HRD Radio Report – Week Ending 8/1/20
Each week 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 8/1/20. All exclusive HRD content is featured below the chart:
| CHART | CHART | ARTIST | SONG TITLE | RADIO |
| POSITION | POSITION | SPINS | ||
| THIS WEEK | LAST WEEK | |||
| 1 | 1 | PRETTY RECKLESS | Death By Rock And Roll | 1873 |
| 2 | 2 | FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH | A Little Bit Off | 1741 |
| 3 | 4 | SHINEDOWN | Atlas Falls | 1607 |
| 4 | 7 | METALLICA & THE S.F. SYMPHONY | All Within My Hands (S&M2) | 1469 |
| 5 | 5 | VOLBEAT | Leviathan | 1386 |
| 6 | 6 | THE HU (f. JACOBY SHADDIX) | Wolf Totem | 1306 |
| 7 | 3 | ASKING ALEXANDRIA | Antisocialist | 1299 |
| 8 | 9 | SEETHER | Dangerous | 1161 |
| 9 | 10 | POP EVIL | Work | 1071 |
| 10 | 12 | STARSET | Trials | 922 |
| 11 | 11 | BUSH | Flowers On A Grave | 896 |
| 12 | 16 | CHRIS CORNELL | Patience | 884 |
| 13 | 14 | THEORY OF A DEADMAN | World Keeps Spinning | 740 |
| 14 | 19 | FROM ASHES TO NEW | Panic | 630 |
| 15 | 15 | KILLSWITCH ENGAGE | I Can’t Be The Only One | 613 |
| 16 | 17 | SKILLET | Save Me | 602 |
| 17 | 18 | THE BLACK MOODS | Sunshine | 578 |
| 18 | 20 | BIFFY CLYRO | Instant History | 507 |
| 19 | 22 | BREAKING BENJAMIN (f. LACEY STURM) | Dear Agony | 498 |
| 20 | 21 | WEEZER | Hero | 472 |
| 21 | 23 | SEVENDUST | The Day I Tried To Live | 451 |
| 22 | 26 | BRING ME THE HORIZON | Parasite Eve | 349 |
| 23 | 25 | I PREVAIL (f. DELANEY JANE) | Every Time You Leave | 349 |
| 24 | 29 | BADFLOWER | 30 | 348 |
| 25 | 24 | CROBOT | Gasoline | 348 |
| 26 | 0 | COREY TAYLOR | Black Eyes Blue | 345 |
| 27 | 27 | 10 YEARS | The Shift | 325 |
| 28 | 28 | TRIVIUM | Bleed Into Me | 299 |
| 29 | 32 | AYRON JONES | Take Me Away | 259 |
| 30 | 31 | THREE DAYS GRACE | Somebody That I Used To Know | 225 |
| 31 | 30 | THE VIOLENT | Fly On The Wall | 205 |
| 32 | 35 | FAME ON FIRE | Headspace | 189 |
| 33 | 36 | AVATAR | Colossus | 177 |
| 34 | 37 | BAD OMENS | Limits | 161 |
| 35 | 42 | CLEOPATRICK | Hometown | 147 |
| 36 | 38 | SONS OF SILVER | Read ’em Their Rights | 135 |
| 37 | 34 | SCOTT STAPP | Survivor | 132 |
| 38 | 44 | GREY DAZE | B12 | 124 |
| 39 | 41 | HIGHLY SUSPECT | Canals | 106 |
| 40 | 39 | KINGDOM COLLAPSE | Uprise | 99 |
| 41 | 0 | MARILYN MANSON | We Are Chaos | 90 |
| 42 | 45 | STONE HORSES | The Day I Tried To Live | 90 |
| 43 | 43 | DREAMERS (f. GRANDSON) | Heat Seeker | 87 |
| 44 | 65 | BAD WOLVES | Learn To Walk Again | 86 |
| 45 | 48 | ANY GIVEN SIN | Insidious | 58 |
| 46 | 52 | ANOTHER DAY DAWNS | Forget Me Not | 57 |
| 47 | 46 | TENSE MACHINE | Best Mistake | 50 |
| 48 | 72 | IN THIS MOMENT | As Above, So Below | 49 |
| 49 | 50 | THE DIRTY NIL | Done With Drugs | 47 |
| 50 | 47 | TETRARCH | I’m Not Right | 47 |
PUBLISHER’S PICK OF THE WEEK (By Adam Waldman)
COREY TAYLOR – “CMFT”
“CMFT” looks like an abbreviation for the word “comfort,” but fittingly, it is not. To say that this single is within Corey Taylor’s comfort zone would be untrue if you’re basing it on his past recordings with Stone Sour and Slipknot. But there is no telling how big the comfort zone actually is when it comes to Corey Motherfuckin’ Taylor. That’s what “CMFT” stands for. It may sound self-serving to outsiders, but if you’re a fan of Taylor’s, you know that the moniker has been earned several times over during his illustrious, prolific career.
Taylor is, without question, one of the greatest songwriters in rock and roll history. He is arguably one of the greatest singers of this generation, and can growl with the best of them. But who knew that he could rap in such a way that it makes rock fans stand up and take notice? Until this solo release, I had never thought of him even attempting to rap. But “CMFT” is about more than Taylor rapping or lyrically showcasing what a badass he is. Just as Anthrax did in 1987 with “Bring The Noise” (a track that features guest appearances from rappers Chuck D and Flavor Flav), Taylor has brought in his own ringers to take this anthemic rock rap track to another level.
The guest appearances from Tech N9ne and Kid Bookie make an already great song even better. Their parts gave me a new appreciation for how much skill you need to feverishly string words together while holding down an intense groove. As the infomercials are famous for saying, “but wait, there’s more”…
“CMFT” is a nonstop joyride from the first in-your-face-note to the last. Highlighting the performances by Taylor and company are some of the coolest gang vocals that you’ll ever hear. And the video makes it even better, with guest appearances by Marilyn Manson, Lars Ulrich, Rob Halford, and Chris Jericho. This song is everything that rock and roll should be…fun, a little bit dangerous, and a brilliant escape from reality.
COREY TAYLOR – “Black Eyes Blue”
It isn’t often that we break format on the HRD Radio Report, but Corey Taylor dropping two distinctly different singles from his first solo album on the same day warranted it. If the two songs were similar at all, the favored one would have been chosen to be featured. But how the hell do you pick between two songs that vary so greatly? While “CMFT” is a rabble-rousing jolt of energy, “Black Eyes Blue” is an inspired blend of melodic, beautiful, feel-good vocal harmonies in the chorus, and an more gritty verse with the mainstream punk sensibilities of radio hits by The Clash. The bridge starts out a with a frenetic guitar part that is reminiscent of “Flight Of The Bumble Bees” before transitioning to a classic rock vibe with Led Zeppelin nuances.
“Black Eyes Blue” is the single that radio has taken to first, most likely because it is a more natural format fit, but don’t be surprised if both of these songs end up charting simultaneously. Not surprisingly, Taylor has hit it out of the park with his first two solo singles.
HRD SPIN CONTROL (by Adam Waldman and Jon Loveless)
The following is a list of songs that we feel deserve to be added to Active Rock playlists…
JOYOUS WOLF – “Odyssey”
KIRRA – “Free”
FAREWELL TO FEAR – “I Won’t Be Your Tragedy”
THE LOYAL ORDER – “Hellfire”
AS STRANGE AS ANGELS – “Never Broken”
JAMIE FONTAINE & THE LEVEL – “Save Your Life”
ARMORED DAWN – “Zombie Viking”
RELENT – “Low”
OXYMORRONS – “Justice”
A KILLER’S CONFESSION – “Last Chance”
W3APONS – “Bye Baby Gone”
VEIO – “Crux”
THE OUTFIT – “Come Alive”
ALL TIME LOW – “Monsters”
GREATEST GAINERS…
COREY TAYLOR – “Black Eyes Blue” (+345 spins)
METALLICA – “All Within My Hands (S&M 2)” (+262 spins)
CHRIS CORNELL – “Patience” (+261 spins)
BADFLOWER – “30” (+131 spins)
SHINEDOWN – “Atlas Falls” (+105 spins)
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