What is it about nice people that attract total idiots?Nice people are martyrs. Idiots are evangelists.

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Wednesday, December 30, 2015

This week's M10 and other odds and ends

Including the just finished wrap to the fantasy football season, the annual All-Star Game.  It has been an annual event since 2008, and the Purple division (Home of the KCAs, the Fiery Beagles, and the spanking new champion Aguas) rolled to its fifth victory in 8 games, a 62-34 win over the Gold division.  With so many injuries this year, I ended up having to sub no less than 5 players with the next man up, and one of those subs- Frank Gore of the Colts, who hadn't scored in over a month- took the MVP with 2 TDs.    Moving on...

This week had a chance to be an all retro-soul debut week, and it misses that only narrowly.  The first of three debuts belongs to a new 9-piece band reminiscent of Gladys Knight und der Pipsters from Seattle.  They are Grace Love and the true Loves, and they come in at #10 with this:





Number nine broke the streak that could have been.  The band that comes in here is an indy band called Ducktails, and their deceptively named Headbanging In The Mirror takes the #9 spot.







At this point, as many of you have already heard, the Martin 50 for the year is decided, and it is a good one!  I told Laurie, "I've done charts for a long time.  One of the indications of a good chart is where you hit the first song after which you wish you could cram them all into the top 5.  That started at #19."  There were 57 songs made the M10 this year- but not all of them made the M10.  There are 6 tunes that never got into the M10- and the 9 #1 songs of the M10 are clustered between #s 11 and 2.  That's right, the top song for 2015 didn't even appear on the M10 (Came out to me in April, M10 started in late August).  Not exactly sure how they will be presented yet, so stay tuned for more info after the New Year.


Number eight, the last of the debuts, has an interesting story.  Back in 1972, Pepsi did a series of local "Sounds Of The Summer" contests for high school bands, and the winner in Virginia was a funk band who called themselves the Equatics.  Their lp, Doin' It!!!, became an unknown funk classic and this year was released to CD.  Their hit from that lp sits at #8:





This was not a good week for older tunes in the M10.  Numbers 4, 6, and 9 dropped out, and Avril Lavigne falls from 3 to #7 with I'm With You, which peaked at #2 a couple weeks ago.

Last week's debut at 10, Boz Scaggs' Small Town Talk, is the hottest of the bullets this week, strolling its way up to #6.


Another of those items I was going to address is the upcoming Beauty Contest.  I still haven't figured out how I am going to mash them into one (maybe two) posts yet, but I can tell you there were 53 candidates for the contest, fifteen semi-finalists, and 6 girls patiently awaiting to see who Scrappy will pick.  And even though she has him pretty well bribed, KC's friend Jessica is NOT eligible:



Here are the girls that didn't make the semis:

Sally Carr (Middle Of The Road)
Karen Chandler
Sophia Loren
Barbara Streisand
Laulie Jean Norman
Janis Joplin
Debbie Neville
Linda Parrish
Patty Valentine
Lisa Loeb
Betty Friedan (EYYYUCK!)
Dee Dee Sharp
Barbara Lewis
Little Peggy March
Mary Ann Mobley
Nancy Sinatra
Alex Kingston (Put that sonic trowel away!)
Aretha Franklin
Carly Simon
Susan Cowsill
Patty Hansen
Etta James
Anita Ward
Claudine Clark
Suzanne Pleshette
Barbara Bel Geddes
Debbie Gibson
Gayle McCormick
France Joli
Rena Scott
Donna Fargo
Betty Boop (yes, that Betty Boop)
Helen Kane
Corrinne Morgan
...and the Singing Nun.


Little Green Cars move up a couple notches for the second week, pulling into the #5 slot with Harper Lee.

The other guy that looks like me, Dent May, moves a strong 4 into the #4 slot with Born Too Late.

Alvvays slips one more into the #3 spot with Archie Marry Me.

Beach House takes dead aim at its third top dog;  Beyond Love moves up 3 to #2.

And the Decemberists, who have been in the hunt since the 10th of November, remain at the top with The Wrong Year!

Next week, things begin to turn back to normal... maybe... I guess you'll have to tune in next Friday to find out!

6 comments:

  1. Hi, Chris!

    Any relation to Chris Motionless? :)

    Holy crap! I love these retro-soul gems you're finding. Grace Love's record sounds like Gladys Knight singing a mash-up of "Soul Man" (Sam and Dave) and "Mr. Big Stuff" (Jean Knight). Listen to the first 20 seconds of each of the following and see if you agree:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVx2i6jGzf8

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooYExfw9lLY

    I love the horns on "Nobody Sweeter" and on "Merry Go Round" by the Equatics. I also enjoyed the Ducktails song and video which seemed ripped from the 80s.

    If that list of hotties represents the women who failed to make the cut for your Beauty Contest then I can't wait to see the finalists. (Did you know that Joy Harmon sings in the shower?)

    Thanks, Chris, and happy New Year!

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    1. If you liked them, my friend, go check out Sonny Cleveland- You've Got Me Running In Circles. Just missed today, maybe in next week.

      The first thing I thought when I heard Grace was "Gladys Knight"; but I can definitely hear the other Ms. Knight as well. I kind of liked Sonny's song better, but Grace's vocals won her entry.

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    2. "Any relation to Chris Motionless? :)"

      Only on the couch...

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    3. I just listened to Sonny Cleveland's "You’ve Got Me Running in Circles." As one Y/T comment reads, "Sam Cooke lives!" It sounds just like Sam - great stuff!

      Thanks, Chris!

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  2. Chris:
    Have to admit that I;m GROOVIN' again with Grace Love...nice find.
    (does sounds like CLASSIC R&B (Thank God)

    What? Alex Kingston didn't make the "cut"???
    (No more time-travelling psychopaths for YOU, mister.)

    BTW, I checked out Shady's Sonny Cleveland...CLOSEST singer to the late Sam Cooke that I have EVER heard.

    Makes me long for more of that GOOD music, like Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson all over again.

    Good post.

    Keep rockin' up there, brother.

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    Replies
    1. Jackie Wilson was a favorite of mine, too, one of the greatest voices of my generation. In 1975 when Jackie suffered the massive heart attack that ended his career, I sent him a get well card, but he never recovered. His death was an incalculable loss for the music industry.

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