Turn left for Conundrum by Walter Baxter, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

All right, okay, I know when I’m licked. I worked in marketing long enough to know that the numbers don’t lie.

After a record number of visitors dropped by in February, my stats have plummeted: down 36% in March and another 22% so far in April. This came as a surprise because it was a big shift from the norm: I usually get more visitors in the fall, winter, and early spring, and fewer in summer, when everyone goes on vacation in the Northern Hemisphere. If you think my slump has anything to do with the American Boycott, guess again. Here are my top ten visitor numbers by country since the start of the boycott:

1. United States: 112, 590
2. United Kingdom: 37, 866
3. Canada: 14,060
4. Australia: 9824
5. Germany: 8545
6. Netherlands: 6384
7. Italy: 3776
8. France: 3480
9. Brazil: 3447
10. Sweden: 2887

“Where are the Irish?” you may wonder. Despite several reviews of Irish artists, I get twice as many visitors from China, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Singapore as I do from my home country.

My main concern isn’t Irish indifference, but the fact that hardly anyone is reading or commenting on my new reviews. A new review usually hits 500 views by the end of the first month, but none of my 2026 reviews have come close to that modest mark. On average, this year’s reviews have been viewed by 230 visitors. One of those reviews even garnered less attention than my old review of Bobby Sherman’s Christmas Album—and all those views came after Christmas! As for comments, they’re down 73% in April.

Here’s the thing: I decided to review classic albums outside the borders of the USA this year, something I would have done even if Voldemort had gone to meet his maker—and I do not regret that decision. I knew there was a lot of great music from countries I had yet to explore in depth, and I wanted to expand my horizons. I knew going in that it would take a lot of work because I needed to increase my knowledge of the history, cultural norms, and music trends of the countries I chose to cover, but I was willing to do that. My usual M.O. is to read one book every week, and this year, all the books I’ve read and all the documentaries I’ve watched were either about the musicians I chose to review or histories of their countries. I also subscribed to news outlets in those nations so I could keep up with current events.

It takes about 20-30 hours a week to write a review to my satisfaction, not counting the background research. So, when I see numbers like this, I wonder, “Why in the fuck am I continuing to write new reviews if only a few people are going to read them?”

2026 views:

• Visitor views of reviews written between 2011-2025: 149,384
• Visitor views of reviews written this year to date: 2,990
• Top Ten Most-read reviews, 2026:
  • The Kinks, Preservation Acts 1 & 2: 2392
  • “The Rodeo Song”: 2240
  • Radiohead, OK Computer: 1590
  • David Bowie, Heroes: 1374
  • The Beatles, Abbey Road: 1310
  • The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced?: 1302
  • King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King: 1257
  • Françoise Hardy, La Question: 1232
  • Jethro Tull, A Passion Play: 1096
  • Green Day: American Idiot: 1069
• Most-read new review, 2026:
  • Yes, Fragile: 322
• Least-read new review:
  • Road Apples, the Tragically Hip: 145

Obviously, the balance between effort and reward is out of whack, and most of my readers have no interest in my new review choices. I was looking forward to stretching my wings this year, but now it seems self-indulgent and a waste of time and energy. After giving it some thought, I decided I had three “fuck it” choices: say “fuck it” and execute my plan for 2026, say “fuck it” and stop writing altogether, or say “fuck it” and do something in between.

I also noticed that my “likes per post average” is down by more than 50%, so my writing skills may be slipping. Once you start to doubt yourself and lose your confidence, it’s game over.

Before deciding which path to follow, I thought it would be a good idea to consult three serious music lovers: my father, my mother, and my partner. I sent them copies of my stats, and we agreed to discuss the situation a couple of days later, giving them time to process the data and come fully prepared to weigh in.

Dad wanted me to continue and focus solely on U.K. artists, because they have strong fan bases in both the homeland and the States, and represent my largest group of followers. Alicia wanted me to do whatever made me happy, but she doubted I would be happy if I continued with my 2026 plan. My mother was straight and to the point: “You are wasting your time and energy and need to stop now.” She pointed out that my reviews of Canadians Gordon Lightfoot and Leonard Cohen never reached the expected minimum of 500 visits, so I shouldn’t have been surprised by the limp response to my Tragically Hip reviews. Maman dismissed my father’s idea by noting that this year’s reviews of Deep Purple, Yes, Kirsty MacColl, Electric Light Orchestra, and Procol Harum have also performed poorly. “Your audience consists of Baby Boomers who love the music of the 60s and 70s and Millennials who love the 90s and early 00’s, and they want to hear and read about the music they cherished most, not artists they don’t remember or never heard of. You have done more than enough to satisfy those cravings, so there is no need for you to go on.” When I asked if they thought it would help to suspend the American Boycott, they responded in unison: “NOOOO!”

I wanted to know if they thought my writing was going downhill, and they all rejected that possibility, but reminded me that my deep dives are unlikely to have much appeal in a world oriented towards quick and dirty. Then I shared my feeling that after all the preparation I had gone through to shift gears towards non-American music, I was reluctant to let that effort go to waste. Maman responded by posing a question that went to the heart of the matter. “Are there any reviews on your list that you feel you need to write to complete your study of a century of popular music?” I pulled up my master spreadsheet and identified twelve albums and one historical period that I felt were must-dos. I pointed out that I would need to publish something at least every two weeks to remain relevant to the search engines, but I could fill those spots with some of my readers’ requests or a Chick Riff or two. The bi-weekly schedule would also give me more time to launch a job search if I follow through on my intention to leave the EU (now less certain because my director made me one of those Vito Corleone offers to stay on). While I hated to abandon my study of the Tragically Hip, I had to admit that if my audience ignored the first four reviews, they would likely pay no attention to the last nine.

The discussion ended with a classic family sitcom moment. Dad asked, “Well, since you have so much room in your schedule, how about doing the Traveling Wilburys?” The script instructed me to shout “NO FUCKING WILBURYS!” as I had done several times before, but I stopped myself and said, “Okay, Dad. You win. I’ll do the fucking Wilburys.”

To sum things up, my plan for 2026 is kaput. Between now and March 2027, when my WordPress renewal comes up, I will publish reviews or riffs every other week. Next February, I’ll take a look at the stats, and if things have continued to go down the toilet, I will close the site permanently and devote my energies to the fight for human rights.

Ironically, the most fitting lyric I can come up with to describe the likely future of the altrockchick comes from an album I reviewed thirteen years ago and recently drew enough visitors to become my most-read review of all time. As Ray Davies so wisely noted in Preservation Act 2:

“Nothing lasts forever.”