Whiskey Myers has been around for over a decade, but many modern rock fans probably think of them as a new band, discovering these Texas rockers only after hearing “Gasoline” on Active Rock radio.  In a parallel universe, the band has been building a loyal fanbase, doing particularly well with country music fans.  If this was the ’70s or ’80s, the band would probably be labeled as Southern Rock.  Not ones to bend to the will of the current climate, Whiskey Myers plays by their own rules and lets the chips fall where they may. It doesn’t matter whether you think of Sum 41 as punk, pop punk, skater punk, or something else.  The bottom line is that “Out For Blood” is a song that transcends any sub-genre in a way that is both edgy and fun.  This is exactly the kind of music that is needed to escape the news and the palpable tension that seems to be pervading society today.  Ironically, the song seems to be tackling that very issue.  However, it is done in a way that conjures up the joyful defiance and “us against the world” mentality that is the foundation upon which punk rock is built.  Is it a case of misery loves company?  Perhaps, but at its core, “Out For Blood” feels more like a unifying anthem than anything else. Iron Maiden has spawned a new generation of hard rock/metal artists.  Not so much in the influential sense (although that certainly exists), but more in the biological sense.  The apples don’t fall far from the heavy metal tree (so to speak).  Bruce Dickinson’s sons are both lead singers in modern rock bands (As Lions and SHVPES), and Steve Harris’ children are making their mark as well.  Harris’ daughter is a hard rock singer, and his son (George) is the guitarist for The Raven Age. Shinedown was recently featured as the Top Live Performance of 2019 on Hard Rock Daddy, touring in support of their latest album, ATTENTION ATTENTION. 100 Greatest Rock Songs of All Time . Ivan Moody has always had a Jekyll and Hyde-esque vocal style, intimidating you one minute with angst-ridden growls, and serenating you the next with sweet melodies.  Regardless of the approach, the one consistency is his ability to tap into raw emotions in a uniquely “Moody” way.  The band’s tumultuous times are well documented, but they’ve made it through to the other side with flying colors. Highly Suspect’s latest single – “16” – is unlike anything else that you’ll hear on the radio, and not just because of Stevens’ unique vocals.  The underlying R&B rhythm gives “16” a feel-good, danceable vibe, but the lyrics and tortured vocals tell an entirely different story.  It feels like the dark and light should be battling each other, but Highly Suspect blends it all together perfectly. View Charts Legend. The (Very Nearly) Definitive List. One of the things that makes Shinedown worshiped by their fans is their relatability.  Though they possess the gravitas of the rock stars of yesteryear, they are grounded and humbled, sharing stories of their individual struggles with songs that touch people deeply.  Unlike the grunge era (where personal struggles were something of an albatross), Shinedown uplifts you with their ability to battle their demons and come out the other side.  All the while, they inspire fans to the best versions of themselves that they can possibly be. “A British five piece rock n’ roll engine” is how Piston describes themselves in their bio.  “Blow It Away” has a funky groove and a touch of punky soul that reminds you of Lenny Kravitz’s heavier songs with a hint of Buckcherry.  Halfway through “Blow It Away,” the groove breaks down with a bass line that is reminiscent of Extreme’s “Get The Funk Out.”  If you are a fan of Lajon Witherspoon (Sevendust) and Doug Pinnick’s (King’s X) vocals, you will definitely be a fan of Rob Angelico’s after listening to “Blow It Away.”, [88] PHIL CAMPBELL (f. Dee Snider, Mick Mars, & Chris Fehn) – “These Old Boots”. The band doesn’t share much about themselves online. Artist 100; All Weekly Charts; YEAR-END . With all of these comparisons, you might be thinking that Any Given Sin has a derivative sound.  They do not.  If anything, these Baltimore rockers have put all of the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together to create their own sound, one that I predict will launch them into the upper stratosphere of modern rock acts sooner rather than later. Find the top 100 Rock & Roll songs for the year of 2011 and listen to them all! In 2002, the rest of the world would get to know the childlike innocence of Ozzy when The Osbournes aired on MTV.  The show made you forget that this was the same man who bit the head off of a live bat, and made you see him as a family man.  Not long after the show debuted, my son was born.  It made me appreciate Ozzy as a dad, and not just a rock and roll legend.  My son turned eight around the time that Scream was released in 2010.  I made sure to take him to see Ozzy (with Slash/Myles Kennedy opening) on that tour, because I didn’t know if he’d get the opportunity again. “This record to me is ‘absolution’ – everything that I’ve done in my life has led up to this moment” (Ivan Moody). Billboard is part of MRC Media and Info, a division of MRC. Radio Airplay + Sales Data + Streaming Data = HOT ROCK SONGS, Machine Gun Kelly X YUNGBLUD X Travis Barker, Five Finger Death Punch Featuring Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Brantley Gilbert & Brian May, YUNGBLUD & Halsey Featuring Travis Barker, Ed Sheeran With Chris Stapleton & Bruno Mars, Smith & Thell Featuring Swedish Jam Factory. “Helluva Ride” is the perfect blend of yesterday and today, taking elements of ’70s and ’80s rock and infusing it with a defiant punk edge and a modern flair.  At times, it feels like the ghost of Bon Scott is being channeled by Villain.  Rock stars today don’t live the unabashed life of debauchery that caused Scott’s early demise, but The Wild! How does a new band have a sound that is so seasoned that they get compared to some of the biggest bands in Active Rock?  It started back in high school for brothers Blake and Zach Bledsaul.  The brothers went through different lineup incarnations to arrive at the undeniable chemistry that you hear on “Brother.”   Songs with deep meaning tend to have a way of bringing the best out in the musical performance.  “Brother” is about dealing with the loss of a loved one.  According to Blake…“Lyrically, this song defines what I should have said to my brother in his last moments.  This song cuts deep for me and it’s a constant reminder that life is fleeting.”. The catchy chorus melody and a signature riff make this one particularly memorable among the alb… California Privacy Rights “I’ll never stop until the world knows my name!”  This powerful refrain bellowed with tortured passion may seem like a narcissistic struggle for fame if taken at face value, but that’s not what From Ashes To New’s “My Name” is all about.  If anything, it is a defiant call to arms, an us-against-the-world anthem for the disenchanted and underappreciated.  It’s about reaching for the brass ring when the odds seem stacked against you, and your detractors outnumber your supporters. “Tonight, we’re just counting down the seconds til we die.”  There’s something about that line that conjured up the same kind of feelings that I get whenever I hear “Dust In The Wind” by Kansas.  Cross The Divide was one of my favorite discoveries of 2019. Toronto’s Sonic X grabbed my attention within 30 seconds of listening to the band’s debut single “Pray” on Octane a while back.  Though there was something unique about the song, it fit squarely into the Active Rock format.  “Fly Around The World” is not as natural a fit, but that is not meant to slight the song.  If anything, it’s an observation of the narrow-mindedness of a format that tends to keep progressive sounding bands at arm’s length.  Even progressive icons like Dream Theater find it challenging to get airplay.  Though “Fly Around The World” has a more progressive sound than Sonic X’s previous work, it is still catchy and accessible, especially given that it’s only around five minutes long.  The musicianship, as much as the song itself, is what makes this song stand out in a meaningful way. Two things drew me in when I first listened to “Memories” by Shadows Remain.  The first was the clear, bright, powerful production quality.  The second was Jason Hill’s vocals, which reminded me of Zac Maloy of The Nixons (one of my favorite ‘90s bands).  As it turns out, both Shadows Remain and The Nixons are from Northern Oklahoma.  Perhaps it’s a regional sound that appeals to me.  In most cases, I wouldn’t necessarily highlight the production quality, but in this case, it’s warranted. [24] UGLY MELON – “If You’re Wrong”, Religion is at the heart of so much of what ails the world today.  Not religion itself, but the perversion and distortion of core beliefs morphing far too easily into hatred and intolerance of others.  Wars have been fought over it for centuries, and it stands at the heart of the current political divide that has made a connected world feel more disconnected than ever before.  Ugly Melon tackles the subject of this rigid mindset in their latest single, “If You’re Wrong”…, Frontman Tony LaSelva shared the inspiration behind the lyrics…, “The song is basically about questioning and challenging religious beliefs.  It’s telling ‘believers’ that if you’re wrong about all this shit, then this is where you’ll end up.  It can also be interpreted in such a way that will force us to challenge all the things we think we believe in.  Be open minded.  Look at things from many different angles, and be accepting of others and their beliefs.  We all need to accept that we’re not always right at some point in our lives.”. “ATTENTION ATTENTION!” is another in a long line of brilliant singles that promises to stand the test of time. Back in the ‘80s, Tom Keifer and the rest of Cinderella sported the prototypical hair band look.  It made sense from a marketing perspective because that’s what it took to get noticed back then.  It was a look tailor-made for MTV.  The downside of being lumped in with hair bands was the fallout when the genre took a nosedive.  Bands like Cinderella suffered from being the proverbial baby being thrown out with the bath water.  But here’s the thing.  Cinderella was always a blues rock band, and Keifer was a blues rock vocalist.  Their songs always had depth and soul, and were not at all superficial. The groove of “Memories” gets you banging your head to the crunchy riffs from the first note.  It’s something that many people don’t consciously appreciate, but for me, songs with this kind of spacing have their own kind of musicality.  Letting the song breathe helps create a dynamic that allows the heavy hitting moments to be felt that much more.  Shadows Remain is definitely a band to keep on your radar as we move into the next decade. The first song that I heard was “Gimme Gimme Rockaway.”  I was instantly hooked.  With the exception of those familiar with “Rockaway Beach” by the Ramones, it’s likely that those outside the NYC area are probably not too familiar with this tightknit community.  A community that has a number of people who work for the NYPD or FDNY.  A community that suffered tremendous loss on 9/11, and then again when Hurricane Sandy devastated the area. The artwork for Dismantle’s “Better When You’re Gone” shows a girl giving the finger to the band off in the distance.  An image that goes hand-in-hand with the lyrics of the song…“stay the fuck away, leave me to myself, cause it’s better when you’re gone.”  You may be thinking that this is an angst-ridden, piss-and-vinegar song filled with growls based on the lyrics, but it’s actually not at all. “Hollywood In Headlights” is a throwback to the early days of Bon Jovi with the guitar shredding of ‘80s hair metal.  For those who long for those halcyon days, this song is a delicious slice of nostalgia. SHINEDOWN – “GET UP” Soft piano intros and the Active Rock format do not go hand-in-hand. Sometimes the unexpected turns out to be exactly what you need at a particular moment in time.  Call it divine intervention, the universe answering a call, or just good fortune.  Labels are open to interpretation.  What is not open to interpretation is the sheer power and emotion behind Sunflower Dead’s “Turn Away” (a song that almost didn’t make it onto C O M A). To simplify subscriber access, we have temporarily disabled the password requirement. Frontman Tommy Vext deserves a lot of credit for sharing this tragic tale of twin brothers taking divergent paths in life.  Vext chose the path of music and sobriety.  His twin brother chose the path of being a drug addict and dealer.  Their two worlds collided in 2010 when Vext’s brother broke into his apartment, struck him in the head with a crowbar, fractured his skull, broke his arm, and beat him so badly that his spleen burst.  It’s a miracle that he lived to tell the story in a song nearly a decade later.  His brother ended up getting a 17-year prison sentence for attempted murder.  Unable to save his brother, Vext was driven to become a sober companion to help other families…the silver lining of an otherwise ominous dark cloud. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. The Alter Bridge formula of working on separate projects in between three-year album cycles continues to pay enormous dividends.  Each album has a fresh, energetic sound. [97] DEADLAND RITUAL – “Broken & Bruised”. It’s a throwback to the glory days of the ’80s when the only tension that mattered to an entire generation was between authority figures and the hard rock/metal community.  We were united in a way that made defiance fun.  Eve To Adam deserves a ton of credit for continuing to be driven by passion in their writing rather than catering to Active Rock radio’s (often times) narrow parameters. It’s taken me forty years to realize that Foreigner’s “Dirty White Boy” is actually a bit ironic.  The song is as clean and melodic as the band itself.  I heard shades of “Dirty White Boy” in the opening vocals of “Helluva Ride,” but in this case, it is not at all ironic.  Frontman Dylan Villain is dirty in the way that you want your rock stars to be. Listening to Disturbed’s “No More,” which sounds like an anthem of the disenchanted everyman, you can’t help but think that it is a targeted message based on the current state of the country.  However, David Draiman has stated that the song is not aimed at a specific administration.  Rather, it is a stance against fear mongers who gaslight the masses in order to create chaos and profit from the inevitable fallout. When you throw a pebble into a large body of water, the ripple effect is barely noticeable.  But when you throw a boulder into that same body of water, the splash catches your attention and the ripple effect draws you in.  Saul chose to make a big splash with their debut single, “Brother,” a song with the intense emotions of Nothing More, the fierce rhythm of Five Finger Death Punch, the soul of Sevendust, and the mainstream progression of Gemini Syndrome. “H.O.M.E.” is a song that celebrates life in North Carolina.  A song that oozes pride from a band that clearly bleeds Carolina Blue.  A song that gives you a glimpse into the lives of people from the area in a similar manner to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama.”  The band’s customary melodic sound is infused with a rap rock element that adds a fun twist to the song. My knee-jerk reaction was to compare Katz to Kurt Cobain based on his looks and presence, but unlike Cobain, Katz has a playful quality that makes him feel like something of a unicorn.  He has the unique ability to tap into his inner darkness, while at the same time working the crowd with engaging swagger.  As good as “The Jester” is on record, it’s even better in a live setting.  Their music goes beyond conveying and/or invoking emotion in the listener.  Often times, this relies upon atmospheric moods to set the tone. All Rights Reserved. Its data, published by Billboard magazine and compiled by Nielsen SoundScan, is based collectively on each single's weekly physical and digital sales, as well as airplay and streaming.At the end of a year, Billboard will publish an annual list of the 100 most successful songs throughout that year … “Song For The Broken” was co-written, produced, and engineered by Chris Dawson and Jimmy Beattie of Seasons After.  Like Seasons After, Take The Day also hails from Kansas.  Both bands have a sound that stands out from the crowd, so it’s no surprise that I was drawn to this song from the first listen. About a month after revealing the diagnosis, Pretty Maids released the song “Will You Still Kiss Me (If I See You In Heaven).”  Musically, the song has an upbeat melodic vibe, but lyrically, it tells an entirely different story.  One of loss, and watching someone that you love slip away.  It’s a cruel twist of fate that the song was released shortly after Atkins’ surprising diagnosis.  Though a bit eerie, it was not written from the perspective of a man facing his own mortality. “Too Bad” takes the best of ‘70s blues rock of bands like Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple and infuses it with the haunting darkness of Black Sabbath.  With a healthy dose of mysticism, a tinge of psychedelic influence, soaring passionate vocals, and a heavy groove, “Too Bad” takes you back in time to a golden era. This list covers the broad spectrum of hard rock (Active Rock, Classic Rock, Power Metal, Prog Rock, Punk, and beyond).  The goal of Hard Rock Daddy is to expose our readers not just to songs, but also to the artists who create the music, which is why each song on the list features a short blurb. With majestic female backing vocals, “Rise” is much more Rolling Stones of the ‘70s than Cinderella of the ‘80s.  When Keifer takes it into the upper register, it adds a dynamic to the song that is reminiscent of the Deep Purple classic, “Child In Time.”  His solo work is unlikely to get the radio attention that Cinderella did once upon a time, but it is every bit as worthy. One of the greatest gifts that can be given to someone is letting them know that they are not alone in the world (even when they feel like they are).  Sympathy is one thing.  Empathy is something else altogether.  Social media has made everyone more connected than ever.  You might even argue that we’re too connected in some ways.  And yet, this virtual world that we live in has made people feel more disconnected than ever.  Alone in the world.  Broken beyond repair.  Many bottle these feelings up, especially males in an attempt to avoid being perceive as weak.  That’s what makes Killswitch Engage’s “I Am Broken Too” so powerful. With the change from multiple YouTube playlists to one Spotify playlist, the songs were designed to flow into one another.  Absolutely nothing on this list sounds like Tool, so it wouldn’t flow naturally within the playlist.  “Fear Inoculum” is also over ten minutes long, so it felt that it needed to be strategically placed.  I could say that Tool made fans wait for so long for new material that making them wait to appear on this list was somehow poetic justice, but that isn’t really the case. It’s the other dimension of the individual.”. Then, on Valentine’s Day, like the pinnacle moment of a John Hughes film, Coverdale hit us over the head with “Shut Up & Kiss Me.”  It’s a slice of nostalgia that will take you back to the ‘80s, a time when the world was far less serious and rock and roll was a lot more decadent and fun. Discovering N’Tribe presented a bit of a challenge, at least when it came to matching the band with the song.  On more than one occasion, I heard “Staring Down The Barrel” as a commercial after another song played on YouTube.  It’s a bit odd that YouTube doesn’t let you know what you’re listening to, because it kind of defeats the purpose of the ad.  It took writing down a decent amount of the lyrics in Google to match the song to the band.  It was worth the extra effort though. I was fortunate to be able to experience them in a live setting when they opened for Shinedown over the summer.  The stage was big.  The venue historic.  But they rose to the occasion in a way that you don’t often see with openers.  If you didn’t know better, you would have thought that you were seeing a seasoned headliner instead of a young band just starting to make a ripple in the vast ocean that is Active Rock. In fact, they are almost unheard of. “Lonely Nights” is an energetic, feel-good cover of the 1981 classic by Bryan Adams off of JORN’s upcoming 2020 release, Heavy Rock Radio II: Executing The Classics.  Imagine the power of Ronnie James Dio, the rasp of Steven Tyler, and the aggression of Ivan Moody all rolled into one.  That’s Jorn in a nutshell. Backyard Babies have released seven studio albums and have won two Swedish Grammys since their debut in 1989.  When you listen to “44 Undead,” you will probably think more about the Sunset Strip in L.A. than Scandinavia.  Given their sound, that’s understandable.  However, the band is considered to be sleaze rock pioneers in their corner of the world.  Kids in America may know their music (even if they don’t know their name).  The band’s single, “Minus Celcius” was featured as a playable bonus track in Guitar Hero III, and “Degenerated” is available as a download from Guitar Hero World Tour. You don’t have to write songs about personal experiences to make an impact.  All it takes is a healthy dose of passion about the subject matter.  For Ice Nine Kills, that passion is the horror movie genre.  All of the songs on their latest album were inspired by a different horror movie.  Make sure to pay attention to the lyrics when listening to this one! Steel Panther is known for embracing every aspect of the hair bands of the ‘80s and writing songs that would make even the most debaucherous rockers of that era blush.  By way of comparison, “She’s Tight” borders on childlike innocence for the band, but they do this Cheap Trick cover justice.  It certainly helps to have Robin Zander providing guest vocals on the track.  Though Steel Panther has their fair share of Generation X fans, they also appeal to a younger audience, one that may not even be familiar with the 1982 original version of the song.  The 2019 version stays pretty true to the original.  All these years later, it’s still a song that brings a smile to your face and makes you groove to the beat.