Idolator
A post on Kings Of A & R bemoaning the state of modern-rock radio (and calling out Kid Rock's lyric-writing "abilities," specifically when it comes to couplets like "So hot I wanna get you alone / So hot I wanna get you stoned" ) caused me to take a glance at this week's Billboard Modern Rock charts, and while somehow Linkin Park wasn't at the top, the rest of the top 10 wasn't pretty:
1. The Pretender, Foo Fighters (eight weeks on chart)
2. Bleed It Out, Linkin Park (15 weeks)
3. Never Too Late, Three Days Grace (18 weeks)
4. Paralyzer, Finger Eleven (32 weeks)
5. Misery Business, Paramore (12 weeks)
6. All Around Me, Flyleaf (16 weeks)
7, Big Casino, Jimmy Eat World (four weeks)
8. Supermassive Black Hole, Muse (21 weeks)
9. Icky Thump, The White Stripes (22 weeks)
10. What I've Done, Linkin Park (25 weeks)
Now I've beaten this drum before, but honestly. 32 weeks for that Finger Eleven song? Eight of the 10 tracks in the top 10 being on the chart for three months or more?
In the Kings of A & R diatribe, the author says, "Do you know why the modern rock ring tone business sucks? Because modern rock doesn't have personalities." Fair enough, although I would like to throw out two corollaries to that theory aside from the fact that this stuck-in-1999's-amber playlist seems to age the audience out of the ringtone market: One, there's so little movement within the genre—both in terms of how quickly songs get rotated in and how quickly artists get rotated in—that people won't really be inspired to change their ringtnes too often, and two, that there aren't really many hooks in any of these songs that can be sliced out for the purpose of annoying the people next to you on the bus. Not that "ringtone rap" and the inanities dictated by the genre are a good thing, but really: can you hum the hooks of more than half these tracks? (And no, screaming in a strangled-cat voice and saying "That was one of the Linkin Park songs!" doesn't count.) Is it any wonder that people who want a guitar to chime when they get a call would stick with the opening chords to "Welcome To The Jungle"?
(Although that Paramore song is still pretty darn catchy.)
Modern Rock: From Hero To Zero... [Kings Of A & R]
Comments
I know I'm kind of the resident corporate rock apologist here, but this really doesn't look that bad to me. At least four of these songs are among my favorite singles of the year (1, 2, 4 and 5) and I only out and out dislike two of them (3 and 10). Yeah most of these songs have been dominating the chart for way too long, but rock radio playlists have always moved sluggishly, haven't they?
Aww, you really want to bring back the nostalgia in me, right?
This is not a modern rock chart, it's something else. The point, I guess, is that this nu metal/emo/post grunge fossil called alternative has lasted way too long, it needs variety to survive. Where is electronica on the playlists? Indie rock? Acoustic songs? Dance oriented songs? Solo artists? Female artists!?
I want the 90's back!
Are there really even that many stations that play this format anymore? Even a modern rock stalwart like KROQ seems to rely quite a bit on the "alternative gold" format, at least when I've listened to it.
ummm.... the riff from Icky thump??????!!!!!
On the ringtone front, I would definitely (read: will commit to on a blog) buy a ringtone that consisted solely of Jack White screaming "La la la la LA la la la la la laaa laaa laaaaaa..."
No Three Doors Down, Hinder, Nickelback, Puddle of Mudd, Alter Bridge, etc etc? I call this a HUGE win for the alt-rock charts. Foo Fighters single is a great one (although the album is blah), Paramore isn't incredibly sucky, Jimmy Eat World is a solid and noticeably not-annoying band, Supermassive Black Hole is a fucking awesome song, White Stripes are the White Stripes....while radio certainly is stagnant in turns of turnover....frankly there isn't much good alt-rock coming out, so what else are you supposed to play?
@SomeSound-MostlyFury: I actually think this comment nails it.
I'll give the standard answer I see Billboard give whenever questions like "Why does [x] chart exist?" come up: As long as there are radio stations playing the format, and as long as the industry's interested in tracking it (viz. its impact on album sales, etc.), the chart will continue to exist. They've eliminated charts before, usually when the radio format gets too small. On modern rock, we're getting there, but not there yet.
here's some nostalgia for you: [bitter_defeat.blogspot.com]
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