Diggin’ In My Own Collection – Pop and Rock Promos

Diggin’ In My Own Collection is a nine-part series where I’m taking a look at some of the rare, and incredibly unique, albums in my CD collection. 

“You probably get to listen to everything.”

This is something every music journalist hears, often, and the truth of the matter is … yeah, it’s a pretty cool gig. That said, it can take a lot of effort to get through all the terrible music to find the needle of greatness in the proverbial haystack.

With the topic of listening to music for work in mind, this edition of Diggin’ In My Own Collection is taking a look at four especially interesting promo CDs I had sent to me (from back when promo CDs were a thing), and the stories behind them.

 

 

Katy Perry – Ur So Gay 

The year was 2007. I was working for a few print and online publications, and my friend Heidi over at Capitol Records pitched me a new singer she was working with. That singer was Katy Perry.

I was sent a promo CD with Perry’s lead single, “Ur So Gay,” along with two other songs. I enjoyed the quirky nature of “Ur So Gay,” and the fact that Perry seemed like she was having a good time. When I listened to one of the other songs on the CD, her cover of The Outfield’s “Your Love,” I was legitimately impressed by her vocals, and booked the interview.

The feature ran in the summer of ’08, just as “I Kissed a Girl” was hitting the airwaves. I actually had to pull a last minute change, because “I Kissed a Girl” came out after I’d originally submitted the article, but I had a sneaky suspicion the song was going to do well, and wanted to make sure it was mentioned.

Katy Perry went on to become a global superstar, and because of that the promo CD of “Ur So Gay” has become a hot commodity, going for anywhere from $34 to $95.

 

  

Christina Milian – Christina Milian 

This CD doesn’t have a high price tag, but the story behind Christina Milian’s self-titled debut, and why it never actually saw the light of day in the U.S., makes it an especially interesting piece in my collection.

Milian was riding high with her song “AM to PM” getting radio airplay, and being in rotation on TRL. Her album’s release date, however, became a huge problem, because this was the fall of 2001, and while Milian was gearing up for the early October release of her debut LP, the attacks of September 11th happened, and Def Soul Recordings didn’t think was appropriate to release a pop album in the U.S. so close to such a tragedy.

On October 9th, 2001 the album was released in Europe. In January of 2012 it was released in Japan, and in August of 2012 it was released worldwide … except for North America, where it was never released.

Copies of the advance CD are some of the only physical evidence that it was supposed to be released here, which is why I love that I have it in my collection.

Side note – I didn’t interview Christina about this project, but I did catch up with her in 2009 for a feature.

 

 

Cherri Bomb – Stark EP 

Cherri Bomb is a band you may have heard of under a different name, as after going through a few lineup changes they became Hey Violet (the name change was made in 2015).

As Cherri Bomb, however, they were a hard rock band that took to the Warped Tour stage in 2012.

I did an interview with them for one of the magazines I was writing for at the time (eight years later I’m still upset at the horrible typo that went to print), and the advance music that went sent to me was a promo version of their EP Stark.

For years I had this EP in my giant box of EPs (everyone has one of those, right?), but when I started doing some research on Stark I discovered that it isn’t the easiest CD to find. On the Discogs page for the non-promo version of the EP a fan of the band commented that they didn’t even know it existed until they saw it for sale. The assumption is it was likely a tour exclusive.

The CD hasn’t skyrocketed in value (yet), but the rarity of it makes it very cool. 

 

  

The Vincent Black Shadow – El Monstruo 

I fell in love with the music of Canadian hard rock band The Vincent Black Shadow, and the incredible vocals of Cassandra Ford, back in 2006, when I first heard their debut LP, Fear’s in the Water.

We linked up for a few interviews, and were even able to hang out for a bit when the band was on Warped Tour that summer.

In 2008 they released their sophomore album, El Monstruo, which was another fantastic project. Unfortunately, after this album Ford parted ways with the band, and while they found a new lead singer, they haven’t released any new material since 2011.

El Monstruo would turn out to be gem not just from a musical standpoint, but from a collector’s standpoint, as it’s now pretty tough to find at a reasonable price. As of the writing of the column, eBay has a copy at $20, but the lowest priced copy on Discogs is $40, and Amazon has three available starting at a whopping $154.

Of course, I’d never sell my copy, but it’s still fun to see what people are attempting to get for it.

 

Technically promos aren’t for resale – although it’s not like that’s ever stopped anyone – but the next installment of this column will take a look at two albums in my collection that have actually been blocked from being sold in the Discogs marketplace. 

Until then, keep digging!