(Stories found on spin.com and nme.com.)
10. U2 pulls a Beatles rooftop performance for a music video
It's true that The Beatles were the first to perform publicly on top of a roof, but U2 took that idea and brought it one step further by filming it for their "Where The Streets Have No Name" music video. Those are real police officers shutting the band down. According to the director of the video, Meiert Avis, getting shut down was part of the whole idea. Adam Clayton has stated that U2 felt that bands "should shake things up". And that's exactly what they did by shutting down the streets of LA for a rooftop concert.
9. Trent Reznor's Year Zero alternate reality game
Anybody can just announce that they have a new album coming out. But when you turn the announcement into a mysterious scavenger hunt, fuck yeah, that's cool. With help from a marketing group called 42 Entertainment. Trent Reznor created this game to hype up the upcoming Nine Inch Nails album Year Zero. The game paid off, with the album reaching #2 on the Billboard 200 and the promotional single "Capital G" reaching #6 on the Modern Rock chart. All in a day's play. Or a couple months of gameplay.
8. Josh Freese essentially whores himself out
Josh Freese is an artist that has fallen into the background of alternative rock music. He's played with many star bands, such as Guns N' Roses, Devo, and Weezer, but he had yet to become a superstar himself at the time. So to raise money to produce his solo album in 2007, Since 1972, Josh began a Kickstarter campaign where donations would get him to do anything from washing your car to massaging your feet, to even playing in your band for a whole month. He ended up gathering enough donations to make the album, and made a bigger name for himself in the process than he ever had before.
7. The Clash take over a New York casino
When a band performs in New York, you would expect them to perform at Radio City Music Hall, or Madison Square Garden. But what The Clash did was a little different. They performed at Bond's International Casino for seven nights, reducing the casino's venue from 4,000 to less than 2,000. The casino then canceled on other bands so that The Clash could stay for sixteen nights. When the New York Fire Department finally shut them down on May 30th, 1981, The Clash had created enough buzz for their next album to be their biggest hit in the U.S., reaching the Top 10.
6. Kanye West raps on the sides of buildings
A guy like Kanye needs all the positive press he can get. So what better way than to go full dictator and project your face onto the sides of buildings? This stunt happened in major cities such as New York, Sydney, and Berlin, to name a few. Kanye was rapping the song "New Slaves", off his then-upcoming 2013 album Yeezus. This no doubt helped Kanye's new album to debut at #1 on the charts. Of course, when someone is rapping at you on the side of a building, you better listen.
5. Garth Brooks becomes Chris Gaines
As Garth grew tired of country music in the late 90's, he decided to try a different approach. That approach being to change your entire identity for the sake of trying on a new genre. During his time as Chris Gaines, Garth Brooks was the subject of many punchlines, but his Greatest Hits album released at the time went platinum, and it kept people talking about Garth Brooks... or Chris Gaines.
4. John and Yoko's bed-in
Despite some... shockingly off-colour comments about Martin Luther King, all John and Yoko wanted to do with this stunt was to promote peace. And promote peace (and themselves) they did. This stunt polarized fans of Lennon: some were unhappy due to his growing association with Yoko in his music, while others loved the stunt. But for whatever purpose, the stunt got people talking about the duo and about peace. Try giving it a chance. Stay in bed all day. Hey, I can get behind that logic.
3. Michael Jackson builds monuments for himself
Michael Jackson needed no ego-stroking in the 80's. But by the mid-90's, he was somewhat falling out of favour. To combat the fade into obscurity, Mike's record label built a series of statues commemorating his upcoming double album. The statues were placed all around Europe, one floating down the River Thames in London, another in the Netherlands, and yet another in Berlin. Is it me, or are these stunts becoming more and more dictator-like? Oh well. HAIL MICHAEL!
2. The Sex Pistols play a song of questionable taste on the Queen's cruise
Yeah, just about any Sex Pistols fan can probably guess which song was played. After being banned from just about everywhere in England, the Sex Pistols took to a cruise on the River Thames, a celebratory cruise for the Queen's 25th anniversary on the throne. And what new single were they looking to promote on said cruise?
Yep. Probably the most insulting song directed at the Queen ever recorded. Predictably, the police cracked down on the Sex Pistols and their manager, but "God Save the Queen" reached #2 on the UK charts, blocked out by only... Rod Stewart. Well, no plan is perfect.
1. KISS donate their own blood to the ink of a Marvel comic
I could have gone with the most successful stunt on the list (most likely the Clash) or the most prolific (John and Yoko) or even the most controversial (Sex Pistols ahoy). But for my #1 pick, I decided to go with with the single most bizarre publicity stunt I could find in the world of music. And that dubious honour goes to KISS, which isn't really surprising, seeing as their entire career could be described as a publicity stunt. But this act is especially strange. In 1977, KISS partnered up with Marvel comics to essentially turn themselves into superheroes. To create buzz for the comics, they had their blood drawn by nurses in public, then were photographed mixing it into the ink. That is truly weird. And truly unsanitary, I'd think. Don't kiss your KISS comic, is all I'm saying.
And that concludes my Top 10 publicity stunts in music! One could argue that this is a publicity stunt to get my blog more attention, but it's really not. You'll know it when you see it. If it ever happens. I'm honestly not sure. Where was I going with this? Oh yeah: Enjoy the rest of your day!
(Now seriously, all I need is a pair of moose antlers, a couple planks of plywood, and...)
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