Rock radio is in a state state of affairs. In New York, we don't even have a rock station unless we're talking premium SiriusXM subscriptions. There are no metal channels, and only a few metal specialty shows on the air. So, we have to expand to rock.
Today, Blabbermouth reported that actress Taylor Momsen's back The Pretty Reckless have the #1 song in the country. I figured I'd check it out:
I've never heard Taylor's band before, but honestly, in terms of mainstream rock radio, there is much worse. This is a listenable rock song, with some Queen-esque riffage that would probably not cause me to immediately rush to the radio dial if it was on in my imaginary car.
Then, I decided to take a look at the rock radio charts and holy fuck, is it a sad state of affairs:
Can somebody explain to me why the #3 rock song in the country is about 15 years old? And why the number 4 and 5 tracks are basically 30 years old at this point? Has there been no better rock song released in the last few years?
It just shows that radio is not very much a new artists game, but a game of rehasing the same songs every 20 minutes to fit formats.
I will say though that good for Taylor and her band. If she's getting some young kids into rock, who would eventually check out bands like (bare with me) Korn and Five Finger Death Punch and eventually that leads them to dig bands like Slayer and Lamb of God and maybe eventually a band like Pig Destroyer, more power to her! She was actually way cooler than expected the one time we briefly met at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards:
