HRD Radio Report – Week Ending 3/31/18

 HRD Radio Report – Week Ending 3/31/18

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. The following is the Active Rock Mediabase Chart for the week ending 3/31/18. All exclusive HRD content is featured below the chart:

CHART	CHART	ARTIST	SONG TITLE	RADIO
POSITION	POSITION			SPINS
THIS WEEK	LAST WEEK
1	2	THREE DAYS GRACE	“The Mountain”	1987
2	1	BREAKING BENJAMIN	“Red Cold River”	1822
3	4	FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH	“Gone Away”	1713
4	8	SHINEDOWN	“DEVIL”	1485
5	7	GODSMACK	“Bulletproof”	1469
6	6	NOTHING MORE	“Do You Really Want It?”	1374
7	9	BAD WOLVES	“Zombie”	1325
8	3	POP EVIL	“Waking Lions”	1319
9	5	GRETA VAN FLEET	“Safari Song”	1288
10	10	RISE AGAINST	“House On Fire”	1119
11	12	RED SUN RISING	“Deathwish”	932
12	13	I PREVAIL	“Lifelines”	895
13	14	JONATHAN DAVIS	“What It Is”	803
14	19	FOZZY	“Painless”	787
15	16	THEORY OF A DEADMAN	“Straight Jacket”	750
16	17	A PERFECT CIRCLE	“TalkTalk”	719
17	18	MUSE	“Thought Contagion”	711
18	20	PEARL JAM	“Can’t Deny Me”	634
19	21	DOROTHY	“Flawless”	491
20	25	FROM ASHES TO NEW	“Crazy”	396
21	26	A DAY TO REMEMBER	“Same About You”	390
22	22	JUDAS PRIEST	“Lightning Strike”	330
23	34	ROYAL BLOOD	“Hole In Your Heart”	314
24	23	STONE TEMPLE PILOTS	“Meadow”	302
25	33	PARKWAY DRIVE	“The Void”	263
26	24	METALLICA	“Spit Out The Bone”	258
27	28	SHAMAN’S HARVEST	“The Devil In Our Wake”	254
28	35	SEVENDUST	“Dirty”	244
29	29	IMAGINE DRAGONS	“Whatever It Takes”	231
30	36	TRIVIUM	“Endless Night”	214
31	27	OF MICE & MEN	“Money”	204
32	31	CHRIS STAPLETON	“Midnight Train To Memphis”	188
33	43	FEVER 333	“Walking In My Shoes”	175
34	38	MESSER	“Make This Life”	164
35	30	DED	“Hate Me”	150
36	32	MYLES KENNEDY	“Year Of The Tiger”	142
37	41	VYCES	“Thin Luck”	127
38	42	ZERO THEOREM	“Area”	118
39	40	MARILYN MANSON	“Tattooed In Reverse”	115
40	91	UNDEROATH	“Rapture”	113
41	89	STONE TEMPLE PILOTS	“Roll Me Under”	77
42	45	BLACKTOP MOJO	“Dream On”	77
43	50	BLACK STONE CHERRY	“Bad Habit”	72
44	47	JACOB CADE	“What’s Your Problem?!”	65
45	46	THE OUTFIT	“Soldier Boy”	63
46	59	RED	“Gone”	58
47	48	JIBE	“Release”	58
48	51	LIGHT THE TORCH	“Calm Before The Storm”	55
49	52	THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS	“Dangerous Night”	51
50	57	ASKING ALEXANDRIA	“Alone In A Room”	47

 

 

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

THE WILD! – “Another Bottle”

The Wild! is EXACTLY the type of band that Active Rock radio needs to add some much needed rock and roll swagger to the format.  With all due respect to the current crop of rock artists, these days it feels like things are usually pretty serious.  What ever happened to the joy that existed during the heyday of hard rock when bands embraced the decadence of the lifestyle surrounding the music?

If you’re looking for a band that caters to the desire to use rock and roll as an escape from the world, look no further than Canada’s The Wild!  From a more modern stance, this band stacks up with Buckcherry.  Dig deeper into their roots, and you can’t help but think of AC/DC and Krokus when you listen to “Another Bottle.”

Dylan Villain’s vocals have the ballsy swagger of Josh Todd, the gin-soaked, happy hour style of Brian Johnson, the impassioned upper register of Marc Storace, and the spirit of Bon Scott all rolled into one.  That alone should be enough to make you listen, but his lead guitar work is just as impressive.  Rounding out this cast of characters is The Kid (rhythm guitar), Lucas ‘Boozus’ (bass), and Reese Lightning (drums).  This rock solid unit has captured the true spirit of rock and roll on “Another Bottle,” a song that is right in line with the personality of the band.

If Greta Van Fleet can set the world on fire with a sound that feels like the continuation of Led Zeppelin, there is no reason why The Wild! can’t bring another much-needed element to a format that tends to stagnate with an abundance of artists that sound similar to each other.  Whether radio embraces these kickass Canadian rockers or not shouldn’t matter to true rock and roll fans.  This is a band that would be an ideal opener for Guns N’ Roses (arguably the hottest band in the world right now).

 

 

PUBLISHER’S PREDICTIONS (By Adam Waldman)

The current trend suggests that Three Days Grace may be the first artist to hold the #1 position for more than a week in some time.  Their rise to the top this week marks the fifth consecutive week with a new #1.  Breaking Benjamin came on like gangbusters last week to leapfrog from #4 all the way to #1.  This week, their drop of nearly 100 spins allowed Three Days Grace to take the throne.

Five Finger Death Punch has around 275 spins to make up to continue the trend of one-week wonders.  Can they do it?  Not likely if Three Days Grace even plateaus, but if they drop, all bets are off.

At this point, it’s starting to look like there is a coordinated effort being made to give several songs bragging rights of having a #1 single.  With Shinedown, Godsmack, Nothing More lurking near the top, it’s likely that each will spend at least a week at #1.  Can the hottest rock song in the country keep gaining ground to get their turn at the top?  Time will tell if Bad Wolves has enough momentum with their cover of “Zombie” to reach #1.  Either way, this song is already a juggernaut, basically owning SiriusXM’s Octane Big ‘Uns Countdown in 2018.
 

 

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…

THE WILD! – “Another Bottle”

THE LAZYS – “Nothing But Trouble”

FACING FIRE – “Filthy Life”

WAYLAND – “Ghost”

BOBAFLEX – “Lights Out”

STONE BROKEN – “Worth Fighting For”

DIGITAL SUMMER – “Buried Alive”

ONE BAD SON – “Hurricane”

 

DROP IT…

Imagine Dragons – “Whatever It Takes”

The Fever 333 – “Walking In My Shoes”

Muse – “Thought Contagion”

Chris Stapleton – “Midnight Train To Memphis”

Marilyn Manson – “Tattooed In Reverse”

Stone Temple Pilots – “Meadow”

Greta Van Fleet – “Safari Song”

Thirty Seconds To Mars – “Dangerous Night”

 

 

THE BREAKDOWN (by Jon Loveless)

NOTABLE CHART MOVEMENT

No changes in the composition of the Top 10 this week, only reordering…

Two songs find their way in the final pair of spots in the Top 20, including From Ashes To New’s latest, after “Crazy” spent several weeks stuck in place…

Four new songs crack the Top 30, including Royal Blood’s latest (which saw its spin count nearly double from the week prior), as well as tracks from Parkway Drive, Sevendust, and Trivium…

Underoath claims the week’s highest debut, premiering in the Top 40.  They’re joined by Vyces and a pair of songs that re-enter the tier…

There are five other songs debuting in the published chart this week, accounting for half the spots at the bottom of the Top 50.   Among those is the well-received return of Howard Jones and the (now) renamed band Light The Torch (previously known as Devil You Know).
 

 

THREE UP & THREE DOWN

RISING
Fozzy – “Painless”
Royal Blood – “Hole In Your Heart”
Shinedown – “DEVIL”

 

FALLING
Greta Van Fleet – “Safari Song”
Papa Roach – “Born For Greatness”
Metallica – “Spit Out The Bone”
 

 

 TRENDS AND OBSERVATIONS

I probably owe Breaking Benjamin an apology for jinxing them in this space last week.  I only thought that they’d break the string of single-week #1 songs.  Three Days Grace claimed the top spot, marking the fifth different chart-topping song in as many weeks.  Prior to that, Papa Roach and Royal Blood had combined to hold onto the top spot for 12 weeks between them.

 

WRAP-UP

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