HRD Radio Report – Week Ending 4/30/16

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.

 2016 Active Rock Radio / Octane Quarterly Report: Q1

The following is the Active Rock Mediabase Chart for the week ending 4/30/16.  All exclusive HRD content is featured below the chart:

CHART	CHART	ARTIST	SONG TITLE	RADIO
POSITION	POSITION			SPINS
THIS WEEK	LAST WEEK			THIS WEEK
1	1	RED SUN RISING	“Emotionless”	1828
2	3	BRING ME THE HORIZON	“Happy Song”	1730
3	5	VOLBEAT	“The Devil’s Bleeding Crown”	1695
4	4	FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH	“My Nemesis”	1663
5	2	DISTURBED	“The Sound Of Silence”	1620
6	6	SIXX: A.M.	“Rise”	1530
7	9	PAPA ROACH	“Falling Apart”	1222
8	10	DEFTONES	“Prayers/Triangles”	1136
9	8	3 DOORS DOWN	“In The Dark”	992
10	7	MUSE	“Reapers”	956
11	12	GHOST	“From The Pinnacle To The Pit”	883
12	11	HALESTORM	“Mayhem”	834
13	14	HELLYEAH	“Human”	756
14	13	ADELITA’S WAY	“Bad Reputation”	685
15	15	A DAY TO REMEMBER	“Paranoia”	629
16	25	SHINEDOWN	“Asking For It”	611
17	16	FOALS	“Mountain At My Gates”	584
18	19	SICK PUPPIES	“Stick To Your Guns”	578
19	17	ASKING ALEXANDRIA	“Here I Am”	572
20	18	DEVOUR THE DAY	“Lightning In The Sky”	502
21	20	KILLSWITCH ENGAGE	“Hate By Design”	407
22	21	KALEO	“No Good”	382
23	28	ROB ZOMBIE	“Get High”	345
24	22	CHEAP TRICK	“When I Wake Up”	320
25	27	THOUSAND FOOT KRUTCH	“Running With Giants”	312
26	26	AVATAR	“The Eagle Has Landed”	303
27	23	MONSTER TRUCK	“Don’t Tell Me How To Live”	301
28	24	BLACK STONE CHERRY	“In Our Dreams”	261
29	30	THROUGH FIRE	“Stronger”	246
30	29	BARONESS	“Shock Me”	243
31	51	POP EVIL	“Take It All”	240
32	33	SEVENDUST	“Death Dance”	227
33	38	TWENTY ONE PILOTS	“Ride”	210
34	34	HOLY WHITE HOUNDS	“Switchblade”	210
35	50	CHRIS CORNELL	“Nothing Compares 2 U”	185
36	32	ANTHRAX	“Breathing Lightning”	184
37	31	CANDLEBOX	“Vexatious”	180
38	35	SMASHING SATELLITES	“Gamblin’ Man”	173
39	37	LIKE A STORM	“Break Free”	156
40	36	CILVER	“I’m America”	152
41	39	ONE LESS REASON	“Where Were You?”	142
42	41	TRIVIUM	“Dead And Gone”	140
43	44	TREMONTI	“Dust”	136
44	40	SUNFLOWER DEAD	“It’s Time To Get Weird”	117
45	42	RIVAL CITY HEIGHTS	“Take It Back”	104
46	56	ESCAPE THE FATE	“Remember Every Scar”	100
47	43	HANDS LIKE HOUSES	“Colourblind”	99
48	45	OTEP	“In Cold Blood”	97
49	69	BEARTOOTH	“Aggressive”	88
50	107	BREAKING BENJAMIN	“Ashes Of Eden”	82

 

 

PUBLISHER’S PICK OF THE WEEK (by Adam Waldman)

SONS OF TEXAS – “Blameshift”

Sons Of Texas burst onto the Active Rock scene with their hit debut single, “Baptized In The Rio Grande.”  It has taken much too long for their follow-up single, “Blameshift,” to be pushed to radio, and yet, the band has become recognized as one of the best new artists in the genre, having done extensive touring with no single on the radio.  It makes you wonder a few things. First of all, what took so long for this single to get pushed to radio?  Second of all, is airplay becoming more about bragging rights than an important piece of the puzzle to break a band?  The answer to the first question is one that can only be answered by the band’s label.  The answer to the second question is…it depends.

Sons of Texas’ label mates (Red Sun Rising) have certainly benefited (at least in name recognition) by having their second single rise to the top of both the Active Rock charts and the Octane Big ‘Uns Countdown simultaneously.  To be fair, their current single also felt like it a long time to get pushed to radio.  Ultimately, like all bands in the genre, touring seems to be a bigger determining factor in a band’s success than radio.  That being said, Active Rock radio should be putting “Blameshift” into heavy rotation (if outstanding music and format fit are the criteria). It’s hard to figure out why Octane made this one of the songs in their new “Test Drive” segment. There is nothing to “test.”  Simply stated, this song should be vying for the same lofty status that Red Sun Rising has achieved, not fighting for airplay.  It’s that damn good!

Some of the most memorable lyrics of the song are…“I’ve sold my soul.”  Let’s hope that Sons Of Texas won’t have to resort to that to get the airplay that they so richly deserve.

 

 

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…

SONS OF TEXAS – “Blameshift”

UGLY MELON – “Dead Or Alive”

HUDSON – “Cast Out”

SEPTEMBER MOURNING – “Eye Of The Storm”

FIFTYWATT FREIGHT TRAIN – “Whiskey & Hate”

EVANS BLUE – “iGod”

 

DROP IT…

Holy White Hounds – “Switchblade”

Foals – “Mountain At My Gates”

Twenty One Pilots – “Ride”

Adelita’s Way – “Bad Reputation”

Muse – “Reapers”

Deftones – “Prayers/Triangles”

 

 

THE BREAKDOWN by Jon Loveless

KING OF THE HILL

Week number two atop the Mediabase Active Rock Airplay Chart for Red Sun Rising, but there are certainly challengers eyeing the spot.  Bring Me The Horizon gains a little ground and moves up to #2, but the real threat for an extended run now appears to come from Volbeat, who shot past Five Finger Death Punch for #3.

 

 

NOTABLE CHART MOVEMENT

No changes in the composition of the Top Ten this week, just some shuffling of the order…

Shinedown’s “Asking For It” is the only new arrival in the Top 20…

No new entries crack the Top 30 this week…

Pop Evil is the high debut for the week, coming in strong at #31 with their latest single, “Take It All.”  In addition to Pop Evil, debuting in the Top 50 are three new songs, including the latest single from Escape The Fate and a ballad from format powerhouse, Breaking Benjamin.

 

 

THREE UP & THREE DOWN

MOVING UP

Volbeat – “The Devil’s Bleeding Crown”

Five Finger Death Punch – “My Nemesis”

Shinedown – “Asking For It”

 

DROPPING DOWN

Disturbed – “The Sound Of Silence”

3 Doors Down – “In The Dark”

Muse – “Reapers”

 

 

TRENDS AND OBSERVATIONS

Is 2016 shaping up to be another good year on radio for established artists?  The hot start for Volbeat certainly suggests that possibility.  Red Sun Rising appears to be tabbed as the next Nothing More (in terms of reception from radio), but otherwise, the top spots appear to be largely the domain of some of the format’s most entrenched acts over the past year.  There may not be much reason to think that 2016 will see a bumper crop of breakthroughs.  It’s hard to have many of those acts if radio sticks to the tried and true.

 

WRAP-UP

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