Muse - Madness

[awp69]

With all the cross over between Alternative and CHR lately (Fun., Gotye, Grouplove, Imagine Dragons), I'm surprised CHR hasn't jumped on this song yet. It's quite a bit different for Muse, and, well, a more electronica sound that differentiates it from the others that have crossed over. But it's a song that I could see easily sprinting up the charts if given a chance (already #1 on Alt stations, of course) with an emotional hook that would bring in a female audience that probably wouldn't normally listen to Muse.

Thoughts?

 

[DJKraze]

I've been running it.

 

[sdh483]

This song, IMO, is more appropriate on the alternative rock stations than a CHR. I've never heard a Muse song on CHR. Maybe hot AC but mostly on rock stations.

 

[Wildstyle K]

Remember when people were wondering if Gotye would ever be successful on CHR? Same with Fun. and "Everybody talks" by Neon Trees to some extent as well....

Don't be surprised about ANYTHING right now. After all, Train even made top 40 this year as well!

 

[awp69]

This song, IMO, is more appropriate on the alternative rock stations than a CHR. I've never heard a Muse song on CHR. Maybe hot AC but mostly on rock stations.

Only reason why I think it may is because it is much different than any other Muse song. Again, more electronic based (save a guitar solo) than the usual Muse songs. And I think it does -- especially the last half of the song -- have a pop like sensability to it.

No, CHR would never and has never played something like "Uprising". This, I think, is a different story. We'll see. Didn't take long for Alex Claire to step over to CHR and that's far more on the rock side (I'm sure use of the song in commercials and stuff didn't hurt).

 

[justpassingthough]

I'm admittedly biased because I don't care for Muse, and this song in particular, but nothing would surprise me after some of the alt songs that have crossed over in the past year.

The only Muse song I've liked is "Supermassive Black Hole" and that didn't stand a chance at CHR.

 

[CatCall]

This song, IMO, is more appropriate on the alternative rock stations than a CHR. I've never heard a Muse song on CHR. Maybe hot AC but mostly on rock stations.

It has debuted on the Hot AC chart at #48.

 

[atlantaboy]

WZPL is giving it 9 spins per week, and they're now back on the CHR panel - not sure if it matters though...

 

[atlantaboy]

It's actually a pretty clever song - the problem is it takes forever to get going, and I think too many pop listeners will change the station during the first half of the song

Maybe if it had a remix...

 

[Wildstyle K]

Finally checked it out. The end part is better than the beginning. I think the vocals could've been done a little better.

 

[CHR_FAN_TX]

This song, IMO, is more appropriate on the alternative rock stations than a CHR. I've never heard a Muse song on CHR. Maybe hot AC but mostly on rock stations.

"Starlight" received some CHR play when it came out a few years back

 

[atlantaboy]

This song, IMO, is more appropriate on the alternative rock stations than a CHR. I've never heard a Muse song on CHR. Maybe hot AC but mostly on rock stations.

"Starlight" received some CHR play when it came out a few years back

It didn't crack the Top 50...

 

[acheron1982]

The thing that annoys me about top 40 is how they take an alternative song 4, 5, and 6 months after it ever comes out on alternative radio and call the song new and turn around and plays it to death. Most alternative stations want touch the over played songs from Gotye, FUN and Alex Clair because Top 40 has made the songs annoying after killing it to death.

I know that an alternative artist can really make it big once their song reaches top 40 charts and is played on top 40 stations but I find it interesting that many alternative bands that make it to top 40 with a hit song later fall off the map (Kings of Leon).

Another example would be the new one by Imagine Dragons. That song came out on alternative stations back in the winter of this year. It's had many spins on alternative stations and now Imagine Dragons has a new song that is out on alternative station.

 

[chrocket87]

This song, IMO, is more appropriate on the alternative rock stations than a CHR. I've never heard a Muse song on CHR. Maybe hot AC but mostly on rock stations.

"Starlight" received some CHR play when it came out a few years back

It didn't crack the Top 50...

Thus far, "Uprising" has been their only song to reach the top 50 on CHR, I think it peaked around #48. It also reached the top 15 on Hot AC. "Madness" is climbing Hot AC, so we'll have to stay tuned and see if this one can top "Uprising".

 

[chrocket87]

The thing that annoys me about top 40 is how they take an alternative song 4, 5, and 6 months after it ever comes out on alternative radio and call the song new and turn around and plays it to death. Most alternative stations want touch the over played songs from Gotye, FUN and Alex Clair because Top 40 has made the songs annoying after killing it to death.

That's how CHR is with most songs that don't originate on CHR. It's always played Alternative and Urban hits several months after getting spins on their respective charts, but CHR tends to lag the most on Country crossover material. "If I Die Young" by The Band Perry is one example of a song that was already off of Country radio well before CHR started adding it.

 

[atlantaboy]

The thing that annoys me about top 40 is how they take an alternative song 4, 5, and 6 months after it ever comes out on alternative radio and call the song new and turn around and plays it to death. Most alternative stations want touch the over played songs from Gotye, FUN and Alex Clair because Top 40 has made the songs annoying after killing it to death.

I know that an alternative artist can really make it big once their song reaches top 40 charts and is played on top 40 stations but I find it interesting that many alternative bands that make it to top 40 with a hit song later fall off the map (Kings of Leon).

Another example would be the new one by Imagine Dragons. That song came out on alternative stations back in the winter of this year. It's had many spins on alternative stations and now Imagine Dragons has a new song that is out on alternative station.

What's the alternative though? If Imagine Dragons went for CHR adds six months ago, no one would've touched it - part of the promotion to pop radio is the fact that it's already proven to be a hit on the Alternative format, and that it's selling well on ITunes as a result of Alternative airplay (just look at the promotion banners on AllAccess) - and that Glee chose to cover it, again as a result of big exposure from Alternative format airplay

 

[justpassingthough]

The thing that annoys me about top 40 is how they take an alternative song 4, 5, and 6 months after it ever comes out on alternative radio and call the song new and turn around and plays it to death. Most alternative stations want touch the over played songs from Gotye, FUN and Alex Clair because Top 40 has made the songs annoying after killing it to death.

I know that an alternative artist can really make it big once their song reaches top 40 charts and is played on top 40 stations but I find it interesting that many alternative bands that make it to top 40 with a hit song later fall off the map (Kings of Leon).

Another example would be the new one by Imagine Dragons. That song came out on alternative stations back in the winter of this year. It's had many spins on alternative stations and now Imagine Dragons has a new song that is out on alternative station.

Its important to note that the audiences for CHR and alternative are vastly different. Alternative is targeting a male heavy 18 to 34 demo, while CHR is going after primarily females and runs the gamut from tweens to 18 to 34 to 25 to 54. Most CHR and alt stations share only a very tiny portion of P1 and P2 listeners. So to the vast majority of the CHR audience, Imagine Dragons or Gotye or whichever song you choose, isn't played out to them- only to those few CHR listeners who regularly listen to alternative.

 

[awp69]

The thing that annoys me about top 40 is how they take an alternative song 4, 5, and 6 months after it ever comes out on alternative radio and call the song new and turn around and plays it to death.  Most alternative stations want touch the over played songs from Gotye, FUN and Alex Clair because Top 40 has made the songs annoying after killing it to death.

I know that an alternative artist can really make it big once their song reaches top 40 charts and is played on top 40 stations but I find it interesting that many alternative bands that make it to top 40 with a hit song later fall off the map (Kings of Leon). 

Another example would be the new one by Imagine Dragons.  That song came out on alternative stations back in the winter of this year.  It's had many spins on alternative stations and now Imagine Dragons has a new song that is out on alternative station.

Its important to note that the audiences for CHR and alternative are vastly different.  Alternative is targeting a male heavy 18 to 34 demo, while CHR is going after primarily females and runs the gamut from tweens to 18 to 34 to 25 to 54.  Most CHR and alt stations share only a very tiny portion of P1 and P2 listeners.  So to the vast majority of the CHR audience, Imagine Dragons or Gotye or whichever song you choose, isn't played out to them- only to those few CHR listeners who regularly listen to alternative.

I think a lot of it depends on the market. Prior to the GSP market's new X98.5, the only place to hear any alternative was pretty much CHR or our Hot AC (which also is only a little over a year old). When you're in a market that has no alternative, but stream alternative at work or something, it's very interesting to see how long it takes songs to "crossover" to CHR. With Fun. and Gotye not on any local radio until our Hot AC started playing them, it was still "new" to the market when the CHR began to play them (even though I heard them long before streaming Radio 104.5).

Now that there is an Alternative station, I seem to see a bit more of a turn towards pop-rock on our CHR, which seems to go back and forth between leaning rythmnic and mixing in more pop rock. I know Alex Clare probably crossed over to CHR overall in a much quicker time frame than Fun., Gotye and Grouplove. But I don't think it would have happened as quickly in the Greenville-Spartanburg market if it weren't for the new additions of Hot AC and Alternative. It's also kind of funny how I occassionally see some complaints on X98.5's Facebook page for playing things like "We Are Young", "Someone that I Used to Know" and "Pumped Up Kicks". That's because some of the listeners were tired of hearing them on CHR. BUT they were alternative hits to begin with so IMO still have a place on those stations. Probably wouldn't have been an issue if there was an Alternative station in GSP prior to when they became big hits.

Anyway, back on topic, I think one of the reasons "Madness" should be primed for a CHR crossover is exactly because the last half of the song has that swooning sound that I think would sit well with the female population that CHR tends to get.

 

[atlantaboy]

Prior to the GSP market's new X98.5, the only place to hear any alternative was pretty much CHR or our Hot AC

This is a little off topic, but I drove through Greenville over the holiday, and I had no idea how weak a signal X98.5 had - it doesn't come in at all in Spartanburg, and just barely comes in in Anderson - the only place you can hear it on a decent signal is right in Greenville

 

[awp69]

This is a little off topic, but I drove through Greenville over the holiday, and I had no idea how weak a signal X98.5 had - it doesn't come in at all in Spartanburg, and just barely comes in in Anderson - the only place you can hear it on a decent signal is right in Greenville

Yeah, X98.5 is on a translator so it is pretty much Greenville proper. Although I understand they did recently apply to up from 200W to 250W. Not sure how much difference it'll make.

So, guess for the rest of the market outside of Greenville, it still is CHR and Hot AC (well, not now, because it's all-Christmas) to find anything remotely alternative.