Eponine released as a radio single

[∃]

I'll take an old reference from a Foo Fighters message board here:

"Daniel Brummel and Ryen Slegr could eat alphabet soup and s*** out better lyrics than Rivers Cuomo."

& LOL AWESOMENESS.

[Colt45]

i've been an ozma fan since "the beginning" and i'd be extremely happy to see them break through with a single. they deserve it. i hope stephen thomas erlewine likes the album.

[Seb]

i've been an ozma fan since "the beginning"

You've been an Ozma fan since you were ten years old? Impressive!

[Andy]

lol. also, Domino Effect, Korobieniki, and Lorriane are singles.
"from the begining", huh?

[Rome]

does that mean he has quattro? 

[tom]

The spelling in this thread is horrendous.
With that said. Weezer was a totally different era of music.
Ozma may have been influenced by Weezer, but even from day one, I never got the correlation.
I never listened to Ozma, even after seeing them OPEN for weezer in '01, and thought to myself "wow, they sound like weezer."


Back on topic: I've been there since "right after the beginning", and I'd say that, yes they deserve a hit song. But also, look what that did to Nada Surf and Superdrag, they had hit songs, and don't get me wrong, I love both of those bands equally as much, but they haven't come close since. Which is a good thing, if you ask me. They both turned out to be great bands who had a hit song that doesn't represent what they sound like at all. This is what I fear if OZMA ever had a hit with Eponine, people will buy the album thinking the whole thing is going to sound just like that, when Lunchbreak is really the only other song on that album that sounds anything close to Eponine.

[cesarsalad]

I don't know... I'm on the fence as to whether I want to see them hit the jackpot...

Yet, I've listened to Ozma since 2002... not from the beginning, mind you, but when I first listened to them, they were this band from Pasadena that when you mentioned them, people didn't know.  It was like a secret that no one else knew in this town, and to an extent, it still is.

i think I'd be close to the mark in saying that most of us older ozma fans would love for them to "hit the jackpot".

I agree.  Then they could pay me.  But in all seriousness, I think Ozma definitely deserves it.  I mean, Weezer hit it big, and OZMA always owned the shit out of them.

yep, ozma has always owned songs like susanne, the world has turned and left me here, the good life, falling for you, across the sea, you gave your love to me softly, i just threw out the love of my dreams, mykel and carli, jaime, buddy holly, holiday, only in dreams, tired of sex, say it ain't so, devotion, waiting on you, no one else, pink triangle, and why bother.

lol.  Yeah, and they owned those songs with:  In Search of 1988, Lorraine Flight of the Bootymaster, Restart, Iceland, Battlescars, Wake Up, Shootingstars, Immigration Song, Los Angeles, Baseball, Natalie Portman, Game Over, Spending Time, Incarnation Blues, Utsukushii Shibuya, Eponine, If My Amp Had Wheels, Utsukushii Shibuya, If I Only Had A Heart, No One Needs To Know, Continental Drift and Korobeiniki.

Yeah, see, it works both ways.   I would much prefer Ozma to Weezer any day.  When I first heard Weezer, I wasn't really digging them.  But I loved Ozma from the start.  It's just personal taste.  I didn't mean to offend you by comparing them to Weezer, and I'll try again...  (but just for the record, I love many of the Weezer songs you listed--meaning, as Rome said, Pinkerton & Blue--but I really don't think that list proves anything and I still think OZMA owns them)

So here, my second attempt:

I mean, My Chemical Romance hit it big, and OZMA always owned the shit out of them.

look i love ozma, but none of the ozma songs you mentioned are better than any of the weezer songs i mentioned. ozma is much, much better than post-pinkerton weezer, however.

 but as for the MCR comment, yes.

[icecreamman]

lol.  Is cesarsalad another one of your accounts, Tim/Rodney/Sam?

[∃]

...look i love ozma, but none of the ozma songs you mentioned are better than any of the weezer songs i mentioned...

Umm.... you know... rating songs is all a matter of opinion...  I assume you're aware of this.  Perhaps it's crazy of me to say I like Ozma more than Weezer, but at the same time I think it's absurdly crazy to tell me that none of the songs in my list are better than Weezer songs.  To me they are.  And if Ozma themselves said that they weren't, it would still mean shit to me.  In general (and the case of this argument) I think a better song is a song that I prefer to listen to more.  So, to me, all those songs are better.

And to answer icecreamman, I wish I made this guy up...

[cesarsalad]

...look i love ozma, but none of the ozma songs you mentioned are better than any of the weezer songs i mentioned...

Umm.... you know... rating songs is all a matter of opinion...  I assume you're aware of this.  Perhaps it's crazy of me to say I like Ozma more than Weezer, but at the same time I think it's absurdly crazy to tell me that none of the songs in my list are better than Weezer songs.  To me they are.  And if Ozma themselves said that they weren't, it would still mean shit to me.  In general (and the case of this argument) I think a better song is a song that I prefer to listen to more.  So, to me, all those songs are better.

And to answer icecreamman, I wish I made this guy up...

i'm not saying that the songs are better to me, or to you, i'm just saying they are better.... have you ever heard of objective quality?

[Джесси]

...look i love ozma, but none of the ozma songs you mentioned are better than any of the weezer songs i mentioned...

Umm.... you know... rating songs is all a matter of opinion...  I assume you're aware of this.  Perhaps it's crazy of me to say I like Ozma more than Weezer, but at the same time I think it's absurdly crazy to tell me that none of the songs in my list are better than Weezer songs.  To me they are.  And if Ozma themselves said that they weren't, it would still mean shit to me.  In general (and the case of this argument) I think a better song is a song that I prefer to listen to more.  So, to me, all those songs are better.

And to answer icecreamman, I wish I made this guy up...

i'm not saying that the songs are better to me, or to you, i'm just saying they are better.... have you ever heard of objective quality?

Eh...not so much in relation to music.

[∃]

...look i love ozma, but none of the ozma songs you mentioned are better than any of the weezer songs i mentioned...

Umm.... you know... rating songs is all a matter of opinion...  I assume you're aware of this.  Perhaps it's crazy of me to say I like Ozma more than Weezer, but at the same time I think it's absurdly crazy to tell me that none of the songs in my list are better than Weezer songs.  To me they are.  And if Ozma themselves said that they weren't, it would still mean shit to me.  In general (and the case of this argument) I think a better song is a song that I prefer to listen to more.  So, to me, all those songs are better.

And to answer icecreamman, I wish I made this guy up...

i'm not saying that the songs are better to me, or to you, i'm just saying they are better.... have you ever heard of objective quality?

Eh...not so much in relation to music.

Yeah, Cesar, not so much with music.  I mean, I see what you're saying, but if that was 100% true, there would be a lot of posters in my "Beatles = Best Band Ever?" thread who would be sorely owned.  (not that they shouldn't be)

I mean that's like saying Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov has the BEST SONGS, OF ALL SONGS, EVER.  I mean, you'd be right in your objective quality form of thinking, but that's really not necessary and it doesn't prove any points.  Initially, when I said "OZMA OWNS WEEZER" I wasn't solely referring to "songs" either.  But for you to even say OZMA was better than post-Pinkerton Weezer doesn't really defend any point.  Couldn't Ozma own Weezer just on the premise that they're actually STILL good?

I've heard of computer programs that music producers use to determine whether or not a song is going to be a "hit."  While these may work for judging potential popularity, catchiness, whatever-- I don't think you'll find a similar program to determine how GOOD a song is.  And that's solely because it's all opinion.  Your opinion has been noted, but honestly, an objective quality in music?  That's quite a stretch.

[Tri$tan]

you're just pissed that MCR owns The Get Up Kids.

[∃]

you're just pissed that MCR owns The Get Up Kids.

I'll let that slide, fellow Zergling.

[FireAarro]

NO OBJECTIVE AESTHETIC VALUES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[yoshigaki]

And therefore, there is no such thing as good art, in terms of universal truth.  (Which is really the only truth, because we all took physics, and we all know that relativity is bullshit.)

[funwithsponges]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=455240&in_page_id=1770

I think this pretty much confirms that there is no such thing as objectivity in art.

[Not Jason]

I am still baffled that anyone thought "Eponine" would be a marketable single.  I love the song, and I've loved it for, I don't know, seven years now, but I don't think it's a good choice.  The reason I don't think it's a good choice is because there is nothing even vaguely similar to this style of music on the radio right now.  This song especially is done in an uncompromising mid-nineties aesthetic, and while that triggers nostalgia from people like me, I don't think that's what people and the market are responding to right now. 

Ozma should not be competing with My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy.  You can argue that Ozma could write songs like that with their eyes closed and do a better job at it.  Thing is, they don't write songs like that.  Either of those bands, like them or not, deliver a much different product than Ozma does.  It's not like they are an inferior version of Ozma, they are just a completely different product.

I think there are potential singles on this album that could do well, but I don't think any of them are the two remakes.  This might just be my mistake.  Maybe I've loaded these songs with too much late high school association to really be objective, but I just can't picture either of them on the radio.  This should not be seen as an insult to the material, i'm just commenting on the market.

[Cade]

i think heartache vs. heartbreak would do well

[cesarsalad]

i think heartache vs. heartache would do well

me too

[varnon]

I actualy agree with notjason *gasp*
Its a strange song to pick. I'd think the average person would have to hear it a bunch before singing peices of it around the house and realizing that they liked it.
I would be curious to know what kind of disscusions the band and others had about which songs to potentialy remake.

My band chose a song once for a compelation cd and radio deal... didn't work out.
But we actualy chose the wrong song. It was our song that was the most similar to other stuff that we thought would be the most liked. But it wasn't. Ozma does have the benifit of picking from experience. Maybe they picked by looking at the numbers.

[Oatmeal]

i think heartache vs. heartbreak would do well

shoot I think "incarnation blues" and "undeneath my tree" could be good singles as well, but thats me

[Rome]

i think heartache vs. heartache would do well

me too

yeah. This is one of the songs on the album I can imagine a radio station playing. No one needs to know also makes a little sense, in a panic! or FOB type of way. I'm not saying they sound similar, but I could imagine someone who never heard ozma getting the same vibe from it.
but i also agree that eponine was a bad choice. The song has the 90's vibe to it because it's like over half a decade old.

[Not Jason]

Let me preface this by making it clear that I know nothing of the circumstances that lead Ozma to their current record deal.  It is my speculation however, based on what I've gathered, that they were sort of signed under the condition that those two songs be recorded and released as singles.  Which is to say, of course, before the rest of the album was recorded and the other material fully realized.  That would sort of explain why other strong material, such as HvH was seemingly overlooked, despite the fact that I think it has much more potential as a single.  In any case, though it's been pointed out, people should keep in mind that it wasn't purely the band's desicion to release this material.  I can only imagine that the band would be more excited about released newer material, but that's just me.

[funwithsponges]

I had a thought last night, and it's so simple and obvious I don't know why I didn't think of it before.

So they re-recorded Eponine and basically recorded a radio edit version of the song.  Why?  Why couldn't they record the full, real song, and then have some intern radio edit the song or whatever and send it out to radio stations.  It's not like they couldn't make the cd a minute longer, and it's not like that doesn't happen WITH ALMOST EVERY OTHER SINGLE EVER.

Also, to varnon.  I guess I kinda disagree about people needing to hear it more than once, but maybe I am biased.  I remember the first time I heard Eponine, I believe it was Warped Tour 02, and I thought it was Samuel back then, and I still love hearing it live everytime I see Ozma.

[Not Jason]

I had a thought last night, and it's so simple and obvious I don't know why I didn't think of it before.

So they re-recorded Eponine and basically recorded a radio edit version of the song.  Why?  Why couldn't they record the full, real song, and then have some intern radio edit the song or whatever and send it out to radio stations.  It's not like they couldn't make the cd a minute longer, and it's not like that doesn't happen WITH ALMOST EVERY OTHER SINGLE EVER.

Also, to varnon.  I guess I kinda disagree about people needing to hear it more than once, but maybe I am biased.  I remember the first time I heard Eponine, I believe it was Warped Tour 02, and I thought it was Samuel back then, and I still love hearing it live everytime I see Ozma.

I'm not so sure it really does happen that often.  I know it happens, and as a matter of fact they did it with "Domino Effect" (chopped a good half a second out of it), but having worked in college radio, we didn't get a whole lot of promo singles.  We got that sort of stuff from the really big bands, but most of the small unproven bands just had their full albums with the little suggestions stickers on the front of them.  I remain suprised that Kung Fu actually did the promo-single thing with "Domino Effect".  But regardless of all that, maybe they were also thinking "we've already GOT full versions of these songs recorded, and if anybody is going to fuck with these, it should be us."

[funwithsponges]

So it's a record label thing?  If that's the case, then that makes sense.

I just know that I've made my sister probably 3 or 4 cds with songs that she has wanted me to put on there, and I just download the singles from oink, and they always have the main, radio edit, and oftentimes an instrumental and a radio hook on the promo cd.  But then again, my sister listens to shitty rap and r&b, so it's not quite the same comparison.

[I Like Ozma]

i understand the label thing, but why would ozma choose a label that would be so gay in having them re record two old songs, and not a label that just would let them explore their freedom

[varnon]

I'm sure the choice was the lesser of multiple lame choices.
In other words, the best choice. It would be nice to have a label that would let you do anything, but thats not so easy to obtain.
I bet rerecording No One Needs To Know was fun though, since it really is an older song.

[Not Jason]

So it's a record label thing?  If that's the case, then that makes sense.

I just know that I've made my sister probably 3 or 4 cds with songs that she has wanted me to put on there, and I just download the singles from oink, and they always have the main, radio edit, and oftentimes an instrumental and a radio hook on the promo cd.  But then again, my sister listens to shitty rap and r&b, so it's not quite the same comparison.

It could have something to do with the genre and popularity.  All this falls under label PR's responsibility most generally I think, and it depends on how hard they are pushing the band and what kind of expectations they have.  Somebody explained to me a while back that the reason Pablo Honey had two versions of "Creep" on it was because somebody decided it would save them the effort of necessarily having to release an edited single version.