Before I begin, I just wanted to send my prayers and condolences to all the families of the victims of the senseless shootings in Pittsburgh last weekend. It is a horrible shame that in 2018, while people are preaching about love and togetherness that there are people in this world who run on hatred.
A brief blog this week. I had wanted to do a write-up about Halloween, as the holiday fell on a Wednesday this week, as well as my 62nd birthday. Of course, I had been busy with a few things, thus I will put the thoughts away for another year. (It was actually about what songs would qualify as "Halloween", since, unlike Christmas, there's hardly any direct references to that holiday, only the specific aspects of it, i.e. "Witchy Woman", "Werevolves of London", "Monster Mash", and "Ghostbusters", just to name four of them). And except for the Eagles song, none of these songs were released in the fall. There's always next year!
So, lets turn to the current chart, where we see The Revivalists hold on to the top spot with "All My Friends", for a second week. Real Estate switches places with Elle King to land in the runner-up spot with "Time". "Shame" drops a notch despite nearly holding steady in points. These three songs are far ahead of the rest of the field. King Princess and Nick Waterhouse hold down the top five. The biggest mover in my top 20 is Caroline Rose's "Jeannie Becomes a Mom".
IMAGINE THAT!: A couple weeks ago, we spotlighted the 30th anniversary of Billboard's Alternative chart. One of the biggest acts in the 2010's on the list, and one that has "crossed over" to the pop chart on numerous occasions has been Imagine Dragons. Their music, which, while having elements of this decade's version of rock music, is fundamentally hip-hop; hence the appeal to pop stations. Eight of their songs reached the top 20 on Billboard's Hot 100, including their current single, "Natural" at #13. Over on the alternative side, they have constantly been near the top of that chart; "Natural", naturally is the current #1 there, and has been for nine weeks now.
Come on over to my blog, and it's a different story. This week, "Natural" moves from 28-22. While that may not be earth-shattering, it's now the highest charting song of my blog, believe it or not. The highest they had previously gone was the #28 peak of "Thunder" late last year.
But, while the Dragons haven't done well with peaks on my playlist, their songs tend to stick around on my blog for a long time. The most drastic example of that is 2012's "Radioactive". Their biggest hit on the Hot 100 to date (#3 there), it only peaked at #42 here in two chart runs, but it stayed on my list for a whopping 49 weeks!! Two others, "Demons" and "On Top of the World" amassed over twenty weeks on the blog, while only peaking in the 50's.
So, why haven't I been able to embrace one of the more successful "rock" bands of the 2010's? As you may know from reading my blog these eight plus years, I tend to go for heartful, soulful, rather retro music, with life to it. One of my criticisms of hip-hop is its lack of feeling and the sameness. That seems to be extended to the Dragons, and while their music is pretty good, I just have a hard time relating and getting into it. I know some friends do like it and will post their music, and that's probably why I keep many of their songs on my playlist for a long time, as an attempt to get into them a bit more.
"Natural" seems to be the song that's finally doing the trick. It's risen to #22 after just six weeks, and is destined to become their first SNS Top 20 next week. This one has a bit of a "goth" feel to it in the intro, it then proceeds into their usual hip-hop centric beat. But it has a lot of rock sensibility to it as well as that rhythmic feel, and lead singer Dan Reynolds' seems to have put his heart and soul in his delivery. The song is still growing on me, as opposed to be tiring of it. I've always love rhythmic songs, especially if the singing has emotions to it. That combination has definitely helped.
While I am warming up to the Dragons, Twenty-One Pilots, a similar band that has had much success both on the Hot 100 and Alternative Songs, seems to be struggling with their latest endeavor. I had finally warmed up to them with "Heathens" (#14 SNS) and "Heavy Dirty Soul" (#6 here), their new album Trench, has been a hard sell for me. While both their singles have gone top 5 Alternative, "Jumpsuit" their first single, only got to #72 on my list, and their current "My Blood" is struggling at #82 this week. Those two singles, along with a third track "Nico and the Niners" have not done well on the Hot 100 either, none of these songs getting higher than #50 (after having three straight top 5 songs, including "Heathens" there, prior to the new release).
GREASED UP: Weezer has the Top Debut with "Can't Knock the Hustle". The band seems to be on a roll, and this one is the lead from their forthcoming self-titled album. If you have followed the band, you know that they've had a slew of eponymous releases, many of which are their best sellers. It all started with their debut, which featured the four members of the band with a blue background. That debut broke them through, with hits like "Undone (The Sweater Song)" and "Buddy Holly". It would become known as "The Blue Album".
After the relatively disappointing reception to their follow-up, Pinkerton (1996), the band took a hiatus, and, perhaps trying to recapture the magic of their debut, released another self-titled album in 2001. This time the picture of the four members had a green background, hence "The Green Album". And it worked: Two big songs, "Hash Pipe" and a personal favorite "Island In the Sun" were big hits, the latter hitting my year-end Top 10 for 2001.
Although the band's biggest pop hit, 2005's "Beverly Hills" (#10 on the Billboard Hot 100) came from a titled album, Make Believe, Weezer would be at it again with "The Red Album" in 2007. Three albums after that, came "The White Album" (2016).
The new song, "Can't Knock the Hustle" will be from their fifth self-titled album, due for release in 2019, and will be known as "The Black Album".
Although Weezer has been a favorite for over two decades, during the blog era, they've been somewhat of a disappointment to my ears; only "Hang On" (#11 SNS), and "Tripping Down That Freeway" (#21), both from 2010's Hurley (the one with the picture of Lost's Jorge Garcia on the cover) came anywhere close to the top. Other subsequent efforts were well further down the list. For me, Weezer's "renaissance" came in the summer of 2017 with "Feels Like Summer", from last year's Pacific Daydream set, which peaked at #18 for only the second top 20 on my blog (the song hit #2 on Billboard's Alternative songs list). That was followed by "Happy Hour" from the same set, and that became their first SNS top 10, going to #4 (#9 on Billboard Alternative Songs). "Africa", their Toto cover, also went to #4 a couple months ago (and #1 Alternative).
So, how is "Can't Knock the Hustle"? It's a pretty cool, catchy song, with a sort of bouncy, retro-disco beat, with a little Latin flair to it as well. The video is a trip also, both figuratively and literally as well. Click on the link and check out for yourself. The song debuts at #66 this week.
Oh, one more thing: As an answer to Weezer's cover of "Africa", Toto just released a cover of "Hash Pipe". Do I add that one? We'll see. The live video is quite good.
Three artists, new to SNS, also debut. Kitten is an indie rock band from Los Angeles fronted by Chloe Chaidez who have been around since 2010, and comes on the list with "Pink Champagne". They are also featured on Dirty Heads' current "Visions" (#48 this week). The Blue Stones is a bluesy/psychedelic rock duo from Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and enter with "Black Holes (Solid Ground)", originally released in 2016, but re-released with their debut album this year. Finally, Ron Gallo is a garage/punk hybrid singer-songwriter from Philadelphia, who has released his four solo album, Stardust Birthday Party. He also fronted a band called Toy Soldiers a few years back. He enters with "Do You Love Your Company.
Arkells and Young the Giant enter with their latest's.
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100
October 28,
2018
| This Week | Last Week | ARTIST-Title | Weeks on List |
| 1 | 1 | NUMBER ONE:
"All My
Friends"
Album: Take Good Care
(2 weeks at #1)
|
7 |
| 2 | 3 | Real Estate - Time | 7 |
| 3 | 2 | Elle King - Shame | 11 |
| 4 | 5 | King Princess - 1950 | 14 |
| 5 | 7 | Nick Waterhouse f. Leon Bridges- Katchi | 8 |
| 6 | 9 | Curtis Harding - It's Not Over | 7 |
| 7 | 4 | Donna Missal - Keep Lying | 12 |
| 8 | 6 | The Kooks - Four Leaf Clover | 11 |
| 9 | 12 | Winnetka Bowling League -On the 5 | 6 |
| 10 | 13 | Rex Orange County - Loving Is Easy | 6 |
| 11 | 11 | Lord Huron - Never Ever | 8 |
| 12 | 16 | Florence + the Machine - Patricia | 5 |
| 13 | 15 | Parquet Courts - Almost Had to Start | 9 |
| 14 | 20 | Kurt Vile - Loading Zones | 5 |
| 15 | 10 | Spinn - Crazy For You | 11 |
| 16 | 17 | Tennis - No Exit | 6 |
| 17 | 30 | TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
"Jeannie
Becomes a Mom"
Album: Loner
|
3 |
| 18 | 8 | James Hunter Six - I Don't Wanna Be Without You | 10 |
| 19 | 18 | Anna Calvi - Don't Beat The Girl Out of my Boy | 10 |
| 20 | 14 | Shannon Marsyada - Tough Girl | 11 |
|
|
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.
The “Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100” is a list
of current and recent song playlist which I am listening to.
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