I'll offer myself up as a voice of irrationality. Not only do I still make blind buys for a number of my favorite bands, but when I've decided ahead of time that I'm definitely buying something when it's released, I intentionally refuse to listen to even officially-released samples or tracks. (like twisztedjesus) When I know I'm going to hear something, I want to hear it 100% new all at once.
Who are your "blind buy" bands & who have fallen from that status?
- Thread starter General Zod
- Start date
How can it be a "blind" buy when it's a band that's been around for a decade? Shouldn't a blind buy be one you have no clue about? Shouldn't it be called a "deaf" buy instead of "blind"? Shouldn't we enjoy life instead of posting stupid musings? Do you know that this idiotic post is done with tongue firmly placed in cheek???
TwizstedJesus
Member
- Mar 1, 2004
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Tongue firmly in ...its funny how we have to battle about everything...If this were a meeting room in the ghetto we'd all have guns and many would be dead by now
VenomGA
At War With Stan
- Jul 28, 2005
- 4,221
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There used to be DOZENS...DOZENS of bands I would blind-buy over the years, but now I would say none. not even my favorite band Venom. Their last 2-3 albums have been so sub par that I won;t even blind purchase them anymore and I have been a fan of theirs for almost 30 years. Slayer would probably be the closest to a blind-buy band now but even them...no.
There are far too many bands out there, and every one has put at least one bad album. With so many bands today compared to the 80's and early 90's, you have to be more selective in what you purchase.
There are far too many bands out there, and every one has put at least one bad album. With so many bands today compared to the 80's and early 90's, you have to be more selective in what you purchase.
skyrefuge
Member
No, for me, buying music is about enjoying the music. I don't deny that a blind first-listen can be emotionally exciting, but that first listen represents only a tiny fraction of the enjoyment I hope to get from an album, so it doesn't make much sense to me to put a premium value on that initial blind-listen. Particularly when there is a cost to it that outweighs the benefit: time and money wasted on a shot-in-the-dark that I don't enjoy at all prevents me from spending time and money on music that I truly love. I know it sounds like it takes all the fun out of it, but sampling things helps to maximize my *total* music-enjoyment.
In general I'm just too old and boring and listen to too much music to allow me form an emotional attachment with a b(r)and anymore. I have no loyalty to the b(r)ands, it's the specific music they're making at this point in time that matters to me.
Ok, yes, I was assuming that people posting in this thread were music fans.
At least that explains Inmoria being on your former blind-buy list...I was wondering how a band could have built up enough of a track-record to make it onto your blind-buy list, then screw up and fall off that list, when they had only released a single album!
Yeah, that would make a lot more sense to me.
You would think that people would realize the foolishness of this presumption when they post their lists and notice that the number of bands who have fallen off their blind-buy list are similar to the number who have remained on!
I'd be curious to see for bands on the former-blind-buy lists, how long (in number of albums) it took for them to be elevated to the blind-buy list, and then, how many albums it took for them to get knocked off. Even if you think blind-buys are a valuable thing, do people actually execute them well? Or is it like the stock market, where people have a tendency to "buy high" (put a band on their blind-buy list) just before the stock crashes?
Neil
cslebn
The Duck of Doom
- Dec 22, 2008
- 316
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Blind (or deaf) Buys:
Redemption
Andromeda
3
Orphaned Land
Dream Theater (Black Clouds got them back on this side)
Evergrey
Rush
Uriah Heep
Vanden Plas
Enchant
Thought Chamber
Heavenly
ARK (I hope)
AtmOsfear
No longer blond buys:
Gamma Ray
Pain of Salvation
Queensryche
Rhapsody
Porcupine Tree
Deadsoul Tribe
Coheed & Cambria (though they haven't been since '04)
Protest the Hero
DGM
Edit:
My favorite blind buy - Living Color's Time's Up for $0.99
Redemption
Andromeda
3
Orphaned Land
Dream Theater (Black Clouds got them back on this side)
Evergrey
Rush
Uriah Heep
Vanden Plas
Enchant
Thought Chamber
Heavenly
ARK (I hope)
AtmOsfear
No longer blond buys:
Gamma Ray
Pain of Salvation
Queensryche
Rhapsody
Porcupine Tree
Deadsoul Tribe
Coheed & Cambria (though they haven't been since '04)
Protest the Hero
DGM
Edit:
My favorite blind buy - Living Color's Time's Up for $0.99
So for your blindbuys, do you listen to songs when they release them or do you purposely avoid everything until the album is released?
nomisofsiman
Member
For me typically I try to avoid listening to anything from my blind buys. There are exceptions, but I like to enjoy it all at once. What will happen sometimes though is if I didn't buy something the day of release and start hearing some bad things about it. Then, I will stray from the blind buy and take a couple listens.
Corsair
Member
- Aug 17, 2009
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The only album I bought in recent history because of my feelings towards the artist who recorded it was Mastodon's album Crack the Skye, and was more than a little bit disappointed by it. Consider I bought Leviathan and Remission on a whim; blood mountain was a blind buy; and those three are why I bought CtS. I bought I have, however, bought a good number of albums because I liked the album art/packaging, but I generally only do that with bands I'm not already familiar with. Although I did buy several King Crimson albums without first hearing them on my father's recommendation; I'm glad I listened to him. But that was like 4 years ago.
I think I'd probably buy anything that KC put out, though I get the feeling that Fripp is going to kick the bucket before he gets around to recording anything new.
It's also intersting to see a few lists of 'will no longer blind buy' from bands whose material I feel has been getting better with time; DGM and Tarot (whose earlier albums I can't even listen to without skipping several tracks.), to name two. Symphony X I can kinda understand, even though I think PL is an awesome album from front to back, despite the fact that it's a rather different style from previous efforts.
I think I'd probably buy anything that KC put out, though I get the feeling that Fripp is going to kick the bucket before he gets around to recording anything new.
It's also intersting to see a few lists of 'will no longer blind buy' from bands whose material I feel has been getting better with time; DGM and Tarot (whose earlier albums I can't even listen to without skipping several tracks.), to name two. Symphony X I can kinda understand, even though I think PL is an awesome album from front to back, despite the fact that it's a rather different style from previous efforts.
cslebn
The Duck of Doom
- Dec 22, 2008
- 316
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Agreed. It isn't hard to avoid listening to new material as well when your work network disables all streaming (I miss live365 so much), and then when you get home you want to record or do something now music related.
I actually don't like listening before buying somedays because it has turned me off of albums that I later went back to and decided I liked; nothing like losing a couple years of listening.
The Invisible Guest
Member
I don't blind buy anything. I download it .. listen to it .. if I like it then it goes on "the buy" list.
If that option was no longer available to me I would probably still only blind buy from my very favroites .. King Diamond, Amorphis, Vanden Plas, and probably just a handful of others.
Britt
If that option was no longer available to me I would probably still only blind buy from my very favroites .. King Diamond, Amorphis, Vanden Plas, and probably just a handful of others.
Britt
For those who said they wouldn't blind buy anything, because of the ease of downloading/sampling, let me phrase this another way...
Let's say you're browsing in a record store or you're walking around by the vendor tables at a festival, and you see a CD by one of your favorite bands, who you didn't even know had a new CD coming out. Do you go home and listen to the samples before buying it and or do you just buy it, right then and there? I know if I see a new Nevermore CD in the store, I'm buying it right then and there so I can listen to that bad boy on the way home.
Now I know some of you are going to say that you would never be caught by surprise by one of your favorite band's releases, because you follow their forum, you've "Liked" their Facebook page, etc. Just play along. Do you buy it right then and there or wait till you get home and listen to it first?
I already know Neil's response, as his CD collection is governed by some odd rules.
Let's say you're browsing in a record store or you're walking around by the vendor tables at a festival, and you see a CD by one of your favorite bands, who you didn't even know had a new CD coming out. Do you go home and listen to the samples before buying it and or do you just buy it, right then and there? I know if I see a new Nevermore CD in the store, I'm buying it right then and there so I can listen to that bad boy on the way home.
Now I know some of you are going to say that you would never be caught by surprise by one of your favorite band's releases, because you follow their forum, you've "Liked" their Facebook page, etc. Just play along. Do you buy it right then and there or wait till you get home and listen to it first?
I already know Neil's response, as his CD collection is governed by some odd rules.
booB
Señor Member
A TV nerd. Lest ye forget.
Ok, yes, I was assuming that people posting in this thread were music fans.
Smartass.
I'll check out the occasional band online; this was how I knew I would enjoy DSO enough to buy both of their discs before they took the stage last year.Yeah, they don't really belong on either list, since I bought Invisible Wounds after having heard the demo clips online for months in advance. I think the point was more that I would have bought their cds blind, and now I wouldn't, and it boils down to having had one of my favorite vocalists on the planet, and, now, not having him.
I already know Neil's response, as his CD collection is governed by some odd rules.
I can't even imagine what Neil's response will be, for the same reason.
I'm also curious to know what John would say.
dcowboys311
Member
I don't really blind buy everything for any specific bands, but every once in a while I'll pick up a demo or EP from a band that's getting good reviews and has other positive attributes (shares members with other bands I like, consistent label, cool cover art, etc).
Ignoring my previous dork post on this thread, I've bought cd's from bands that I had no clue about simply because they were playing at the ProgPower festivals that I was going to. Bands like Secret Sphere, Wuthering Heights, Dreamscape, etc were all purchases that I had never heard anything from. Sometimes, the reputation of the festival, strength of the label and knowledge of the band members are enough for me to "blind" buy.
Sir Exar Kun
Member
Most things I buy nowadays are still blind buys. For brand new bands, I'll usually sample a few clips first, but even then I keep it to a minimum, just to retain the freshness of hearing the disc for the first time. Most things I buy are either HIGHLY recommended new bands, where I feel safe purchasing blind, or are from bands I already own, where I have no need to hear clips in advance.
A lot of this stems from being lucky enough to have the flexible spending to risk buying what may turn out to be a dud. Should I have to tighten the pursestrings some, I'll definitely do more previewing and be a little more selective.
Add to this the long list of music constantly spinning, and I just don't take the time to sample things via MySpace. I'd rather just click the purchase button on the shopping cart, and cue the whole disc up to play in the background within 2-3 days.
A lot of this stems from being lucky enough to have the flexible spending to risk buying what may turn out to be a dud. Should I have to tighten the pursestrings some, I'll definitely do more previewing and be a little more selective.
Add to this the long list of music constantly spinning, and I just don't take the time to sample things via MySpace. I'd rather just click the purchase button on the shopping cart, and cue the whole disc up to play in the background within 2-3 days.
If I were at a festival, I might be giddy enough to purchase that disc. In my home town, at my usual record store, it would be very unlikely that I would make that deaf purchase. I would still check it out first.
The Black Album cured me of fanboyism, the internet cured me of deaf purchasing, and I am better off emotionally and financially because of it.
In response to Zod's follow-up: Yeah, I might get a new Falconer, Protest-the-Hero, Pharaoh, Hammers of Misfortune, Freak Kitchen Lord Weird Slough Feg, Mike Keneally, or Voyager. But usually I go 'holy shit that's expensive' and then go home and find out how much I can get it for online, when I see CDs at stores from bands I've considered wanting to buy from.
My 'blindbuys' tend to be of albums I haven't heard, from bands I've heard something from that I like, when I'm interested in exploring their materias, and I'm at a store and this is the CD that is there. This is rare. Mostly happens when I'm getting into new genres or so. Most recently (last couple years), this led to my purchase of albums from Nomeansno, The Hold Steady, the New Pornographers and a couple others I can't recall right now.
My 'blindbuys' tend to be of albums I haven't heard, from bands I've heard something from that I like, when I'm interested in exploring their materias, and I'm at a store and this is the CD that is there. This is rare. Mostly happens when I'm getting into new genres or so. Most recently (last couple years), this led to my purchase of albums from Nomeansno, The Hold Steady, the New Pornographers and a couple others I can't recall right now.
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