BOC: Why Colombia insisted on Imaginos being a BOC albu

[Ted O. Jackson]

> >
> >It looked to me that it was probably some middle ground and that
> >the marketing people thought it would sell best if BOC marketed
> >the thing as a group.  Hence, Eric/Buck/Allen/JOe had to put
> >a hand in it somewhere to make Imaginos a BOC effort en total.
>
> Here's my theory:
>         When a member of a band does a solo project the record company uses
> record sales from the bands previous albums as insurance.  For instance, David
> Lee Roth is still allowed to make solo albums, because WB is able to cover the
> cost with Van Halen's profits.  They obviously believe that Roth still has a
> hit or two left in him.

Well, that may be flawed judgement on their part!  But Diamond Dave's
been out of VH for a long time--it isn't a choice of his being
allowed to make, but rather HAVING to make solo albums.  Somebody at
Warners must have a sadistic streak for subjecting the listening
public to more of Dave's pathetic mewlings!

>         Al, on the other hand, was not a "Big Name" talent like Roth.  This
> was compounded by the mediocre (I'm being nice here) sales of BOC's last 2

Al is for sure a big talent, if not a big name!   You're being more
than nice, considering CN!

> albums.  This makes an Al Bouchard solo album an extremely large financial
> risk.  By making Imaginos a BOC project, they can hasten the end of BOC's
> contract while selling more copys than an "Al" album through track record/name
> recognition.  Colombia didn't promote Imaginos hard, because they never
> expected it would be top 40 anyway.  There's not even a decent teeny-bopper
> single on the album for God's sake!

But why, then, make the record at all?  You make the album appear as
a BOC project, based on some past strong sales, then pull the rug out
from under it because it isn't commercial?  I know record execs are
full of shit, but this isn't even good business practice!

>         In the end BOC has a new album, which isn't a total black hole sales-
> wise, which pretty much concludes BOC's contract obligations, which makes
> room for Warrant, Winger and all the other cheezy hard rock bands that actually
> made a lot of money.  This, I believe, is why Imaginos could have never been
> an Al Bouchard solo album.
>
> Brian

Well, who would've wanted to deprive the music world of Winger and
Warrant?  I think Columbia just wanted to use the BOC name, then once
the record was made, and they found out how esoteric it was, they
underwent a serious shortage of balls.  Figured it was too 'out
there' to sell, and then gutlessly left it to twist in the breeze.
theo