cherone era merchandising...

**theodore templeman** · 01.25.03, 11:46 AM

...say what you will about the controversial III album, the packaging of that cd along with the merchandising and marketing for that campaign was nothing short of brilliant - eddie coming forth and giving killer interviews in all the mags with all the dlr/sammy heat and fighting going on and the whole 'fuck you' attitude in the imagery, what with the cannonball cover and the who the fuck is eddie van halen et al...that was some good shit!

**Brett** · 01.25.03, 11:48 AM

Yep but the album didn't live up at all.

**twonabomber** · 01.25.03, 01:56 PM

the cover of 3 couldn't have taken much thought. they found a 50 year old pic and used that. big deal, any high school art student coulda done that...

and the visual of getting hit in the gut has no direct correlation to the music inside-although getting hit in the gut and the music on 3 may inspire the same condition-nausea...

**MAX** · 01.25.03, 02:15 PM

Originally posted by twonabomber:
although getting hit in the gut and the music on 3 may inspire the same condition-nausea...

LOL. I know that is what it does to me.
[img]graemlins/drunk.gif[/img]

**andsomeonesaid** · 01.25.03, 06:29 PM

VHIII was not the worst VH cd...see Diver Down and OU812. VHIII has some killer guitar parts. And it was a great concert.

**onefootoutthedoor3** · 01.25.03, 06:38 PM

Originally posted by andsomeonesaid:
VHIII was not the worst VH cd...see Diver Down and OU812. VHIII has some killer guitar parts. And it was a great concert.

Musical taste is very subjective. I'd have to disagree with ya here. Both Diver Down and OU812 were great albums. Little Guitars is one of my favorite VH tunes. I think every song on OU812 is great. He sounds a little drunk on the solo on "Black and Blue". "Mine All Mine" is pretty cool, and Sammy actually wrote some decent, non-trivial lyrics on it.

I thought VHIII was horrible. Not just the production (which anyone in the profession will tell you it sucks), but the playing and singing. Cherone and the music just sound out of synch.

But musical taste is subjective and relative.

**marty** · 01.25.03, 10:34 PM

0U812 was much better in my humble opinion andsomeonesaid the concert was pretty good great set list would have liked to see afew more Sammy songs

**5150atomic** · 01.26.03, 07:24 AM

I would pick Ed's work from DD and OU812 over anything on III.

**Sweet William** · 01.26.03, 11:57 AM

I thought Ed's media blitz was more "damage control" than "brilliant," and so did most people in the biz. I did think the cover of III was pretty cool though.

**Wolfman** · 01.26.03, 01:15 PM

First of all, I think the term were looking for here is Marketing, not merchandising. The whole circus deal was a marketing theme. "Merchandising" would refer to the products generated under the theme itself.

The cover shot - yes, we've all seen it before in other places, but that doesn't necessarily make it stale. It fit in well with the circus theme they were building the artwork around for the CD and tour campaigns. I think it was a cool idea and would have been better accepted if the CD itse;f had been.

On that last note, we're talking about the marketing/merchandising aspect of the album, not whether or not you liked it. I think we've all put our negative two cents in about the music enough, so let's not turn this thread into another "VHIII sucks" thread. [img]graemlins/brickwall.gif[/img]

**raydoo** · 01.26.03, 04:56 PM

Personally, I'd love to see what a second shot with Gary would sound like.

I've been a #1 Eddie fan through Dave, Sammy, and Gary. Most of what goes right -- or wrong -- with any VH album has to do with Eddie's song writing, playing, and production.

Eddie seemed so cynical after losing Sammy and relieved to get with Gary, I remember him saying, "Gary is it. If this doesn't work out, I'll write soundtracks from now on."

There's been a lot of talk about Eddie going downhill lately. Maybe Warner Bros. and the fans lack of support of Eddie + Gary finally broke him.

All I can say is Gary's "Tribe of Judah" album makes me long to see what he and Eddie would have done on their next album.

Ray

**Raldo** · 01.26.03, 08:01 PM

Even though I liked the limited edition tin with all the goodies, it shouldn't have been on the first album with Gary. I think 'limited editions' should be for bands that have more than one album (with that singer).

**Just Joe** · 01.26.03, 09:00 PM

Originally posted by raydoo:
Personally, I'd love to see what a second shot with Gary would sound like.

I've been a #1 Eddie fan through Dave, Sammy, and Gary. Most of what goes right -- or wrong -- with any VH album has to do with Eddie's song writing, playing, and production.

Eddie seemed so cynical after losing Sammy and relieved to get with Gary, I remember him saying, "Gary is it. If this doesn't work out, I'll write soundtracks from now on."

There's been a lot of talk about Eddie going downhill lately. Maybe Warner Bros. and the fans lack of support of Eddie + Gary finally broke him.

All I can say is Gary's "Tribe of Judah" album makes me long to see what he and Eddie would have done on their next album.

Ray

TOJ kicks ass! Another VH recording with Cherone would have been great.

**Zahzoo** · 01.27.03, 05:44 AM

IMO... The packaging and marketing of III was actually one of the best VH ever had... I don't think Without You was a good choice for the 1st single. I think Ballot or The Bullet, Fire In Hole, or Year To a Day... would have been better 1st singles and generated more interest in the album.