AWOLNATION Sail

[Fieldtech1]

Popped up no 39 on BDS CHR chart.........This song was big on Alternative radio in late 2011, now its making a comeback on CHR almost 2 years later?!?!

 

[atlantaboy]

If this works, they should really go back and do the same thing with Young Blood and Midnight City

 

[wxman76]

If this works, they should really go back and do the same thing with Young Blood and Midnight City

I am disappointed and somewhat surprised that Youngblood Hawke "We Come Running" never caught on at any of the terrestrial CHRs. I heard only it on SiriusXM Hits1, VH-1 and a few modern rock and Hot AC stations.

 

[atlantaboy]

^I don't think the label ever pushed it to CHR - if "Sail" is even moderately successful, seems like that would open up the door for a lot of other big "synth-leaning" Alternative songs from the past couple years to also get pushed to pop, no?

I think it's crazy that nothing by the Black Keys even cracked the CHR Top 50 - historically (I think), most big Alternative bands had at least one track hit CHR - can you think of another big Alt. band (not Active Rock) with repeated chart-topping Alternative hits and not one track to CHR?

 

[chrocket87]

I think it's crazy that nothing by the Black Keys even cracked the CHR Top 50 - historically (I think), most big Alternative bands had at least one track hit CHR - can you think of another big Alt. band (not Active Rock) with repeated chart-topping Alternative hits and not one track to CHR?

Heck, even a large number of Active bands that found success at Alternative crossed over in some way. I even heard Breaking Benjamin on a few CHRs with "Breath". And I also can't think of any other "big" Alternative acts that have yet to cross over. Why not the Keys? Well, outside of "Lonely Boy", I don't think any of their other singles even hit the top 90 of the Hot 100, meaning a lack of sales and/or streaming. A second factor could be no crossover to Hot AC, which often serves as the bridge for rock crossovers. It's too bad they haven't crossed over; they've been working hard for at least a decade to get where they are and they put on a great live show.

 

[atlantaboy]

Why not the Keys? Well, outside of "Lonely Boy", I don't think any of their other singles even hit the top 90 of the Hot 100, meaning a lack of sales and/or streaming.

I'm guessing that their sales must've been really gradual, over the course of two years, so nothing really ever peaked high enough for people to notice on the Hot 100 - same with Little Lion Man, Young Blood, and Midnight City (I think)

Two years ago, I wouldn't have touched these songs on CHR - but I think what's happened to these acts over the past two years is that they've gradually built up significant popularity, especially with younger listeners, so IMO it's now safe for CHR to incorporate these songs/bands, who are now highly familiar with their audience, into their programming - it probably won't happen, but I hope PDs consider it...

I think the reason they never crossed over to Hot AC is that these are really youth-based Alternative bands, defined by a generation that doesn't yet listen to HAC

IMO this situation is similar to Alternative in the 80s, when R. E. M., Talking Heads, and U2 were releasing songs that today are considered classics, that just barely charted or did not chart at all on CHR

 

[wxman76]

IMO this situation is similar to Alternative in the 80s, when R. E. M., Talking Heads, and U2 were releasing songs that today are considered classics, that just barely charted or did not chart at all on CHR

Same could also be said for some of the grunge movement in 1992. Take the Pearl Jam Ten album as an example. Rock classics such as "Jeremy" and "Even Flow" failed to reach the CHR top 40.

 

[atlantaboy]

IMO this situation is similar to Alternative in the 80s, when R. E. M., Talking Heads, and U2 were releasing songs that today are considered classics, that just barely charted or did not chart at all on CHR

Same could also be said for some of the grunge movement in 1992. Take the Pearl Jam Ten album as an example. Rock classics such as "Jeremy" and "Even Flow" failed to reach the CHR top 40.

Yeah, I don't think anything was marketed to CHRs until Daughter/Better Man, and I think even those got pretty limited pop airplay - somehow during that interim period Stone Temple Pilots went Top 10 CHR with "Plush", so I guess it was just as random back then (in terms of what Alt tracks CHR opted to play) as it is right now

 

[CHRles]

Pearl Jam's Alive" and "Jeremy" did get some CHR airplay, but you have to keep in mind CHR radio was in a state of flux from 92-95.
By 1995 almost all the CHR/Pop stations on the Western half of America disappeared, with the exception of 102.7 KIIS-FM L.A. and Z-100 Portland (and a few smaller markets like KWNZ 97.3 Reno, Power 100.5 Palm Springs, 93.7 KRQ Tucson, 98.9 Magic FM Colorado Springs, 92.9 KZZU Spokane). Over on the East Coast, Midwest, and the South, many CHRs were also missing from many prominent markets (like DC, Baltimore, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Greensboro, Memphis, Milwaukee, etc.)

The CHRs that did play Pearl Jam included ones that later evolved to Modern Rock, like 99X Atlanta, Kwod 106 Sacramento, 102 WLUM Milwaukee, and Y-100 Philadelphia.
In 1993 you could hear Pearl Jam on Modern leaning CHRs like Z-100 New york, 104 KRBE Houston, 97.5 PST Trenton, as well as on some adventurous Mainstream CHRs like Y-107 Nashville (which was also flirting with Modern Rock songs that were big on MTV). Kube 93 Seattle, 96.3 WHYT Detroit, and 101.5 Channel X Jacksonville played Pearl Jam during the summer of 1994 when they were giving the "Channel X" sound a chance (an MTV format that included the big Modern Rock and Hip Hop hits, along with some Pop titles from the likes of Ace of Base)

Someone mentioned Stone Temple Pilots "Plush". One of the reasons "Plush" did well on the CHR charts was b/c of an acoustic version that was shipped to radio. Some CHRs opt to play this version. At a time when many CHRs were afraid of anything that sounded too hard, acoustic versions , or acoustic-leaning Rock songs were welcomed at the format. That's part of the reason "Better Man" by Pearl Jam did so well at CHR in 95, or why CHR had an easier time playing "Come as You Are" by Nirvana and not "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Early in the 90s decade you could hear acoustic hits by like Eric Clapton's "Tears In Heaven", Saigon Kick's "Love Is On The Way", and Extreme's early 90s number one hit "More Than Words".

So the current situation with "Sail" by Awolnation is rare, but does occur from time to time.
Obviously it's not just rock records that take their time brewing on CHR. Remember Ini Kamoze's "Here Comes The Hotstepper" in the 90s?
2 Unlimited's early 90s Techno release "Get ready For This", which charted highly all over Europe, managed to get some airplay at 102.7 KIIS FM and Power 106 L.A. in 1992 (along with other stations like Power 96 Miami, B-96 Chicago) , but 2 Unlimited didn't really cross over to CHR/Pop chart until around 1995. It managed to cross over since the tune became big at Sports arenas, ultimately also making its way to the Jock Jams compilations.
It also took over a year for the Todd Terry remix of "Missing" by Everything But the Girl to break through at CHR/Pop, despite early support at Miami's Y-100.
Miami was also the market where Los Del Rio's "Macarena" got its Bayside Boys remix (thanks to Power 96). When the remix first came out it only found moderate success at the CHR format, but within a year, and around the time of WKTU's relaunch in New York, the song was all the rage around the country.

 

[atlantaboy]

CHRies, that's a good analysis, but some of your facts are off REearl Jam/Nirvana - Alive, Even Flow, and Jeremy didn't get any CHR airplay at the time they were released - Kiss 108/Boston and a couple other stations played Black, but then both Daughter and Better Man peaked at #24 (one didn't do any better than the other) - most CHRs that played those two songs had them at or near power, and many were in large markets, but the physical number of stations spinning both Daughter and Better Man, at the time they were released to CHR, was very low

There were a number of CHRs in the later 90s that went back and played Daughter and Better Man as recurrents/gold

Also, RE:Nirvana, Smells Like Teen Spirit peaked at #9 CHR, while Come As You Are only peaked at #20, so out of the two, pop stations were much more reluctant to play Come As You Are

Good point IMO about Plush being released as acoustic - but, then again, Daughter was all acoustic, and a majority of pop stations resisted it

But then getting back to this current topic, just as pop stations in the late 90s went back and played Pearl Jam songs they had skipped the first time around, IMO PDs should consider going back and playing Mumford, Naked & Famous, M83, and Black Keys songs they skipped the first time around, especially the stations which are spinning Awolnation and Capital Cities

 

[CHRles]

CHRies, that's a good analysis, but some of your facts are off REearl Jam/Nirvana - Alive, Even Flow, and Jeremy didn't get any CHR airplay at the time they were released - Kiss 108/Boston and a couple other stations played Black, but then both Daughter and Better Man peaked at #24 (one didn't do any better than the other) - most CHRs that played those two songs had them at or near power, and many were in large markets, but the physical number of stations spinning both Daughter and Better Man, at the time they were released to CHR, was very low

There were a number of CHRs in the later 90s that went back and played Daughter and Better Man as recurrents/gold

Also, RE:Nirvana, Smells Like Teen Spirit peaked at #9 CHR, while Come As You Are only peaked at #20, so out of the two, pop stations were much more reluctant to play Come As You Are

Good point IMO about Plush being released as acoustic - but, then again, Daughter was all acoustic, and a majority of pop stations resisted it

Just to clarify a few things, and to back up what I wrote earlier, "Better Man" peaked at number 13 on the CHR/Pop chart (if not higher on the Radio & Records chart).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Man_(Pearl_Jam_song)

Meanwhile "Daughter" peaked at number 28
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daughter_(Pearl_Jam_song)

As for Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" it's written that "many American Top 40 stations were reluctant to play the song in regular rotation due to its sound, and restricted it to night-time play"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smells_Like_Teen_Spirit

 

[atlantaboy]

^I definitely wouldn't trust Wikipedia...Better Man definitely didn't get that high in R&R

Here's the CHR archive site for CHR/Pop chart peaks (R&R, then Mediabase)

http://wweb.uta.edu/faculty/gghunt/charts/pearljam.html

And here's the page for Nirvana

http://wweb.uta.edu/faculty/gghunt/charts/nirvana.html

Smells Like Teen Spirit was pre-Mediabase, and I do remember something about stations overreporting it on their playlists, but I don't think the difference could've been that drastic for it to have gotten less airplay than Come As You Are

RE: Better Man, I do remember most of its airplay coming from large market stations, so that #13 Wikipedia reference must be from a Billboard Pop Airplay chart at the time that used Audience Impressions

 

[CalebC]

Sail is heard on 4 different stations in Tulsa alone. Alternative Rocker KMYZ has been playing it for months. Mainstream rocker KMOD has just recently been putting spins on it. And CHRs KTBT and KHTT call it "new". I can't believe this song came out in 2011.