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Tracy Chapman

cronker

cronker

Feb 13, 2007
1,054
651
Australia
#1
hello tbers

I was listening to Tracy Chapman's self titled debut album just recently and remembered how much I enjoyed it upon its release. And it was a major selling album back when I was working in the record store.
Looking her up, I was surprised to find that some sources say she was held back and groomed for a big debut by her management. Some say she spent almost 6 years in development.
I wonder if there are still artists who have the luxury of 6 years developing their brand before releasing the debut?

Katy Perry comes to mind - she seemed to bust out of nowhere with a decent bunch of pop hits. Perhaps Gaga as well?
 
#2
I don't know any Tracy Chapman other than that hit from the 90s, but I can tell from that song alone that she's a different kind of artist than Katy Perry or Lady Gaga. As far as I can tell Tracy Chapman is a musician who put out some music. I don't know what was happening those six years. A lot of corporate shenanigans would be my guess. But Katy Perry and Lady Gaga are pop stars putting out manufactured music. Churn out those formulaic hits and be outrageous and the money flows. Lady Gaga is actually talented but she's still putting out poppy, soulless, paint by numbers music. It's catchy but it's a product.

...all in my opinion.
 
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#3
Gorn said:
I don't know any Tracy Chapman other than that hit from the 90s, but I can tell from that song alone that she's a different kind of artist than Katy Perry or Lady Gaga. As far as I can tell Tracy Chapman is a musician who put out some music. I don't know what was happening those six years. A lot of corporate shenanigans would be my guess. But Katy Perry and Lady Gaga are pop stars putting out manufactured music. Churn out those formulaic hits and be outrageous and the money flows. Lady Gaga is actually talented but she's still putting out poppy, soulless, paint by numbers music. It's catchy but it's a product.

...all in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Motown did the same thing as did Phil Spector and every record company that has been backing huge bands/acts.

I don't fault the process, "message", manufacturing, or production in making any kind of music. Either we like it or we don't.
 
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#4
Jloch86 said:
Motown did the same thing as did Phil Spector and every record company that has been backing huge bands/acts.

I don't fault the process, "message", manufacturing, or production in making any kind of music. Either we like it or we don't.
Click to expand...
Neither do I. I'm not saying the pop stuff is objectively bad but it does seem less musical than Tracy Chapman, to me. For me that means it's not as good which doesn't at all mean it's objectively bad. It's all subjective.
 
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#9
Gorn said:
I don't know any Tracy Chapman other than that hit from the 90s, but I can tell from that song alone that she's a different kind of artist than Katy Perry or Lady Gaga. As far as I can tell Tracy Chapman is a musician who put out some music. I don't know what was happening those six years. A lot of corporate shenanigans would be my guess. But Katy Perry and Lady Gaga are pop stars putting out manufactured music. Churn out those formulaic hits and be outrageous and the money flows. Lady Gaga is actually talented but she's still putting out poppy, soulless, paint by numbers music. It's catchy but it's a product.

...all in my opinion.
Click to expand...


I get ya, but I'm gonna have to disagree about Gaga. She is a musician as well. Classically trained from what I've read. Not everything of hers is my cup of tea but I'd say she took a page ...no and entire chapter, out of Madonnas book. Make them notice you, then make them love you, then make them respect you. The road to riches :)
 
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#10
Funky Ghost said:
I get ya, but I'm gonna have to disagree about Gaga. She is musician as well. Classically trained from what I've read. Not everything of hers is my cup of tea but I'd say she took a page ...no and entire chapter, out of Madonnas book. Make them notice you, then make them love you, then make them respect you. The road to riches :)
Click to expand...
No I agree about Gaga. She's a legitimately talented musician. But she makes poppy crap as if she was just another cookie cutter pop star. She can do better and it would be great if she did.
 
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#12
Gorn said:
I don't know any Tracy Chapman other than that hit from the 90s, but I can tell from that song alone that she's a different kind of artist than Katy Perry or Lady Gaga. As far as I can tell Tracy Chapman is a musician who put out some music. I don't know what was happening those six years. A lot of corporate shenanigans would be my guess. But Katy Perry and Lady Gaga are pop stars putting out manufactured music. Churn out those formulaic hits and be outrageous and the money flows. Lady Gaga is actually talented but she's still putting out poppy, soulless, paint by numbers music. It's catchy but it's a product.

...all in my opinion.
Click to expand...

I'm going to guess you mean "Give me one Reason" but the OP is referring to her debut from 1987. She had another hit off that record with "Fast Car". I just looked these albums up and, surprisingly, her debut outsold the New Beginning (the one with "give me one reason") at a 4:1 ratio.



My friend lived in Mongolia for a year in the mid-2000s. He came back home blasting "give me one reason" like it was 1995 again. When I asked him why he found such a love for the song he informed me that every cover band in Mongolia did this song as part of their set. He also mentioned that it was always men who sang the song and they tended to nail it.
 
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#13
All great comments and viewpoints.
I'm interested because in 87, when her debut album dropped, there was a resurgence in "coffeehouse" female folksy artists - Melissa Etheridge, k.d.lang, Suzanne Vega etc.
Only a scant few years earlier, female solo artists were popularised by Madonna, Cyndi Lauper and Whitney Houston.
Chapman would have landed dead in the water had her management and label decided to release her into that market, so they wisely waited for tastes to turn.
Actually, thinking about this, I seem to remember that Clive Davis held Whitney back in a long development phase too, but that may have been due to her age.
It's not really clear how long Gaga was in development before she released,but as pointed out above, the industry today probably doesn't have time to wait on artists honing their craft. We rarely see any new acts coming through who have "paid their dues" on the bar scene - they're mostly manufactured by the execs or use television talent shows for their break.
Or alternatively, perhaps social media outlets are the new development workshops?
 
#15
cronker said:
hello tbers

I was listening to Tracy Chapman's self titled debut album just recently and remembered how much I enjoyed it upon its release. And it was a major selling album back when I was working in the record store.
Looking her up, I was surprised to find that some sources say she was held back and groomed for a big debut by her management. Some say she spent almost 6 years in development.
I wonder if there are still artists who have the luxury of 6 years developing their brand before releasing the debut?

Katy Perry comes to mind - she seemed to bust out of nowhere with a decent bunch of pop hits. Perhaps Gaga as well?
Click to expand...

She wanted to get her college degree before she focused on her music career. Her producer wanted to do the same.
 
#16
If you're referring to Whitney, that's certainly true, but for Tracy Chapman, it's not as clear.
Joni Mitchell has stated in numerous interviews that she had some involvement in a long game master plan to launch Tracy Chapman's career, spanning back to at least 1982.
 
#18
I really liked her stuff, but always felt she somehow got left behind. It bolsters my personal conspiracy theory that record companies don't want artists with too much talent; if someone is that good they can call the shots. 90% of the "artists" out there only made it because they had a giant corporation backing them up, and they are beholden to that corporation. I've seen so many amazingly talented people playing dive bars and such low talent making it big. Playing in cover bands over the last few years has been so easy, just learn the two or three notes and play them over and over and over and over... There are exceptions, but this seems to be the rule. /conspiracy
 
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#19
cronker said:
If you're referring to Whitney, that's certainly true, but for Tracy Chapman, it's not as clear.
Joni Mitchell has stated in numerous interviews that she had some involvement in a long game master plan to launch Tracy Chapman's career, spanning back to at least 1982.
Click to expand...

I'm referring to Tracy & Brian Koppelman: they both wanted to get their degrees first.
 
#20
Not that Lady Gaga needs defending, but she can play piano quite well. As far as I know she doesn't even play on her hits. Yes, prepackaged pop groups have been around since the creation of the music industry. Master songwriters from NYC's Brill Building included: Burt Bacharach, Neil Diamond, Carol King and future congressman Sonny Bono. At the same time in Motown you had: Holland, Dozier, Holland, Ashford and Simpson, Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye. Once TV got into the act with Dick Clark's American Bandstand, groups started being cast more than recruited, many never played or sang on their own singles. Go figure.
 
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