The Chart Show: Black Keys get their own burger, hold on to #1
by Mark Wheat
June 26, 2014
The Black Keys hold on to the top spot again this week, which might pale in comparison to another sign of their success: The Umami restaurant chain in California has honored the band with its own burger! For every purchase, $1 will be donated to the Black Keys Alfred McMoore Memorial Endowment Fund.
Submit your Chart Show ballot this week for a chance to catch tUnE-yArDs at First Avenue on Thursday, July 17!
McMoore, a visual artist who struggled with schizophrenia, had a significant influence on the band's name. Auerbach and Carney have said McMoore was an eccentric figure in the neighborhood of Akron where the two band members grew up. McMoore sometimes left rambling messages on their answering machines, referring to people he was angry with as "black keys." Wow! I always thought it was a piano reference?
This week in 2007, The White Stripes went to number one on the UK album chart with Icky Thump, the duo's sixth and final studio album. The record won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 2008. Seven years later, Jack is back on top of sales charts here in the U.S. with Lazaretto, selling more vinyl copies in one week than ANYTHING has for nearly 20 years?!?
First Aid Kit's new album Stay Gold is our CD of the Week. Bill DeVille was totally enchanted by the sisters when they did a session for us, and he explains how they learned about the music he loves in their native Sweden: "Bright Eyes' music was their 'gateway drug' to discovering the Americana sounds of Emmylou, Gram, Johnny, June and the Carter Family, among others. If they hadn't discovered the band, they also would never have met Mike Mogis, who produced the new album."
Highest new entry is from Atmosphere who stopped in for another session last week. Watch Slug, Ant and Plain Ole Bill perform "Kanye West" live in our studio.
Trampled By Turtles are also back with the first song we've played off their forthcoming album, Wild Animals. They're gearing up for another big summer of show dates starting this weekend in Duluth at Bayfront Festival Park with Doomtree, Low and another chart denizen, Haley Bonar.
Spoon, one of the headliners from our Rock the Garden extravaganza are also back on and they'll be back in town Friday, Sept. 19 with EMA at the State Theatre in Minneapolis. You can buy your tickets with our pre-sale this Thursday. Some more added dates include gigs with Arcade Fire and Hamilton Leithauser.
Broken Bells slip down a bunch of places this week, though they just performed a full set for a "Live on Letterman" webcast, which is now Hall of Fame if Arcade Fire can hang on!
Thanks to everyone who came to Rock the Garden this year, helping to make it the biggest and sunniest yet! It's a joy to meet so many of you as you express your love for the music we play and how much radio still means to you, priceless. Happy summer... at last!