http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100610/music_nm/us_melvins;_ylt=AmOWiQUGB55oDoZxlzGQXBes0NUE;_ylu= X3oDMTNlNjZzZ2tzBGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMTAwNjEwL3VzX21lbH ZpbnMEY2NvZGUDbW9zdHBvcHVsYXIEY3BvcwM4BHBvcwM1BHB0 A2hvbWVfY29rZQRzZWMDeW5faGVhZGxpbmVfbGlzdARzbGsDY3 VsdHJvY2tiYW5k
The music industry's collapse is good news for the Melvins, the defiantly uncommercial "thud-rock" band that just cracked the U.S.
[COLOR=#366388 ! important][COLOR=#366388 ! important]pop [COLOR=#366388 ! important]album [/color][COLOR=#366388 ! important]chart[/color][/color][/color] for the first time in its 26-year career. The group, whose heavy guitar riffs and mumbled vocals paved the way for fellow Seattle-area bands such as Nirvana and
[COLOR=#366388 ! important][COLOR=#366388 ! important]Soundgarden[/color][/color], grabbed the last spot on Billboard's Top 200 chart published Wednesday.
It achieved this feat by selling just 2,809 copies of "The Bride Screamed Murder," its 19th album. With another 2,000 units, they would have breached the top half of the chart.
Exactly five years ago, the threshold for inclusion in the Top 200 was about 5,000 copies. Since then, U.S.
[COLOR=#366388 ! important][COLOR=#366388 ! important]album [COLOR=#366388 ! important]sales[/color][/color][/color] have halved, and the industry last month suffered its slowest week since the early 1970s, according to a Billboard estimate.
While the Melvins' debut chart ranking therefore comes with an asterisk of sorts, the milestone managed to stun its members. "Top 200 what?" singer/guitarist Roger "Buzz" Osborne said via email.
The band's biggest release is 1993's "Houdini," which was partly produced by Nirvana frontman
[COLOR=#366388 ! important][COLOR=#366388 ! important]Kurt [COLOR=#366388 ! important]Cobain[/color][/color][/color], one of their biggest fans. It has sold about 110,000 copies. The 1996 release "Stag" posted the band's best opening week after selling almost 4,000 albums. The band has sold 538,000 albums since
[COLOR=#366388 ! important][COLOR=#366388 ! important]Nielsen [COLOR=#366388 ! important]SoundScan[/color][/color][/color] began tracking data in 1991.