Modern Rock / Alternative charts #1 song for Feb 14th: Shinedown?!?

[WBIMDJ]

So earlier I was checking out the Modern Rock charts for years gone by (1991-1993ish) on wikipedia. So after checking out the older stuff I just happened to look at the list for 2009 just to see who was on there, and who do I see the current #1 spot is held by? "Second Chance" by Shinedown. My extreme shock quickly turned to utter disgust. F'in Shinedown? Are you serious? How does this pathetic butt rock band chart a #1 Modern Rock single? I don't understand who charts these bands as modern rock but they sure as hell aren't! They belong on the Alt chart as much as frickin Madonna! They SHOULD, however be charted on the ACTIVE and MAINSTREAM rock charts where they belong. This band is NOT relative to modern rock or alternative rock in the least bit! The only song I've ever heard from this crappy ass band was that horrible song "45"! I mean who decides this shitty band has the #1 modern rock single when you have bands like The Killers, Coldplay, Kings of Leon, Incubus, U2 (just released a brand new single) and even Franz Ferdinand, MGMT and The Airborne Toxic Event who all have singles that are getting extreme airplay! I've said it before and I will say it again bands like Shinedown and their crappy Nickelcrap clones are NOT alternative, are NOT modern rock and have no business on the charts. There should be no blurring of the lines of modern and mainstream/active rock! Its either one or the other, otherwise what would the point be in having separate charts!!

 

[p_herring]

People who listen to red state rock are more apt to listen to AM/FM radio than blue state rock. Simple as that.

 

[WBIMDJ]

Yes, I understand the demographics of who listens to that music. If Shinedown is so popular in those areas, then it should chart #1 on the appropriate chart. Not modern rock.

 

[SoulCrusher]

I wonder how much of an impact losing two quality Alternative stations (Indie 103.1 in CA, G Rock 106.3/106.5 in NJ) is going to have on the Alternative charts.

Sadly, the majority of stations that report as Alternative these days (many of them in the midwest and southern parts of the country) are far closer in sound to Active Rock, and would never play The Airborne Toxic Event, MGMT, Franz Ferdinand or Kaiser Chiefs.

I think there's certain bands that have absolutely no place on an Alternative format, and any station that plays them should just report as Rock: Nickelback, Hinder, Buckcherry and Shinedown, to name just a few. All of these bands couldn't be further away from Alternative in both sound and the way they approach writing music ... while each has at least a few albums out, every band here refuses to evolve in any way and pretty much puts out the same album over and over again. Nickelback are basically the new Creed (bland arena rock for soccer moms), Shinedown want to be Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Hinder and Buckcherry are basically shameless self-confessed Sunset Strip sleaze rock revivalists. When you look at them all this way, why should any of them receive airtime on a format that is supposed to be outside the box and innovative?

 

[Jacko]

Yeah, it sucks. The loss of Indie 103.1 and G-Rock may not be a huge impact on the national alternative charts, but could have been the difference between having Shinedown be number 1 or not. The national alternative chart, IMHO, really isn't a good barometer for what is actually alternative now a days. In the late 80s/early 90s, before the explosion of the "alternative" format, there were only a handful of stations reporting, which at the time the Modern Rock chart only went out 30 places and most songs only stayed on the chart, at most, about 14 weeks. Recently, Finger Eleven's "Paralyzer" (groan) stayed on the chart for a full year. Mediabase has a reporting panel of about 72 stations, while BDS has about 68. There are a few differences between the two, but there are probably at least a dozen stations that could be nixed out of each panel and put somewhere else, like active rock. Most of these are smaller market stations in the south or mid-west (no offense to those who live there), and since these charts are official by airplay, it makes the chart lop-sided. One quick-fix way to get a "better" alternative chart is to re-list it by audience impressions. MGMT's "Kids," which is at #13 on Billboard this week, would be at #8 if listed by audience impressions.

There are also several stations that are not officially reporting but should be, most notably KTNI/Denver and WBOS/Boston.

Jacko