Year in Rock 2017: 100 Artists Who Could Make It Great

(Full disclosure: I'm writing this article on December 18. At the time of writing, to my knowledge none of the artists listed below have actually confirmed a release date for a new album in 2017. Some are very close to doing so, and some give me little reason to doubt they'll get one out, but as of the moment I'm typing this none have nailed down the details.)

For the past handful of years, around the turn of the calendar I've published lists with the title "What Are the Chances?"; it's where I've tried to predict the percentage chance that an artist will or will not get a new album out within the calendar year to follow. Traditionally, I pick 25 artists and assign a percentage based on my gut. This year, like a damned fool, I've decided to expand it just a bit. Suffice to say, if half of these artists manage to produce a record in 2017, I'll be a very busy boy.


WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?
Green text = These are practically sure things
Blue text = More likely than not
Yellow text = Could go either way
Orange text = Don't hold your breath
Red text = Be shocked if it happens

Also listed, in the brackets, are the artists' last original full-length albums (read: no one offs, compilations, covers/acoustic albums or EPs), and the year in which they were released.

99% MARILYN MANSON (The Pale Emperor, 2015) ***CONFIRMED 09/11***
98% AT THE DRIVE-IN (Relationship of Command, 2000) ***CONFIRMED 02/22***
97% ZACK de la ROCHA (Renegades w/Rage Against the Machine, 2000)
96% MATT MAYS (Coyote, 2012) ***CONFIRMED 09/06***
95% SPOON (They Want My Soul, 2014) ***CONFIRMED 01/16***
94% MASTODON (Once More 'Round the Sun, 2014) ***CONFIRMED 01/26***
93% BECK (Morning Phase, 2014) ***CONFIRMED 08/24***
92% HEADSTONES (Love + Fury, 2013) ***CONFIRMED 04/21***
91% THE BLACK ANGELS (Indigo Meadow, 2013) *** CONFIRMED 02/08***
90% THE OFFSPRING (Days Go By, 2012)
89% KASABIAN (48:13, 2014) ***CONFIRMED 03/17***
88% ARCADE FIRE (Reflektor, 2013) ***CONFIRMED 06/01***
87% VAMPIRE WEEKEND (Modern Vampires of the City, 2013)
86% DEAD SARA (Pleasure to Meet You, 2015)
85% STONE SOUR (House of Gold & Bones, 2013) ***CONFIRMED 04/27***
84% THE BRONX (The Bronx IV, 2013) ***CONFIRMED 07/22***
83% THE KILLERS (Battle Born, 2012) ***CONFIRMED 06/15***
82% QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE (...Like Clockwork, 2013) ***CONFIRMED 06/15***
81% J. RODDY WALSTON & THE BUSINESS (Essential Tremors, 2013) ***CONFIRMED 08/16***
80% ROYAL BLOOD (Royal Blood, 2014) ***CONFIRMED 04/11***
79% THE NATIONAL (Trouble Will Find Me, 2013) ***CONFIRMED 05/11***
78% MY MORNING JACKET (The Waterfall, 2015)
77% INCUBUS (If Not Now, When?, 2011) ***CONFIRMED 02/16***
76% MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA (Cope, 2014) ***CONFIRMED 06/09***
75% FUCKED UP (Glass Boys, 2014)
74% LINKIN PARK (The Hunting Party, 2014) ***CONFIRMED 02/16***
73% GLASSJAW (Worship and Trubute, 2002) ***CONFIRMED 11/24***
72% GHOST (Meliora, 2015)
71% OUR LADY PEACE (Curve, 2012) ***CONFIRMED 08/11***
70% THE BLACK KEYS (Turn Blue, 2014)
69% MATTHEW GOOD (Chaotic Neutral, 2015) ***CONFIRMED 09/22***
68% SLOAN (Commonwealth, 2014)
67% HE IS LEGEND (Heavy Fruit, 2014) ***CONFIRMED 02/03***
66% ANTEMASQUE (Antemasque, 2014)
65% BRAND NEW (Daisy, 2009) ***CONFIRMED 08/15***
64% MODEST MOUSE (Strangers to Ourselves, 2015)
63% EELS (The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett, 2014)
62% LIARS (Mess, 2014) ***CONFIRMED 06/29***
61% MANIC STREET PREACHERS (Futurology, 2014) ***CONFIRMED 11/17 (2018 RELEASE)***
60% SYSTEM OF A DOWN (Mezmerize/Hypnotize, 2005)
59% COURTNEY BARNETT (Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, 2015)
58% THE TREWS (The Trews, 2014)
57% SOUNDGARDEN (King Animal, 2012)
56% TED LEO (The Brutalist Bricks, 2010) ***CONFIRMED 07/06***
55% WEEZER (Weezer aka "The White Album", 2016) ***CONFIRMED 08/17***
54% U2 (Songs of Innocence, 2014) ***CONFIRMED 11/01***
53% SUPERCHUNK (I Hate Music, 2013) ***CONFIRMED 11/08 (2018 RELEASE)***
52% HEY ROSETTA! (Second Sight, 2014)
51% JACK WHITE (Lazaretto, 2014)
50% PEARL JAM (Lightning Bolt, 2013)
49% HALESTORM (Into the Wild Life, 2015)
48% THE DECEMBERISTS (What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World, 2015)
47% CLUTCH (Psychic Warfare, 2015)
46% THE SMASHING PUMPKINS (Monuments to an Elegy, 2014)
45% THE HOLD STEADY (Teeth Dreams, 2014)
44% RANCID (Honor Is All We Know, 2014) ***CONFIRMED 05/02***
43% CANCER BATS (Searching for Zero, 2015)
42% SCREAMING FEMALES (Rose Mountain, 2015) ***CONFIRMED 11/16 (2018 RELEASE)***
41% MAN MAN (On Oni Pond, 2013)
40% AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD (IX, 2014)
39% BUSH (Man On the Run, 2014) ***CONFIRMED 02/06***
38% DAVE MATTHEWS BAND (Away from the World, 2012)
37% TV ON THE RADIO (Seeds, 2014)
36% ALICE IN CHAINS (The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here, 2013)
35% COLD WAR KIDS (Hold My Home, 2014) ***CONFIRMED 02/02***
34% PIG DESTROYER (Book Burner, 2012)
33% DOWN (Over the Under, 2007)
32% JOHN BUTLER TRIO (Flesh and Blood, 2014)
31% THE TEA PARTY (The Ocean at the End, 2014)
30% PRIMUS (Primus & the Chocolate Factory, 2014) ***CONFIRMED 07/31***
29% CONVERGE (All We Love We Leave Behind, 2012) ***CONFIRMED 08/15***
28% MUMFORD & SONS (Wilder Mind, 2015)
27% TOM WAITS (Bad As Me, 2011)
26% THE STROKES (Comedown Machine, 2013)
25% BAD RELIGION (True North, 2013)
24% I MOTHER EARTH (The Quicksilver Meat Dream, 2003)
23% VERUCA SALT (Ghost Notes, 2015)
22% FOALS (What Went Down, 2015)
21% MEG MYERS (Sorry, 2015)
20% MACHINE HEAD (Bloodstone & Diamonds, 2014) ***CONFIRMED 09/18 (2018 RELEASE)***
19% COHEED AND CAMBRIA (The Color Before the Sun, 2015)
18% FOO FIGHTERS (Sonic Highways, 2014) ***CONFIRMED 06/20***
17% TORCHE (Restarter, 2015)
16% SLEATER-KINNEY (No Cities to Love, 2015)
15% BRODY DALLE (Diploid Love, 2014)
14% ARCTIC MONKEYS (AM, 2013)
13% A PERFECT CIRCLE (Emotive, 2004)
12% TITUS ANDRONICUS (The Most Lamentable Tragedy, 2015)
11% FAILURE (The Heart Is a Monster, 2015)
10% REFUSED (Freedom, 2015)
9% BLACK LABEL SOCIETY (Catacombs of the Black Vatican, 2014) ***CONFIRMED 10/02 (2018 RELEASE)***
8% BLOC PARTY (Hymns, 2016)
7% THE SWORD (High Country, 2015)
6% MUSE (Drones, 2015)
5% BUILT TO SPILL (Untethered Moon, 2015)
4% SLIPKNOT (.5: The Gray Chapter, 2014)
3% CAGE THE ELEPHANT (Tell Me I'm Pretty, 2015)
2% YEAH YEAH YEAHS (Mosquito, 2013)
1% GUNS N' ROSES (Chinese Democracy, 2009)
0% TOOL (10,000 Days, 2006)

Go ahead, rock and roll; prove me right and.or wrong.