential? Hey Rich....give it a shot.
 
Mike: also look at what makes up a "super hit." We're assuming here that to be a big hit, it would have to climb Billboard's Top 40 singles chart and not just an Adult Contemporary chart (which, in the grand scheme of things, does not contribute very much to something being a major hit). Then, look at the garbage on the Top 40 chart in comparison to what the Carpenters were...the Top 40 is marketed to teens and younger 20-somethings who buy music based on beat, image, the peer acceptance factor, how "cute" the boy band looks or how titillating the bare midriff appears on the video as it wriggles around the screen. (No mention of musical quality here!) The "suits" who program the airwaves and run A&R at the record labels know this. They know who their target buyers and listeners are...and to reach that market, they know Carpenters music won't get them there. Regardless of how we feel about the music, the "suits" treat it, and will continue to treat it, as nothing more than musical nostalgia. Even including it in a major motion picture would probably garner nothing more than a raised eyebrow and an "isn't that quaint!" from the "suits."

Doesn't this pretty much explain why most of us here don't listen to Top 40 radio anymore? :confused: I'm most content just having the Carpenters CDs to play whenever I feel like it. Let the kiddiez have their music--we'lll keep ours! :D

-= N =-
 
I was just saying that, with the right amount of luck, it COULD happen. I mean, Elvis is #1 on the album chart right now! But you are right, it would be a complete longshot.
 
The problem with Elvis is that some listeners somehow thing he's influential. *shrug* To me, he was the first Spice Boy. :confused: Although his early recordings hint otherwise (Sun sessions, in particular), it seems more like his big success was in how he was marketed, not in the music he made.

If a good compilation comes out (like the Stones' recent 40 Licks, this Elvis comp., Beatles "1", etc.), there's always a chance it will make a run at the album chart. But for that matter, how many Carpenters compilations have there been released already? And how many were chart toppers? (Or better yet, what was the peak position a Carpenters compilation reached on the Hot Albums chart?)

At least we all know here that topping the chart is not a prerequisite for good music! :D It's nice when it happens, but doesn't prevent me from buying it even if it's a sales underdog.

-= N =-
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom