Scoreboard: Foo Fighters, Post Malone

This week on Scoreboard Foo Fighters take #1 on the Billboard 200 and Post Malone’s new single starts at #2 on the Hot 100

Billboard Artist Top 10

For the magazine dated October 7, 2016

See the full chart at http://www.billboard.com/charts/artist-100

This week all three major Billboard charts have new #1s. On the Billboard 200 and the Artist 100 rock veterans Foo Fighters are on top thanks to their ninth album Concrete And Gold, which is only the second #1 album in the band’s 23 year career. There is also a major change on the Billboard Hot 100 where Taylor Swift‘s “Look What You Made Me Do” falls to #3 after three weeks at #1. Swift’s #1 run ties that of Right Said Fred‘s “I’m Too Sexy,” which was a Hot 100 #1 in 1992 and is sampled on “Look What You Made Me Do.” What that means is Cardi B finally takes #1 with “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)” becoming only the second female rapper ever to top the Hot 100 without other featured artists (the first was Lauryn Hill). For @iamcardib taking #1 on the Hot 100 is the ultimate money move, read Scoreboard’s feature on the single from four weeks ago here. Cardi’s move to #1 also prevents Post Malone and 21 Savage from topping the chart, their new collaboration “Rockstar” starts at #2 on the Hot 100 and is spotlighted later in this week’s Scoreboard.

K-Pop boy band BTS take #5 on this week’s Artist 100 as their new album Love Yourself 承 ‘Her’ starts at #7 on the Billboard 200

Foo Fighters Bring Concrete and Gold

Starting Foo Fighters in 1994 after the death of Kurt Cobain was a logical step for Dave Grohl, but being defined as the post-Nirvana Dave Grohl project hung over the band in their early years even as Grohl explored new territory in the band’s punk sound and comic music videos. However, as the 2000’s began Foo Fighters continued evolving their material and gained a devoted fans less interested in the Nirvana origin story. The band’s 2007 album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace was nominated for the Album of the Year Grammy, as was the 2011 release Wasting Light. In 2016 Grohl was named Hero of the Year by influential British magazine NME. The honor was prompted by an accident at a concert in Sweden, in which Grohl broke his leg. Yet Foo Fighters still had their Broken Leg North American tour in 2015 and Grohl sang while seated on a mobile throne that he designed while in the hospital. Even though rehab from the broken leg delayed Grohl’s start of work on Concrete And Gold, the album’s start at #1 this week proves the endurance of Foo Fighters in their third decade.

When it comes to music, Concrete And Gold brings back both classic Foo structures of quiet verses and loud punk choruses and @foofighters doing their best to emulate the classic rock idols of 1960’s and 1970’s. In the former category, first single “Run” is a standout track that balances a melodic rock chorus with Grohl’s shrieking. On the second single “The Sky Is A Neighborhood” the shouting is on the chorus and the track ends up being a progressive rock march that is too slow to match the rock dystopia successfully peddled today by Imagine Dragons. When @foofighters go back in time we get the drawn-out “Sunday Rain” that takes on The Beatles at their most melancholic (and features Paul McCartney on the drums) and the title track that channels Pink Floyd‘s “Comfotably Numb,” but while its sound adequately captures The Wall‘s aesthetic, Grohl’s vocal is no match for the haunting quiet of David Gilmour and Roger Waters. Yet with nine albums under the belts, @foofighters can be commended for tinkering with their style and taking on their predecessors. And having Grohl back in action after the broken leg only adds to the story of one of modern rock’s greatest survivors.

After nine albums Foo Fighters earned a spot in James Corden’s carpool karaoke van

Post Malone’s Entry in the Rockstar Book

The compound word rockstar had its moment in the late 2000’s when Nickelback had a top 10 hit with a song of the same name and Atlanta rap group Shop Boyz went to #2 on the Hot 100 with “Party Like A Rockstar.” By 2010 it seemed that the term jumped the shark as Taio Cruz released an album titled Rokstarr. Yet in music what goes around comes around and this week Post Malone and 21 Savage match the Shop Boyz peak with their new single “Rockstar” that does not yet have a music video, but is already setting streaming records. It’s a chart peak for both rappers who had a solid 2017 already with @postmalone taking #8 on the Hot 100 with “Congratulations” (feat. Quavo) and @21savage reaching #12 on the same chart with “Bank Account.” The track is more laid back compared to the Shop Boyz hit from a decade ago, reflecting the transcendence of the term rockstar beyond rock music to signify a rich and successful artist. By that definition both @postmalone and @21savage are on their way, they should hope to sustain their success and not end up one hit wonders like the Shop Boyz.

Can Posty and Saint Laurent Don challenge Cardi B for #1 on the Hot 100? Check next week’s Scoreboard!