Quarry's sales were not rescued by First of the Gang. That single nudged the album back up into the charts for a couple of weeks. But most of Quarry's sales were in the first month. He sold nearly 100,000 in the first week! They were also helped by Sanctuary re-releasing it with b-sides.
The simple fact is there was a lot more hype around Morrissey in 2004. That didn't exist this year, if anything I've noticed a backlash against him. Particularly among people who see themselves as serious about music, you know the type, the ones that are always following the latest fashion. He's just not fashionable anymore.
It didn't help matters that Morrissey decided to go AWOL in the first week of ROTT's release. OK, he was having voice problems, but that wouldn't have stopped him doing the odd media interview.
The lesson is the first week of release always sets the pace. If you don't make your presence felt then people quickly lose interest and no amount of old-fashioned tours will make any difference. No one in the media cares if you are playing gigs in Halifax or Truro.
Sorry, but you are wrong about this! I am a little bit obsessed with chart positions, record sales and radio airplay (although I'm not proud of the fact!).
Quarry sold around 80,000 in the first week; ROTT sold a similar amount (70,000). Quarry went tumbling down the charts week after week reaching the low 60s by about week 6. Then FOTG started picking up major air-play (for a Moz single) and, for the first time in Moz history, (other than possibly Viva Hate) the album started to climb.
It climbed slowly over about 4 or 5 weeks as airplay picked up and actually made it back to the top 20 of the album chart which is an amazing feat for a Moz album. As FOTG passed and the airplay tailed off, the album sank back down the chart and was out of the top 75 after about 15-20 weeks.
The subsequent release of Let Me Kiss You and Jesus did nothing to revive the album and bring it back into the chart (top 75). These singles hardly picked up any airplay compared with First of the Gang. Sanctuary releasing a platinum version also failed to bring it back into the chart.
You are right about the greater hype in 2004 but ROTT and Quarry were only 10,000 sales apart after one week; after 20 weeks they were 200,000 sales apart so the importance of week one is not that great.
Hype can guarantee high inital sales but won't get people buying albums months after their release (see how the Arctic Monkeys album hasn't been in the charts for months). Songs need to be played on the radio for albums to have longevity and draw in the casual listener.
Another example; Quarry came out just after the first Keane album.
Unlike Keane, Moz was all over the music press but Keane's songs got tons more radio airplay. Quarry sold under 400,000; Keane sold over 2 million.
Airplay is what you need. The people who decide, in their weekly meetings, what will get played on their radio stations are pretty much the most powerful people in the music industry...
