Why Did Matt Fail In U.s. Market

[LexyGirl]

At least it stated an opinion.

As opposed to simply ridiculing someone.

But hey, that's just me.

spending time visiting family in the states isn't the same as actually living here.

 

you never answered my question, you just skated around it.

 

what's wrong, did it take all your energy to call me a terrorist?

I think you misunderstood me.

I called myself a terrorist. For not being from the States and forming an opinion on it anyway. Some would call that form of thinking terrorism

This is what happens when you read something ready to be on the defensive.

 

So lets walk through these questions.

how does that have anything to do with his success in america?

I believe that at the time Beautiful midnight was released in America, It MAY have been ill conceived due to the sensitivity over columbine... Later, as Matthew Good alone, he refuses to step off his soap box. Some, like myself find that admirable. Some do not, however. And I believe that certain well watched right wing television stations and radio broadcasters would have jumped on Matthew Good's political standpoints and messages in a negative light and run with it. I am only speculating that if I were in the position of the artist, I might leave well enough alone and take the Canadian and select American market that was already in posession.

I'm not saying that this is true, or that my thoughts are the end all be all of this discussion. If that's what it remains. A discussion.

 

do you think american artists are quiet about their discontent with the 'american lifestyle'?

Seeing as how I apprently know nothing of the American lifestyle, I guess I would have no ground to answer this question. But in the best way I can I shall try.

Some are, some are not. It's more or less the same as here, I suppose... But those that are loyal to the governments decisions in the States appear to make a bigger fuss about it.

I would be hard pressed to say that there is nearly as much one sided reporting out of Canada pertaining to the Canadian government's actions as there is out of America pertaining to the actions of the American government.

That being said, This would be the time I take to reiterate what I said earlier.

It is ONE THING to have an American saying pointing out what is wrong with their own country. IT IS ANOTHER THING ALTOGETHER TO HAVE A CANADIAN DO IT.

Like myself.

Would you have taken it better if I was 3 hours south of where I am, in Seattle? For one thing, you would not have discreditted everything I had to say on the basis that I can't know, I don't live there.

 

do tell, what exactly IS the 'american lifestyle'?

fat guys-

Hollywood

Britney-

home of the gas guzzler

Dick Cheney

 

 

 

Getting too picture heavy.

Regardless...

Bennifer... Janet and Justin... McDonalds.... The Superbowl in general.... War... Liberty.. Freedom... Television..... Wendy's.... Disneyland.... Las Vegas..... Statue of Liberty.... Abraham lincoln... money..... gas.... cars.... weapons... thirty thousand gun related deaths growing every year since 1998.

 

 

 

In short.. or in long if you will.... The American lifestyle, or ANY lifestyle for that matter cannot be truly defined. I will never know it firsthand until I live there full time, which I never will. But on the same token sometimes its hard to see things from an objective point of view when you're in the middle of them

I never intended for this to become a discussion on defining American Culture.. Maybe you should start another trhead.

 

 

 

To everyone. I appologize for the picture heavy nature of this post.

[mrs jesus]

I think you misunderstood me.

I called myself a terrorist. For not being from the States and forming an opinion on it anyway. Some would call that form of thinking terrorism

This is what happens when you read something ready to be on the defensive.

 

So lets walk through these questions.

how does that have anything to do with his success in america?

I believe that at the time Beautiful midnight was released in America, It MAY have been ill conceived due to the sensitivity over columbine... Later, as Matthew Good alone, he refuses to step off his soap box. Some, like myself find that admirable. Some do not, however. And I believe that certain well watched right wing television stations and radio broadcasters would have jumped on Matthew Good's political standpoints and messages in a negative light and run with it. I am only speculating that if I were in the position of the artist, I might leave well enough alone and take the Canadian and select American market that was already in posession.

I'm not saying that this is true, or that my thoughts are the end all be all of this discussion. If that's what it remains. A discussion.

 

do you think american artists are quiet about their discontent with the 'american lifestyle'?

Seeing as how I apprently know nothing of the American lifestyle, I guess I would have no ground to answer this question. But in the best way I can I shall try.

Some are, some are not. It's more or less the same as here, I suppose... But those that are loyal to the governments decisions in the States appear to make a bigger fuss about it.

I would be hard pressed to say that there is nearly as much one sided reporting out of Canada pertaining to the Canadian government's actions as there is out of America pertaining to the actions of the American government.

That being said, This would be the time I take to reiterate what I said earlier.

It is ONE THING to have an American saying pointing out what is wrong with their own country. IT IS ANOTHER THING ALTOGETHER TO HAVE A CANADIAN DO IT.

Like myself.

Would you have taken it better if I was 3 hours south of where I am, in Seattle? For one thing, you would not have discreditted everything I had to say on the basis that I can't know, I don't live there.

 

do tell, what exactly IS the 'american lifestyle'?

fat guys-

Hollywood

Britney-

home of the gas guzzler

Dick Cheney

 

 

 

Getting too picture heavy.

Regardless...

Bennifer... Janet and Justin... McDonalds.... The Superbowl in general.... War... Liberty.. Freedom... Television..... Wendy's.... Disneyland.... Las Vegas..... Statue of Liberty.... Abraham lincoln... money..... gas.... cars.... weapons... thirty thousand gun related deaths growing every year since 1998.

 

 

 

In short.. or in long if you will.... The American lifestyle, or ANY lifestyle for that matter cannot be truly defined. I will never know it firsthand until I live there full time, which I never will. But on the same token sometimes its hard to see things from an objective point of view when you're in the middle of them

I never intended for this to become a discussion on defining American Culture.. Maybe you should start another trhead.

 

 

 

To everyone. I appologize for the picture heavy nature of this post.

cut the defensive bullshit, because asking you to clarify an ignorant statement YOU made isn't being defensive, ok? if i come across as bitchy it's because i AM bitchy, not because i'm defensive that someone i will never meet doesn't approve of the country i live in.

 

columbine, whoopee. tragic, ok, very sad, but it's not going to affect the music industry or someone's opinion of a band that no one has ever heard of from another country. seriously, what are you talking about when you say it may have been 'ill-conceived'? i don't understand why you think the media would give a shit what matthew good has to say about this country or the government, period. whether he had become famous here or not, they're still not going to care what he has to say about the government. he's just some guy that makes records to the people that run this country.

 

i 'discredited' what you said because you made an ignorant statement. and your 'photo essay' did nothing to show me that you know otherwise, because if this little montage is what you consider a 'lifestyle', then i don't know what to tell you.

it looks to me like your view of america is seen through the eyes of people magazine or the e! channel, and i'm sorry sweetheart, but that's called 'entertainment', not life.

 

honestly, i'm through even discussing this with you, because i could go outside and talk to a tree and get less ignorant retorts.

[LexyGirl]

I haven't had cable in 6 years, princess.

 

 

 

Still you've said nothing that DID discredit me, only continuously cutting me down.

Add something useful to your conversations, or maybe you should go talk to trees.

MUCH LOVE TEXAS.

 

 

*edit*

by the way... I think you need to get off the internet for awhile. You seem pretty pent up about something. Go out and express your frustration through physical activity. You'll feel better, I think.

Edited February 24, 2006 by LexyGirl

[uglyredhonda]

do tell, what exactly IS the 'Canadian lifestyle'?

 

 

 

 

 

[LexyGirl]

and damn proud of it all.

[Stu]

Couldn't ask for more than;

A donut, and coffee in the morning,

Some good old fashioned beer at brunch,

A good old hockey game at noon,

Steven Harper in a cowboy suit, haha,

And, Some good old fashioned Snowmobiling. (The lawnmower should really be a snowmobile)

 

But, really. Let's stop the arguing.

Jesus(look at avatar) wouldn't want this on his fan site.

[rebellious_L]

(The lawnmower should really be a snowmobile)

It's a snowblower

 

There is actually no difference between Canadian and American Lifestyle. We both live in fear of something. americans fear terrorists and we fear that we may become americans. That is why we feel the need to brag about things like Tim Hortons, hockey, toques, beer, and beavers. We like left wing policies because they are not american. Americans go to war and support right wing policies because it will protect them from terrorists and preserve their culture. Does what a left wing musician say affect his sales. Rage Against the Machine did pretty good considering their far left ideals. Lots of Canadians are also fat, drive gas guzzlers, watch the superbowl, and eat at McDonalds. Both American and Canadian lifestyles are defined by patriotism, we just express oursleves in different ways. We also don't like the word patriotism, once again because it sounds American.

Edited February 24, 2006 by rebellious_L

[Stu]

LOL! Whatever ;)

 

Edit: Wow, it is. I should really start to 'look' at things.

Edited February 24, 2006 by Stu

[glo]

columbine, whoopee. tragic, ok, very sad, but it's not going to affect the music industry or someone's opinion of a band that no one has ever heard of from another country. seriously, what are you talking about when you say it may have been 'ill-conceived'? i don't understand why you think the media would give a shit what matthew good has to say about this country or the government, period. whether he had become famous here or not, they're still not going to care what he has to say about the government. he's just some guy that makes records to the people that run this country.

 

i 'discredited' what you said because you made an ignorant statement. and your 'photo essay' did nothing to show me that you know otherwise, because if this little montage is what you consider a 'lifestyle', then i don't know what to tell you.

it looks to me like your view of america is seen through the eyes of people magazine or the e! channel, and i'm sorry sweetheart, but that's called 'entertainment', not life.

 

honestly, i'm through even discussing this with you, because i could go outside and talk to a tree and get less ignorant retorts.

You are very sick Mrs. J. Do you have any idea the impact that columbine had on your country? And Canada for that matter? This affected everything (Music Industry and all, remember how there were CD's made honouring the victims?) because it hit one of the the cores of society. (If you believe that people killing people is wrong) It gave a wake-up call to everyone about life and death. The shootings made people more sensitive about life.

At a time when people are sensitve, they are more likly to try and shut out any negative kind of anything.

It doens't really matter who someone is, if they're making waves and ruffling feathers they will be noticed and shut down.

 

Sorry, didn't want to keep argueing but, the columbine comment hit hard. I'm done.

[mrs jesus]

I haven't had cable in 6 years, princess.

 

 

 

Still you've said nothing that DID discredit me, only continuously cutting me down.

Add something useful to your conversations, or maybe you should go talk to trees.

MUCH LOVE TEXAS.

 

 

*edit*

by the way... I think you need to get off the internet for awhile. You seem pretty pent up about something. Go out and express your frustration through physical activity. You'll feel better, I think.

perhaps you should stick to emo poses and creating sig images with your name on them. that seems to be where the majority of your talents lie.

 

NOW you can say i've cut you down.

[uglyredhonda]

fat guys-

Hahaha - just noticed this picture was taken at 102.1 the Edge in Toronto. ;)

Edited February 25, 2006 by uglyredhonda

[Cherry Poppin' Daddy]

Wendy's owns Tim Hortons... So I guess it's part of the American lifestyle.

[mrs jesus]

You are very sick Mrs. J. Do you have any idea the impact that columbine had on your country? And Canada for that matter? This affected everything (Music Industry and all, remember how there were CD's made honouring the victims?) because it hit one of the the cores of society. (If you believe that people killing people is wrong) It gave a wake-up call to everyone about life and death. The shootings made people more sensitive about life.

At a time when people are sensitve, they are more likly to try and shut out any negative kind of anything.

It doens't really matter who someone is, if they're making waves and ruffling feathers they will be noticed and shut down.

 

Sorry, didn't want to keep argueing but, the columbine comment hit hard. I'm done.

my ex used to trade weed for pills to this chick named glo.. she was black, though. are you black?

 

i said columbine was sad, didn't i?

i'm pretty sure i did. i don't know where you got 'sick' from that, but whatever. there are cds made hono(u)ring all kinds of victims, that doesn't mean that the music industry as a whole is affected by any of it, which was my point. nowhere in my post did i say 'yay columbine, you kids should do a tour of the states shooting up schools, cuz that would be awesome!!'

 

in conclusion, matt good having a song called 'a boy and his machine gun' isn't/wasn't making waves or ruffling feathers. it's a fucking song title.

 

and fat guys are sexy. just not that one.

[scheurminator]

i bought my first matt good cd in the states, and i had to look through 3 different stores to find it, and they didn't even have it on the shelves. (beautiful midnight) i think that they just don't care about canadians enough to promote him

[capo2nd]

I remember being able to watch Hello Time Bomb at least twice a day on MTV2 when we had the good ole pirated RCA dish in action, but then again MTV2 played anything that wasnt "hip" at the moment. And although Matt didnt name an AOB tour, he had that string of shows that he did after AOB just after Anti-Pop went on the air(The debut of the Chris,pat,and rich line up) I remember the show in london on that tour because he played the slow version of The Future is X-rated (took me forever to find the bootleg)

[mrs jesus]

i bought my first matt good cd in the states, and i had to look through 3 different stores to find it, and they didn't even have it on the shelves. (beautiful midnight) i think that they just don't care about canadians enough to promote him

yep, that's it exactly

 

in fact, all the americans that post at this board only do so because there's a law that says the board has to have americans posting or it gets shut down. true story.

[uglyredhonda]

i bought my first matt good cd in the states, and i had to look through 3 different stores to find it, and they didn't even have it on the shelves. (beautiful midnight) i think that they just don't care about canadians enough to promote him

You know, you could spend a few minutes reading up on things.

 

The BM you bought? Released in America by Atlantic Records, and isn't the same as the version they sell in Canada. To date, it's the only MG album that's been released in the States.

 

American labels promote their own releases. They don't promote releases by foreign companies, even their own affiliates. When you buy, say, Radiohead's OK Computer, you're buying a copy made in America by Capitol Records. You're not buying a Parlophone/EMI copy made in the UK (unless you intentionally buy an import). Capitol promotes Radiohead the US, Parlophone/EMI does not.

 

If Capitol didn't release Radiohead's records here, you would only find a Radiohead album in an occasional music store, maybe Tower Records or HMV. Capitol would not promote them, and you would hear a lot less about them.

 

Though I'm still baffled as to how you came to the conclusion that it's all about "them" not caring about Canadians. They don't sell Avril Lavigne records at your local music store? Or records from Broken Social Scene, Feist, Arcade Fire, etc?

 

Then again, you are the same jackass who feels the need to respond to threads that ended six weeks ago.

[mrs jesus]

see, affirmative action made that last post possible ^

[uglyredhonda]

see, affirmative action made that last post possible ^

Careful! I don't wanna get my visa revoked.

[luckyyou4811]

Sorry I'm late to this whole conversation, but I guess I'll throw in my perspective on the situation. I'm a fan from the US and I had no idea who he was until I happened to stumble upon one of his music videos and liked what I heard. I'd say marketing was definitely a factor at some level: whether they marketed to the wrong audience or just plain didn't do enough. I've found a handful of avid fans around the university that I formerly attended, and I think a lot of people just haven't been exposed to it. I don't know for sure (although my degree is in Strategic Communication ;) ), but I think they should have focused more on grassroots marketing to college-aged students. Just my personal opinion... who knows?!

[uglyredhonda]

I've probably said this already, but I think it was everything. By 2001, music tastes had shifted toward Limp Bizkit and company. (I'm pretty sure I said this already: it was the right album for 1999 and the wrong album for 2001.)

 

MGB had been supporting BM for almost two years by that point, and the US tour was far too short to break the band. (By comparison, Our Lady Peace undertook several full-scale US tours before they started to catch on, and each one of them hit more cities than the one that MGB undertook.) And, at that point, MGB were ready to deal with Audio of Being, removing some of the incentive to supporting BM in the US. At the same time, I think Atlantic thought it would catch on quickly, given the presence of six songs that had already been singles in Canada. But MTV had major issues with the HTB video, and I doubt anybody was happy with the edits. I think the failure was both sides - that both the band and Atlantic decided (though probably separately) that it wasn't worth the effort. If the band and the label don't want to support something, no amount of grass roots marketing will save it.

 

And BM is all of the promotion that MG has had in the States. "Weapon" got played on Queer as Folk, and was on the third season soundtrack CD, but it was licensed via Universal Canada.

[Guest Prosis]

That and I think that people are not very fond of his anti-entertainer attitude. Matt is an artist not just some singer. And after hearing some things that happened to him (like during the Montreal show, he told us that seventeen magazine interviewed him and asked him what his first sexy experience was...really does anyone here see Matt answering that seriously?...anyhow, he answered that some girl brought him in the woods and jerked him off...classic Matt Good) I'm not surprised that he abandoned too.

 

But people don't like that in the US or in Canada. I've seen so many good artists getting stoned for not wanting to participate in that sort of crap. It's sad...

Edited June 25, 2006 by Prosis

[Selina]

I think the general public isn't ready for Matt Good. His music is too deep. You have to take time and really dissect his lyrics to understand some of the songs. Unfortunately, the vast majority of music consumers only want a catchy tune and lovey-dovey lyrics (sometimes lyrics don't even seem to matter) or a danceable tune. Some of the singles that were released (ie. Hello Time bomb, load me up, the future is x-rated) probably led people to type-cast what Matt Good is really all about. He does have a softer side, yet most of those songs haven't made it onto main-stream radio.

I think the general public doesn't want intelligent music; maybe because they don't understand it, or maybe it's just not seen as trendy (yet).

I think it's a safe assumption that the majority of Matt Good fans are intelligent, worldly, care about society and politics and just the general universe. We listen to Matt's music not just because he comes up with creative tunes, but because he conveys emotion and has a point in his songs. He's not writing lyrics with the goal of following the formula for a pop "hit". His music is much deeper than that, much more real, and heart-felt.

I hope one day soon the world will be a better place, where people care about the future and value intelligence, and Matt Good will be discovered to be the Music Genius (or Music God) that us fans already know he is.

[jennzebel]

look what the americans do to a dixie chick with an opinion...?

 

i like to think MG is just a calibre above what most retarded folk enjoy...

[Zoon]

He mentions exactly why in an interview here: http://thebackstagepass.ca/interviews.html

 

The media in the US was very condescending and he didn't want to fulfill some demands of the label because it would compromise his integrity.