Artist · chart history
Head Automatica
Band The Bellmores United States Formed 2004
Head Automatica formed in 2004 in The Bellmores, United States. Head Automatica has 9 chart appearances on 9 radio countdowns from 7 stations on RockLists, spanning 2004–2006. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Beating Heart Baby”, which appears on 6 lists and was voted number one once. In total the artist has topped 1 countdown. The station that charted Head Automatica most often is 88.3 The Sting (Cleveland, OH), with 2 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2005.
Head Automatica was Daryl Palumbo's escape hatch. The Glassjaw frontman had been writing songs steeped in hip hop and Britpop that didn't fit his main band's post-hardcore fury, so he built a new one to hold them, with producer Dan "the Automator" Nakamura, the man behind records by Gorillaz and Handsome Boy Modeling School, as his partner in crime. The two reportedly met at a party, and what they cooked up became Decadence, released on August 17, 2004.
It's a sugar-rush of a record, dance-punk and power pop with pulsing synths and disco hi-hats wrapped around Palumbo's yelps and croons, and "Beating Heart Baby" is the twitchy, danceable jolt that stuck. It made the Billboard 200 and the Heatseekers chart, and Palumbo assembled a touring band that took the songs out on the road with Interpol, the Rapture, the Used and the Cure.
Popaganda followed on June 6, 2006, with Howard Benson producing, and the Pop Rocks EP that year brought "Graduation Day", heavier on the big guitars and emo heartbreak but still glossed with pop polish.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Head Automatica on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beating Heart Baby | 6 | #1 | 1 | 2005 | |
| 2 | Brooklyn Is Burning | 1 | #47 | – | 2004 | |
| 3 | Graduation Day | 2 | #88 | – | 2006 |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Year-end chart timeline
Combined year-end countdown points per year. Taller bars mean more songs placing higher across more stations.
Every countdown appearance
| Year | # | Song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 102 | Graduation Day | The End Top 107 Songs of 2006 |
| 2006 | 88 | Graduation Day | Y100 Top 88.5 Songs of 2006 |
| 2005 | 69 | Beating Heart Baby | 89X Top 89 Songs of 2005 |
| 2005 | 96 | Beating Heart Baby | Y100 Top 150 Songs of 2005 |
| 2005 | 1 | Beating Heart Baby | 88.3 The Sting WBWC Top 40 Songs of 2005 |
| 2005 | 5 | Beating Heart Baby | WBER Listener Countdown 2005 |
| 2005 | 96 | Beating Heart Baby | WEQX Top 102.7 of 2005 |
| 2005 | 204 | Beating Heart Baby | ModernRock.com Top 400 Songs of 2005 |
| 2004 | 47 | Brooklyn Is Burning | 88.3 The Sting WBWC Top 88 Songs of 2004 |
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