An album can be both tremendously influential and a commercial failure—at least at first. Here are a tw0 examples.
The Clash’s London Calling came out in December 1979. It didn’t officially sell 500,000 copies until 1991, a gap of 12 years, despite hit singles like the title track and “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” It would finally go platinum five years later.
And The Ramones released their self-titled debut album on April 23, 1976. It launched a million punk bands, yet it didn’t sell its 500,000th copy until May 2014, thirty-eight years after its release. By that time, three of the original Ramones had died, and within three months, the final one would pass away. The thing that sustained The Ramones for most of that time was relentless touring and t-shirt sales.
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