I saw a news item on some american channel this morning. Apparently sales of van Halen music and merchandise is up 6000%+ since the announcement of Eddie's death. I don't get this. Surely if you're a fan of van Halen you own all their music already. Is it morbidity or fear of missing out? When they brought out the Mexican built Frankenstrat I fancied getting one but thought I'd give it a few months and they'd come down in price. They were much more accurate than the earlier replicas. Doesn't look like I'll ever get one now.
Ian
Lowering my
expectations has succeeded beyond my wildest dreams.
Comments
When I first came across Van Halen in the late 80s I wasn't old enough to own any LPs or CDs - but my older brothers were! I took it in then and then rediscovered it in my early twenties when I started playing guitar and I had a friend who made a tape of their first album for me around then which I listened to until it broke.
So now I'm thinking about buying a couple of albums because Eddie has died and reminds me that the music is good. I don't think that is too bad is it?
I have all the Van halen CDs apart from maybe one or two. Including two different versions of Van halen III. I never got around to completing the collection with all the remastered versions but maybe I'll think about doing that now. everyone's got a wish list of things that they want to get done but cash flow might not let them. I don't think that the surge in sales is anything to do with ambulance chasers. Sure there are some people out there that fit that category but at this point in my life I don't really need to get the remastered version of Van halen 2. EVH dies and all of a sudden I think maybe I should do it. Maybe it's some misguided respect thing?
https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/57776/handsomerik/p1
His death reminded me, as a casual fan, how much I liked some of his music, that's all.
People buying up memorabilia in the hope it will go up in value, that is more of an ambulance chasing thing.
Now, if people start selling stuff on eBay for inflated prices, that is pretty tasteless. I have seen this in the past with Chris Cornell and BB King sig guitars being hiked up.
Maybe they owned the albums when they came out but got rid of them over time. Now, with his music being played a fair bit this person thinks "You know what? I've forgotten how much I liked this, I'll have to buy it again."
Mystery solved.
Ian
Lowering my expectations has succeeded beyond my wildest dreams.
“Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay