Of interest: Band pulls own single from shelves/net

Jack-Flash-Jr

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GNARLS GO OUT ON TOP

May 27 2006 Beverley Lyons And Cath Bennett

Band pull the plug on hit single

THE biggest single of the year will go out with a bang this Sunday after an incredible run at the top of the charts.

Gnarls Barkley's Crazy has been the biggest selling single of the last eight weeks, selling an incredible 646,000 copies.

It made history by becoming the first single to make number one on download sales alone.

But the band has decided to go out on top by withdrawing it from shops and online from Monday.

A spokesman for the band said: "They have had a fantastic run. But we want people to remember the song fondly and not get sick of it. So, from Monday we will be deleting it."

Hip-hop producer Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton, one half of the duo with vocalist Cee-Lo Green, said: "This was not a painless decision. But pain is nothing but a bi-product of beauty.

"Potentially toxic, to be sure, but that's all it is."

The decision to clear the shops of Crazy was also taken to make way for the band's second single, Smiley Faces, in July, taken from their platinum selling album St Elsewhere.

Korda Marshall, Managing Director of Warner Bros. Records UK, said: "Crazy has proved to be a huge international smash hit that has struck a chord around the world.

"We feel that their album, St. Elsewhere is such a strong album that we want to move away from Crazy and concentrate on new single, Smiley Faces."

The deletion of the track -the longest running number one single since Wet Wet Wet's Love Is All Around in 1994 -will ensure that Crazy has only ever charted at the top.

And The decision to delete it has another similarity with the Wets. Marti Pellow and the band got so sick of hearing their hit single, they insisted their record company withdrew it from sale.

strataxe

Ya, and thanks to the radio stations, playing everything to death...thank goodness I don't listen to radio.

AlanRatcliffe

Cobblers. Marketing move to get press for the next single and the album. You don't decide to release your music and then change your mind - you either want to share it with the world or not, because once you have, there is no going back on it.

They may have "removed" it from sale, but people who bought it still have it and so do radio stations. A YouTube search for comes up with 5,600 posts of it. So "fond memories" is - at best - wishful thinking. Perhaps I'd be less cynical if they offered to refund the money to everyone who bought it ...maybe alongside an apology for foisting such commercialised crud on the public in the first place.

Bob-Dubery

I'll be they're nixing this one so that it doesn't dilute the impact of their next single.

And/or the sales of this one are dropping off so they're going to help sales along by rendering it instantly hard-to-get.

But you know.... top selling single in the USA, top of the charts for 8 weeks and 646 000 copies. That doesn't sound like a lot to me.

BluJu

Alan Ratcliffe wrote Cobblers. Marketing move to get press for the next single and the album. You don't decide to release your music and then change your mind - you either want to share it with the world or not, because once you have, there is no going back on it.

They may have "removed" it from sale, but people who bought it still have it and so do radio stations. A YouTube search for comes up with 5,600 posts of it. So "fond memories" is - at best - wishful thinking. Perhaps I'd be less cynical if they offered to refund the money to everyone who bought it ...maybe alongside an apology for foisting such commercialised crud on the public in the first place.

Yup, pretty transparent I say.