CHARLIE BENANTE IS CRANKY AT ISLAND RECORDS
Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 9:30am by Axl RosenbergThanks to Saul Hudson, who sent us the below screen grab from Charlie Benantie’s MySpace page:
Now, here’s my personal experience with regards to buying new metal CDs at Best Buy – which I actually do from time to time, seeing as Charlie is more or less right, and there’s no place left to buy physical copies of music anymore*.
Unless you’re talking about a bigger release – Slipknot or Mastodon or Lamb of God, for example – Best Buy usually only has a few copies of new metal albums. If you get there the day of the album release, you can probably get one. If you find yourself in a time crunch and need to wait a day, well, you might be shit out of luck – ’cause like Charlie said, there’s no place else to buy music, and if they have five copies and six metal heads within traveling distance, well, one of ‘em is gonna be shit outta luck.
But this was posted on November 10, the day the Among the Living reissue hit shelves. And 4:41 PM isn’t really that late in the day. So it does seem like Mr. Benante might have a legitimate gripe.
Of course, Charlie – and the rest of Anthrax, save a vocalist, I assume – also participated in a signing of the album at the new Best Buy in Union Square today. I wonder how that went.
-AR
*I love local record stores for used shit and rarities, but their prices on new stuff inevitably sucks. I wanna support mom n’ pop, but not when the same exact CD is literally half the price at the soulless chain store nearby. Sorry.
Metal cd selection in big stores like Best Buy and Circuit City has been absolute shit for a long, long time. I go to FYE if I absolutely have to buy a physical copy of a cd; wonder if he bothered stopping by there, or even Target?
There are still FYE’s? All the ones withing a 50 mile radius to me have gone under. I just go to the mom and pop place (Headquarters Music in New Carlisle Ohio…Support it! Great place) because they will order ANYTHING I want if it is available. And it’s only 3 or 4 bucks more than at Best Buy or even Amazon.
Still a couple around here in WV, at least last time I went to the mall (granted, that was last Christmas). Their selection is typically either decent, with bands I wouldn’t expect a major store to carry, or absolute shit, missing some of the big names I’d expect even a truck stop store to have.
isn’t FYE the shitty mall music stores who have “sale” cds for like 16.99? fuck that noise.
Yeah, those douches ridiculously bump up the retail price. I always shop Best Buy when in need of physical CDs, since there are no specialty stores around me. On the subject of buying things, just pre-ordered Enfold Darkness!!
FYE will probably be out of business by the end of 2010.
Yeah Best Buy is pretty bad if its isnt a Bigger release.
I also shop alot of FYE as they actually carry alot of metal. Now all the ones buy me in New Jersey have all changed there pricing structure as well. All cd’s are now $9.99 (except multi cd sets etc.) I also have there discount card and im getting all of my cds for around $8.00 dollars or so!
I love the mom & pop places but there so few and far between! Theres a few over the bridge in Philly, but then you gottas pay bridge tolls and shitty ass parking fees it not worth it! The best in Jersey to hit is Vintage Vinyl. There Metal selection is the size of a whole FYE store NO JOKE!
http://www.vvinyl.com/
Vintage fucking Vinyl!!!
Don’t forget Curmudgeon Records in Somerville NJ!
They don’t need to stock it – everybody who wants it has already got it.
He Likes to Capitalize random Shit.
I noticed that too…I wonder why? Perhaps he never made it through 2nd grade English.
In my experience I’ve found that mega-stores for chains that cater quasi-exclusively to music, like HMV, have really good selections for metal, so that’s where I go. I mean, I wasn’t expecting them to have Church of Misery, but they did! Not only that, but they allow you to order a whole bunch of shit. I’ve got three Death digipacks en route as I type.
The tradeoff is no used selection and shitty vinyl selections, but oh well.
If a record isn’t guaranteed to sell above a certain level per week *for them*, not just nationally, they’re probably not going to stock it. There is nothing the label can do to make Best Buy take it if the predictions are below that level. Sucks, but here’s hoping this helps the indie stores.
@DemonicLemming – You’ll have a hard time finding anything at Circuit City these days, because they closed two years ago. You’ll have an even harder time finding smaller metal releases at Target.
No, they filed bankruptcy, restructured, and are still open. Their selection was never great, and still isn’t, but it’s decent enough for a massive chain electronics store.
I don’t know where you live, DemonicLemming, but the chain is done. Their restructuring efforts were blocked (it was a HUGE news story) and as far as I know, they’re all closed. I’ve actually seen closed up ones in several states in the past year.
As far as I know, all Circuit City stores have closed in Florida as well. They sold everything when they closed, even the shelves and racks that the merchandise was once displayed on.
Circuit City tried to sell but last ditch efforts failed and the company closed all of its stores and liquidated all assets. However, their company name and website were purchased by Systemax and they operate under the CC name as an online-only vendor of electronics.
I only shop for music online. Amazon.com has what you want. If they don’t, off to ebay or whathaveyou.
best buy tends to stock what they know people want. if you want more metal CDs, tell them. or preorder, eventually they’ll get it. our best buy has quite a selection of metal stuff.
I never really had a problem picking up whatever metal cd I wanted at Best Buy, with a notable exception being Skeletonwitch.
I got both my Skeletonwitch CDs at Best Buy. I wonder if it’s a demographic/area thing.
I’ve had decent experiences with Best Buy lately. They had the new Red Chord album for 9.99 the week it came out. Also, I got the only copy of the new Katatonia album they had in stock last week. Considering that’s on Peaceville, I was impressed they had any.
In Milwaukee, there are only two record stores that have decent metal sections, Exclusive Company and FireWalk Music (formerly Earwax Records). I try to check those out when possible, but at the end of the day, it usually makes more sense to iTunes an album for five bucks less, especially in this economy. I like local record stores too, but if they can’t compete, that’s just the way it is.
I get my CD’s at Newbury Comics. If it’s not used or on sale, I just don’t get it.
The real story here is that Charlie has to BUY copies of this CD. You’d think Island would’ve shipped him a box or 2…
I started my day today by doing something i almost never do, I read an actual newspaper. Even crazier than that i read a non biased write up about a local record store (Bull Moose) and how they have grown from a little mom and pop shop to having many locations in two states. To be even more suprising, the interveiwee stated that this year is actually the best year they have ever had. Further in to the column it mentioned that they have gotten be be that way by actually researching what there long time customers (like me) actually like and listen to and will purchase cd’s and such based on what the customers like. I think thats the big thing places like Best Buy and Wal Mart miss. Actually researching the customers and purchasing items to sell to suit there customers taste.
best buy stocks cd’s only to get you in the store. they lose money on more cds than they make cash. the idea is to get you in and then have you, consumer, buy some high profit shit like a tv or something, even video games. walmart, target and the other biggies do the same thing on various smaller ticket items. Either way though, they generally do have a pretty good selection if you’re there at the right time.
save your money from impulse buys and buy online. say what you want about iTunes (i know many people have their complaints bout it) but they have every single release ive ever looked for (didnt stock gojira’s terra ingonita and the link until recently). i hear good things about Amazon’s service, too.
Well, I live in Portland, OR. And there are a ton of mom and pop shops still operating here. None of them are charging $16.99 for a new disk. But then, I’m not paying for the privilege of buying my cds in New York City, where everything costs three times as much as it does anywhere else. Enjoy your best buy, your shit-ass winter, your $1500/month studio, your highest state taxes in the country, your filthy fucking subway system, and your ridiculously priced weed. I’ll be riding my bike to Second Avenue Records in mid-february, smoking a joint in public as I contemplate which two new cd’s to buy for the price of your one. Hope living in the big apple makes you feel real hep.
I was just in Portland, OR visiting a friend, and yes, Portland is a great place with great beer, and I hope to go back and visit and remember what it’s like to live in a city that isn’t crusty with hobo pee. But reading this comment of yours, I would have thought NYC shat in your cheerios this morning. I hope your therapist is able to help you overcome this difficult time in your life.
hahahaha
Amazon.com is the only way to buy cds. I do not see the point of driving, parking, waiting in line, and driving back to pay double the price for a cd you can order in 1 second online.
I find it the empathy for record stores interesting. I’ve always found record store employees to be arrogant scenesters. The cd is not doomed as there still is a demand for physical product by hard core fans. But there is absolutely no reason to purchase a cd in a physical store.
I’ve gotten a Genghis Tron CD and a Leng Tch’e CD from Best Buy.
FYE is selling everything for $9.99 these days. It rules.
Also, that’s Facebook, not myspace
No, they’re not. Certain test stores are doing that. It’s not chain wide. It’s actually a small amount of stores.
The best Mom and Pop chain I know of is Looney Tunes out in West Babylon, NY. It is like a hour drive for me and its worth it cause they carry so much metal that you can never find anywhere. Plus the albums are pretty cheap compared to Best Buy and FYE. Some cd’s range from 9.99 brand new to 13.99.
If its not to obscure a band and its the first week of release its usually on sale and I buy it at bestbuy…otherwise its amazon
Best Buy is able to sell CDs that cheap because they sell them below cost. Then, they ratchet up the prices on things like washers and dryers to make their money back.
Take it from a buyer at an indie record store: new CDs (and not just metal ones) are often 12.50 COST to us. Sometimes we’ll only make a buck or two on these releases because if we marked them up the standard 30%, they would sell for 17 or 18.99, which is most likely why Tower doesn’t exist any more.
p.s. Charlie – our store has the Among the Living disc in stock. I think he lives in the area, too . . .
Just fucking buy it on Amazon and quit bitching !This is 2009 not 1989 so shuttie!
Deaf Ear Records in LaCrosse, WI. If they don’t have it, chances are I’ll see it within the week at a reduced price. Either that or I’ll just order it.
fye has all of that shit…you live in the city where their fucking headquarters are…
i guess i am lucky. we have a good indy chain in the southwest (Zia) which has a decent metal section – they carry the standards with some hidden gems if you like more obscure acts. additionally they generally seem to have sales going on for bigger new releases – i.e. Slayer, Baroness come to mind.
if they don’t have it, well, i can go online.
cannot remember the last time i bought a cd from Best Buy, it was probably eight years ago. i don’t think i’ve ever bought (or even wasted time shopping for) a metal disk there.