A recent Idolator article about the Hit Masters, a cover band who released — and cashed in on — an MP3 version of Kid Rock’s latest single (since the blue collar “star” refuses to put out digital versions of his songs) inadvertantly turned up this article on one of my favorite little music stories of the late-90s. Back before the single was reborn as a one-track digital download, and before its previous reincarnation as multiple euro-import cds (each containing one unique track), the record industry briefly dabbled with the idea of not releasing any singles at all, forcing customers to go in for a penny, in for a pound, so to speak, buying the entire album (which was likely about 92% filler) or nothing at all.
The late-capitalist solution? Soundalike versions recorded by studio musicians and packaged with alphabetically proximal names (i.e. a Chumbawumba single covered by Cuddlebutt, a Smash Mouth single covered by Smashed), complete with dance mixes on the flipside. I had vague recollections of this, but it wasn’t until I saw this article that all the details were filled in, and it’s a hilarious read, especially given that Sugar Ray, the Wallflowers, the Cardigans, Smash Mouth and Chumbawumba aren’t exactly hot properties now, either. Ten years ago, I’m sure Smash Mouth thought of themselves as the next Beatles (I’d say the next Monkees, but I like the Monkees too much to malign them by the association).
And, of course, this all makes one think of the radical ways in which the record industry has changed in the past decade, but that’s an essay which has already been written numerous times by folks with far more time on their hands than I have.
