I just finished looking at Billboard's Hot 100 which was revised on Thursday this week and noticed that Taylor Swift is burning up the charts. Aside from her new, strictly pop album which set sales records in an era in which nobody buys physical albums or CD's anymore, she is dominating the pop charts. Her first single "Shake It Off" was #1 until last week, until she had the rare feat of replacing herself with "Blank Space", all the while keeping the current catchy "All About that Bass" by Megan Trainor at #2.
OK, say what you will about Taylor Swift; I know there are many that don't like her. I haven't heard any of the songs (yes, I've been living under a rock....especially since she was on just about every show on television the last few weeks, including The Voice). "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble" were both in my top 30; although I prefer some of her earlier country-tinged songs like "Fifteen". Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), her new stuff came out during my "blackout" period. But, like many key pop songs, I will give it a look as these songs give "identity" to the era. And yes, I am hooked on "All About That Bass" which moves up to #36 in its second week as I continue my "catch up" on new music.
And speaking of country, one friend asked me "where are all the country songs"? Yes I know. I have always had a handful of songs in that genre on my list, including Zac Brown, Lady Antebellum, Toby Keith, Blake Shelton and many others. I do plan on revisiting that kind of music again, but in my effort to catch up, I need to go with alt-rock first. And by the way, Rachel Allyn is on the list. Last week, she made my top 20 for the tenth straight time as "Restless Times (Call For Reckless Measures" rose to that position (number #21 now). Caught her and her band at Hopatcong's Pavinci's back in August for the first time in two years. I still say she is an enormous talent. She is getting gigs mostly at the shore, in places like Hoboken and other places, and has opened for some name acts who play locally. I maintain she is a unique brand of country artist which melds rock and would be a great addition to the country music scene. But her career seems to have stalled where it is. She needs to latch on as an opening act on a tour which takes her to many areas around the country, not just when the artist plays here in New Jersey.
LOOKING AT THE CHARTS: Paul Simon once sang "Every generation / sends a hero up the pop charts" (from "The Boy in the Bubble"). No doubt that's the case with Taylor Swift, and the girls are going "gaga" over One Direction. But I'm looking at Billboard's Hot 100. Aside from the song I've mentioned already, and noting that the "alt-rock" representative "Take Me To Church" by Hozier (#6 there, now #4 on my chart) is there, where are all the core artists that have dominated the last few years? Where is Lady Gaga? Katy Perry? P!nk (who incidentally has a nice change-of-pace album under her real name Alicea Moore)? Bruno Mars? Granted, some of these artists are between albums, but didn't Lady Gaga just release an album? (and yes I know about her duets album with legend Tony Bennett...what are the chances of THAT getting pop airplay?) Perry had five number ones and a number two from her last set, and yes, her current one did have two number ones, but the rest have missed the top ten.
But it's always been that way. Many eras in pop music had a core of artists who'd release hit after hit. The mid 60's for example, you could always count on a "family" of starts like The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Supremes, Four Tops, Four Seasons, Beach Boys, Mamas and the Papas, Lovin' Spoonful and on and on. You could also make a similar list in 1974, 1985 and 1998 for example. Times change, and although I question the integrity of today's pop music, at least the youngsters had a core of artists. I'm glad to see Maroon 5 is still on the list (their second pop top 10 hit "Animals' is in there, as was the first single "Maps", of which I'm currently featuring). Will artists like Bobby Shmurda, Tove Lo, Ariana Grande, or for that matter Meghan Trainor and Iggy Azalea become the new stalwarts of pop-ville. If you ask me, give me the Black Keys, Fitz & the Tantrums, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, or Foxygen any day of the week. And have you noticed, that the only alternative rock artists that seem to make the top 10 are those by artists you haven't heard from before? And then disappear? Where is pop radio when Lorde, Foster the People, Capital Cities, Mumford and Sons, and others when they come out with equally great follow-up tunes? Shaking my head on that one. Let the teenyboppers have their core...I certainly have mine and you can just page down to see what they are.
OFT-NEW and NOTEWORTHY: I continue to add music that has either been on the shelf since I had shelved my blog back in August, or in some cases, jump on some brand new stuff. The top debut is in the former category, in the form of Interpol's "All the Rage Back Home" leading things off at #56. I have always been a fan of this band, which is from New York City. Their fifth full-length album, El Pintor was released in September and did debut in the top 10. Their second effort, Antics, was their most successful, with two singles making the alt-rock charts; although it was their third single "C'Mere" that won me over. It was my unofficial favorite song of 2006 (in the mid-2000's I did not do a year end list). In the SNS area, their self-titled fourth effort, released in 2010, yielded a #2 blog single, "Barricade".
The first single from El Pintor, continues the dreamy/jangly feel of its predecessors. Starting slowly, it picks up shortly to an uptempo chugging bit of indie rock with just a smidgen of pop thrown in for good measure. A worthy successor to their past material. Also, as you may have heard in the news this week that Buffalo, NY got about seven feet of snow, a record, trapping the band's touring bus on the road. Best wishes for them to dig out and resume their tour.
Close behind is "Call Me" by St. Paul and the Broken Bones. One friend of mine, Elizabeth Sullivan posted this over the summer and it was on my list to be added once my log resumed. Well, one word: Awesome. I have always been a fan of 1960's style soul. If you loved Sam & Dave, Otis Redding and similar classic soul artists, you will love this song. It's great that artists can still record songs like this. If you love Fitz and the Tantrums (especially their first album), or Mayer Hawthorne, you will love this song by the Birmingham Alabama soul outfit. It blows me away. The album, their first full-length is called Half the City, released early this year.
Finally, another fave band of mine, The Decemberists, are back with a new single, "Make You Better". The band from Portland wowed me back in 2010 when "Down by the Corner" from their previous set The King is Dead spent two weeks atop my blog list, followed by two other top tens. This new one is a good effort. It's what you expect from this band which still sounds a bit like R.E.M. but are obviously their own thing. The song grows on you as it goes along. You can never count this band out. This is the first song from their forthcoming album What A Terrible World, What a Wonderful World, which comes out in January.
Scenes n' Soundwaves 100
November 16, 2014.
.
.
This Week
|
Last Week
|
ARTIST-Title
|
Weeks on List
|
1
|
1
|
NUMBER ONE:
SOMEKINDAWONDERFUL'
"Reverse"
Album: SomeKindaWonderful
|
17
|
2
|
3
|
Vivian Girls - Take It As It Comes
|
11
|
3
|
4
|
Fitz and the Tantrums - 6AM
|
11
|
4
|
5
|
Hozier - Take Me To Church
|
13
|
5
|
12
|
The Big Takeover - Children of the Rhythm
|
5
|
6
|
8
|
Avi Buffalo - So What
|
11
|
7
|
2
|
Foster the People - Best Friend
|
15
|
8
|
26
|
TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
FOXYGEN
"How Can You Really?
Album: ...And Star Power
|
2
|
9
|
9
|
Tacocat - Bridge to Hawaii
|
13
|
10
|
13
|
Brick + Mortar - Locked In A Cage
|
30
|
11
|
7
|
Terraplane Sun - You Never Know
|
19
|
12
|
6
|
Calvin Harris - Summer
|
15
|
13
|
11
|
The Hounds of Winter - Amy's World
|
21
|
14
|
10
|
MS MR - Think of You
|
21
|
15
|
16
|
Maroon 5 - Maps |
11
|
16
|
33
|
MOVER OF THE WEEK:
FITZ AND THE TANTRUMS
"Fool's Gold"
Album: More Than Just a Dream
|
2
|
17
|
32
|
The Black Keys - Turn Blue
|
3
|
18
|
15
|
Vampire Weekend - Step
|
11
|
19
|
21
|
Jessica Lea Mayfield - I Wanna Love You
|
9
|
20
|
31
|
Strand of Oaks - Goshen '97
|
7
|
.
.
21
|
20
|
Rachel Allyn - Restless Times Call for Reckless Measures
|
11
|
22
|
24
|
The Fresh & Onlys - Animal of One
|
9
|
23
|
18
|
The Black Keys - Fever
|
21
|
24
|
48
|
White Fence - Like That
|
3
|
25
|
25
|
Damien Jurado - Silver Timothy
|
21
|
26
|
23
|
Afghan Whigs - Algiers
|
23
|
27
|
14
|
Lily Allen - Hard Out Here
|
17
|
28
|
36
|
Sam Roberts Band - Shapesifters
|
7
|
29
|
30
|
The Orwells - Who Needs You
|
15
|
30
|
38
|
The Gaslight Anthem - Get Hurt
|
5
|
31
|
47
|
Alabama Shakes - Heartbreaker
|
3
|
32
|
34
|
Phantogram - Black Out Days
|
5
|
33
|
35
|
Train - Angel In Blue Jeans
|
5
|
34
|
19
|
Broken Bells - No Matter What You're Told
|
21
|
35
|
17
|
Mac DeMarco - Chamber of Reflection
|
19
|
36
|
54
|
Meghan Trainor - All About that Bass
|
2
|
37
|
39
|
Dum Dum Girls - Rimbaud Eyes
|
7
|
38
|
40
|
The Kooks - Around Town
|
7
|
39
|
22
|
Jack White - Lazeretto
|
19
|
40
|
43
|
Nico & Vinz - Am I Wrong
|
15
|
41
|
44
|
Lorde - Glory and Gore
|
13
|
42
|
41
|
Ray LaMontagna - Supernova
|
13
|
43
|
53
|
The Satelliters - I Said Yeah Yeah Yeah
|
3
|
44
|
49
|
Weird Al Yankovic - Word Crimes
|
5
|
45
|
27
|
Lykke Li - No Rest of the Wicked
|
17
|
46
|
51
|
Young the Giant - Mind Over Matter
|
7
|
47
|
58
|
MS MR - No Trace
|
3
|
48
|
56
|
Jenny Lewis - Just One of the Guys
|
9
|
49
|
57
|
The Shins - So Now What
|
7
|
50
|
59
|
Royal Bangs - Better Run
|
7
|
51
|
64
|
Meg Myers - Desire
|
9
|
52
|
73
|
Grouplove - I'm With You
|
3
|
53
|
61
|
The Drums - Magic Mountain
|
3
|
54
|
28
|
Anna Calvi - Eliza
|
15
|
55
|
42
|
Lucius - Turn It Around
|
36
|
56
|
45
|
Dirty Heads - My Sweet Summer
|
13
|
57
|
67
|
The Eeries - Cool Kid
|
3
|
58
|
----
|
TOP DEBUT:
INTERPOL
"All the Rage Back Home"
Album: El Pintor
|
1
|
59
|
29
|
Lana Del Rey - West Coast
|
17
|
60
|
63
|
Jungle - Time
|
9
|
61
|
74
|
Weezer - Back to the Shack
|
2
|
62
|
66
|
Better Than Ezra - Crazy Lady
|
5
|
63
|
37
|
Junior Prom - Sheila Put the Knife Down
|
21
|
64
|
50
|
Caveman - In the City
|
11
|
65
|
75
|
Alt J - Left Hand Free
|
2
|
66
|
60
|
Sam Smith - Stay With Me
|
11
|
67
|
62
|
Linkin Park - Until It's Gone
|
5
|
68
|
----
|
St. Paul and the Broken Bones - Call Me
|
1
|
69
|
70
|
Idina Menzel - Let It Go
|
17
|
70
|
77
|
Horse Thief - Devil
|
7
|
71
|
----
|
The Decemberists - Make You Better
|
1
|
72
|
46
|
Arctic Monkeys - Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High
|
19
|
73
|
65
|
Spoon - Do You
|
7
|
74
|
81
|
Milky Chance - Stolen Dance
|
9
|
75
|
52
|
Kongos - Come With Me Now
|
30
|
76
|
55
|
OK Go - The Writing's on the Wall
|
9
|
77
|
82
|
ZZ Ward - Last Love Song
|
5
|
78
|
85
|
The Griswolds - Beware the Dog
|
3
|
79
|
----
|
Kings of Leon - Family Tree
|
1
|
80
|
80
|
Broods - Bridges
|
9
|
81
|
88
|
Benjaman Booker - Valent Shiver
|
2
|
82
|
89
|
Bastille - Flaws
|
2
|
83
|
----
|
J. Roddy Walston and the Business - Marigold
|
1
|
84
|
87
|
Iggy Azalea - Fancy
|
7
|
85
|
----
|
Colony House - Silhouettes
|
1
|
86
|
68
|
Boyce Avenue - I'll Be the One
|
19
|
87
|
72
|
Phillip Phillips - Reging Fire
|
11
|
88
|
71
|
Band of Skulls - Hoochie Coochie
|
19
|
89
|
84
|
Conor Oberst - Zigzagging Towards Delight
|
5
|
90
|
91
|
Bear Hands - Agorn
|
2
|
91
|
----
|
My Brightest Diamond - Pressure
|
1
|
92
|
76
|
Pharrell Williams - Happy
|
27
|
93
|
----
|
Digitalism f. Youngblood Hawke - Wolves
|
1
|
94
|
83
|
Kongos - I'm Only Joking
|
9
|
95
|
69
|
Man Man - Loot My Body
|
13
|
96
|
79
|
Fitz and the Tantrums - The Walker
|
42
|
97
|
RE ENTRY
|
Valerie June - You Can't Be Told
|
18
|
98
|
78
|
Foster the People - Coming of Age
|
32
|
99
|
86
|
Kings of Leon - Temple
|
38
|
100
|
90
|
No - Leave the Door Wide Open
|
23
|
..
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