web analytics

Pop Rock Nation

Blog

  • Chart Chat 4/22/09: The Ascension of Hannah Montana

    miley1

    It’s a good time to be Miley Cyrus. Not only is she achieving film success with “Hannah Montana”‘s soundtrack, but the movie’s soundtrack rises to #1 in its’ third week on the Billboard charts, scanning over 133,000 copies. This catapults the album past Gold status, with about 554,000 copies sold in four weeks.

    The chart’s light with debuts this week, as things relax a bit following the big Easter rush. Diddy’s Day26 settle for a #2 debut with their “Forever in a Day” album, scanning just over 113,000 units. The only other debut in the Top 50 comes from rock band Silversun Pickups, who are new at #7 with 43K.

    Most albums on this week’s chart nosedive in sales this week, but there are a select few that buck the trend. Kings of Leon’s American breakthrough, “Only by the Night”, moves up 31-18 on a 4% increase to 20K, while other albums that show staying power include Darius Rucker’s “Learn to Live” (+6%) and 3Oh!3’s “Want” (+10%). Jennifer Hudson’s performance on “American Idol” last week spurs a 36% jump in sales for her eponymous debut, which moves 103-42 on this week’s chart.

    On the singles side, the biggest news is a #3 debut for Eminem on Hot Digital Songs with “We Made You”. The Black Eyed Peas’ “Boom Boom Pow” and Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb” hold the top two positions.

    Next week, Rick Ross should lead the charts, with expected high debuts from the likes of Depeche Mode and Asher Roth.

    This week’s Top 20 albums (courtesy of Billboard Communications)

    1) Soundtrack “Hannah Montana: The Movie”

    2) Day26 “Forever in a Day”

    3) Rascal Flatts “Unstoppable”

    4) Soundtrack “Twilight”

    5) Various Artists “Now 30”

    6) Jadakiss “The Last Kiss”

    7) Silversun Pickups “Swoon”

    8) Lady GaGa “The Fame”

    9) Jason Aldean “Wide Open”

    10) Taylor Swift “Fearless”

    11) Diana Krall “Quiet Nights”

    12) Keith Urban “Defying Gravity”

    13) Keri Hilson “In a Perfect World…”

    14) Nickelback “Dark Horse”

    15) Prince “Lotusflow3r”

    16) U2 “No Line on the Horizon”

    17) Carrie Underwood “Carnival Ride”

    18) Kings of Leon “Only by the Night”

    19) Kelly Clarkson “All I Ever Wanted”

    20) The-Dream “Love vs. Money”

  • First Listen: Teena Marie “Can’t Last a Day”

    teena

    Underrated?  Teena Marie is underrated as all hell. Pop fans that do remember will know her for 1985’s “Lovergirl”, but the California-bred singer has been a near-constant fixture on the R&B charts for thirty years now.

    A protege of Rick James, Marie scored her first wave of hits on the Motown subsidiary Gordy in the late Seventies and early Eighties. Her buttery, emotional vocals created a couple of disco classics (“I Need Your Lovin’”, “Behind the Groove”), some memorable slow jams (“Portuguese Love”), a couple of scintillating duets with her mentor (“Fire & Desire”, “I’m a Sucker for Your Love”), and the funk classic “Square Biz”, which some of you younguns may recognize as the theme from the recent, Whoopi Goldberg-headed revival of “Hollywood Squares”. Leaving Motown for Epic, she ventured further into a Prince-like rock & soul fusion with the albums “Robbery”, “Starchild” and the criminally overlooked “Emerald City” before returning to traditional R&B with the #1 hit “Ooo La La La”. Her success waned a little after that, as she took the late Nineties off to raise a family, but she returned with 2004’s “La Dona”, a Grammy-nominated Gold album and an amazing comeback effort.

    Now signed to classic soul label Stax, Marie is back with “Can’t Last a Day”, a song that features Faith Evans, who has been M.I.A. for quite some time now. It’s a smooth soul groove, and a bit of a grower, although I’ll admit that Marie’s vocals at the beginning of the song sound a bit strained. Either way, it’s good to have Lady T back, and I’ve also included a classic of hers for those of you who aren’t hip to her yet. Enjoy and let us know what you think.

  • FORTY-FIVE REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE #32: If You Like Penis Colossal

    Cheech & Chong's "Earache My Eye"

    CHEECH & CHONG  “Earache My Eye” (featuring Alice Bowie) b/w  “Turn That Thing Down” (A&M/Ode Records #66102, August 1974)

    Oh, how my mom hated this one.  All I remember is my older brother was driving me somewhere, and this 5-minutes-&-change comedy sketch popped up on the radio.  We both howled with laughter until our sides ached, and I insisted we stop off at King’s department store (the most cavernous, dimly-lit treasure chest on Earth) and buy the record.  Being the ultimate enabler, my brother agreed.  My copy even still has the “Dept. 1-463” sticker on the back.

    Since then, this track has become both a comedy and rock classic, the S&M-joke-riddled father/son sketch at the back referenced by hundreds of writers, and the untitled Gaye Delorme-penned glam satire at the front nicked by everyone from 2 Live Crew to Soundgarden.  And let’s face it, nothing’s funnier than Cheech Marin, America’s super-stoned answer to Cantinflas, wearing a tutu and pasties.

    See Cheech & Chong\’s \”Earache My Eye\” Live from 1978

    This disc’s non-LP flip, “Turn That Thing Down” is merely a cacophonous continuation of side A’s ending, effectively extending the whole sketch to 10 minutes total, for the true masochist in you.  A lease-breaker if there ever was one.

    Whaddaya tryin' to do? Tickle me?

    Personally, I would’ve preferred to hear one of Cheech & Chong’s Wedding Album‘s other great sketches, like “Black Lassie” or that “3 Little Pigs” bit, but I’m not one to begrudge C&C their dadaism.  After all, “Earache My Eye” spent 8 weeks in the Top 40, peaking at #9.  Not bad for a hilarious clusterfuck of satirical slacker stoner raunch.

    Cheech & Chong to this day continue to…oh, I don’t need to go into it.

    NEXT WEEK: I try to separate my body from my mind.