HRD Radio Report – Week Ending 8/23/15

HRD RADIO REPORT 

The HRD Radio Report showcases the weekly Active Rock Mediabase Charts (compiled by AllAccess.com), and appears every Tuesday on HardRockDaddy.com.  The HRD Radio Report digs deeper into the weekly Active Rock charts, providing commentary, reviews, recommendations and predictions.  It also features opinion pieces on chart action and the music business in general.

Many of the artists featured on the Active Rock charts have already been reviewed on HardRockDaddy.com.

Click on the hyperlinked song titles to read song reviews, and the hyperlinked artist names to read album reviews.

The following is the Active Rock Mediabase Chart for the week ending 8/23/15.  All exclusive HRD content is featured below the chart:

2015 Mid-Year Recap: HRD Radio Report Active Rock and Octane Big ‘Uns Countdown

CHART	CHART	ARTIST	SONG TITLE	RADIO
POSITION	POSITION			SPINS
THIS WEEK	LAST WEEK			THIS WEEK
1	2	SHINEDOWN	“Cut The Cord”	2151
2	1	DISTURBED	“The Vengeful One”	2067
3	3	POP EVIL	“Footsteps”	1843
4	4	FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH	“Jekyll And Hyde”	1699
5	5	HIGHLY SUSPECT	“Lydia”	1688
6	6	NOTHING MORE	“Jenny”	1356
7	7	BREAKING BENJAMIN	“Angels Fall”	1189
8	8	SAINT ASONIA	“Better Place”	1116
9	10	RED SUN RISING	“The Otherside”	1058
10	9	PAPA ROACH	“Gravity”	1016
11	15	FOO FIGHTERS	“Outside”	779
12	12	THE STRUTS	“Could Have Been Me”	751
13	13	SLIPKNOT	“Killpop”	699
14	14	ALL THAT REMAINS	“For You”	656
15	17	P.O.D.	“This Goes Out To You”	650
16	11	HALESTORM	“Amen”	626
17	16	ARANDA	“Don’t Wake Me”	621
18	19	BRING ME THE HORIZON	“Throne”	601
19	18	OF MICE & MEN	“Never Giving Up”	569
20	20	STARSET	“Halo”	561
21	23	BEARTOOTH	“In Between”	443
22	21	SEETHER	“Nobody Praying For Me”	430
23	22	I PREVAIL	“Blank Space”	358
24	25	WE ARE HARLOT	“Someday”	343
25	26	ASKING ALEXANDRIA	“I Won’t Give In”	334
26	30	GHOST	“Cirice”	309
27	33	MUSE	“Mercy”	307
28	32	SEVENDUST	“Thank You”	287
29	29	TRAPT	“Passenger”	274
30	24	MUMFORD & SONS	“The Wolf”	270
31	53	CHRIS CORNELL	“Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart”	262
32	27	SHAMAN’S HARVEST	“Dirty Diana”	259
33	31	ARCS	“Outta My Mind”	257
34	35	BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE	“You Want A Battle? (Here’s A War)”	200
35	35	ZAC BROWN BAND	“Junkyard”	192
36	37	LAMB OF GOD	“Overlord”	179
37	39	BUCKCHERRY	“Bring It On Back”	176
38	28	KILL IT KID	“Blood Stop And Run”	171
39	36	MOTIONLESS IN WHITE	“Unstoppable”	170
40	38	SEASONS AFTER	“Weathered And Worn”	153
41	42	WITHIN REASON	“Here Comes The Light”	139
42	44	WILSON	“Right To Rise”	132
43	40	WE CAME AS ROMANS	“The World I Used To Know”	127
44	45	BUTCHER BABIES	“Never Go Back”	113
45	59	LIKE A STORM	“Become The Enemy”	112
46	56	IN THIS MOMENT	“Big Bad Wolf”	101
47	49	MIGGS	“Ordinary”	96
48	46	NEW YEAR’S DAY	“Defame Me”	96
49	65	ISLANDER	“Cold Speak”	92
50	48	3 YEARS HOLLOW	“Chemical Ride”	92

PUBLISHER’S PICK OF THE WEEK by Adam Waldman

ARCANE ROOTS – “If Nothing Breaks, Nothing Moves”

It took less than 30 seconds of hearing “If Nothing Breaks, Nothing Moves” on SiriusXM’s Octane to pique my interest.  What makes Arcane Roots so compelling is that they simply cannot be pigeon-holed into a specific genre, much less a radio format…the blessing and the curse of being unique.  Usually, when Active Rock programmers blur the lines of the format by trying to fit square pegs into round holes, they are justifiably criticized in this forum.  Of course, most of the time they are adding songs that clearly belong in a different format, thereby wasting spins that could otherwise go to bands that are trying to get noticed in a crowded field.  For the format to thrive, some chances must be taken on artists that have something new to offer. Arcane Roots is exactly the shot in the arm that Active Rock radio needs.  During the tortured moments of “If Nothing Breaks, Nothing Moves,” the band falls into the same wheelhouse as bands like The Amity Affliction.  Those moments may very well be enough to capture the attention of Active Rock programmers.  What remains to be seen is if programmers will embrace the more melodic side of Arcane Roots.  There are moments on this track (especially during the vocal harmonies) where the sound is reminiscent of Kansas with a modern rock flair. “If Nothing Breaks, Nothing Moves” has the potential to make listeners stand up and take notice if given the opportunity.  The title of the song may inadvertently be prophetically foreshadowing the future of Active Rock radio.  It’s time to “break” the predictability of the format and “move” in a direction that provides legitimate opportunities for bands like Arcane Roots.

 

HRD SPIN CONTROL (by Adam Waldman and Jon Loveless)

Each week, we will share the songs that we think should be added to rotations, alongside the songs that we feel should be dropped from rotations, either because they are a bad fit for the format, or because they have run their course and it’s time for a new single from the artist.

SPIN IT…

BOBAFLEX – “Mama Don’t Take My Drugs Away”

GEMINI SYNDROME – “Eternity”

RUBIKON – “Live That Lie”

NONPOINT – “Misery”

HEARTIST – “Ignite”

 

DROP IT…

Mumford & Sons – “The Wolf”

The Struts – “Could Have Been Me”

Muse – “Mercy”

The Arcs – “Outta My Mind”

Zac Brown Band – “Junkyard”

 

 

THE BREAKDOWN by Jon Loveless

KING OF THE HILL

So much for last week’s early trends I suppose …Shinedown’s “Cut The Cord” goes right back to the top of Mediabase Active Rock airplay chart as Disturbed was unable to hold on for more than a single week with “The Vengeful One.”  A mere two percent gain for the “new” #1 and a similar two percent slip in airplay for the former #1 is enough to flip-flop the duo.  Pop Evil and Five Finger Death Punch remain at #3 and #4 respectively.  Aside from the flip flop at the top, the rest of the top eight songs remain in the exact same order as last week.

 

 

NOTABLE CHART MOVEMENT

When the Top 20 songs (actually Top 24) are identical to the songs from the previous week, there isn’t a lot of notable movement happening for anyone.  That being said, at least the latest singles from Muse and Sevendust did manage to break into the Top 30…

Chris Cornell scores the week’s high debut with his new solo single (“Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart”) landing at #31, making it the only song to debut anywhere in the Top 40 for the week…

Three bands newly arrived in the Top 50, led by none other than those guys from way down under, Like A Storm…

For nearly all intents and purposes, Active Rock radio playlists were virtually frozen last week, similar to the lack of movement that is seen around holidays.

 

 

 THREE UP & THREE DOWN

MOVING UP

Red Sun Rising – “The Otherside”

Foo Fighters – “Outside”

Chris Cornell – “Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart”

 

DROPPING DOWN

Halestorm – “Amen”

I Prevail – “Blank Space”

Kill It Kid – “Blood Stop And Run”

 

 

FUTURES REPORT

This past week served a reminder that radio airplay (like everything these days) is a business concern.  It’s very hard to look at the back and forth nature of the chart and think there wasn’t considerable attention (and whatever leverage could be found) paid to try and get Disturbed to the top spot to coincide with their album release, which is a nice talking point.  A lot of credit has to go to the promotion staff behind the record in my opinion.  They managed – by however narrow a margin – to accomplish their goal, with radio reverting back to Shinedown after it was achieved.  No such luck for Pop Evil on their release week however, which means that it will be more interesting than usual to see what happens on the chart when the early September release of Five Finger Death Punch’s new album rolls around.

 

WRAP-UP

That’s all for this week.  Tune in to HardRockDaddy.com every Tuesday for the HRD Radio Report. \m/