HRD Radio Report – Week Ending 7/21/18

 HRD Radio Report – Week Ending 7/21/18

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 7/21/18. All exclusive HRD content is featured below the chart:

CHART	CHART	ARTIST	SONG TITLE	RADIO
POSITION	POSITION			SPINS
THIS WEEK	LAST WEEK
1	1	GHOST	“Rats”	1944
2	2	GODSMACK	“Bulletproof”	1718
3	3	SHINEDOWN	“DEVIL”	1569
4	4	FROM ASHES TO NEW	“Crazy”	1508
5	5	FOO FIGHTERS	“The Line”	1493
6	6	HALESTORM	“Uncomfortable”	1309
7	7	FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH	“Sham Pain”	1260
8	9	DOROTHY	“Flawless”	1062
9	12	BREAKING BENJAMIN	“Torn In Two”	1020
10	8	POP EVIL	“A Crime To Remember”	1009
11	11	THREE DAYS GRACE	“Infra-Red”	963
12	10	ALICE IN CHAINS	“The One You Know”	940
13	14	BADFLOWER	“Ghost”	807
14	15	ESCAPE THE FATE	“Broken Heart”	769
15	16	IN THIS MOMENT (f. Rob Halford)	“Black Wedding”	668
16	17	NOTHING MORE	“Just Say When”	636
17	22	BAD WOLVES (f. DIAMANTE)	“Hear Me Now”	561
18	18	ASKING ALEXANDRIA	“Alone In A Room”	546
19	13	GUNS N’ ROSES	“Shadow Of Your Love (2018)”	524
20	19	BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE	“Over It”	458
21	23	LIKE A STORM	“The Devil Inside”	444
22	25	SEETHER	“Against The Wall”	440
23	24	SKINDRED	“That’s My Jam”	420
24	42	TWENTY ONE PILOTS	“Jumpsuit”	329
25	30	THRICE	“The Grey”	317
26	20	FEVER 333	“Walking In My Shoes”	311
27	21	PARKWAY DRIVE	“The Void”	305
28	28	GRANDSON	“Blood/Water”	297
29	29	THE RECORD COMPANY	“Life To Fix”	291
30	0	GRETA VAN FLEET	“When The Curtain Falls”	264
31	31	SMASHING PUMPKINS	“Solara”	258
32	26	STONE TEMPLE PILOTS	“Roll Me Under”	252
33	32	10 YEARS	“Burnout”	248
34	27	SEVENDUST	“Dirty”	230
35	46	KULICK	“Ghost”	222
36	33	IVORY BLUE	“Ready Get Set”	201
37	35	THE STRUTS	“Body Talks”	196
38	36	LEDGER	“Not Dead Yet”	194
39	37	SHIM	“Hallelujah”	190
40	40	MOTIONLESS IN WHITE	“Voices”	187
41	34	NONPOINT	“Chaos And Earthquakes”	180
42	39	DEAD GIRLS ACADEMY	“No Way Out”	179
43	41	THEORY OF A DEADMAN	“Wicked Game”	173
44	43	ADELITAS WAY	“Still Hungry”	116
45	45	NO RESOLVE	“What You Deserve”	90
46	48	BUTCHER BABIES	“Look What We’ve Done”	89
47	44	KOBRA AND THE LOTUS	“Velvet Roses”	86
48	50	LIVE	“Love Lounge”	72
49	47	ROYAL BLISS	“Devil With Angel Eyes”	72
50	53	COHEED AND CAMBRIA	“Unheavenly Creatures”	60

 

 

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

ROYAL BLISS – “Devil With Angel Eyes”

Once upon a time, hard rock vocalists delivered their message with a soulful vulnerability that let you feel the emotions of the song.  Often times these days, that quality has been replaced by a mixture of homogeny and growls.  The end result is an “active rock” sound, causing numerous artists to have an interchangeable quality to them.  Thank God for vocalists like Neal Middleton, and bands like Royal Bliss who are willing to take a chance on writing music that isn’t chasing the current trends just to get radio airplay.

“Devil With Angel Eyes” is clearly written from the heart.  It has depth that makes you feel something when you listen to it, a far cry from a lot of current music that feels more like background music.  The song is southern rock with country roots.  It’s the classic rock that set the tone for things to come back in the ‘70s.  Like many of the legends of rock, Royal Bliss incorporates female backing vocals on this track, giving it a larger-than-life vibe.  Given the current state of rock, it’s likely that this song will be played on club stages, but make no mistake, “Devil With Angel Eyes” is the type of song that is tailor-made for arenas.

It’s a positive sign for the Active Rock format whenever a song like this gets added to the playlist, so it’s nice to see it featured in the Top 50.  Hopefully, it will have a lengthy run on the chart.
 

PUBLISHER’S PREDICTIONS (By Adam Waldman)

Ghost remained basically flat this week on spins.  Often times, that means that the song is about to drop from the top.  However, because of fortunate timing, there are no challengers currently within striking distance of taking over the top spot.  All of the songs from the #4 to the #11 slot this week closed the gap, but Ghost still leads its most-likely challengers (From Ashes To New and Foo Fighters) by over 400 spins.  Things might start to get interesting at the top once “Rats” has run its course, but that won’t happen until sometime in August.

 

 

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…

FOZZY – “Burn Me Out”

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH – “Blue On Black”

MONSTER TRUCK – “Evolution”

FAREWELL TO FEAR – “Underneath My Skin”

SILENT THEORY – “Watch Me Burn”

ARMORED DAWN – “Sail Away”

WILSON – “Like A Baller”

CROWN THE EMPIRE – “20/20”

 

DROP IT…

Twenty One Pilots – “Jumpsuit”

The Fever 333 – “Walking In My Shoes”

Grandson – “Blood/Water”

Smashing Pumpkins – “Solara”

Ivory Blue – “Ready Get Set”

The Struts – “Body Talks”

Theory Of A Deadman – “Wicked Game”

Kulick – “Ghost”

 

 

THE BREAKDOWN (by Jon Loveless)

NOTABLE CHART MOVEMENT

Breaking Benjamin climbs neatly into the Top 10…

Bad Wolves (f. Diamante) moves into the Top 20…

The Top 30 has two new members, including the week’s highest debuting single, from Greta Van Fleet…

Kulick (neither Bruce nor Bob) reaches the Top 40…

Coheed & Cambria provide the only other song to debut in this week’s published chart, claiming the final spot in the Top 50.
 

 

THREE UP & THREE DOWN

RISING
Breaking Benjamin – “Torn In Two”
Bad Wovles (f. Diamante) – “Hear Me Now”
Twenty One Pilots – “Jumpsuit”

 

FALLING
Fever 333 – “Walking In My Shoes”
Parkway Drive – “The Void”
Guns N’ Roses – “Shadow Of Your Love”
 

 

 TRENDS AND OBSERVATIONS

Interesting to see the high debut for Greta Van Fleet, coming on the heels of a relatively poor performance for their previous single (“Black Smoke Rising”).  That song actually peaked in its first week on the chart (premiering at #41), languished between #42 and #45 for eight weeks, and then fell off the published chart altogether.