Invariable, on my music blog, it comes down to what would be the "song of the summer?" If you ask Billboard, that is shaping up to be "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth. That song made a brief appearance in my top 20 a couple weeks back, but so far for me, it's a song that actually was a national hit this past spring: "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran. It spends a sixth non-consecutive week at number one. Although I won't reveal the official song until September, I will say at this point, that the honors could be a toss-up between that song and "Gimme All Your Love" by Alabama Shakes, which is still hanging in my top 20 this week. Then again, we could get some great new tunes in August, so nothing is set in stone.
It's a very close race as "Thinking" just says ahead of Courtney Barnett's "Bad Fox" which jumps to #2. It will in inevitably reach the top next week, but there is something disturbing about the record. Oh, don't get me wrong, I love this song. But stations with the triple-A format (whose Billboard chart is where I got the inspiration with the record, seemed to stop playing it around the time I latched onto it. I realize there is no correlation between the two, but it's a great song, yet it fell off the chart after steadily rising.
Then again, I can't complain about the music played on both this and the Alternative format. I know much of it is not "traditional rock" but hence, the name "alternative", right. But as I maintain, there is some good rock out there; you just need to search for it. Then there is the top 40 issue, that, aside from some alternative crossovers like Walk the Moon, it's been a dead issue for years on the Billboard Hot 100. OMI's "Cheerleader" rules the roost there, and it's climbing my chart, but lately it seems that the rappers and hip-hoppers have come back to that top 10 in full force. OMI replaced Wiz Khalifa at the top. Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood", which features Kendrick Lamarr, also had a week at the top, and the top ten is currently populated with artists like The Weeknd and Fetty Wrap (with two songs).
Look, I am all for diversity in pop music, but last I checked, rock is a music form as well, and it has been blatantly absent for years. It seems that anything with a guitar (and for that matter, any artist over 40 years of age) gets shunned. Beck garnered much publicity with his Grammy win earlier this year. His new single "Dreams" (#6 on SNS this week), is a good song that could be top 40-worthy. But don't look on the Hot 100; it's not there at all. Even Elle King's "Ex's and Oh's", a catchy dive-worthy song, that is #3 on my list but also popular with my friends, is in the lower rungs of the Hot 100.
Now granted, pop music is exactly that....popular with the masses, and the 1970's in particular surely had a lot of clunkers. But every once in awhile, a rock number would get in there, like "Smoke on the Water", "Rambling Man" or "School's Out" would sneak they're way in. Good, talented artists will always endure; remember, Jimi Hendrix had only one top 20 "hit", "All Along the Watchtower", and he is arguable the best guitarist of all time. So take what you see at the top of the charts with a grain of salt.
Some heavyweight debuts on my list this week, although many are cuts from albums that have been around a while. It's been a few months since I checked into the latest Alabama Shakes album, aside from the two #1's that I've featured, so it's time for another. "Future People" is my top debut at #56, and shows that you can keep making blues-oriented songs and they don't have to sound the same. This is a multi-layered trip, a bit abstract, even, but the soul of Brittany Howard is ever endearing and just adds a touch to the aura of the song. Perhaps it's not as accessible as the other two songs I've featured, and certainly not like the first album, but "different" doesn't always mean "bad".
The third featured track from What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World, (and my follow-up to "Cavalry Captain", although that wasn't an official single), "The Wrong Year", has a mid-tempo chugging, jangly beat to it, yet, it's a bit laid back. But that is a good thing. The string arrangement on this is top notch. This is a band that does what it usually does: make music at its best. Another winner from this Portland, Oregon group.
While the above two bands have had albums out for awhile, there is a long-awaited effort coming out by the band Wilco. The Chicago band of course have been around for a long time and are no strangers to my blog; their last set, The Whole Love, released in 2011 had two SNS hits on it, "I Might" had a four-week run at #1 in the fall of that year, followed by "Dawned on Me", which made #7 early the next year.
Their new album, Star Wars has been release, and is a free download. If anyone expects this to be a rehash of their prior efforts, then, they don't know Wilco. The band never really does the same song twice. I wasn't sure which track to feature first, but I see "Random Name Generator" hit the Triple-A charts (gee, I wonder now that I added it, will it drop off? ha ha), so I went with that one. Call me weird, but this one has a sort of an early 70's British glam thing to it melded with the band's usually folk-ish attitude. The sound is definitely catchy, but in a unique way.
R.I.P.: Before I go, I just wanted to mention two passings this week. Lynn Anderson, a big 70's country singer most noted for her crossover hit "Rose Garden", at age 67, and Liverpool singer Cilla Black, who had a top 30 hit with "You're My World", and was a protégé of The Beatles (who wrote some of her songs and whose producer George Martin also did her recordings). She was 72.
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100
July 26,
2015
| This Week | Last Week | ARTIST-Title | Weeks on List |
| 1 | 1 | NUMBER ONE:
"Thinking Out
Loud"
Album: x
(6 weeks at #1)
|
21 |
| 2 | 4 | Courtney Barnett - Dead Fox | 5 |
| 3 | 3 | Elle King - Ex's and Oh's | 11 |
| 4 | 2 | The Decemberists - Calvary Captain | 16 |
| 5 | 7 | Tame Impala - Let It Happen | 16 |
| 6 | 11 | Beck - Dreams | 6 |
| 7 | 5 | Florence + the Machine - Ship to Wreck | 12 |
| 8 | 6 | Grace Potter - Alive Tonight | 10 |
| 9 | 10 | Coin - Run | 9 |
| 10 | 8 | St. Paul and the Broken Bones - Like a Mighty River | 13 |
| 11 | 9 | Calvin Harris f. Ellie Goulding - Outside | 13 |
| 12 | 13 | The Arcs - Outta My Mind | 5 |
| 13 | 26 | TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
"Last Raindrop"
Album: More Than Just a Dream
|
4 |
| 14 | 16 | Allison Iraheta & Halo Circus - Gone | 7 |
| 15 | 27 | Django Django - Reflections | 5 |
| 16 | 15 | Kjband - Our Art | 9 |
| 17 | 12 | Alabama Shakes - Gimme All Your Love● | 14 |
| 18 | 19 | Saint Motel - My Type | 13 |
| 19 | 21 | Ting Tings - Wrong Club | 11 |
| 20 | 23 | Circa Waves - T-Shirt Weather | 7 |
Tremors:
| 101 | Coleman Hell - 2 Heads | |
| 102 | 104 | Ok Go - Turn Up the Radio |
| 103 | Andy Grammer - Honey I'm Good |
|
|
Songs
with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week.
● Songs
with 25 or more plays on my iPod.
▲ Songs with 50 or more plays on my iPod. 
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