CJLO’s Top Played “Loud” Artists of 2021

January 25 2022 // Andrew Wieler // CJLO

Well, 2021 was quite a year wasn't it? It's a good thing we're in 2022 now, which we all know will be totally different from 2021 and isn't just an arbitrary number we've assigned based on our observations of us rotating around the sun. No, 2022 has already come in and solved all the problems that were left over from the last year.

But before we banish 2021 to the trash bin of history, I thought it might be fun to give you the list of the top played loud artists who released new material in the last year. What does "loud" mean? Well, it's become kind of a catchall term in college/community radio to describe music that, as all of our mothers knew before us, forces us to take drugs, commit murder, and return library books overdue. So, of course this encompasses metal, but also punk, and noisy rock bands.

Before we start, I just feel I should point out that all of the bands that get played are selected by the DJs on shows themselves. CJLO doesn't have a playlist of bands DJs must play, and despite all of big tech's efforts, humans aren't algorithms, so each of these bands was selected by a real person who played it on their show for other real people to hear. I know this seems like a weird thing to mention, but it's worth pointing out that the DJs at CJLO work hard to try to construct shows they think that you'll enjoy and because of that, to me, I think these bands should feel even prouder about their work.

With that out of the way, perhaps it's best to add a bit of context to this through some factoids, so here's some of that:

- CJLO was sent roughly 2,000 records from bands who released EPs or LPs during the course of the year. It was, to put it mildly, a lot, and that doesn't even factor in the stuff released in 2020 that was sent during 2021.

- Of those, DJs on shows played 452 bands, so roughly 25% of all albums sent to us. For all you bands reading, I'm not saying college radio will definitely play you if you send your record, but a 25% chance is infinitely better than your chances of being played on a corporate radio station. Not saying... Just saying.

- Of these 452 bands, 171 were from Canada, thus making the total CanCon on the list 37.83 per cent, well above the 35 per cent required by our license. Please take note, CRTC.

- 61 of those bands were from right here in the province of Quebec because CJLO likes to try and bring you the best from your local scene. That means that 13.5 per cent of the list was Quebec bands or groups.

- This is probably a good time to mention that if you're in a band and want something played on CJLO, feel free to send an email to md-metal@cjlo.com and you might be on next year's list.

- And finally, the most common words in band names this year were "black," "sun," and "wolf"/"wolves." This breaks the two year running tradition of "dead" or "death" being in the top three. Perhaps this tells us that metal bands are maturing and able to get more creative with their band names, or more likely that there will be twice as many mentions next year.

And so, with all of that out of the way, here's the top 201 loud bands played on CJLO that released something new in the past year. Why 201? Because the last two were tied, so deal with it. Congrats to all these bands, and we hope to hear more from them in the near future.

Bands in red are Canadian. Bands in blue are from Quebec.

CANCER BATS
AIM LOW
SPECTRAL WOUND
SUDDEN WAVES
TUNIC
SCARE
FUCK TOUTE
PORTRAYAL OF GUILT
FRVITS
SWARM OF SPHERES
WHITE COWBELL OKLAHOMA
DEVIN TOWNSEND
OLDE
VAGINA WITCHCRAFT
EVERY TIME I DIE
HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY
THE HISTORY OF FLYING OBJECTS
CLICPOW
EX DEO
CULTED
WEEDIAN: A TRIP TO CANADA
GRALE
KATO
68
SEUM
BIRMANI
CELL PRESS
MAUDIIR
ANTI-GOD HAND
THREE EYES LEFT
KARLOFF
SLEEP TOKEN
CONFINED TO OBLIVION
DANKO JONES
THE BRONX
SPIRITBOX
A PALE HORSE NAMED DEATH
AS WE SUFFER
GORLVSH / THE LISTENER
CONVERGE & CHELSEA WOLFE
EYEHATEGOD
AGE OF WOLVES
NADJA
SATE
ALTERED DEAD
YAUTJA
THE JAILBIRDS
DIABLO SWING ORCHESTRA
RVBBER VVITCH
THE DAMN TRUTH
MARES OF THRACE
ARCHITECTS
EVIL
ROB ZOMBIE
SANDVEISS
THE ARMED
GWAR
FOXOR
MOTORHEAD
DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979
DEAD SENTRY
DEADWOLFF
SIGIL
WANDERER
FRACTURE
ERDVE
NOISE UNIT
ANDREW WK
JOEY CHAOS AND THE GHOSTS
TONY RUST AND THE MUDHORSES
MALACODA
SOILWORK
BASTERDS
BLEEDING OUT
LOCKED IN
VITRAIL
BLACK CLOTHES
BEASTWOOD
MONSTER MAGNET
THE PICTUREBOOKS
BLOODY HAMMERS
COFFINS
FRONTLINE ASSEMBLY
SANDSTORM
MONOLORD
PLAGUE WEAVER
BLACK SABBATH
FULLUM
ZAO
AUGUST BURNS RED
FEAR FACTORY
ANTIOCH
ARCHAIC EARTH
AUTUMN KINGS
TRISTWOOD
SERMON OF FLAMES
BONEYARD
FULL OF HELL
DA BEUMB PROJECT
SUN BELOW
BACKXWASH
LORDI
NERVOSA
THE DESIGN ABSTRACT
CIRITH UNGOL
BONE TOWER
MIDNIGHT GALLOWS
HATEBREED
TRAUMA LANE
UNCLE WOE
HEAD OF JEDDORE
NEKER
AT THE GATES
GRAND COLLAPSE
LLNN
HARD CHARGER
ELECTRIC HYDRA
RUFF MAJIK
NORDICWINTER
ISCHEMIC
BRIDGE BURNER
SLASHDANCE
BETWEEN THE BURIED AN ME
DISCARDED SELF
APHRODITE
FLAMING SIDEBURNS
ATREYU
THUNDERMOTHER
THE MIGHTY ONE
ECLIPSER
MAMA DOOM
CUESTACK
LAMB OF GOD
WORMWITCH
SHOTGUN SAWYER
MASTIFF
CARCAJOU
DOOMED AND STONED IN CANADA VOL 2
THE AGONIST
LUTHARO
HALLOWS DIE
KNIVAD
A SCENT LIKE WOLVES
AUTOCATALYTICA
LUCIFER
TIMO ELLIS
DARKTHRONE
HAUNT
DARK TRANQUILITY
HOWLING GODS
DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE
BOOZEWA
RIVERS OF NIHIL
OUTRE-TOMBE
GREEN DESERT WATER
HANDS OF DESPAIR
SODOM
ZEBADIAH CROWE
VIKING QUEEN
PIG
TIGERS ON OPIUM
CEVIN KEY
HO CHI MINH
VARJA
GASPARD
WITHIN NOSTALGIA
WARCALL
SHOW ME THE BODY
ODD CIRCUS
CANNIBAL CORPSE
BLACK SPELL
THE LION'S DAUGHTER
GOJIRA
ARTILLARY
FUCK THE FACTS
APE VERMIN
T-TOPS
DEATHCHANT
HIVERNA
KING WOMAN
WILDSTREET
ANAHATA
EUTHANIZED
MONTEZUMA'S REVENGE
SHADOW OF CORVUS
LESOTHO
COMET CONTROL
IRON MAIDEN
ZACK OAKLEY
MINISTRY
WAGE WAR
THE BODY AND BIG BRAVE
UNTO OTHERS
UNREQVITED
GREEN LUNG
THE METALLICA BLACKLIST
ESCAPE TO WEIRD MOUNTAIN
SINNER
HELLOWEEN
GAYLORD
TRAPPIST / CONNOISSEUR

CJLO’s Top Played “Loud” Artists of 2021

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