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Pop Rock Nation

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music-news-from-breakups-to-the-lastest-buzz

  • Rock On The Charts: Modern & Mainstream Rock Top 10 Charts Wk of 9/20

    (Ed. note-These are the charts that were published last week (Billboard chart date was 9.20 because…well…they’re weird like that. The charts that were published this past Wednesday (9/17) and are dated 9/27…confused you yet?…will be discussed next week!

    …That didn’t clear a damn thing up, did it?)

    *Courtesy of Billboard.com

    Mainstream Rock

    1. The Day That Never Comes/Metallica  (3 weeks on chart, Peak#1)
    2. Bad Girlfriend/Theory Of A Deadman (15 weeks on chart, Peak#1)
    3. Use Me/Hinder (3 weeks on chart, Peak#3)
    4. Believe/Staind (11 weeks on chart, Peak#4)
    5. Rock & Roll Train/AC/DC (2 weeks on chart, Peak#5, ON THE RISE!)
    6. Inside The Fire/Disturbed (24 weeks on chart, Peak#1)
    7. Devour/Shinedown (19 weeks on chart, Peak #1)
    8. Addicted/Saving Abel (31 weeks on chart, Peak#2)
    9. Psychosocial/Slipknot (8 weeks on chart, Peak#8)
    10. I Don’t Care/Apocalyptica Featuring Adam Gontier (11 weeks on chart, Peak#10)

    Analysis: No surprise what the #1 song on the chart is.  Metallica did things right by sticking to their guns, and are rewarded with the #1 mainstream rock song in the nation.  Early reports also indicated they sold a half million copies of their new album, Death Magnetic in only three days which is the highest debut since the Jonas Brothers five weeks ago.  Metallica posted better first week sales on Death Magnetic than they did on their previous stinker, St. Anger.….  Hinder isn’t suffering a sophomore slump with their first hit off their upcoming album.  Use Me sounds more like an old-school 80’s anthem than anything off of their previous album…  AC/DC is back for the first time in eight years and is the biggest mover on the charts rising from 15 to 5 in the span of two weeks.  More radio play will only see the track rise to the top.  I’m curious to see if AC/DC can top Metallica…..  Disturbed’s Inside The Fire has been a mainstay on the charts over the last few months, but will they hit with another single on the album?  Looks doubtful, I think people have moved on.. Slipknot is hot right now coming off a surprise appearance and MTV video nomination for Psychosocial, although this critic still doesn’t understand the appeal of the band…  I’m surprised Buckcherry hasn’t lit up the charts with their new singles Too Drunk or Rescue Me.  Personally, I think they released the album too soon as people are still eating up “Sorry” from the previous album.

    Staind's Aaron Lewis in concert. Photo by hello_anarchy.
    Staind

     

     

    Modern Rock

    1. Believe/Staind (11 weeks on chart, Peak#1)
    2. Let It Die/Foo Fighters (23 weeks on chart, Peak#1)
    3. I’m Not Over/Carolina Liar (19 weeks on chart, Peak#3)
    4. Viva La Vida/Coldplay (14 weeks on chart, Peak#1)
    5. Troublemaker/Weezer (9 weeks on chart, Peak#5)
    6. You’re Gonna Go So Far Kid/The Offspring (7 weeks on chart, Peak#7)
    7. The Day That Never Comes/Metallica  (3 weeks on chart, Peak#7)
    8. Pork & Beans/Weezer (21 weeks on chart, Peak#1)
    9. Inside The Fire/Disturbed (24 weeks on chart, Peak#4)
    10. Addicted/Saving Abel (25 weeks on chart, Peak#7)

    Analysis:  I personally loved the new Weezer album, and apparently so do others as they still have two singles from the Red album on the chart (Troublemaker and Pork & Beans).  Troublemaker has the right formula to be a hit.  Pork & Beans was a fun song, but did very well holding the #1 spot for an entire month…  The Offspring still keeps rolling along as their new single goes up a few spots to #6….Foo Fighters are still seeing success from their album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace which was released a year ago.  They have had all three singles (The Pretender, Long Road To Ruin, and Let It Die) hit the top of the charts… Metallica is even appealing to modern rock fans with a song full of guitar shredding.  Nice!!!….  I still don’t understand Staind’s appeal.  Of all those post 9/11 anger rock bands, they seem to be the only one who stuck around using the same formula…Hmm, where is Buckcherry??

                 
         

  • Friday Throwback – I Can’t Sleep Baby (If I)

    Before I get to the Friday Throwback, I wanted to quickly write about an interview that R. Kelly did with BET. Why did he do this interview? I have no idea.

    If you didn’t watch the video, the moral of the story is that whoever told him to do this interview is an idiot. The interviewer asked him if he likes teenager girls. R didn’t immediately say no or get upset about the question. He asked for clarification. Now, I’m not sure if R is just that specific or what, but when you’re a 40 year old man and another man asks you on TV if you like teenage girls, the correct answer is “Hell no!” unless, well, you do. Then R asked if teenage girls meant nineteen years old. The interviewer is so befuddled that he paused and said that it could be anywhere from nineteen and on down. Then R admitted that he has nineteen year old “friends”, but he said he doesn’t like anyone “illegal”. Again R, the correct answer should’ve been no.

    Further on in the interview, R basically says that no one should listen to speculation about his life from people he has hired and then fired, or people he has hired and are currently on staff. Huh? I think what he was trying to say is that people who are no longer on his staff are spiteful and want to bring him down. But that makes no sense as far as why we shouldn’t listen to the people who he hasn’t fired yet. I’m not sure that R is sane.

    Now, after reading about this interview (and now watching it), I started to wonder how I could’ve ever been a fan of the man and his music. I specifically thought about two songs that I can still listen to and not have to immediately turn off. One is Half On A Baby and the other is I Can’t Sleep Baby (If I).

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  • Gym Class Heroes Earn a Passing Grade with “The Quilt”

    Gym Class Heroes' Travis McCoy. photo by Cha0scontr0ll
    Gym Class Heroes

    Here’s an easy way to get me to notice your band (coincidentally, it’s also a good way to score a hit single): make a catchy single that references yet another catchy single. It’s how I became acquainted with the rock/rap group Gym Class Heroes. Their first hit single, “Cupid’s Chokehold”, not only sampled Supertramp’s “Breakfast in America”, but featured the recognizable voice of Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump. They followed it up by repeating the exact same formula: “Clothes Off!!” also boasted a chorus by stump and a large chunk of Jermaine Stewart’s “We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off”. As opposed to outright samples, these new songs were built on the choruses of those moldy oldies, and the gambit worked-at least for me. I found myself in possession of GCH’s breakthrough album As Cruel as School Children, and actually found it enjoyable in a mindless fun sort of way.

    Fast-forward a year and a half later. GCH lead singer Travis McCoy is something of a star, the band boasts a Gold album, and they’re back with their follow up, The Quilt. This album has a much more pronounced hip-hop influence than its’ predecessor, with guest appearances from the likes of Busta Rhymes and production from beatsmiths Cool & Dre. Nevertheless, McCoy has more charm and variation in subject matter than the average commercial emcee, so it’s not what you would consider the typical hip-hop album in 2008. It also boasts more than its’ share of influences from other genres-featuring bits of emo-ish rock, ska, and plain old pop.

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