#447: Fist Fudge

GETTING MORE TALE #447: Fist Fudge

What’s the biggest musical rip off you’ve ever seen?

The Nine Inch Nails unofficial Fisted box set comes to mind.

This set, supposedly limited to just 1000 pieces, retailed for about $200 in the mid-90’s. It included five CDs:

  • Fixed (EP)
  • March of the Pigs parts I and II
  • Closer to God parts I and II

Those singles are available on their own, for much less. The box also included an unauthorized T-shirt that said “FIST” on the front, and “F%@#” on the back. No Nine Inch Nails logos anywhere to be found on that. It came in a cheap black plastic box with the Nine Inch Nails “n” logo and the word “Fisted” on top…except it’s not really the Nine Inch Nails “n” logo.  The official one is backwards.  This is just a normal “n”.  They were hoping you wouldn’t notice that.  This package was assembled by Phantom Imports, who must have been laughing their asses off at the ridiculous amount of markup.

This is a great example of a collectible that is not. The artist labels had no involvement and certainly did not set the pricing. The shirt and box have no logos on them. Anybody can go and print a T-shirt that says “FIST” and “FUCK” on it. All this for $200. Even if you were missing those five singles (which any real Nails fan was not) there is no reason to buy this.

We had an incomplete copy of this come into one of our stores, but it was missing the shirt and the other goodies. Looking to make a few extra bucks, we stuffed the box full of other albums and singles and jacked the price up. That was a decision made by a franchise owner. I don’t think he had an easy time selling this box, which was really just a plastic box with a random selection of CDs in it by the time we put it up for sale. A rip off box set made even more so.

FISTED

I’ve seen others just as irritating as this. One was a “deluxe” version of Pink Floyd’s The Wall. This was the 2 CD set, packed into a wooden carving of a wall. It looked cool, but it also looked like something a skilled woodworker could make in his or her shop at home. It was painted white with the Wall logo scrawled across it. Around $200 for that too, somewhere at a store in Hamilton ironically called Cheapies.

Probably made by the same company was a commemorative Beatles single for “Real Love”. It came in a red box with a heart on it, with a button “Real Love” inside that looked like a cross between a heart and an apple. We ordered this one in, new, and our cost was about $40. It sat and sat and sat there for months. It wasn’t authorized any more than the Nine Inch Nails box was.  We didn’t realize we’d brought in a lemon until it was too late.  We had to be told by a customer who was a Beatles collector.  “These things aren’t worth anything,” he said.  “They’re not issued by the Beatles.  It’s a made-up collectible.”  We should have known, but it’s hard when you’re ordering this shit from a distributor’s catalogue.

Have you ever run across a rip off like these in your travels?  Or worse, have you ever bought one?

REAL LOVE

28 comments

    1. Ugh. I know. Just put all the good bonus features on the newest reissues please! Carry them over. I hate buying a new blu-ray reissue, only to find the bonus features I liked were only on the DVD.

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  2. Oooft. Never spent money on something like this, no. I did, however, spot an unofficial Nirvana set back at the dawn of the new Millennium. It was the ‘Outcesticide’ CDs bundled together, if I can remember. As a fan, I had a few of them. First three, I think. Anyhoo, I spotted a box with eight or so in it. Collecters thing, obviously. Not for me, though.

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    2. Outcesticide, at least the first few, were really cool bootlegs. That I don’t mind so much. I don’t know how many outtakes it takes to get to 8 discs though! Or how much of that material is slated for release on Montage of Heck.

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      1. The first couple were definitely worthwhile – whole bunch of great demo and live tracks on there. Including the Chad In Bloom (which I thought was superior). My understanding is that the quality dipped. Both the sound quality and source.

        My disappointment with both the Muddy Banks disc and With The Lights Out box was that there were so many great Nirvana bootlegs.

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        2. Completely agree. Such a disappointing release. I ended up compiling my own from the bootlegs I had (same track-listing) cause there was so many good performances missing.

          I have / had a bunch of Nirvana bootlegs that really could have been tidied up and released. A lot of great soundboard recordings are there – those bootlegs proved it.

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  3. Does having three complete sets of the Beatles catalogue (roll top box, mono CDs, stereo vinyl) count? Or is that just idiotic over-consumerism?

    Though comparatively modest money-wise, one silly purchase appeared in the post below: a bamboo sweet box with wrapped candy and a best of Sweet CD. And no, I’ve never tried the lollies.

    BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

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    1. You know, I have to really pick and choose when it comes to reissues like that. I didn’t buy any of the Floyd ones for example. I have to start asking myself, “But when will I want to listen to 2 CDs of demos?”

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  7. I just bought an Alice in Chains ‘Live and Unreleased’ album yesterday. I thought I was getting the ‘Nothing Safe’ hits album with a few live tracks added. Turns out it was just the live tracks. And the exact same ones from their official live album.
    At least it only cost me $4.

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  9. Nothing really springs to mind, but if I sit with it long enough, I’m sure I can think of something eventually. Leave it with me.

    Also, I just looked this NIN set up on Discogs and they still go $200CDN for a NM copy.

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    1. Suckers. $200 for an EP, four singles, a T-shirt and some buttons. The box has no NIN logo on it (unofficial) and nor do the pins or T-shirt. A fool and their money are soon parted.

      Not on Nothing Records, not an official NIN release! Most NINnies know this, but some will buy it anyway.

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  11. Hmm, nothing that I’ve bought music-wise, but like Jay addressed in her comment, I’d say movie collections can be this way too especially when DVDs were first popularized – a “deluxe edition” that really is just the movie released in widescreen (as opposed to FULLSCREEN)…now with special features that include…the original trailer(all grainy and shit) only! LAME

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