Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment.

To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. Read more.īLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. Another of the top rock albums of the last year, GUNS N' ROSES' 'Greatest Hits', harkens back to past guitar glories. LOS LONELY BOYS, VELVET REVOLVER, SWITCHFOOT, MODEST MOUSE, JET and YELLOWCARD have all sold fewer than 2 million albums. What rock lacks these days is a newer band as humongous as KORN, LIMP BIZKIT, METALLICA, NICKELBACK, STAIND, BLINK 182, LINKIN PARK, COLDPLAY or CREED - not to mention the super-power-hitters of grunge, like NIRVANA, PEARL JAM and SOUNDGARDEN.Įach of those groups sold between 3 million and 10 million copies of their prime CDs.Ĭompare that to the typical sales of today's biggest new rock bands. When rock was more muscular - during the eras of grunge (mid-'90s),punk-pop (late '90s) and rap-metal (turn-of-the-century) - no such tepid pop crossover was even necessary. Considering that 'The Reason' was the second-most-played number on radio last year (after USHER's 'Yeah!'), HOOBASTANK's album should have sold many more copies. And the Hoobsters managed that feat only by crossing over with an adult pop single, 'The Reason'. Only one breaking rock act, HOOBASTANK, cracked the 2 million mark, and by the skin of its teeth. KANYE WEST and GRETCHEN WILSON each sold between 2.5 and 3 million copies of their debuts. Rap and country were both able to launch huge new stars.

2 entry, from NORAH JONES, by more than 2 to 1. 1 slot with USHER's 'Confessions', which outsold the No. Rap, meanwhile, racked up five albums in the Top 20. The nearest thing to a new guitar band is MAROON 5, which didn't make it on a rock song but on a soul single, 'This Love', and a billowing pop ballad, 'She Will Be Loved'.īroaden your view to the year's Top 20 sellers and you'll find just one other rocker - and an aging one at that - PRINCE, who gave away enough copies of his 'Musicology' to place it 18th in 2004. The sole hard guitar group is EVANESCENCE - a holdover from 2003. But judging from its performance on the charts - and compared to its biggest bands and trends from a few years ago - it's wheezing.Ĭast your eye down 2004's Top 10-selling album list and you won't see a single new rock band. Jim Farber of the New York Daily News has issued the following report:

Usher confessions album lis