(November 28, 2004)

        last this
weeks   week week
 (8)     1>   1)   William Shatner w/ J Jackson & B Folds - "Common People"
 (6)     2>   2)   Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - "Me and Mia"
(16)     4>   3)   Interpol - "Slow Hands"
(10)     7>   4)   Interpol - "Evil"
 (5)    11>   5)   Elliott Smith - "A Fond Farewell"
 (9)     6>   6)   U2 - "Vertigo"
 (2)    14>   7)   Mates of State - "Goods (All in Your Head)"
(13)     8>   8)   Cake - "No Phone"
 (4)    18>   9)   Green Day - "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
(14)    15>  10)   Killers - "Mr. Brightside"

 (1) -new->  11)   Franz Ferdinand - "Darts of Pleasure" ***
 (3)    16>  12)   Music - "Breakin'"
 (3)    19>  13)   Modest Mouse - "The World at Large"
 (2)    25>  14)   Shins - "They'll Soon Discover"
 (6)    13>  15)   VHS Or Beta - "Night on Fire"
 (2)     5>  16)   Flaming Lips - "SpongeBob & Patrick Confront..."
 (2)  -re->  17)   Dogs Die in Hot Cars - "I Love You ‘Cause I Have To"
(15)  -re->  18)   Killers - "Somebody Told Me"
 (4)    23>  19)   Neko Case - "If You Knew"
 (1) -new->  20)   Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - "Nature Boy"

 (6)     9>  21)   Elliott Smith – "Pretty (Ugly Before)"
 (1) -new->  22)   Gwen Stefani - "What You Waiting For?"
 (2)  -re->  23)   Tom Waits - "Make It Rain"
(11)    20>  24)   R.E.M. - "Leaving New York"
(11)  -re->  25)   Rilo Kiley - "Portions for Foxes"

*** Greatest Gainer

Up and Coming:
   Taking Back Sunday - "This Photograph Is Proof"
   Radio 4 - "Absolute Affirmation"
   New Found Glory - "I Don't Wanna Know"
   Donnas - "I Don't Want to Know"

Deeper Cuts:
   Cake - "Take It All Away"
   Mates of State - "Starman"

Chart Commentary:
   College Air has received queries about the content of the chart over the
last few months, noting what seems to be a commercial or mainstream trend and
wondering what has changed.  Have college DJs become lazy or less adventurous?
Have major labels forced their way past the guardians of indie values?  The
answer to these questions is probably yes-and-no, but mostly no.
   First, it is worth noting that the transition a few months back from the
chart College Air compiled based on online playlist data to the chart Media
Guide now compiles from a much larger pool of 24-7, real-time, electronically
monitored stations is partially responsible.  Be assured that what you are now
seeing is a more accurate reflection than what College Air managed, but that
only accounts for a small amount of the change.  It does result in the common
currency artists and records consistently showing stronger than the previous
panel allowed.
   There are certain artists which college radio is unlikely to abandon, ever,
no matter how commercial they become...or, more accurately, no matter how much
the mainstream manages to embrace them.  Heading this list are U2 and R.E.M.
In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, when songs like "With Or Without You"
and "Losing My Religion" were all over mainstream media, college radio still
made them huge number one hits.  Don't look for bands like Jimmy Eat World or
Modest Mouse to disappear from college radio just because the rest of the world
has discovered them.
   Which brings us to another phenomenon.  The proximity between the
underground and the mainstream varies, converging and diverging in a cyclical
manner.  Commercial radio periodically will coopt the sound of college radio,
and whenever the overlap reaches a kind of critical mass college radio will
plunge into new, adventurous sounds just as its commercial counterpart is
becoming saturated with clones and pretenders.  When the mainstream had fully
embraced Nirvana and Soundgarden, and cut-rate imitators had just begun to
create a quagmire of sound-alike nu-metal, college stations turned to the
charms of Pavement and Guided by Voices.
   What is going on now is very much the assimilating period of that cycle.  A
few years ago, it was difficult to distinguish the modern rock chart in
Billboard from its mainstream counterpart.  A block that included Bush, Fuel,
Creed and 3 Doors Down could easily be heard on either format.  You might have
to wait for the lunchtime flashback segment in order for either the Cure or
Foreigner to clarify the distinction.  More recently, modern stations have been
going through the process of redefining themselves, and college radio has
provided the new building blocks they need.  While Audioslave and Linkin Park
will still pop up on both modern and mainstream, only the more modern stations
will be mixing them with Coldplay, the White Stripes, the Strokes and Modest
Mouse.  This trend likely will continue for a while - though I'd be a fool to
predict for how long - with modern rock moving closer to college artists and
further from mainstream and legacy rock sounds.  At some point, college radio
will make a fairly radical departure, embracing a new breed of adventurous
underground artists, and the mainstream will begin more fully to assimilate
what modern rock has "introduced."  Not that you will have to wait, though:
bands like TV on the Radio and the Liars aren't likely to lose their hip
underground status, nor are mainstays such as Stereolab.  Just don't be
surprised if Built to Spill's new album - assuming it drops as anticipated -
follows Modest Mouse into the big time.