This is the kind of mind-numbingly specific chart statistic that is almost impossible to prove or disprove, but I've got a strong hunch that the current Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart is the first to feature three female solo artists in a very long time, if it ever did. This week saw Modern Rock debuts from both M.I.A. and Santogold, with "Paper Planes" entering at No. 28 and "L.E.S. Artistes" at No. 40; completing the female-fronted trifecta is Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl." The Max Martin-produced pop smash, which debuted on the chart almost immediately after I made much ado about the Martin-masterminded Carolina Liar breaking the decade-old Martin/Modern barrier, is at No. 39 and on the verge of dropping off in its ninth week. And, just to add a cherry on top, the female-fronted Ting Tings are at No. 38 with "Shut Up and Let Me Go."

As you can see, these songs are all in the lower reaches of the chart; the highest any of them has reached so far was Perry's summit at No. 27, and only "Paper Planes," which has made it to the upper reaches of the Hot 100, seems to have the momentum to climb higher. And most of the songs are getting some kind of boost elsewhere, making their Modern Rock chart positions essentially a side effect of their mainstream prominence; M.I.A.'s song is in the Pineapple Express trailer; the Ting Tings' track is in an iTunes ad; and Perry made a speedy ascent up the pop charts, which preceded her rock radio push by several weeks. But the fact remains that these songs are getting played on rock stations that you might ordinarily be able to listen to for hours without hearing a single female vocalist.

There have, of course, been bigger Modern Rock hits by female-fronted acts in recent memory—Paramore scored two big singles in the past year. But they're a band made up of one highly recognizable girl singer and a bunch of relatively anonymous dudes, a format that's proven successful in the past for the likes of Garbage and the Cranberries. Female solo artists, on the other hand, are a lot more scarce on alt-rock airwaves, or at least have been for the past decade. When Billboard began the Modern Rock chart in 1988, the "college rock" scene as it was defined then was full of females, as well as fey males; it's progressively become more macho ever since. The very first Modern Rock No. 1 was Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Peek-A-Boo," and Siouxsie Sioux made regular appearances on the chart in its early years, as did the likes of Kate Bush, Sinead O'Connor, Suzanne Vega, and later on Tori Amos.

But then came the grunge era, which made alternative rock both much more popular and considerably more aggressive. Initially, bands with multiple female members like Belly, the Breeders and L7 maintained a strong radio presence, even as punk bands associated with the riot grrrl movement proved too underground or confrontational for mainstream radio, or perhaps just indifferent to catering to it. Male singer-songwriters like Robyn Hitchcock and Elvis Costello started disappearing from modern rock playlists a little quicker than their female counterparts, but in general things quickly became much more band-driven. Even essentially one-man operations like Nine Inch Nails tended to fly under pluralized band names. In fact, there may be only one significant male Modern Rock solo artist who hadn't previously fronted a popular band from the past 15 years: Beck.

Female solo artists were a little commonplace, at least up until the mid-'90s, but they always seemed in danger of going pop, and losing rock fans in the process. The Sugarcubes and 10,000 Maniacs were Modern Rock staples, as were Bjork and Natalie Merchant when they initially went solo. But as they gained bigger and broader fanbases, Modern Rock gradually dropped them. No Doubt, on the other hand, lost rock radio well before Gwen became a solo star. Jewel and Sarah McLachlan disappeared from rock playlists right around the time the Lilith Fair codified them as the new faces of adult-contemporary chick rock. Alanis Morrissette's Jagged Little Pill scored three Modern Rock No. 1s on the way to becoming one of the biggest selling albums of the '90s; after that, rock radio seemed to realize that there wasn't much more angst where "You Oughta Know" came from, and let Top 40 radio keep her.

The last time a female solo artist topped the chart was in 1996, when Tracy Bonham's "Mother, Mother" went to No. 1 shortly after Alanis reached that summit for the last time with "Ironic." In the ten years since Hole's "Celebrity Skin," the only female-fronted band that's topped the chart has been Evanescence—and that was with "Bring Me To Life," a duet with Paul McCoy of 12 Stones. Bands like the Donnas and Flyleaf have scored minor hits, but haven't ever really gotten close to that brass ring. For the most part, women have remained in supporting instrumental roles in mainstream rock in recent years, from Meg White to that time-worn cliche, the girl bassist.

It's not a surprise that two of the acts now on the chart—M.I.A. and the Ting Tings—hail from across the pond. In the last few years, we've seen many female solo artists from the UK who have gone over big in their homeland before crossing over to younger, hipper Americans: Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse, Kate Nash, Duffy, etc. But those artists were generally pigeonholed as pop or soul artists than as rock artists, and only Winehouse's "Rehab" had any kind of traction on Modern Rock radio. And then you've got the old issue of skin color: neither M.I.A. nor Santogold are white, and both have influences that stretch beyond rock. But Santogold's new wavey "L.E.S. Artistes" and M.I.A.'s Clash sample in "Paper Planes" have just enough guitar to comfortably fit in alongside the Weezers and the Seethers they're now sharing airtime with. Hell, M.I.A. might even be getting herself some of that political rap-rock audience that's made the Flobots so popular. (Yes, I hope I made you squirm with that comparison.)

The last thing I want to do is hasten the inevitability of a whole new round of "women in rock" trend pieces, mind you. But it's good to see a little more gender balance in Modern Rock, even if I don't particularly like any of the songs currently tipping the scales.

It's time to see what the most-played songs and artists on rock radio have been from January to June. And surprise, surprise, the drummer/singer/guitarist you can't get away from is in the top 5 of each list—twice. First, the top songs:

1. Seether, "Fake It"
2. Foo Fighters, "The Pretender"
3. Foo Fighters, "Long Road To Ruin"
4. Linkin Park, "Shadow Of The Day"
5. Puddle Of Mudd, "Psycho"
6. Bravery, "Believe"
7. Seether, "Rise Above This"
8. Finger Eleven, "Paralyzer"
9. Paramore, "CrushCrushCrush"
10. Rise Against, "The Good Left Undone"
11. Atreyu, "Falling Down"
12. Weezer, "Pork & Beans"
13. Three Days Grace, "Never Too Late"
14. Linkin Park, "Given Up"
15. Flobots, "Handlebars"
16. 3 Doors Down, "It's Not My Time"
17. Death Cab For Cutie, "I Will Possess Your Heart"
18. Jack Johnson, "If I Had Eyes"
19. Panic At The Disco, "Nine In The Afternoon"
20. Chevelle, "I Get It"

Almost every song here cracked the top 5 of Billboard's Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart, and the four that didn't—Rise Against, Jack Johnson, Death Cab and Panic—peaked elsewhere in the top 10. But these figures are all about longevity, songs that stay on playlists for months and months, not the ones that make a big splash and then quickly disappear. Therefore, we get plenty of the 2007 hits that refuse to die like "The Pretender," "Paralyzer," and "Never Too Late." And songs that broke in the spring and have been unavoidable ever since, like "Pork & Beans" and "Handlebars," will almost surely rate higher on the year-end list.

"Nine In The Afternoon," which I predicted would be a flash in the pan airplay-wise, has turned out to have substantial legs based on its placement here. That's not to say I'm ready to halt my sophomore-slump schadenfreude for Panic At The Disco—their album Pretty. Odd. has still sold below expectations, and the slightly more tolerable follow-up single "That Green Gentleman" failed to chart at all, which may have helped clear the way for the long radio shelf life "Nine" has had.

Now, let's look at the 20 most-played artists on alternative radio so far in 2008:

1. Foo Fighters
2. Linkin Park
3. Red Hot Chili Peppers
4. Green Day
5. Nirvana
6. Seether
7. Weezer
8. Pearl Jam
9. Stone Temple Pilots
10. Smashing Pumpkins
11. Three Days Grace
12. Offspring
13. Sublime
14. Incubus
15. Nine Inch Nails
16. Puddle Of Mudd
17. Paramore
18. Beastie Boys
19. Alice In Chains
20. Killers

Again, no surprises at the top, where the Foos and Linkin Park take their predictable spots, dominating with multiple singles from their 2007 albums and a comfortable bedrock of earlier hits. And Seether's two big recent hits get them plenty far up, despite a relative lack of airplay for previous singles. But overall you've got an interesting cross-section here, one that demonstrates just how much older recurrents dominate alt-rock radio these days. Less than half of the artists—nine total, four in the top 10—have had new singles out in the last few months. Three of the bands haven't been together for more than a decade, and the fact that those bands are Nirvana, Sublime, and Alice In Chains, all of whom have deceased frontmen, is a little creepy.

Even some of the still-active older bands get a negligible amount of their chart placement from recent material: Smashing Pumpkins have eight songs in the top 500 most played songs of the year, but last year's underwhelming comeback single "Tarantula" is the least popular of those; all 10 of Pearl Jam's entries are from no later than 1994; and even if Stone Temple Pilots came home from their reunion tour
tomorrow and recorded a smash hit, it'd struggle to get as many spins as "Interstate Love Song." Meanwhile, Green Day, RHCP, Weezer and Nine Inch Nails get healthy spins for songs from the '90s as well as those from this decade.

The enduring popularity of first-wave grunge bands makes the presence of umpteenth-wavers like Three Days Grace and Puddle of Mudd unsurprising. But it's impressive that a relatively new band like Paramore has inched up so high on the list—especially since its two big hits were released in '07, and the one single the band released this year, the Idolator fave "That's What You Get," pretty much tanked, barely cracking the Modern Rock chart. And though The Killers' Sam's Town, released way back in 2006, was widely deemed a disappointment, enough of the band's singles, including that album's "When You Were Young," have remained in recurrent play enough to keep them high up on the list. In fact, they're up much higher than bands who achieved comparable success around the same time and haven't had alt-rock hits lately, like My Chemical Romance (59) and Fall Out Boy (74). FOB might wanna keep that "Mr. Brightside" cover in their set for a while, because it might eventually be more familiar to the casual fans in the crowd than any of their originals.

Hey guys,

As most of you already know, we have cancelled the rest of our UK/Europe RIOT Tour. First of all, we want to say we are so sorry for letting all of you down. We feel terrible about it and really didn't expect for this to happen. It probably doesn't sound like much but we just hate that we won't get to play this show for those of you who had hoped to see it.

There are a lot of internal issues that have been going on in this band for quite a while now. A lot of it started right around the time we were gearing up for the RIOT Tour in the US. We were able to fight through all of it for this long but unfortunately we weren't able to keep it together long enough to make it through 'til the end of this tour. We really feel that taking this time is going to give us a chance to get away and work out our personal issues at home and on our own terms. We just aren't willing to risk the life of our band over one tour. That probably sounds terrible right now, to say that finishing a week of shows wasn't worth it... but if we can use this next month wisely then we will be a lot healthier for the tours ahead. We hope that - even though it might be hard to understand - that you guys can support us at this time.

Maybe one day we will tell the whole story but for now, just know that all five of us are going to work so hard to get it right. You deserve that and we deserve to make this last as long as possible - and to enjoy every second of it. We love you guys so much. If you could pray for us or just keep us in your thoughts it would be really helpful. You guys have gotten us so far and been the best motivators since day one. We are so sorry for the trouble we caused you guys who bought tickets, fan club members and to all the promoters and venues that we won't be there to put on a show for. We are extremely sorry to New Found Glory and all their fans who wanted to put on and see a show and who we've let down. And lastly, to Lost Alone.

We will keep you guys updated.

Love,
Hayley, Jeremy, Josh, Zac and Taylor

Hey guys [paramore.net]
[Photo: Getty]

(That key change in the bridge still gets me every time, BTW.)

No Doubt - Don't Speak [YouTube]
Paramore - We're Not A One-Woman Band! [Gigwise]
[Photo: Getty]

When it comes to this year's crop of Grammy Awards newbies, it looks like there may just be some truth to the playground taunt "Girls Rule, Boys Drool."

I can't even get through the rest of the piece because I'm terrified that Sclafani will whip out a "milk milk lemonade" joke. Anyone want to let me know if it's safe for reading?

Invasion of the Grammy girls [MSNBC]

The Jonas Brothers - "Still In Love With You"

Unlike America's angrier teenage girls, I find it impossible to hate on these curly-headed, social-networking-feud instigators, especially since underneath the bazillion dollar digi-production (see if you can spot the organ bobbing on the waves of compressed guitar) all their non-ballads are just old-fashioned bubble-punk with the sneer swtiched off. (Jess)

Jonas Brothers - "Still In Love With You" [YouTube]
Jonas Brothers [MySpace]

Paramore - "Misery Business"

The best pop-punk track of the year: three cheers for sweet revenge, big "whoooas" that dared you to not sing along with them, and a spitfire frontwoman who took to her Livejournal to disclaim the use of the Lord's name in the song's sing-along-'til-the-rapture chorus. (Maura)

Paramore - "Misery Business" [YouTube]
Paramore [MySpace]

Gui Boratto - "Beautiful Life"

Cheesy, life-affirming trance hidden away in the sleeve of a minimal techno 12-inch, with the bonus of stupidly heart-melting New Order bass twang and the biggest staggered climaxes of the year. (Jess)

Gui Boratto - "Beautiful Life" [YouTube]
Gui Boratto [MySpace]

Robyn - "This One's For You (Remix)"

The year's one truly new(ish) song from the reinvented Swedish kook was the dark underbelly of "Irreplaceable," three minutes and change of post-dumping freakouts over a breezy acoustic guitar stolen from Ne-Yo's arsenal. (Maura)

Robyn [MySpace]

Double Dagger - "Luxury Condos For The Poor

Moving from Double Dagger's native Baltimore back to my own native Philly only underscored the sad universality of this lugubrious post-hardcore lament over city governments refusing to rectify institutional poverty in favor of pandering to developers building "waterfront gravesights, 30 stories high." "If you've lived here your whole life, it's time to get out," but to where? (Jess)

Double Dagger - "Luxury Condos For The Poor (Live At Whartscape)" [Look closely for my big bald head somewhere in the background.]
Double Dagger [MySpace]

My Teenage Stride - "To Live And Die In The Airport Lounge"

Fresh Orange Juice served up in a Brooklyn cafe, with a side order of world-traveler ennui. Plus the video has zombies. Zombies! (Maura)

My Teenage Stride - "To Live And Die In The Airport Lounge" [MySpace]
My Teenage Stride [MySpace]

Shackleton - "Blood On My Hands (Ricardo Villalobos Apocalypso Now Mix)"

A crackling deep house rhythm track and the low-end of dubstep wring their hands somewhere between England and Berlin for the spirits of the 21st-century's political bystanders, a track only about right for gloomy bus rides out of the more blighted parts of your neighborhood. (Jess)

Skull Disco [Official Site]

Blood Red Shoes - "It's Getting Boring By The Sea"

Bitching about a dead-end town, transformed into something constructive by guitars that sound like they've been pulverized. (Maura)

Blood Red Shoes - "It's Getting Boring By The Sea" [YouTube]
Blood Red Shoes [MySpace]

Dirty Projectors - "Rise Above"

Davey Longstreth's musical revamp of Black Flag's Damaged was warmer but no less forbidding (and impressive) in places than any of the year's neo-proggery, but the words of hardcore's most supposedly nihilistic (the element of Longstreth's experiment so often glossed over by reviewers) provided an unexpected humanizing element when stripped and repurposed, a cracked, life-affirming jolt in a bleak year. (Jess)

Dirty Projectors - "Rise Above" [YouTube]
Dirty Projectors [MySpace]

Britney Spears - "Heaven On Earth"

Is the year's most photographed woman even singing on this track? Does it even matter? It's a grand, swooping song that's made for the last dance of the night, an ode to Mr. Right Now that dresses up her tawdry hooking-up-with-paps expoits enough to make them seem almost purposeful. (Maura)

Britney Spears - "Heaven On Earth" [YouTube]
Britney Spears [MySpace]

Idolator's 2007 Top 40 List Of Awesomeness

When Maura asked me to take pictures of parents waiting outside last night's show, I told her I didn't think anyone would be there. I mean, this was New York, whose natives had been telling me for years that they were riding the subway from the age of six, sent off with only a pat on the head and, perhaps, a shiv. But behold, bundled in coats and scarves were moms and dads, cell phones plastered to their heads, trusting their kids to pick up when summoned. Some had tried to kill time by going to dinner, others by shopping, and all had given up trying to get near the Rockefeller Center tree lighting. It certainly made my father's stint sitting in the parking lot outside Paul McCartney's show at the Forum seem more hardcore. (In that case, the mothers were the crowd.)

Most of the people I met had daughters between the ages of thirteen and fifteen (the demographic of the show or the demographic of concerned parents?), and they didn't really know the band other than what they could hear played in the house. "I know that one song 'Misery' because it's always on," one parent said. They understood the music to be generally clean and positive; lead singer Hayley Williams has even discussed her regret for taking the Lord's name in vain in the always-on "Misery Business." Most of the girls didn't play instruments themselves—"She's into [recorded] music and fashion. You know, Long Island girls," said one dad—but many sang at school or danced, which is just one shocking orange haircut away from fronting a band.

To my question of "Would they have let you come inside?" the answer was almost always, "Oh no, you need a ticket," a testament to both the vagueness of my query and the fact that these parents' homes had not yet been infused with searing adolescent hatred. Besides, the parents agreed a concert's runtime was too long to stand, a sentiment with which I commiserated a little too enthusiastically. Have I become so old that I'd rather shop and try to beat down tourists in the name of Christmas? I also found myself shocked at how many kids were smoking—obviously, the influence of Alistair Cookie chomping on his pipe and unadulterated pictures of Winston Churchill.

Particulars of a 360 deal might differ from label to label, but a recent Atlantic offer to another act provides an example of how one might be structured.

Atlantic's document offers a conventional cash advance to sign the artist, who would receive a royalty for sales after expenses were recouped. With the release of the artist's first album, however, the label has an option to pay an additional $200,000 in exchange for 30 percent of the net income from all touring, merchandise, endorsements and fan-club fees.

Atlantic would also have the right to approve the act's tour schedule, and the salaries of certain tour and merchandise sales employees hired by the artist. But the label also offers the artist a 30 percent cut of the label's album profits — if any — which represents an improvement from the typical industry royalty of 15 percent.

Mr. Kallman said that if Atlantic engages more artists in such agreements, it will have to devote more resources to a smaller roster and raise the stakes for each album. "Your batting average has to go up," he said. If new artists don't become successful, "I've doubled and tripled down on everything and I'm still playing to empty houses and not selling records."

The tour-heavy particulars of these sorts of deals have resulted in some consternation on the parts of observers, with one poster on the music waggery board The Velvet Rope worrying that the increased amount of smaller bands trying to be "broken" by majors will result in "the supply of well-funded, major-backed musicians vying for slots will grow dramatically, and the venues will have to pick and choose, old fashioned payola will grease the wheels and it will be just like radio." With the touring market already seeming like it's reaching a breaking point, the possibility of recouping those advances for touring and merch, which may not go hand in hand but which are related, gets lower and lower; and as a result the patience shown to "baby bands" like Paramore, whose first album under its deal sold a lackluster 140,000 copies, will become a thing of the past. Which is why these deals seem like such a crapshoot for new artists; with music becoming even more crowded out of the attention marketplace, will touring and merch sales really provide that much of a lifeline across the board? Perhaps we need a Steve Albini type to write a sequel to "The Problem With Music" and break down the numbers, once and for all.

The New Deal: Band As Brand [NYT]

Ed. note: As everyone knows, music blogs are the most powerful force in the industry, if not the world. You might think that you're getting new music from radio or TV, but in fact, you're only hearing it because a blogger once wrote about it. They have so much power! Seriously, have you even tried to fathom how many albums Malajube and David Vandervelde have sold? Those guys must own mansions!!

Occasionally, though, an artist manages to find success without being noticed by the bloggers. We'll chart such musicians' unlikely ascent to fame with a new feature called Unbloggable.

ARTIST: Paramore
HOMETOWN: Franklin, Tennessee
MOST RECENT ALBUM Riot!, released June 12th; 42,000 copies sold within first week
TOTAL NUMBER OF HYPE MACHINE MENTIONS: Four
WHAT ARE THEY LIKE? Unapologetic pop-punk, courtesy of Pete Wentz-affiliated Fueled By Ramen records
WHY WON'T ANYONE BLOG ABOUT THEM? Unapologetic pop-punk, courtesy of Pete Wentz-affiliated Fueled By Ramen records
ARE THEY BLOGGABLE? Yes. Despite certain reservations about just about anything aimed at the Alternative Press set, both Idolators whole-heartedly endorse Riot!, especially "That's What You Get," which so far only one blog has deemed good enough to post.

NEXT WEEK ON UNBLOGGABLE: Enrique Iglesias, the man not even the most die-hard popist will defend.

Fabolous, From Nothin' To Somethin'
The artist: Brooklyn rapper whose album has been pushed back five times, dating back to December '06.
The sound: You will know each song's sound by its guest star—the roster includes Ne-Yo, Rihanna, Lloyd, and Jay-Z.
The first in line: The very, very, very patient.

Queens Of The Stone Age, Era Vulgaris
The artist: Throwback hard rockers and their bulby little pal.
The sound: Chugging riffs, bitter words.
The first in line: Beer-guzzling rock fans who are craving a new feel-good hit for this summer.

Paramore, Riot!
The artist: Perhaps the grrrliest band on Fuse right now. (We know, that isn't saying much.)
The sound: Teenage kicks and hooks that stay up all night.
The first in line: Older sisters who want the kids to know that being sassy can change their lives.

Dizzee Rascal, Maths And English
The artist: British rapper who achieved blogstar notoriety in the old days ... of 2003
The sound: He's brushing off his grime, with help from Lily Allen and the Arctic Monkeys.
The first in line: UKrazy types with Net connections—it's only available via digital outlets.

On The CD Front [Pause & Play]