I have always been obsessed with bonus tracks…b-sides…and the rare compilation inclusions. Finding these songs was like finding a secret piece of a band that most people didn’t know about. It created a personal attachment to a band…even if they were popular. Owning “Even in His Youth” made you cooler than everyone who owned “Nevermind.” Owning “Burro” gave you street cred over those who just owned “Odelay.” Owning SOMMS made you infinitely more bad ass than everyone who suddenly got into Soundgarden. Sometimes…in order to obtain these special tracks meant buying an import single for $10…or even a Japanese import for upwards of $40. But paying this much wasn’t a big deal since the adventure to find the song made it worth the pricetag.
But today, we have the internet. And finding bonus songs is about as time-consuming as it is to type the title into google. That hasn’t stopped bands from putting out multiple versions of their albums. Last week…Weezer’s new album, Raditude came out in 5 different version: the regular version, the deluxe version with 4 bonus songs, the amazon bonus version, the itunes ipass version, and the import version. Each had different tracks…each cost about $10-$20. And it takes no effort to hunt them down…so…what’s the point record label? Fans are not going to go out and download one version from itunes and another from Amazon. It just will not happen. All that will happen is that we turn to the internet to download them for free. Sorry…but you’re just making the situation worse.
Make sure you add us to your Twitter…so you’ll know when the Orange Album and Pink Album come out.
Here is Weezer’s The Purple Album:
3. Suzanne
4. Jamie
6. Devotion
9. Velouria
10. Christmas Song
Buy Weezer’s new album…Raditude! (get the bonus deluxe edition with 4 extra tracks)