Scoreboard: The Killers, Tom Petty

This week The Killers take #1 on the Billboard 200; Scoreboard remembers Tom Petty

Billboard Artist Top 10

For the magazine dated October 14, 2016

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

This week in music will always be remembered for the horrifying and tragic Las Vegas shooting that left 58 people dead at the Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival. Country star Jason Aldean was performing when a gunman began his assault on concert goers from a window overlooking the festival. @jasonaldean posted a call to #stopthehate on Instagram though the shooter’s intentions remain murky. However, what is clear is that concerts continue to be events targeted by acts of violence and terror. Just in May, a suicide bomber killed 22 people outside an Ariana Grande concert in Britain after which Grande organized a #onelovemanchester benefit concert that raised $9 million to benefit the victims’ families.

Yet these acts of violence have not deterred concert goers; the festival industry is on pace to grow in 2017. If anything, in spite of the recent violent acts, concerts remain “a rite of passage” and an “escape from the stress and the grind of daily life that so many people need.” The quote was posted this week by Brandon Flowers, the lead singer of the Las Vegas band The Killers, who take #1 on the Artist 100 and the Billboard 200 this week. The fact that the band is from Las Vegas and are known as the Killers presents an ominous coincidence, especially since the band has not released an album since 2012. Oddly enough another Las Vegas band, Imagine Dragons, are #2 on the Artist 100. They were performing in Hollywood when the Las Vegas shooting took place and the band’s drummer Dan Platzman stated that the band is determined to “create beautiful things” in the face of tragedy.

In other sad news, Tom Petty, a rock legend and the leader of The Heartbreakers died in California on Monday at age 66; Scoreboard pays tribute to him in this week’s edition.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZwO1eQhfma/?taken-by=iamcardib

Cardi B earned a second week at #1 on The Hot 100 this week with “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)“

The Killers’ Wonderful Wonderful Comeback

Just a week ago, Foo Fighters took #1 on the Billboard 200 in their 23rd year as a band. This week we have the Killers at #1 with their fifth studio album Wonderful Wonderful, which becomes their first #1 on the Billboard 200 in their 15th year as a band. Over these 15 years, @thekillers honed their blend of 1980’s synth pop and modern rock to become one of the biggest arena acts in the world. However, their chart success on the Hot 100 has slowed to a trickle: the band has not had a top 40 hit since 2008. This year, @thekillers have not had a charted single on the Hot 100, but the band’s brand is strong enough to propel Wonderful Wonderful to #1 and the album’s first single “The Man” reached #2 on Billboard’s Alternative chart. The single brings on the Vegas glitz, but also takes a satirical view of being “the man,” including adding the “USDA Certified Lean” label.

Elsewhere on the album, @thekillers bring back their influences starting with echoes of “The Chain” by Fleetwood Mac on the title track. Second single “Run For Cover” has Flowers name-dropping Bob Marley‘s “Redemption Song,” while “Some Kind Of Love” resurrects a 1980’s Brian Eno instrumental. On “Rut” @thekillers go into Lite FM mode and Flowers gets personal: the track is about his wife’s struggle with post traumatic stress disorder on which she begs “don’t give up on me / cause I’m just in a rut.” That level of personal detail is new for Flowers and shows the maturation of the band. Even if fans buy Killers tickets just to hear “Mr. Brightside,” the new material will demonstrate that the Killers can endure as they age.

Wonderful Wonderful proves the Killers can still deliver

R.I.P. Tom Petty (1950-2017)

Among rock stars who emerged in the 1970’s, Tom Petty created his own lane. While coming from Florida and spending most of his career based in California, Petty and the Heartbreakers released reliable heartland rock hits for decades that became part of American rock canon. With Petty’s passing earlier this week, we lose a Rock Hall of Famer who was also an actor, philanthropist, and fighter for artists’ rights. Besides his work with the Heartbreakers, Petty released a number of successful solo albums and was a member of supergroup the Traveling Wilburys and pre-Heartbreakers band Mudcrutch. Petty worked with some of the biggest names in the business throughout his career. His work with producer Jimmy Iovine was especially highlighted in The Defiant Ones, an HBO documentary about Iovine and Dr. Dre. At one point while working with Iovine, Petty cut Iovine’s phone cord with scissors to get Iovine back in the studio working on the album (Iovine produced four albums for Petty).

Although Petty’s finished product sounds carefree, he was a meticulous studio worker who learned from the greats. He continued releasing albums through 2016’s Mudcrutch 2. With the Heartbreakers, Petty earned his first and only #1 album on the Billboard 200 in 2014 with Hypnotic Eye. His best-selling album was the diamond-certified Greatest Hits, released in 1993, which remains an excellent introduction to Petty’s work. On the Hot 100 Petty only had three top 10 appearances: “Don’t Do Me Like That,” “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” a duet with Stevie Nicks, and “Free Fallin’.” Other hits such as “American Girl,” “I Won’t Back Down,” and “Running Down A Dream” also became classics over time and added to the legend of Petty as a rocker for the underdogs. Of all the Petty hits, “Free Fallin'” was the most downloaded following his death. And in many ways it is the quintessential Petty song, about an American girl, a heartbreaker boyfriend, and a very Californian feeling of freedom. Check it out below as we pay tribute to a humble rock giant: