Poor sales and mixed reviews
July 2022
Singer-songwriter Nick Drake released three albums before dying from an overdose of antidepressants. He was 26.
One contributing factor to his depression was the fact that his music career just ⌠wasnât taking off.
The sales werenât there - despite being signed to a major record label, none of his albums sold more than 5,000 copies.
And the critics werenât enthusiastic - his first album got reviews like this:
Not nearly enough variety to make it entertaining.
And his second album didnât fare much better:
⌠an awkward mix of folk and cocktail jazz âŚ
Hereâs Nick on the cover of that second album, looking characteristically downcast:
âPoor sales and mixed reviewsâ - that was the Nick Drake story at the time of his death in 1974.
Over the decades that followed, though, the plot took a turn.
From the 1980s onward, a steady stream of influential musical artists discovered and took inspiration from his songs. Kate Bush, the Cure, R.E.M., Radiohead, and Bon Iver are just a few.
In 1999, Volkswagen used his song âPink Moonâ in a TV commercial, and the following year his U.S. record sales rose to 74,000 - about five times what he sold during his entire lifetime.
And in 2003, all three of those underperforming albums appeared in Rolling Stoneâs 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
It took about thirty years, but the Nick Drake story went from âpoor sales and mixed reviewsâ to âgold records and rave reviews.â
So letâs say youâve written, or recorded, or created something, and shared it with the world.
Howâs it going? Has it reached millions of ecstatic fans? Has it received universal critical acclaim?
No?
Or ⌠not yet?