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As for Exit the Dragon, I admit that I didn’t particularly like it. (Heck, I even admit I don’t own a copy of it or of any of their recordings.) Nevertheless, I was told it sold several hundred thousand records. Gold or platinum this ain’t; still, such sales figures (if true) would place it among the top-selling recent records by current Chicago alternative-pop bands. Certainly, if the sales of this amount can be called a “dismal failure,” then what level of achievement can you attribute to albums that sell fewer than a third of this amount? After all, your column stated that the Bottle Rockets’ last album sold about 70,000 copies [May 16]. Assuming that Exit the Dragon did sell over two hundred thousand copies, what would the Bottle Rockets’ record then be: an unmitigated disaster? A total floppola? An embarrassing debacle, inspiring limitless shame and loss of face? Etc.
I think not. What I do think is that the sales of The Brooklyn Side are very respectable, as were those of Exit the Dragon.
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