Zakk Wylde: "You're Never Going To Have An 'Appetite for Destruction' Again"

[FunkyMonkey]

From an interview published today with Zakk Wylde:

Zakk Wylde puts the pedal to the metal in Black Label Society

October 14, 2010

One of the challenges for bands like Black Label Society is that the chance of one of its songs working itself in the lexicon like "Whole Lotta Love," "Back in Black" or "Welcome to the Jungle" is becoming more remote.

"You're never going to have an 'Appetite for Destruction' again. If it came out now, it would still be great, be an amazing record, but instead of selling 17 million records, it would sell four. I mean, the first day your record comes out, it's gone, that's it. People are downloading it and the whole nine yards. It's gone.

"I don't understand. If there's a new thing with Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones, I'm buying it. I'm not going to download the damn thing. It's not like the album is $6,000. C'mon, man. I don't get it. I go buy it. What are we lookin' at here, man, $14? That it's. For cryin' out loud. We might as well go to a movie theater and sneak in and hopefully we'll be able to steal some popcorn. It's stupid, man."

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10287/1094969-388.stm

[GNRVahland]

Actually...there seems to be a kinda new Appetite...

"In an industry of manufactured one hit wonders, Falling Red, have produced quite possibly the most vital Rock album since Guns N Roses delivered Appetite For Destruction"

http://www.rocksins.com/2010/03/falling-red-shake-the-faith-review-4636/

Don't know it yet...but sounds ok !

[FunkyMonkey]

Actually...there seems to be a kinda new Appetite...

I think he means in terms of sales.

[HBK]

You're Never Going To Have An 'Appetite for Destruction' Again"

It`s True, AFD Edited In 1987

[rebelhipi]

agree
people downlaod everything and after they go shopping for clothes for like 100 e a week or go to mcdonals for 15 e whats the point

[rebelhipi]

i rather steal from mcdonals for their shitty food than a album that im gonna have for the rest of my life

[Bodhi]

I never download albums for free, because they sound like shit.  If the quality is slightly downgraded from the original i cant listen to it.

[Gaymo, the Hobbit]

Zakk is the fucking man!!

[LIGuns]

As great as ITUNES is it is ruining the experience of purchasing an album/CD and finding a hidden gem that initially didn't grab you..

[LIGuns]

I remember the excitement of stores opening up at midnight for the UTI Set..Now what do people do sit at home on their computers awaiting 1200AM. Technology can really suck the excitement out of things..

[Voodoochild]

Call me old, but some (like myself) are not into waiting in a queue freezing the ass off. IMO things are better now because you can pretty much order anything online and still get the artwork, if you like.

[m_rated96]

Jesus zakk of course people dont buy it cos the world is changing. It happens. Music's value isn't in the product itself anymore.

People never bought albums to "Support the artist"; they bought it for themselves. Thats how capitalism works. Don't act like people in the 80's were better or something.

Just need a new business model or some shit.

[Butch Français]

it's true, Axl, Slash or anyone else will never make an AFD again, ever.
Zakk always says it like it is, i like that.

[Gezzy]

Read some article today about some guy who said to make all albums ?1 to stop piracy, but all that would do is make the artists lose money, people would still download illegally.

[fear the juggalo 2]

as far as sales go, eminem is still doing pretty well.

[Z?phyr]

As great as ITUNES is it is ruining the experience of purchasing an album/CD and finding a hidden gem that initially didn't grab you..

I miss the smell and sound of vinyl and staring at the artworks !
Maybe I'm old fashioned but I still prefer buying my records rather than downloading (paid or stolen), heck don't even have an ipod thingy...
Zakk is absolutely right though, as are many many others trying to keep up in this industry...

[mrlee]

Albums are not worth the risk of spending hard earned money on these days.


Frankly if i go into a music shop, they are selling albums, past and present for like ?14. No way am i gonna pay that, spesh if i aint heard it.

Sell em ?5 n id be buying them left right n centre. Anytime they have sales of CDS for that price i buy them even if ive already got them in MP3

[Z?phyr]

Albums in Europe are pretty expensive I agree Mrlee, but that's the fault of the EU commission and social security taxes and tons of other taxes employers n businesses have to pay... the lower the employment cost is the lower albums cost.
CD price was 11USD at best buy when it was released, here in Belgium it was 27Euro that's more than 3 times as much as the US retail price, don't think the band(s) gets more from it though... a shame...

[BlowUpYourVideo]

Frankly if i go into a music shop, they are selling albums, past and present for like ?14. No way am i gonna pay that, spesh if i aint heard it.

Yeah, I rarely buy CDs on shops now, unless they're in a sale. You can get companies selling new copies on Amazon for only a few quid.

I know Zakk didn't say this, but I hate it when you hear stuff like "the kids these days don't care about music, they just download it all". How do these people know what all "the kids" do? I buy physical albums legally, thanks very much.

But he's probably right that there isn't going to be another album that sells like AFD etc. did.

[mrlee]

Frankly if i go into a music shop, they are selling albums, past and present for like ?14. No way am i gonna pay that, spesh if i aint heard it.

Yeah, I rarely buy CDs on shops now, unless they're in a sale. You can get companies selling new copies on Amazon for only a few quid.

I know Zakk didn't say this, but I hate it when you hear stuff like "the kids these days don't care about music, they just download it all". How do these people know what all "the kids" do? I buy physical albums legally, thanks very much.

But he's probably right that there isn't going to be another album that sells like AFD etc. did.

There will be plenty, and im sure they will all have Simon Cowell behind them.....

[WTTJ_91]

Actually...there seems to be a kinda new Appetite...

"In an industry of manufactured one hit wonders, Falling Red, have produced quite possibly the most vital Rock album since Guns N Roses delivered Appetite For Destruction"

http://www.rocksins.com/2010/03/falling-red-shake-the-faith-review-4636/

Don't know it yet...but sounds ok !

You can't be serious. This is more Crue than Guns. The thing about Guns that was unique is that it didn't sound stale...Falling Red sounds...cheesy?

I wanna get you on your knees, oh baby please?

Guns went far far FAR beyond just Slash's blues guitar work. Axl has/had an IMMENSE sense of lyrical prowess, Duff had a distinct style and Izzy provided so much. The thing about Guns is they weren't trying to be anyone else but Guns. Which is the issue I find with a lot of bands who are inspired by 70's/80's rock. There will NEVER be another Guns N' Roses, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, AC/DC etc... BUT there will also never be another YOU, so be yourself.

[Z?phyr]

There will NEVER be another Guns N' Roses, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, AC/DC etc... BUT there will also never be another YOU, so be yourself.

+1 to that, very true !!!

[Voodoochild]

One point is that there is an unnecessary cost in CDs these days: the CD itself. Its just not that useful anymore when you have all you need in some small device. It's just like what is today - you cant say a mp3 player isnt more easy to use and carry than a bunch of CDs.

I only buy CDs from artists I really like unless they are really really cheap. Even so, what I listen the most are the mp3 from the very same album I ripped. Even with Chinese Democracy - which I still listen every day.

[Z?phyr]

I'm pretty old school and prefer vinyl and CD's, Problem with mp3 is that it is a serious degradation of CD just as CD's are a degradation in quality over vinyl...
Vinyl is full resolution, CD is compressed or downsized to 16bits and mp3 everything below that in various degradations... try to compare Chinese Democracy on mp3 then CD and then the Vinyl on the same set of speakers and same room... you will be jaw droppingly amazed....

Anyhow people don't listen to music anymore like that only audiophiles do... and I do understand the portability people want these day's...  that's a big discussion in the audio engineering world for years now... our goal is to get the best quality in all format's... (not an easy task but we will get there eventually)...

[Ismellbetterthanyou]

I re-buy some CDs I sold in the past, if they are not too expensive. I only buy new CDs of bands that I love now (GN'R, Cracker, I can't think of another one right now) or soundtracks (scores, not shitty compilations of hit songs, limited expanded editions of OSTs from Jerry Goldsmith,...), I love searching for interesting used CDs in second hand shops. I don't have any MP3 player and I probably never will. I love my Discman dearly (^^), I only feed him a good CD when it's hungry.

[Voodoochild]

Vinyl is full resolution, CD is compressed or downsized to 16bits and mp3 everything below that in various degradations... try to compare Chinese Democracy on mp3 then CD and then the Vinyl on the same set of speakers and same room... you will be jaw droppingly amazed....

I don't think that's true. Vinyl has imperfections and distortions that can't represent the original recording as faithful as a CD. There's also an obvious sentimental influence there.

Most people just think it sounds better because the old stereos had a better setup. Also, the more the tracks are scretched by the system, the more the sound gets "deep" (still artificial, tho).

My point is: with a nice encoding or even losless, any digital file can be as good as any CD or Vinyl. At the end of the day, I rather listen to some good quality MP3 and highend earphones because of the overall benefits.

[Pinball Wizard]

Vinyl is full resolution, CD is compressed or downsized to 16bits and mp3 everything below that in various degradations... try to compare Chinese Democracy on mp3 then CD and then the Vinyl on the same set of speakers and same room... you will be jaw droppingly amazed....

I don't think that's true. Vinyl has imperfections and distortions that can't represent the original recording as faithful as a CD. There's also an obvious sentimental influence there.

Most people just think it sounds better because the old stereos had a better setup. Also, the more the tracks are scretched by the system, the more the sound gets "deep" (still artificial, tho).

My point is: with a nice encoding or even losless, any digital file can be as good as any CD or Vinyl. At the end of the day, I rather listen to some good quality MP3 and highend earphones because of the overall benefits.

Exactly. The psychological influence makes most people believe that Vinyls are better than CDs. People can love the feeling of having a vinyl as much as they want to, i'm fine with that, but you just can't say that vinyls have higher audio quality than CDs. That's just nonsense!

Voodoo, remember that post I once made about this over at Perfect Crime? I believe I explained this point pretty well...

[Voodoochild]

Of course I remember. From where do you think I got all that?