Two rising bands rule a pair of Billboard‘s rock charts.
With a 2-1 climb, X Ambassadors‘ “Renegades” tops Alternative Songs, earning the band a No. 1 on the airplay chart on its first attempt. The folky track rules in just its eighth week, completing the quickest trip to the top for a group’s first entry on the survey since Fastball flew to No. 1 also in eight weeks with “The Way” in 1998 (on its way to a seven-week command).
Houndmouth also earns a No. 1 on its first try as “Sedona” rises 3-1 on Adult Alternative Songs. The single is the first initial entry on the chart to hit No. 1 since Milky Chance reigned for eight weeks with “Stolen Dance” in August-October 2014. Houndmouth’s upcoming touring plans include the Forecastle Festival (July 17-19), the Landmark Music Festival (Sept. 26-27) and the Austin City Limits Festival (Oct. 2-11).
WHO’S BACK: An iconic rock album returns in reimagined form. Pete Townshend, Alfie Boe, Billy Idol, Phil Daniels and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra bow at No. 23 on Top Rock Albums with Pete Townshend’s Classic Quadrophenia (3,000 sold, according to Nielsen Music). Townshend and Boe will star in a performance of the set, an orchestral version of The Who‘s 1973 rock opera album Quadrophenia (which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 that year), at London’s Royal Albert Hall on July 5.
Notably, in June 2014, The Who released Quadrophenia: Live in London, which reached No. 35 on Top Rock Albums.
ROCKING THE KING OF POP: Hard rock band Shaman’s Harvest debuts on the Mainstream Rock Songs airplay chart at No. 36 with a familiar title, although one not generally associated with the genre: its cover of Michael Jackson‘s 1988 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “Dirty Diana.”
“There wasn’t really a big plan to [record ‘Diana’], it but it was a song we really liked,” says Shaman’s Harvest lead singer Nathan Hunt. “We needed another song on the [Smokin’ Hearts & Broken Guns] record, so we decided to throw it on there.”
While the late icon boasts 13 No. 1s each on the Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, other rock acts have remade his classics. Among them, Alien Ant Farm transformed “Smooth Criminal” into a four-week Alternative No. 1 in 2001 and Fall Out Boy‘s cover of “Beat It,” featuring John Mayer, hit No. 19 on the Hot 100 in 2008. [Billboard]
