Joe Gracey says:
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> > >Steve Earle earned his "GOLD" status for Guitar Town!! That
> came out in 1986
> > >and has only sold 500,000 copies. What the heck is goin' on....
> >
> > Especially since Guitar Town was a #1 country album. What gives?
>
> #1 for how long? is probably the operative question. If it shot up and
> fell back off in a hurry, it might have never sold a lot of copies.
And I suspect that was the case, plus which, as Evan speculated, country
music was on a downswing right about then popularity-wise, plus which (most
importantly, probably), 1986 was well pre-Soundscan, and it's a truism that
country sales were under-reported in those days.
BTW, Copperhead Road made gold a while ago, according to the CMHOF
Encyclopedia.
Jon Weisberger, Kenton County, KY [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://home.fuse.net/jonweisberger
