Is there such a thing as bad publicity?
The Streisand Effect (when an attempt to censor, hide or remove information has the unintended reverse consequence of raising awareness, usually via the internet) says no.
‘Working-class’ Melbourne band Rancid Eddie has been the focus of controversy in Australia this week, but their single ‘Dry’ has entered the ARIA Top 20 Australian Singles chart at number two for the week of October 11th.
It has also peaked at number 17 on the ARIA Top 50 Singles chart, after entering the charts last week at number 60.
This comes after a slew of venues silently cancelled Rancid Eddie tour dates throughout the course of the week, culminating in a lengthy ‘apology’ late last night.
‘Dry’ is the track which kicked off the whole debacle in the first place, when Spotify awarded the track the highly-coveted top spot on their New Music Friday playlist, prompting backlash from some of the local industry on some of their allegedly misogynistic behaviour.
Lyrics in ‘Dry’ include, “Sex don’t feel very nice/When the feeling is dry” and “I can’t get it up when I’m all out of love/And I’m always drunk ’cause I hate you so damn much”.
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Which, it turned out, was tame compared to some lyrics they had performed live on Instagram.
Rancid Eddie’s chart news comes at the same time Rolling Stone in the US is reporting R. Kelly’s sales ‘soared 500 percent’ after his guilty verdict late last month, while his on-demand streaming numbers enjoyed a 22 percent bump.
The ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ singer was convicted of racketeering, sexual exploitation of a child and kidnapping, and could be facing 10 years to life in prison at sentencing next year.
As Billboard reported, curiosity gave some re-‘Ignition’ to Kelly’s streaming numbers when Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly documentary was released, while radio play plummeted.
Kelly has been de-platformed in some respects – his two official YouTube channels have been removed, although his music videos are still available where others have posted them. He faces sentencing next year.
