HRD Radio Report – Week Ending 8/27/16

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.

2016 Active Rock Radio / Octane Quarterly Report: Q2  

The following is the Active Rock Mediabase Chart for the week ending 8/27/16.  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	3	PRETTY RECKLESS	“Take Me Down”	1698
2	6	GREEN DAY	“Bang Bang”	1634
3	2	RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS	“Dark Necessities”	1517
4	4	POP EVIL	“Take It All”	1510
5	19	METALLICA	“Hardwired”	1466
6	1	CHEVELLE	“Joyride”	1442
7	8	3 DOORS DOWN	“Still Alive”	1266
8	5	BLINK-182	“Bored To Death”	1197
9	9	PROPHETS OF RAGE	“Prophets Of Rage”	1187
10	11	KORN	“Rotting In Vain”	1130
11	7	SHINEDOWN	“Asking For It”	983
12	13	DEFTONES	“Phantom Bride”	976
13	12	HOLY WHITE HOUNDS	“Switchblade”	887
14	15	DISTURBED	“Open Your Eyes”	862
15	14	SKILLET	“Feel Invincible”	856
16	16	HELLYEAH	“I Don’t Care Anymore”	783
17	18	THRICE	“Black Honey”	698
18	26	FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH	“I Apologize”	576
19	23	TWENTY ONE PILOTS	“Heathens”	568
20	20	AVATAR	“The Eagle Has Landed”	562
21	21	ZAKK WYLDE (f. COREY TAYLOR)	“Sleeping Dogs”	549
22	25	KALEO	“Way Down We Go”	484
23	24	SIXX: A.M.	“Prayers For The Damned”	454
24	17	ROB ZOMBIE	“Get High”	450
25	28	CITIZEN ZERO	“Go (Let Me Save You)”	398
26	27	FROM ASHES TO NEW	“Lost And Alone”	331
27	31	ALTER BRIDGE	“Show Me A Leader”	330
28	22	BREAKING BENJAMIN	“Ashes Of Eden”	279
29	32	RED SUN RISING	“Amnesia”	270
30	38	GEMINI SYNDROME	“Remember We Die”	227
31	29	STITCHED UP HEART	“Monster”	216
32	33	THE RECORD COMPANY	“Off The Ground”	210
33	37	DINOSAUR PILE-UP	“11:11”	199
34	35	ISLANDER	“Bad Guy”	198
35	34	THOUSHAND FOOT KRUTCH	“Push”	187
36	40	FOALS	“What Went Down”	167
37	36	SEPTEMBER MOURNING	“Eye Of The Storm”	166
38	46	SHAMAN’S HARVEST	“Here It Comes”	159
39	42	LETTERS FROM THE FIRE	“Give In To Me”	156
40	45	PARKWAY DRIVE	“Devil’s Calling”	153
41	43	BRING ME THE HORIZON	“Avalanche”	150
42	41	MACHINE HEAD	“Is There Anybody Out There?”	139
43	48	BRIDGE TO GRACE	“Left  Inside”	131
44	44	FAILURE ANTHEM	“First World Problems”	128
45	50	RIVAL SONS	“Thundering Voices”	115
46	54	THE STRUTS	“Put Your Money On Me”	111
47	61	VOLBEAT	“Seal The Deal”	105
48	51	BLACK STONE CHERRY	“Soul Machine”	105
49	52	OF MICE & MEN	“Real”	103
50	49	VIMIC	“My Fate”	99

 

 

BLACK STONE CHERRY – “Soul Machine”

Once upon a time, Southern Rock was part of the rock radio landscape. Bands like Lynyrd Skynryd, The Allman Brothers, .38 Special, Molly Hatchet and others were played alongside legendary classic rock bands, hair metal bands and everything in between.  These days, there is a noticeable trend towards the return of Southern Rock in a meaningful way.  Some find a home on country radio, while a handful have found a home on Active Rock radio.  

Back in the day, Lynyrd Skynryd was the epitome of a mass-appeal Southern Rock band.  When it comes to modern Southern Rock bands appealing to Active Rock radio fans, no one does it better than Black Stone Cherry.  Amazingly, other than writing with passion and delivering consistently outstanding music, the band doesn’t do anything to tailor their sound for radio.  

In a vacuum, you wouldn’t think that a song that is as much theatrical soul as it is rock would find a home on Active Rock radio, but that is the genius of Black Stone Cherry.  They play by their own rules with great success.  They are pushing boundaries and expanding listeners’ minds with a sound that stands out from most others in the format. “Soul Machine” pushes the envelope even more than the band usually does, but it’s far too good to ignore by Active Rock radio programmers.  The song cracked the Top 50 this week.  For the sake of listeners everywhere, one can only hope that it enjoys a nice run up the chart.
 

 

 

PUBLISHER’S PREDICTIONS (by Adam Waldman)

Last week, I referred to the 7/30/16 HRD Radio Report where I predicted that Pretty Reckless was destined to reach the #1 position with “Take Me Down.”  Taking into account the strength of Green Day’s “Bang Bang” (which had yet to chart when I made my prediction), I still gave Taylor Momsen & Co. a 90% chance of being #1 this week.  My prediction came true, although the spin count was so close that the 10% Green Day hedge nearly came to fruition.  This week, the prediction is a bit more challenging.  Unless there is a radical change, Pretty Reckless’ song title is going to look prophetic when they fall next week to either Green Day or Metallica’s “Hardwired” (which jumped from #19 to #5 this week).  Will Green Day be the victim of bad timing?  There’s at least a 50% chance that they show a solid spin increase next week, but remain at #2 as they get leapfrogged by Metallica.  Pretty Reckless actually has the chance to increase their spins and still drop as low as #3 (based on current spin trends).
 

 

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…

SHALLOW SIDE – “Rebel”

YOUNG GUNS – “Bulletproof”

ONE LESS REASON – “Break Me”

CROBOT – “Not For Sale”

I PREVAIL – “Stuck In Your Head”

SCATTERED HAMLET – “Swamp Rebel Machine”

SILVERTUNG – “Devil’s Advocate”

LOLA BLACK – “Sorrow And Sin”

 

DROP IT…

Kaleo – “Way Down We Go”

Dinosaur Pile-Up – “11:11”

Holy White Hounds – “Switchblade”

Twenty One Pilots – “Heathens”

Foals – “What Went Down”

Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Dark Necessities”

Deftones – “Phantom Bride”

Rob Zombie – “Get High”

 

 

THE BREAKDOWN by Jon Loveless

KING OF THE HILL

One of the more hectic weeks in recent memory for the Mediabase Active Rock Airplay chart ends with Pretty Reckless sitting at the top of the heap.  New #2 Green Day actually had nearly double the growth week-to-week, but couldn’t quite close the gap in the race to replace a rapidly fading Chevelle at #1.  Making matters even more interesting is the meteoric rise of the latest from Metallica.
 

 

NOTABLE CHART MOVEMENT

As mentioned above, Metallica soars into the Top 10 this week, with Korn also claiming a spot in the highest tier of the chart…

Hard to find two more disparate bands to crack the Top 20 in the same week than Five Finger Death Punch and Twenty One Pilots…

Three songs reach the Top 30 for the first time, including a relatively strong starter from Gemini Syndrome…

Likewise, three songs break into the Top 40, albeit on relatively small airplay growth for each…

Four tracks make their Top 50 debut, including one from powerhouse Volbeat, which is notable because this happened a full two weeks before officially going for adds at radio.  And they’re not the only ones. Of Mice & Men also cracked the Top 50 a full three weeks before going for adds at radio.
 

 

THREE UP & THREE DOWN

RISING

Pretty Reckless – “Take Me Down”

Green Day – “Bang Bang”

Metallica – “Hardwired”

 

FALLING

Chevelle – “Joyride”

Blink-182 – “Bored To Death”

Shinedown – “Asking For It”
 

 

TRENDS AND OBSERVATIONS

It’s hard for me to avoid raving about Metallica’s performance.  Not the song itself necessarily, but rather the chart performance.  The two-week positions (#19 and #5) are impressive enough, but not unheard of even in recent weeks.  Red Hot Chili Peppers (#20 and #7) and Green Day (#22 and #6) have had recent similar showings in terms of chart position.  What makes the response to “Hardwired” more impressive to me, is the volume of airplay and the proximity to #1 in such a short period of time.  At the two-week mark on the charts, Red Hot Chili Peppers were almost 1,000 spins below the top spot, and Green Day was still more than 400 spins away from reaching the peak of the chart.  When this week’s chart became official, Metallica was only 230 spins short of being #1, and as of this writing, they’ve closed the gap on the rolling chart even more.  Say what you will about the band, their output in recent years, or even this particular track, but they’re obviously still held in high regard at radio.

 

WRAP-UP

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