Where are the rock hits?

[wxman76]

How could Weezer's last three singles all miss CHR? Have they lost that much cred? MTV & VH1 were spinning the heck out of some of them and pop radio thought they weren't good enough?

Well, Rivers Cuomo is on a current top 20 hit with B.O.B., so I would say no they haven't lost that much cred. I think Weezer has more "street cred" than say Creed, which had a minor hit at CHR late last year. "Rain" was a stiff for most CHR stations, but still managed to peak at #35. It doesn't make much sense to me why Creed can still crack the top 40, but Weezer can't. I think record companies pushing or lack of pushing of the single to CHR has a lot to do with it. There also seems to be fewer PD's these days willing to take chances and instead just accept playing tracks because it is being pushed by the record company or because it is getting airplay on other larger market stations.

 

[butlerguy03]

There also seems to be fewer PD's these days willing to take chances and instead just accept playing tracks because it is being pushed by the record company or because it is getting airplay on other larger market stations.

That's exactly what Sean Ross' newsletter was about Thursday.

 

[CHRles]

The Rock hits right now are Maroon 5's "Misery" and Paramore's "The Only Exception".
Another possible Rock hit is the excellent "Man Who Can't Be Moved" by the Script, which was a hit in the UK a year and a half ago, and has finally broke through to the CHR/Pop Top 30 airplay chart. The song's receiving a good chunk of spins at influential stations like 93.3 FLZ Tampa, 96.1 Kiss FM Pittsburgh, Y-100 Miami, Kiss 98.5 Buffalo, G-105 Raleigh, XL 106.7 Orlando, 97.9 NCI Columbus,

 

[Starbucks]

Neon Trees? Good Charlotte has a new one , Lifehouse released a new single....not all are on the top 10....but are receiving airplay. Nickleback latest still gets airplay.

 

[CHRles]

As has been noted earlier, more and more Hot A/C outlets are ditching their Pop/Rock and Modern A/C leans, and adding more Rhythmic titles.
Q-104 Cleveland is practically on the verge of flipping to CHR/Pop, and Chicago's Mix 101.9's musical evolution continues to unfold. Check out their playlists on Allaccess.com or yes.com to see what I mean.

 

[Starbucks]

The real reason I hate to say is that there has been better catchier material on the top 40, then on the Hot AC. The music industry has shown a noticable improvement during the last quarter of 2009 as far as material being released. Less pure rap/ghettoed flavored hip hop is a big start right there.

 

[wxman76]

As has been noted earlier, more and more Hot A/C outlets are ditching their Pop/Rock and Modern A/C leans, and adding more Rhythmic titles.
Q-104 Cleveland is practically on the verge of flipping to CHR/Pop, and Chicago's Mix 101.9's musical evolution continues to unfold. Check out their playlists on Allaccess.com or yes.com to see what I mean.

Wow, WTMX Chicago has Mike Posner, La Roux, Bruno Mars and even Eminem in their top 10! Both Mix 101.9 and Q104 playlist not all that much different than Q102 Cincinnati these days.

 

[CHRles]

Mix 101.9 Chicago will still play the occasional 80s title, but Q-104 Cleveland is pretty much sounding like Mix 106.5 Baltimore (both are owned by CBS).
Over on the Rhythmic CHR panel, it looks like 96.1 The Beat Charlotte has evolved into a full blown CHR/Pop station over the past couple of weeks.

 

[RobynWattsV2.0]

Over on the Rhythmic CHR panel, it looks like 96.1 The Beat Charlotte has evolved into a full blown CHR/Pop station over the past couple of weeks.

They have, although they still have a Rhythmic lean in their playlist. The Beat is now using the "All The Hits" slogan. Their direct competitor, Kiss 95.1, has also adopted the "All The Hits" slogan within the last 2 weeks as well.

Robyn

 

[only1moore]

Over on the Rhythmic CHR panel, it looks like 96.1 The Beat Charlotte has evolved into a full blown CHR/Pop station over the past couple of weeks.

They have, although they still have a Rhythmic lean in their playlist. The Beat is now using the "All The Hits" slogan. Their direct competitor, Kiss 95.1, has also adopted the "All The Hits" slogan within the last 2 weeks as well.

Robyn

Robyn's right. However, I'm surprised that Mediabase and BDS haven't come around to making panel changes yet, unless these stations don't want to be reclassified.

 

[new_friends_gr]

Another possible Rock hit is the excellent "Man Who Can't Be Moved" by the Script, which was a hit in the UK a year and a half ago, and has finally broke through to the CHR/Pop Top 30 airplay chart. The song's receiving a good chunk of spins at influential stations like 93.3 FLZ Tampa, 96.1 Kiss FM Pittsburgh, Y-100 Miami, Kiss 98.5 Buffalo, G-105 Raleigh, XL 106.7 Orlando, 97.9 NCI Columbus,

Actually, "The Man Who Can't Be Moved" first debuted on the radio in the spring of '09. It was really The Script's first hit in the U.S.

It's weird because, as soon as "Breakeven" reached the airwaves in the U.S., "The Man Who Can't Be Moved" all of a sudden disappeared from the radio. Now that song is making a comeback. I'm getting pretty tired of "Breakeven" but still really like TMWCBM.

 

[butlerguy03]

"Man Who Can't Be Moved" actually worked its way up to #17 on Mediabase Hot AC last year (if my numbers are right).

 

[carolinaradio]

Mix 101.9 Chicago will still play the occasional 80s title, but Q-104 Cleveland is pretty much sounding like Mix 106.5 Baltimore (both are owned by CBS).
Over on the Rhythmic CHR panel, it looks like 96.1 The Beat Charlotte has evolved into a full blown CHR/Pop station over the past couple of weeks.

Is it just me, or does Mix 106.5 just look like a CHR almost with just a little Hot AC lean? They are one of the most CHR sounding "Hot AC" stations there can be. They ought to change it to "Amp'' or something.

 

[CHRles]

Mix 106.5 Baltimore has been on my CHR/Pop list for at least a year and a half, and I definitely consider them to be a CHR.
I've also classified Q-102 Cincy as CHR/Pop for a long time now. They were of course a legendary CHR/Pop station all throughout the 80s (and very Recurrent leaning), and in the 90s they were at times both Adult CHR and straight ahead pure CHR/Pop.

 

[carolinaradio]

Mix 106.5 Baltimore has been on my CHR/Pop list for at least a year and a half, and I definitely consider them to be a CHR.
I've also classified Q-102 Cincy as CHR/Pop for a long time now. They were of course a legendary CHR/Pop station all throughout the 80s (and very Recurrent leaning), and in the 90s they were at times both Adult CHR and straight ahead pure CHR/Pop.

I streamed Mix 106.5 last night - they are no Hot AC anymore. I'm surprised they're still listed as H/AC on Mediabase. Definitely CHR all around.

WZPT/Pittsburgh (Star 100.7) is pretty much a CHR, too, but not as much as Mix. They sound a tiny bit more Hot AC though.

 

[Wildstyle K]

I agree with the disappearance and suckiness of modern rock and alternative hit music. I just checked out the latest NOW that's what I call music and Niceklback is the best by default in the rock sound category. Without even listening to the song, I just know it couldn't be worse than the ones I checked out on the alternative / rock side of things. As a matter of fact, there are no rock songs really on there, and anything after Carrie Underwood "Undo it" which is track #15, I never even heard of, so how those hits got on there as the biggest hits, I don't even know. Maybe I'm not listening to the rhythmic pop, the more urban leaning rhythmic, rhythmic top 40, and pop rock lean top 40 we have here in Phoenix enough to recognize some of the songs on the cd. It's shocking to see rock disappearing AFTER hip hop being the next big thing becomes a thing of the past. You'd think that would leave more room for rockers and alternative sounds to take over. Anyway, let me hike in on over to the Jazz section and see how they're feeling over there..

 

[Dkampy]

I disagree...there are still rock hits out there. I predict at least a top 10 hit for Neon trees Animal"...it has been steadily gaining momentum...more and more stations have been adding it and as far as I can tell most have been getting positive feedback. Also Paramore is a rock base act. Plus from the beginning of the hit music era it's always been the pop flavor of rock that has done the best on the charts which would be your Maroon 5. I have a feeling that they are going to have multiple hits from their upcomming CD. Even Travie Mccoy is rock based(granted it is more hip/hop rock)...I would argue Billionaire gives me the same feeling of a sublime(a rock based act) song. In the current state of music there are many stations out there that jump on rythmic or pop quickly and take the wait and see if it's a hit approach when it comes to rock. Which explains the slow rock rise. Again this is what is happening with Neon Trees.

One more side note...I also think B.O.B has a bit of rock edge...it's still hip hop but there is a bit of rock influence as well...not only with including artist such as Paramore's Haily Williams and Weezer's Rivers Cuomo...but he also plays his own instruments(guitar/drums)rather then using samples....Not to mention his concerts tend to be more populated with caucasians which is typically unheard of in the hip hop industry.

 

[Mid West Clubber]

I dont like the guitar rock anymore,, I listened to it back in the 90s when Alternative was actually cool, but these days I prefer Rhythmic leaning CHRs.

 

[Jay F]

The Neon Trees song is great. It deserves to be the big hit it is becoming. It's a rock song but has a pop hook and feel.

Even if Paramore is a rock/alternative band I just can't consider "The Only Exception" a rock song, it's way too soft. Do Active Rock stations play it? One of my least favorite genres of music was the rock "power ballad" of the 80s and early 90s yet I love the Paramore song. I sounds refreshing on CHR because it adds variety and tempo balance.

 

[Dkampy]

Good point on Paramore's "The Only Exception"....The Local Alternative rock station here is always quick to play any Paramore song...but now that I think about it...I don't know if they have ever played "The only Exception". Although to me it's still rock...I have sort of taken it the same way I took all those 80's power ballads...it was still rock. I agree that the song is a good balance with all the uptempo stuff.