HRD Radio Report – Week Ending 10/13/18

HRD Radio Report – Week Ending 10/13/18

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 10/13/18. All exclusive HRD content is featured below the chart:

CHART	CHART	ARTIST	SONG TITLE	RADIO
POSITION	POSITION			SPINS
THIS WEEK	LAST WEEK
1	2	DISTURBED	“Are You Ready”	2194
2	1	BADFLOWER	“Ghost”	2093
3	3	GRETA VAN FLEET	“When The Curtain Falls”	1853
4	4	SHINEDOWN	“Get Up”	1557
5	5	BAD WOLVES (f. DIAMANTE)	“Hear Me Now”	1413
6	6	SLASH F/MYLES KENNEDY	“Driving Rain”	1343
7	8	ASKING ALEXANDRIA	“Alone In A Room”	1109
8	11	THE GLORIOUS SONS	“S.O.S.”	936
9	7	BREAKING BENJAMIN	“Torn In Two”	910
10	12	GODSMACK	“When Legends Rise”	862
11	10	ALICE IN CHAINS	“Never Fade”	855
12	17	BRING ME THE HORIZON	“MANTRA”	755
13	14	AVENGED SEVENFOLD	“Mad Hatter”	754
14	13	BEARTOOTH	“Disease”	719
15	9	THREE DAYS GRACE	“Infra-Red”	710
16	15	GRANDSON	“Blood/Water”	699
17	16	THRICE	“The Grey”	677
18	19	FOZZY	“Burn Me Out”	548
19	20	IMAGINE DRAGONS	“Natural”	538
20	24	GHOST	“Dance Macabre”	533
21	23	RIVAL SONS	“Do Your Worst”	506
22	21	JONATHAN DAVIS	“Basic Needs”	475
23	22	UNDEROATH	“ihateit”	469
24	27	FROM ASHES TO NEW	“Broken”	420
25	18	TWENTY ONE PILOTS	“Jumpsuit”	368
26	26	PARKWAY DRIVE	“Prey”	366
27	25	HALESTORM	“Uncomfortable”	351
28	28	BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE	“Letting You Go”	348
29	29	THE BLUE STONES	“Black Holes (Solid Ground)”	332
30	51	PAPA ROACH	“Who Do You Trust?”	324
31	30	RED SUN RISING	“Veins”	296
32	34	FEVER 333	“Made An America”	281
33	39	FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH	“When The Seasons Change”	243
34	36	SEVENDUST	“Unforgiven”	221
35	35	THE STRUTS	“Body Talks”	173
36	41	ATREYU	“The Time Is Now”	157
37	33	SHIM	“Hallelujah”	151
38	43	SYLAR	“All Or Nothing”	141
39	31	NOTHING MORE	“Just Say When”	141
40	32	10 YEARS	“Burnout”	136
41	40	WILSON	“Like A Baller”	134
42	45	MESSER	“Save Myself”	133
43	44	PRETTY VICIOUS	“Move”	125
44	42	AMITY AFFLICTION	“Feels Like I’m Dying”	108
45	46	COHEED AND CAMBRIA	“Unheavenly Creatures”	107
46	49	HANDS LIKE HOUSES	“Monster”	96
47	55	ROYAL TUSK	“Aftermath”	92
48	48	BLACK MOODS	“Bella Donna”	90
49	47	ADELITAS WAY	“Still Hungry”	88
50	54	MEMPHIS MAY FIRE	“The Old Me”	83

 

 

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

GHOST – “Dance Macabre”

A feel good song from a band that is known for a haunting darkness?  That was my first thought when I listened to Ghost’s latest single, “Dance Macabre.”  I’ll admit that I was a latecomer to the Ghost bandwagon, probably because their current sound is much more in line with my personal taste.  There has been a ton of hype around the band for quite a while, but I just didn’t get it.  That’s not to say that I didn’t get why others felt strongly about this mysterious band.

With the band’s reputation and the song title, I expected something much darker.  What I got was a nostalgic surprise that took me back in time to the glory days of the ‘80s.  On the surface level, “Dance Macabre” is reminiscent of the early days of Ratt.  However, when you peel back the layers and listen closely to the subtle nuances, you start to hear some other unexpected reminders of days gone by.  The upbeat, bombastic sound of “Dance Macabre” sounds like it could have been the anchor song in any of the movies in the Rocky franchise.  In fact, if the franchise does another movie, this song would be an ideal bridge between the past and the present.  (Think Robert Tepper’s “No Easy Way Out” with a modern twist).

There’s a hint of the sweetness of the vocal harmonies that feels like the hair band era, as well as an understated nod towards bands like ELO and early Styx.  You just don’t hear songs with massive hooks like “Dance Macabre” on the radio these days.  It’s a refreshing deviation from the norm that will hold great appeal to Gen Xers longing for a taste of their youth in modern times.

 

 

PUBLISHER’S PREDICTIONS (By Adam Waldman)

Last week, it was predicted that there could be some flip flopping between Disturbed and Badflower in the top 2 positions on the chart.  It happened this week, as Badflower started to decline while Disturbed kept their positive momentum.  Based on the current trends, it looks like they will now hold on to the top spot for at least a few more weeks.  Badflower had a significant enough drop to start a downward trend.  It’s unlikely that it will be reversed at this point.  Meanwhile, Greta Van Fleet continues to increase their spin total.  They are the only real competition for Disturbed in the coming weeks.  Trailing by around 300 spins right now, Greta Van Fleet will need Disturbed to decline to reach the top sometime in November.  Unless there is a surprising reversal for what has become (arguably) the hottest young act in rock, it’s a virtual lock that they will have the next #1 song.
 

 

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…

SUNFLOWER DEAD – “Victim”

ELECTRIC REVOLUTION – “Burn It Down”

JUDAS PRIEST – “No Surrender”

ICE NINE KILLS – “Grave Mistake”

ROYAL BLISS – “Hard & Loud”

AMBROSE – “Last Man Standing”

POP EVIL – “Be Legendary”

VEER UNION – “Living Not Alive”

 

DROP IT…

Fever 333 – “American Made”

Twenty One Pilots – “Jumpsuit”

Imagine Dragons – “Natural”

Grandson – “Blood/Water”

Glorious Sons – “S.O.S.”

The Struts – “Body Talks”

Amity Affliction – “Feels Like I’m Dying”

Pretty Vicious – Move”

 

 

THE BREAKDOWN (by Jon Loveless)

NOTABLE CHART MOVEMENT

A pair of new arrivals in the Top 10 are highlighted by Godsmack…

Ghost is the week’s only new member of the Top 20, enjoying better than 20% spin growth…

The week’s highest debut is also the only new member of the Top 30, as Papa Roach makes a big splash out of the box…

Atreyu and Sylar both climb into the Top 40…

Other debuts in the Top 50 this week come from Royal Tusk and Memphis May Fire…
 

 

THREE UP & THREE DOWN

RISING
Godsmack – “When Legends Rise”
Shinedown – “Get Up”
Ghost – “Dance Macabre”

 

FALLING
Breaking Benjamin – “Torn In Two”
Three Days Grace – “Infra-Red”
Twenty One Pilots – “Jumpsuit”
 

 

TRENDS & OBESERVATIONS

A good week to be a song that Octane gave quick airplay to, as each of the debuting tracks all found early spins on the satellite outlet.   The same is true for most of the big gainers this week.  Godsmack and Ghost also found success on Octane weeks before most terrestrial radio stations caught up.