Step into my time machine week twenty

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So here we are for our twentieth trip down memory lane, a trip we could, upon looking at the top of our charts, title,"change partners and dance." Among our stories will be an accomplishment repeated for the first time in 14 years. Away We go!

First up, we have nine debuts in the hot 100 this week, but only a measly three of them are recognizable in impact. Coming in at 87 is The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, with his signature Born To Run. At 84 comes War with their follow up to Why Can't We Be Friends, Low Rider. and way up at 69 (so high I almost missed it) comes Neil Sedaka, with some background help from our good friend Elton John, with Bad Blood. The big jumper comes first this week- an 18-spot jump for the Four Seasons and Who Loves You. The big dropper is a tie between One Of These Nights (landing at 41) and How Sweet It Is (30) who both drop 16 spaces this week.

Let's take our trip to the other years' charts first this time. 1993 saw Cashbox in the midst of a couple-month long stretch where they intermittently did not issue new charts. Billboard had Mariah Carey's Dream Lover at the top. We continue the theme in 1983, where we find Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This by the Eurythmics at #1. This week in 1973, Helen Reddy was top dog with Delta Dawn. In 1963, the Angels were contacted to demo a song for the Shirelles, but did such a good job it was released as is- their one big hit, My Boyfriend's Back. And in 1953, it was guitar pioneer Les Paul and his wife from 1949-1962, Mary Ford, with their second appearance in this feature (remember "How High The Moon" a few weeks ago?), Via Con Dios.

This brings us to airplay alley, and three of the five debuts this week I did not recognize-at first. After playing them, I cut that number to 2. Jumping 14 places to 40 is the one I finally remembered, the Ritchie Family with Brazil. This group, not an actual "family", was put together by French producer Jacques Morali, who also put together the Village People. At 39 we have Gary Toms Empire with a disco hit, 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 (Blow Your Whistle). Jefferson Starship soared 12 spots to 38 with Miracles; The People's Choice (not necessarily mine) came in at 36 with Do It Any Way You Wanna; and John Williams' main theme from Jaws joined Dickie Goodman's parody Mr. Jaws (now up at 27) in the top 40 at 34, up 11.

The almost but not quite this week goes to the Amazing Rhythm Aces with Third Rate Romance, which peaks at 17 this week. A group that developed a large cult following, the Aces never hit the top 40 again, disbanding (but not Permanently) in the eighties after the album How The Hell Do You Spell Rhythm? (answer: I use spellcheck. Every stinking time.)

Only one song goes into the top ten this week, thus only one drops out. The victim: Jive Talkin', which slides from 5 to 12. Oh, and by the way, Love Will Keep Us Together stubbornly holds onto its spot in airplay alley, dropping just 1 this week to 37.

My tops of the seventies rolls into the mid-fifties this week. That song I said dueled with Grooveline last week? This Time I'm In It For Love by Player which resides at 55. 54 is Too Late To Turn Back Now by the Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose, for which I found a rather curious postscript:

The group broke up in 1976 when Carter Cornelius joined a black Hebrew sect in Miami and adopted the name Prince Gideon Israel. He wrote, recorded, and mixed the sect's music and videos for the next 15 years. He died on November 7, 1991 as the result of a heart attack at the age of 43. Eddie Cornelius became a born-again Christian and later an ordained pastor. He still continues to sing, produce, and write music that reflects his faith in God.

A couple of tunes we are familiar with here on time machine show up next: Magic by Pilot at 53, and the Beach Boys' Sail On Sailor at 52. Finally this week, Burton Cummings' first solo hit, Stand Tall, is at 51.

John Denver leads off the top 10 at 10, up one, with I'm Sorry. The next five songs climb one notch: Run Joey Run to 9, Could It Be Magic to 8, Wasted Days And Wasted Nights (which was originally recorded in 1959, but do to the three years in Prison Freddy Fender soon got for a marijuana bust, went nowhere until re-recording it after Before The Next Teardrop Falls) to 7, Fight The Power to 6, and Fame to 5. 3 and 4 switch positions- Get Down Tonight dropping to 4 and At Seventeen climbing to 3. Same thing with the top two- Fallin' In Love drops after its one week as top dog. That makes Glen Campbell the upper canine this week with Rhinestone Cowboy- the first song since Big Bad John in November of 1961 to be the #1 on both the Hot 100 and the Country charts simultaneously.

And that concludes your trip this week. Please watch your step on the way out, and see you here next week!