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The Subtle Early Resurgence of Rock (An Alternative to Modern Pop Sounds)

W

Wildstyle K

Has anyone heard the new Bruno Mars "locked our of heaven" track? This may become one of my favorites of this season. Notice how it not only sounds absolutely well done, but it's heavily on the pop-rock / modern soft alternative side of sound! I'm also sure it's going to be a huge hit. I don't know if people are noticing, but pop/rock and alternative seem to slowly be sneaking back into the mainstream top 40 sound around the same time more pop artists begin to drift away from the faster dance beats and start using various beats of slower tempos. I'm not saying dance is dying, but I am saying it looks as if things are slowly beginning to change

I wonder how many people will jump on the "Bruno Mars - Locked Out of Heaven" type sound. There may be a new r&b/pop/rock hybrid sound to be born from the things that are going on these days. Not only that, but more pop/rock artists may start leaning away from the soft "conservative pop rock" sound and start going back more towards actual full guitar rock sounds.

I bet if Peter Bjorn and John were singing on this track instead of Bruno Mars, it would be all over alternative radio. I've heard other things that made me feel as if the alternative sound may return, but when I first heard the Bruno Mars track on the radio and found out it was Bruno Mars, I was SHOCKED!
 
"Locked Out Of Heaven" and Gotye's big hit both sound like the Police from the early 80s. I like :)

I'm glad to see Imagine Dragons, the Lumineers, Alex Clare, and Neon Trees on the CHR chart. Also softer rock hits like "The A Team" and "Home" doing well and getting spins. I agree that rock is seeing a resurgence and people do want to hear rock tracks.

The next hurdle is programmers and MDs trying to differentiate CHR from Hot AC, by only allowing rock on the HAC side. If CHRs could open up a little bit more it would be great for the future of rock.
 
I like the trend of more rock songs being played on the radio, and not just the Nickelback/Daughtry/Hinder sound either, but many styles of rock music.

The Lumineers and Imagine Dragons just now got into the top 40 at chr/pop.

http://www.americasmusiccharts.com/index.cgi?fmt=H1&rtmref=americasmusiccharts

Here is a chart I found from the year 2010. Of the top 50, I see only two rock songs that are not influenced by hip-hop or electronic dance, "Hey Soul Sister" and "Breakeven".

http://www.top40charts.net/index.php?page=2010-music-charts

It's too bad that most chr/pop stations ignored "Little Talks". That's a good song.
 
Sorry for the double post... I just realized I didn't answer the main question.

Yes, I have heard the new Bruno Mars song and was surprised that was Bruno Mars. Good point about Peter Bjorn and John. Yes, maybe it is true that whoever performs the song can have more influence than how the song actually sounds, regarding which stations play a song.
 
I think Hot AC has already been in an Identity crisis with CHR Top 40 since many of the current Top 40 hits are safe enough for and fit Hot AC very well. Only difference with pop rock seeping into the Top 40 again is this time Top 40 will start sounding more like Hot AC instead of vice versa. However, I remember back when rock and alternative hits had their equal share on Top 40 radio, yet there was still a distinct difference between Top 40 and Hot AC. Question is; Are there enough r&b and hip hop hits crossing over to Top 40 to keep the distinct difference between Top 40 and Hot AC alive?
 
KDM 7000 said:
Question is; Are there enough r&b and hip hop hits crossing over to Top 40 to keep the distinct difference between Top 40 and Hot AC alive?
Click to expand...

Some hot ac stations, especially in the U.S. it seems, are still very rock leaning and play almost no rhythmic/urban music. The Pulse (a channel on SiriusXM) is an example of this type of format. Here's a link to what they play:

http://www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/7/stationplaylistrequest.asp?c_let=x026-fm

There seem to be different types of "hot ac", with all of them reporting to the same hot ac panel.

Here in Saskatchewan, the hot ac stations seem to play a lot of hip-hop and other rhythmic music now. The only difference between hot ac and chr/pop any more is that hot ac plays some older songs every once in a while. However, this could be due to the fact that most cities in Saskatchewan still don't have a chr/pop station.
 
I don't know what to call that song but it sure isn't Rock.

Is there a genre where all the musicians just play what they want at the same time? This sounds like that.
 
I read the Billboard cover artcle about Bruno Mars today and he said that the new album covers a variety of genres. He wants his sound to be a combination of pop, rock, R&B, soul, funk and doo-wop all rolled up into one. He also said that he now has the freedom to put out the type of music that he wants to and not be confined to what the record company wants. His success has given them the trust to have that freedom. I noticed that early 80's Police sound on the new song as well and as far as I am concerned, that is a very good thing. And if you caught any of his performances on TV or even live, he has a very energetic show and some of this new music will reflect that.
 
I caught a bit of the new Bruno Mars song a week ago and it's pretty good. Dude's a very versatile artist and is much needed in the CHR world.
 
There might be a resurgence of "rock", but I'm not sure it has much to do with Bruno Mars

There's definitely a new emergence of "folk rock" in an increasing number of CHR stations (Ed Sheeran, Phillip Phillipps, The Lumineers, and now possibly Of Monsters And Men) - it's acoustic, appeals to teens, and sounds nothing like Daughtry and Nickelback...
 
I have to admit - I find the pop-rock sound refreshing. Just got finished talking with a date who said today's music sucks and has no meaning. It's just noise. I've noticed a lot of people (including myself) saying this over the past few years - music just isn't the same. I do believe, however, if pop-rock makes a resurgence and becomes somewhat of the next big thing, this may lead to more people passionately creating songs with more meaningful lyrics, leading to an improvement of modern hit music. I, of course, already notice improvements being made. But it will take a few months to about a year of the pop charts being dominated with meaningful songs before people begin to change their views on the quality state of music these days. When you really think of it, you have artists like Sia (titanium), Ne-yo (lets go / let me love you), Bruno Mars (all of his hit songs), Usher, Rihanna, Ellie Goulding, etc. all releasing songs with quality lyrics. But because of a lot of other surrounding artists releasing silly music along with a history of this generation being known to suck, the good songs (that tend to blend in with the bad ones) don't get the generational quality recognition they deserve.

I often feel as if a lot of good instrumentals are either wasted on bad singers or poor quality lyrics these days. Many times it's the instrumental that makes the song rather than the singer or lyrics. Unlike most modern pop artists, Adele has the power to make her songs what they are with the power of her voice and lyrics.

I truly believe that the resurgence of dance/electronica came along and helped to improve things since most dance tracks without rap tend to have meaningful lyrics. But I do wonder; If pop-rock and alternative become the next big thing, will rappers and pop artists jump on and take over that sound too? Will Rihanna, Chris Brown, Flo Rida, Pitbull, Usher, Ne-yo and others become alternative or pop/rock artists the same way they turned dance?
 
Anyone notice a hint of alternative rock in certain parts of P!NK's new song? Not only that, but quite a few newer dance pop hits are using an acoustic style sounding guitar in the background or intros to their songs.

How big do you think this will get and how far do you think this sound will go? Do you think this will all eventually lead to more harder and harder alternative sounds to come until the point where we once again have full heavy rock and alternative productions being released? Could there be a modernized version of the classic and grunge rock sound to come?

Do you think any rappers will jump on the rock sound if it blows up? And can Sick Puppies make a more timely come back now?
 
Alex Clare's Too Close seems like a rock/dubstep hybrid. CC Pittsburgh has played it on The X 105.9, an Alt/Active Rock hybrid.
 
phils07 said:
Alex Clare's Too Close seems like a rock/dubstep hybrid. CC Pittsburgh has played it on The X 105.9, an Alt/Active Rock hybrid.
Click to expand...

Actually Phil...Too Close is doing quite well on alternative it is currently in the top 10 for airplay there according to mediabase....Here in Milwaukee...it is perhaps the song I hear most on WLUM...the local alternative station here
 
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