It’s a New Year’s Day tradition: sharing boring numbers while you nurse your hangover!

Top 5 New Posts of 2019:

1. TV REVIEW:  American Dad – “Persona Assistant” – 1517 hits

3. #738: Mike and Bob’s Cross-Kitchener Adventure – 857 hits

4. REVIEW: Whitesnake – 1987 (30th Anniversary Edition box set) – 660 hits

5. CONCERT REVIEW: Claypool Lennon Delirium – Danforth Music Hall  – 513 hits

• #551:  You’re Wrong on Unmasked! – 1304 hits, published 2017
• REVIEW: Rainbow – Rising (2011 Deluxe Edition) – 866 hits, published 2014 (!)
• REVIEW: Trailer Park Boys – Season 11 – 725 hits, published 2017

In general, views were down this year from 2017 and 2018, back to the levels of 2016 (which were not bad).  403 posts were published in 2019.

Top Ten Countries by Hits in 2019:

YouTube views:

For the first time, I have YouTube stats to share.  From the VHS Archives, here are the Top Five YouTube Videos by views:

1. VHS Archives #26: Motley Crue spill the dirt on Vince Neil’s car crash
2. VHS Archives #43: The best Blackie Lawless interview you’ll ever see
3. VHS Archives #38: Slash N’ Duff interview
4. VHS Archives #55: One of the best interviews with Bret Michaels that you’ll find
5. VHS Archives #53: Motley Crue interviews from Much Spotlight

Although the VHS Archives have been great for YouTube views, they don’t result in a lot of clicks directly on this site, which is the bread and butter.  That’s probably because I post them here without a lot of pictures, which tend to result in multiple hits from singular readers.  It’s also because someone watching on YouTube isn’t necessarily going to come to this site just because of a video they liked.  And no, I’m not changing platforms to a YouTube channel.  My videos aren’t monetised because they have copyrighted musical content.

Guest Shots of 2019:

There were new guest contributors in 2019, and plenty of regulars from the past too.  Not including the annual year end lists, we saw contributions by:

New guy Max The Axe’s Stunt Double with two Sunday Chuckles.

Thussy also had a Sunday Chuckle and wrote the true story of what happened to his Vince Neil guitar.

Dr. Kathryn had some photos and words from a Cheap Trick concert.

Musician Derek Kortepeter returned with a killer Van Halen – Balance review.

Uncle Meat wrote the Claypool-Lennon Delirium concert review and also penned a review on the Mighty Kiss!

And finally Holen MaGroin went above and beyond as usual with some great stuff.  He wrote:

• A review of Blade Runner with a tribute to Rutger Hauer
• Eraserhead review
• Jack’s Back review
• Oingo Boingo – Dead Man’s Party review

A big thanks to all these folks for their contributions in 2019!

A Look Ahead:

The goal in 2020 is to resume growth.  In 2019 I tried adding some new features and that maintained the status quo but didn’t really bring in new readers.  How do we do that in 2020?  I’m not a big fan of tagging artists for attention when I write reviews.  I write these reviews for you and for me, and artists can sometimes take offence, and I’m not here to put that in their faces.  A hard rock bass player contacted me because he was upset I didn’t mention his bass parts in a review.  Kenny Hotz once asked me how my show was doing when I tagged him in a review.  I’d rather just throw this stuff into the ether and whoever finds it, finds it.  I don’t want the niggling thoughts of an artists’ impressions in my head when I write.

How do you suggest we grow this site in 2020?

Unlike last year, I have don’t have new gimmicks lined up.  The only plan is to keep writing stories and keep reviewing albums.  The collection has many dusty corners yet to explore.  Many discographies yet to be written.  A number of good bands that remain untouched on this site.  Will this be the year I finish all the remaining Judas Priest reviews?  Or perhaps it will be one to write up all the Zeppelin deluxe editions?

Let’s see what 2020 brings and try to make it a big one.

Happy New Year!

Mike