Good Idea/Bad Idea: Billy Corgan, Green Day, Coldplay, and Sub Pop!!

GOOD IDEA: Sub Pop opening airport music store.

Sub Pop has just announced plans to open a retail music store at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport this spring.  In fact, they're also in the market for a store manager.

Those interested can click HERE for more information.

The indie label responsible for signing such bands as Nirvana, Mudhoney, and Cat Butt is breaking new ground, both figuratively and literally by launching the first of what could very well be many boutique music stores popping up in airports throughout the country and perhaps the world.

Could this be a key indicator of the resurgence of organic, grass roots interest in music and the physical product? That remains to be seen, but this is a good idea that has the potential to be great.

BAD IDEA: Billy Corgan announcing a 9-hour ambient solo performance.

Corgan announced this week he plans to perform his musical interpretation of everybody's favorite Hermann Hesse novel (!) "Siddhartha" at Madame ZuZu's, the tea shop he owns and operates in Highland Park.

The tea house boasts a maximum capacity of 38 people, so the idea that he felt the need to hype the event to local news media will only make the possibility of enjoying the performance that much more difficult as customers will be rotated throughout the performance.

In other words, don't get too comfortable because you might be asked to rotate yourself outside so someone else can have your seat.
It's obvious that this is merely a move to promote his tea shop, but this one's got "bad dea" written all over it.



GOOD IDEA: Coldplay pulls a Beyonce.

At the stroke of midnight this past Tuesday, Coldplay sneak-released a new song called "Midnight", along with a trippy black-and-white video that suits this ambient steamroller of a tune perfectly.  As easy as it is to hate on the band, Chris Martin and company have really shown a dedication to breaking new ground.

While past attempts found them trying way too hard to be U2, they've actually hit upon a sound that is intensely atmospheric and completely unique.  Sadly, such things are hardly newsworthy these days, we applaud Coldplay for this pleasant surprise.

BAD IDEA: Green Day releasing two-album rarities set on Record Store Day

Seriously, Green Day, enough is enough.  It's bad enough you released not one new album, but THREE within months of each other in late 2012, during which time Billie Joe Armstrong had a few wine coolers, did something that was truly "punk", and was rewarded with a publicist-arranged trip to Betty Ford.

Then Armstrong toured the globe and still found time to cut a duet album with Norah Jones, who put out her own record not so long ago, and now Green Day are releasing a two-record rarities collection?

Let's face it, you could re-release the Tre album under the name Demolicious and nobody would notice.
Our advice: call it "Saturation" and at least try to have some fun with it while your hammering your fans with more new music than even Ryan Adams would consider releasing.