I'VE BEEN PONDERING writing about this for quite a while. For over fourteen years I have been talking mostly about new music (or at least music that is new to me) that I am showcasing, complete with my Scenes n' Soundwave 100 Playlist chart. I original got the idea for this because radio has not only become staid, but also homogenic. Radio will play one format and rarely stray from it; a far cry from the days of Top 40 radio that plays what's popular, in spite of the range of genres. Back in the late 1960's and even early 70's, it wasn't far-fetched to play a heavy rock song, followed by a middle-of-the-road gem, then with some country, and a lot of soul. We grew up on all the different styles of music.
Well, not only does radio (and even streaming playlists) stick to one kind of music, but for the most part, people never talk about current music....at least my friends never do. "Rock" is "classic rock", like there isn't anything new coming out of that genre (although it seems like it's been twenty years since it has). Items on my Facebook news feed are always about music history ("obscure bands from the 60's", underrated gems from the 80's", and so forth. Any references to current artists are usually marked by negative memes: Shaboozey and Taylor Swift seem to be negative targets, just to name two.
While most of my friends abandoned listening to music sometime in the eighties, many of them still would comment on something new even into the 2010's. My friend Brian Sniatkowski, for example used to post a "song of the week", usually something in the alternative genre. Songs like "Happy", "Blurred Lines", "Forget You", and "Uptown Funk" were referenced frequently by friends. But all that activity has ceased. My chart at one time reflected the activity, but it's been a non-factor now.
Recoded music has a rich history, and the production of new music is never ending and doesn't sleep. You may not like the popular genres out there, but hopefully, if you checked out my weekly chart, you'll realize the diversity of new music.
But I wonder if anyone is listening. To be honest, I haven't tuned into a terrestrial radio station in ages. On the very occasions that I do, it's one new song followed by about five songs from decades past. Then 15 minutes of commercials. There's exciting music to be discovered, but it's a cliche nowadays that you have to dig hard to do so. The one good thing about streaming is that apps like Spotify will often do that for you. Even Carolina beach music, which has a very active community, with a big core of artists not only doing their own promotions for new releases, but also congratulating fellow artists as well, while playing the new music (mostly via countdowns), also play classic soul and R&B going back to the fifties and sixties. Of course, that was the origin of beach music so that makes sense.
Going forward, I am thinking of what to do next. Writing a blog each week takes a lot of time, about six hours, from deciding what new music to add, tracking down its videos to link to, determining its chart position, then writing about it. Do I stop with the narrative and just do the chart, something I want to keep going at? I have also thought about doing a podcast, or maybe even look into some kind of Internet countdown show.
A friend of mine, Fred Fitte, who lives in Mount Dora, Florida DOES have an Internet show on station W2PH. The station plays oldies mostly from the 1960's into the 1980's. He had asked me if I was interested in doing a show. While I really am versed with my top 40 oldies from that era, and I might still do something like that, it wouldn't be a venue to play songs from my current SNS 100 chart. Two years ago, Pat Gwinn, an oldies and beach music deejay who has several radio shows on both terrestrial radio and on the Internet, offered to do a countdown show based on my chart. I had balked only because it would pressure me to update the chart every week, and to be honest it would feel like work. And can you imagine him playing The Cynz or the ironically named The Beaches on his show? On the other side of the coin, it would greatly benefit local, emerging artists like Dani Zanoni and Charlotte Sessions and give exposure to all of those artists.
But I do want to thank everyone who has supported my blog, and who have shared it on their pages. In particular, I want to thank the Carolina beach music community. But while that genre has dominated my chart the past few years, I want to stress the diversity in the music I feature. I want to showcase more of the indie pop and rock bands, especially from here in New Jersey, and nearby areas. The Internet-based musicians have also supported my blog, so I need to give a shout-out to them as well. There is always new music to be heard.
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| Mariah Carey participates in the annual "thawing" as the Christmas Season approaches. "All I Want For Christmas Is You" ascends to the #1 position on the Billboard Hot 100 for the sixth straight holiday season. |
BACK AT THE TOP ONCE MORE: Taking a look at the Billboard Hot 100, we see that Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" moves from 10 to the top spot yet again, as it has every holiday season since 2019. Each year, the song, which was originally released in 1994, has spent at least two weeks at #1, sometimes as much as four. It now has logged 15 total weeks at the top. As this is the week ending December 14, the holiday entries were one week late as opposed to last year, mostly because of the Thanksgiving holiday being late. Thus, Mariah has a chance to hold the top spot for four weeks.
At the #2 position once again is Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" moving up from #16. The song, originally released in 1958, finally broke Mariah's dominance last year, when it beat her to the top spot, holding it for two weeks before Mariah took over for the next two. But Brenda re-took the number one position the final week of the season.
Brenda accomplished that by making appearances on holiday shows and recording a new video for the song. However, Mariah this year countered by doing publicity on her own. A meme that came out last year, for example, showed her being "thawed out" as November rolled around. This year, she reportedly "re-enacted" that meme, in which she, herself thawed out to get ready for the onslaught.
If Mariah runs the table this year, it would give her 18 total weeks at #1, which would put her just one behind the record of 19 set in 2019 by "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus and tied two weeks ago by Shaboozey's "A Bar Song (Tipsy)".
As for the rest of the holiday action, it now seems that Wham!'s "Last Christmas" has supplanted Bobby Helms' "Jingle Bell Rock" as third in line behind Mariah and Brenda. The song, the first to enter the chart this season moves 18-3, while "Jingle Bell Rock" moves 19-5. "A Holly Jolly Christmas" moves 33-10. The question is, can any song top Mariah this year? Maybe Brenda again, but perhaps "Last Christmas" could do the trick as it has been gaining momentum each year: since it first appeared on the Hot 100 at the end of the 2016 season (right after George Michael died) at #50, in the last six years, it has peaked at 25, 11, 9, 7, 5 and now #3.
Last week's chart bomber, Kendrick Lamar, still has positions 4, 5 and 6. As for the rest of the top 10, Shaboozey is at #8, while Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars' "Die with a Smile", which tops my chart for the third consecutive week, is at #9. Once again, there was speculation that Gaga and Mars would finally get ahead of Shaboozey, but it still hasn't happened. This could bode well for "A Bar Song" to retake the top spot once all the holiday entries leave in January. Although, I really hope that something new can enter the top of the charts in the new year.
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| Chris Butler, musician for many bands over the years, most prominently the new-wave band The Waitresses, awards his "Wrappie" award to the person who first hears the holiday classic "Christmas Wrapping". The winner gets a donation in their name to the Akron Main Library's Childrens Collection. |
WRAP IT UP: The day after Thanksgiving marked, among the other things, the official holiday shopping season, as well as the annual "Wrappie Award". This is an annual designation for the first person to hear "Christmas Wrapping", by The Waitresses, either on the radio, or over a loudspeaker in a mall or restaurant or any public place. The award, given out by group member and song's writer Chris Butler results in a donation of $500 in the winner's name, to the Akron Ohio Main Library's Children's Collection. The winner came from right here in New Jersey, at the Paramus Park Mall's Panera Bread store, Dorothy Alexander, who heard the opening riffs at 3:47 PM on November 29. This year there was another, international contest for those overseas, and that was won by a listener in Galway, Ireland, in which another $150 was donated.
SNS 100: As mentioned above, "Die with a Smile" logs a third week atop the SNS 100. The Beaches' "Takes One to Know One" which had a four-week run at the top several weeks back, moves back up to #2, while Teddy Swims' "Bad Dreams" goes 6-3. "Feels Like Love To Me", the Sylvia Johns Ritchie-penned song performed by Doyle Wood and Terri Gore, holds at #4, and "Hard Life" by Pip Millett drops from #3 to #5. We have our first Christmas song in the top 10 as Deb Browning's "Christmas in the South" advances 16-8. Beach group The Mighty Saints of Soul enter the top ten with "You Don't Know What Love Is" (13-9). In the second ten, Christina Taylor's "Pretty Like You" grabs Impact honors (23-17). Moto Bandit moves 24-18 with "Private Pile", and Sylvia Johns Ritchie inches into the top 20 with "I Don't Care Who Knows (I Love My Baby)".
The Mover of the Week is Don West's "Small Change", last week's Top Debut, moving 53-25. It seems that this artist, who released his debut, self-titled album, hails from Melbourne, Australia, yet this song is definitely in the Carolina beach music wheelhouse. He joins James Hunter Six's "I Don't Wanna Be Without You" (England, #3, 2018), and The Faithful Brothers' "Dance My Hurt Away" (Israel, #11, 2023), proving you don't have to be from the Grand Strand to put out a cool beach song.
DEBUTS: As the year winds down, I basically add holiday music, and four of the five debuts this week are in that vein. But I had to add one non-holiday song that has been out over two years.
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| Fitz and the Tantrums score Top Debut this week with "Steppin' On Me", from the band's 2022 album Let Yourself Free. The song was featured last week on the Kelly Clarkson Show's "Kellyoke" segment. |
Fitz and the Tantrums grab the Top Debut this week with "Steppin' On Me", debuting at #65. Long-time readers of this blog will know that this band has topped my chart 12 times, which is still a record, although none this decade. The group, headed by Michael Fitzpatrick, started out as a neo-soul outfit, but transitioned into more of a basic pop outfit, which seemed to alienate many of their fans. Their debut album, Picking Up the Pieces, yielded two #1 blog songs, "MoneyGrabber" and the title track. Next came More Than Just a Dream, which contained five number one's (two of them also topping the Billboard alternative chart), plus another that peaked at #3 but lasted a record 71 weeks ("6 AM").
Their sound drastically changed with their self-titled third album, which drifted towards simplistic pop, probably in an effort to find mainstream pop success. Nonetheless, four songs from that album hit #1 here. The band had at least one song on my SNS 100 for over five straight years (from February 2013 to April 2018). All The Feels, released in 2019 contained their most recent blog #1, "123456". Despite the title of the album (and the lyrics did emit emotion), it was presented in a stripped-down auto-tuned that didn't translate well.
Fitz and the Tantrums released their fifth album, Let Yourself Free. in 2022. "Sway" the lead single did manage to hit #6 here, but the follow-up, the repetitive "Moneymaker" stalled at #27. At this point in time, I pretty much dismissed the band. They did hit the top 20 last Christmas season with the holiday themed "Give Love This Year", but a June stand-alone single, "No Goodbyes (Friends Forever)", despite its sentimental theme, was another exercise in auto-tuned pop and again the instrumentation didn't fit the theme of the song; as a result, it didn't get added here.
Michael Fitzpatrick (as "Fitz") was set to release his first solo album, Summer of Us; however, last week on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Kelly performed "Steppin' On Me" as her show's lead-off "Kellyoke" performance. A great rendition, I looked it up, when I realized this awesome song was by Fitz and the Tantrums. It came from Let Yourself Free, but wasn't released as a single. It was a welcome change back to their first two albums that made me a fan in the first place. There was soul and emotion to it, with a nice sax solo as well. Apparently both this track and another off the album, "Silver Platter" echoed their soulful debut.
I will wait on his solo album because for now, I will emphasize "Steppin' On Me". It's definitely the reason why I loved this band in the first place.
As for the other debuts, there are two versions of "Mary Did You Know", one by beach artist Mike Taylor; the other by Elizabeth Chan, who scored with the lively "Merry Merry" two years ago. Gabby Barrett also has a version out, but that's probably overkill at this point. Another cover of "Santa Baby", this one by Laufey, who recently charted with "Bored", and Lindsay Stirling's annual entry, this time, a cover "Jingle Bell Rock" which actually starts off with a jazzy "The Man with the Bag" before getting into the main song. Her music is always a pleasure to hear this time of year!
GOING FORWARD: While I am still not sure how many more blogs I will do this year (it's either one or two), look out for my Top 100 of 2024 at the end of the month before I take my usual hiatus for a few weeks in January.
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100 Playlist
December 8, 2024
|
This Week |
Last Week |
ARTIST-Title |
Weeks on List |
|
1 |
1 |
NUMBER ONE:  (Single Release) (3 Weeks at #1) |
15 |
|
2 |
5 |
16 |
|
|
3 |
6 |
11 |
|
|
4 |
4 |
12 |
|
|
5 |
3 |
14 |
|
|
6 |
8 |
11 |
|
|
7 |
10 |
8 |
|
|
8 |
16 |
5 |
|
|
9 |
13 |
8 |
|
|
10 |
9 |
14 |
|
|
11 |
15 |
6 |
|
|
12 |
2 |
19 |
|
|
13 |
7 |
16 |
|
|
14 |
17 |
7 |
|
|
15 |
12 |
16 |
|
|
16 |
18 |
9 |
|
|
17 |
23 |
TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:  (Single Release) |
5 |
|
18 |
24 |
4 |
|
|
19 |
11 |
10 |
|
|
20 |
21 |
Sylvia Johns Ritchie -I Don't
Care Who Knows ( I Love My Baby) |
11 |
|
21 |
22 |
13 |
|
|
22 |
19 |
13 |
|
|
23 |
36 |
3 |
|
|
24 |
14 |
15 |
|
|
25 |
53 |
MOVER OF THE WEEK:  Album: Don West |
2 |
|
26 |
27 |
8 |
|
|
27 |
31 |
6 |
|
|
28 |
20 |
14 |
|
|
29 |
33 |
6 |
|
|
30 |
45 |
3 |
|
|
31 |
32 |
7 |
|
|
32 |
25 |
17 |
|
|
33 |
30 |
9 |
|
|
34 |
49 |
4 |
|
|
35 |
34 |
9 |
|
|
36 |
38 |
8 |
|
|
37 |
37 |
11 |
|
|
38 |
26 |
14 |
|
|
39 |
52 |
4 |
|
|
40 |
42 |
5 |
|
|
41 |
60 |
2 |
|
|
42 |
44 |
4 |
|
|
43 |
55 |
3 |
|
|
44 |
29 |
18 |
|
|
45 |
43 |
7 |
|
|
46 |
47 |
4 |
|
|
47 |
28 |
11 |
|
|
48 |
35 |
15 |
|
|
49 |
51 |
5 |
|
|
50 |
50 |
6 |
|
|
51 |
63 |
4 |
|
|
52 |
46 |
7 |
|
|
53 |
56 |
5 |
|
|
54 |
65 |
3 |
|
|
55 |
59 |
4 |
|
|
56 |
40 |
15 |
|
|
57 |
39 |
13 |
|
|
58 |
67 |
3 |
|
|
59 |
48 |
8 |
|
|
60 |
94 |
Sylvia Johns Ritchie and
Rivermist - Down Home Old Fashioned Christmas |
2 |
|
61 |
58 |
7 |
|
|
62 |
68 |
3 |
|
|
63 |
41 |
13 |
|
|
64 |
81 |
3 |
|
|
65 |
--- |
TOP DEBUT:  Album: Let Yourself Free |
1 |
|
66 |
88 |
2 |
|
|
67 |
54 |
18 |
|
|
68 |
77 |
Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night
Sweats - Call Me (Whatever You Like) |
3 |
|
69 |
79 |
3 |
|
|
70 |
91 |
Sir Prize and the Twomorrow
Knightz - Classic Cartoon Christmas |
2 |
|
71 |
57 |
19 |
|
|
72 |
84 |
2 |
|
|
73 |
76 |
4 |
|
|
74 |
86 |
2 |
|
|
75 |
72 |
4 |
|
|
76 |
82 |
2 |
|
|
77 |
75 |
8 |
|
|
78 |
78 |
5 |
|
|
79 |
83 |
3 |
|
|
80 |
87 |
3 |
|
|
81 |
97 |
2 |
|
|
82 |
69 |
8 |
|
|
83 |
64 |
10 |
|
|
84 |
66 |
9 |
|
|
85 |
93 |
2 |
|
|
86 |
61 |
15 |
|
|
87 |
70 |
15 |
|
|
88 |
74 |
19 |
|
|
89 |
62 |
10 |
|
|
90 |
95 |
8 |
|
|
91 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
92 |
73 |
11 |
|
|
93 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
94 |
71 |
5 |
|
|
95 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
96 |
80 |
24 |
|
|
97 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
98 |
89 |
19 |
|
|
99 |
96 |
17 |
|
|
100 |
85 |
16 |
Tremors:
Menehan Street Band - Queens Highway
Hermanos Cutierrez - Circa De Ti
Vacations - Over You
Moon Soul - I Really Do
The Cure - A Fragile Thing
Billy Strings - Gild the Lilly
Sharon Van Etten - Afterlife
Jelly Roll - Liar
Fitz - Wind in My Sails
Seth Storer - Hungover You
Michael Kiwanuka - The Rest of Me
Lesa Hudson - I've Got the Joy
Jalen Ngonda - Anyone In Love
Pale Jay - Under the Magnolia Tree
Samizdat - Reasons That Require Cleaning (EP)
Laufey - Christmas Magic
Tremors: Songs which have steady or increasing points but not enough to chart on the SNS 100.
|
|
Songs
with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week
|
|
Holiday
Songs
▲Song garnered most plays
on Spotify, for the month, with a
superscript following the symbol if most played for multiple months; or if a
song was among the top 5 most plays for two months. ● Song
among top 5 most plays on Spotify.
Awards given during the last blog of each month. To qualify, the song must be currently or
have peaked in the top 40. (Until September 2024)
●Songs garnering 25 plays
on Spotify (“Scrobbles”) according to Last.Fm (effective October 2024)
Songs
on the SNS 100 are included on the following public Spotify playlists
Scenes
‘n’ Soundwaves Top 40: Contains songs in positions 1-40 on the SNS
100
Scenes
Up and Coming: Songs From 41-100 that are moving up the
chart that have not reached the top 40
Scenes
Down and Going: Song formerly in the top 40 that are
descending but still on the SNS 100.
Scenes
Recurrents: Songs which had been in
the top 20 and/or songs on the chart 25 weeks or more, that have dropped off
the SNS 100.
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