HRD Radio Report – Week Ending 4/28/18

 HRD Radio Report – Week Ending 4/28/18

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 4/28/18. All exclusive HRD content is featured below the chart:

CHART	CHART	ARTIST	SONG TITLE	RADIO
POSITION	POSITION			SPINS
THIS WEEK	LAST WEEK
1	5	SHINEDOWN	“DEVIL”	1943
2	3	BAD WOLVES	“Zombie”	1909
3	1	THREE DAYS GRACE	“The Mountain”	1839
4	4	GODSMACK	“Bulletproof”	1827
5	2	FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH	“Gone Away”	1630
6	6	NOTHING MORE	“Do You Really Want It?”	1250
7	8	JONATHAN DAVIS	“What It Is”	1180
8	10	RED SUN RISING	“Deathwish”	1011
9	9	FOZZY	“Painless”	1002
10	12	PEARL JAM	“Can’t Deny Me”	903
11	16	GHOST	“Rats”	895
12	13	THEORY OF A DEADMAN	“Straight Jacket”	887
13	14	MUSE	“Thought Contagion”	842
14	7	BREAKING BENJAMIN	“Red Cold River”	819
15	17	FEVER 333	“Walking In My Shoes”	703
16	18	FROM ASHES TO NEW	“Crazy”	650
17	19	ROYAL BLOOD	“Hole In Your Heart”	630
18	11	RISE AGAINST	“House On Fire”	581
19	15	A PERFECT CIRCLE	“TalkTalk”	517
20	20	DOROTHY	“Flawless”	511
21	23	PARKWAY DRIVE	“The Void”	442
22	22	SEVENDUST	“Dirty”	415
23	21	A DAY TO REMEMBER	“Same About You”	407
24	26	UNDEROATH	“Rapture”	32
25	27	STONE TEMPLE PILOTS	“Roll Me Under”	362
26	24	SHAMAN’S HARVEST	“The Devil In Our Wake”	334
27	25	IMAGINE DRAGONS	“Whatever It Takes”	289
28	30	BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE	“Over It”	283
29	28	TRIVIUM	“Endless Night”	269
30	29	ESCAPE THE FATE	“Broken Heart”	251
31	31	MESSER	“Make This Life”	232
32	33	STONE SOUR	“St. Marie”	198
33	34	RED	“Gone”	147
34	42	TREMONTI	“Take You With Me”	145
35	54	IN THIS MOMENT (f. Rob Halford)	“Black Wedding”	134
36	35	BLACKTOP MOJO	“Dream On”	134
37	39	BLACK STONE CHERRY	“Bad Habit”	115
38	37	JACOB CADE	“What’s Your Problem?!”	104
39	46	FOO FIGHTERS	“The Line”	103
40	40	ASKING ALEXANDRIA	“Alone In A Room”	99
41	36	THE OUTFIT	“Soldier Boy”	86
42	41	GRETA VAN FLEET	“Black Smoke Rising”	85
43	58	SKINDRED	“That’s My Jam”	74
44	50	LETTERS FROM THE FIRE	“Comfort You”	72
45	43	THE DEAD DASIES	“Rise Up”	68
46	49	NATHANIEL RATELIFF/NIGHTSWEATS	“You Worry Me”	53
47	80	FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH	“Sham Pain”	51
48	52	ADELITAS WAY	“Still Hungry”	45
49	44	LIGHT THE TORCH	“Calm Before The Storm”	45
50	45	RED JUMPSUIT APPARATUS	“On Becoming Willing”	42

 

 

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

GHOST – “Rats”

I’ll admit that it took me longer than others to get into Ghost’s music.  Maybe it’s because their image and backstory always seems to be more front and center than their music.  Maybe it’s because their musical style is unique, and it takes multiple listens to start to understand where they’re coming from.  I suspect that it’s a combination of both.  Though my journey may have taken longer than others, I’ve finally arrived at the same destination…intrigued by a band that marches to the beat of their own drum, and appreciative of a sound that stands out amongst the rest.

Because they are so unique, it’s challenging to fit Ghost neatly into a subgenre, but they have enough of an Active Rock sound to fit naturally into the format.  What’s interesting with “Rats” is that, while there is an underlying sound that doesn’t sound out of place on Active Rock radio, you can detect Classic Rock/Pprogressive influences throughout the song.  From Queen to Queensryche to Styx, Ghost packages these influences in a way that makes them appeal to fans of Active Rock and Classic Rock alike.  There is a haunting vibe to the song that fits with their Halloween-esque image (think modern-day Type-O Negative).  At the same time, the uplifting vocal harmonies provide for an interesting blend of dark and light.

 

 

PUBLISHER’S PREDICTIONS (By Adam Waldman)

As predicted last week, Five Finger Death Punch has officially peaked at #2 with their cover of “Gone Away.”  Will the Bad Wolves cover of “Zombie” suffer the same fate?  Sitting in the #3 spot last week, there was a decent chance that they would rise to the top if both the #1 and #2 songs dropped.  However, they stalled at #2 this week after Shinedown soared from the #5 position to top the chart with their latest single, “DEVIL.”

As guaranteed last week, Three Days Grace was dethroned.  While it looked like a golden opportunity for Bad Wolves, it was mentioned last week that they could face a challenge from Godsmack and Shinedown.  Although “Zombie” has been (arguably) the hottest rock song of 2018, the challenge to reach the top has now gotten steeper.  Shinedown currently sits in the #1 slot (albeit with a minimal lead), and Godsmack is also within striking distance.  Battling two of the formats biggest artists for the top may prove to be too much of a challenge for Bad Wolves.

Cover songs have been very popular in recent times, but if Bad Wolves suffer the same fate as Five Finger Death Punch, you have to wonder if a concerted effort is being made to reward original content over new interpretations of older songs.
 

 

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…

ACE FREHLEY – “Bronx Boy”

NO RESOLVE – “What You Deserve”

THE LAZYS – “Nothing But Trouble”

THE WILD! – “Another Bottle”

BLACK LABEL SOCIETY – “A Love Unreal”

ROYAL BLISS – “Devil With Angel Eyes”

RADIOBLACK – “Into The Sky”

DEAD GIRLS ACADEMY – “No Way Out”

 

DROP IT…

Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats – “You Worry Me”

Imagine Dragons – “Whatever It Takes”

The Fever 333 – “Walking In My Shoes”

Muse – “Thought Contagion”

Red – “Gone”

Pearl Jam – “Can’t Deny Me”

Red Jumpsuit Apparatus – “On Becoming Willing”

Royal Blood – “Hole In Your Heart”

 

 

THE BREAKDOWN (by Jon Loveless)

NOTABLE CHART MOVEMENT

Only three songs in the latest Top 10 are in the same spot as last week, yet only one of the songs is new to the group,  Pearl Jam’s latest single…

The Top 20 and the Top 30 this week are … exactly the same 30 songs they included a week ago, and no shifting between the tiers (except for Breaking Benjamin falling so that Pearl Jam could climb)…

New to the Top 30 this week are the latest tracks from Escape The Fate and Bullet For My Valentine…

Tremonti, In This Moment (f. Rob Halford), and Foo Fighters all rise into the Top 40, with ITM & The Metal God making their official chart debut together…

Three other songs also premiere in the chart this week, including the latest from Skindred, new Adelitas Way, and a song that may or may not be the first official single from the upcoming Five Finger Death Punch album.
 

 

THREE UP & THREE DOWN

RISING
Shinedown – “DEVIL”
Ghost – “Rats”
Bad Wolves – “Zombie”

 

FALLING
Rise Against – “House On Fire”
Nothing More – “Do You Really Want It?”
Breaking Benjamin – “Red Cold River”
 

 

 TRENDS AND OBSERVATIONS

As noted last week, SiriusXM’s Octane can create a chart hit all by themselves at this point, though a couple of stations out west also contributed to the chart appearance of Five Finger Death Punch’s “Sham Pain.”  Whether the song turns out to be a full-fledged single or if it’s just a short-run, early-release track for the band’s upcoming debut for their new label remains to be seen.  Lead singles are usually among the very strongest songs on a new project, and judging from comments on social media, many fans seem to be hoping that this doesn’t represent the pinnacle of the whole album (I say that as an unabashed and unapologetic full-on fan of the band).