This sort of claim always raises the slightly thorny issue of whether sales for a re-mixed version of a track should be counted towards sales of the original version. For example, I've never been entirely convinced by the OCC's (and now seemingly generally-accepted) conflation of the sales of the original 1983 12" version of New Order's Blue Monday, with its subsequent 1988 7" edit, re-mix, and a further re-mix in 1995, and all digital sales of each one since.NorfolkScot wrote:SINGLES:
Although not previously recognised as such, I Feel Love is actually a UK million seller. OCC data shows that physical sales of the single - number one in 1977, number 21 in 1982 and number eight in 1995 - total 956,400, while subsequent digital sales of 94,520 give the track a grand total of 1,050,920 sales up to close of business on Saturday.
One might argue that musically, it depends on just how different a re-mix can be from its original incarnation. Earlier hits billed as so-called re-mixes were often hardly distinct from their forebears - the '88 version of Blue Monday isn't so different, but the '95 mix certainly was. I recall the British Hit Singles books used to define a re-mix by the same vocal track but with alternative instrumentatal backing. But in these days when 're-mix' often means total re-recording of the backing track and part (or all?) of the vocal where one is used, it's harder and harder to call.
Actually, the '82 re-mix of I Feel Love was one such example; the new mix was strikingly similar to the '77 version but slightly re-edited, and beefed-up by the addition of a new synth line that sounded like a duck being strangled! Scroll forward to the '95 attempt though, and the result was considerably distinct. For a start, they'd apparently mislaid the original master for I Feel Love including the vocal line, and so Ms Summer - then still in fine fettle vocally - had to come back to the studio to re-record it. So it was considered by some - including Messrs Gambaccini, Rice and Rice - to technically be a 're-recording' by their measure. So, is it appropriate for the sales of all these (or just some) versions to be added together?
Your perspective on that will determine whether you consider I Feel Love - or for that matter its fellow disco landmark Blue Monday - as being a 'true' million-seller in the UK.
I suppose it almost doesn't matter though in the end, as both are undeniable classics that have been aped so many times over since and provided templates for dance music - and other related genres - that remain reliable today.
PS: More woeful album sales!! Where's the White Knight of digital when you need it to come and rescue a flagging music market??!
