TimeMachine week 84

It is September 6th, 1971- Labor Day in the USA.  Millions are out grilling burgers and dogs; people are giving $8,125,387 to the Jerry Lewis MDA telethon- up almost 60% from the year before, and 4 times what they gave just 2 years ago;  and Delores O'Riordan of the Cranberries was a newborn.  Welcome to a "if you think last week was full" Time Machine, featuring:

- The end of the first round of Autumn Madness!
- Yet another new feature!
- The return of guess where it finished!
- Some really big birthdays!
-And remember last week, when only two of the local #1s were even in the top ten?  How 'bout 4 current and two recent this week?

All that and a new top dog!  Let's go!

"I'm excited! I'm excited!"

Well, as I kinda mentioned, we have another of those weeks where I knew NONE of this week's ten hot 100 debuts, so it's time to play "who had the bigger hit?"  This time, there is only one of these Cashbox debuts that made the Billboard top 40 (why not do the Cashbox peaks?  BB peaks are readily available, CB ones I have to sort for myself.  So, the answer to that one is, "eye strain".)  So take a guess at WHO made the top 40, and I'll give out the answers later.

Your contestants are:

New Colony Six, Roll On;
The Main Ingredient ( of Everybody Plays The Fool fame), Black Seeds Are Always Growing;
Tin Tin (Toast And Marmalade For Tea), Is That The Way;
Funkadelic, Can You Get To That;
Laura Lee, Women's Love Rights;
Johnny Rivers, Think His Name;
The Moments, Lucky Me;
Brenda and the Tabulations, A Part Of You;
Graham Nash, Military Madness;
The Raelettes (Ray Charles' backup babes), Leave My Man Alone.

So with that, we roll on right into this week's birthday tunes!  Turning 30 we have the Moody Blues with Sitting At The Wheel, the Motels with Martha Davis singing Suddenly Last Summer, and Bryan Adams with about my favorite of his, This Time.  Turning 35 this week, we have Ambrosia's How Much I Feel, and Bruce Springsteen and the boys with Badlands.

Turning 40, the Stones with Angie, Art Garfunkel's take on All I Know, Marie Osmond with Paper Roses, and 10cc with their delightful tale of fun in the correctional system, Rubber Bullets.  The Stones return with an entry turning 45, Street Fighting Man; joining them are the Vogues' cover of My Special Angel, The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown and Fire, The Band with the classic The Weight, and the equally classic Piece Of My Heart from Big Brother and the Holding Company, featuring Janis Joplin. 

Another curiosity that turned fifty was a remake of the Walker Brothers' hit The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore, done by a band called the Fuzzy Bunnies.  I thought, now that might be fun to learn about... but all I actually found other than they were a regional success from NY State was that they did a damn good job on the song.




Finally, turning 50 are Mr. Charles himself with Busted, and Roy Orbison's Blue Bayou.  Blow out the candles...

Remember last week when I did the little spot about how the local charts weren't exactly matching up to the national chart?  Well, this week six of the songs on last week's local tops are in the top ten- one of them leaping 19 spots in a single bound!  Among your choices of who that was are:

In Detroit, both stations are agreed on Go Away Little Girl; likewise, Minneapolis is agreed on Uncle Albert, and WCFL in Chicago and KQV in Pittsburgh are right with them.  WLS prefers Spanish Harlem this week, while LA stubbornly insists on Smiling Faces Sometimes.

The foreign charts are a bit of a grab-bag on what you are going to get.  Last week, several nations proclaimed Sweet's Co-Co to be the #1 song, which I figured had to be a good thing.  BZZZZZZZZT!!!!  Sweet, much like Golden Earring in Holland were expected to record bubble-gummy stuff for singles to keep the public happy while saving the stuff they were really about for live shows.  CoCo was one of those mind numbing poppy abominations.  Maybe if you are a BIG bubble gum maestro, you'll enjoy this.  If you are  fan of Little Willy or Ballroom Blitz, you'd better take a pass.

However, I got a much more pleasant surprise fro the new #1 in France.  After one week of The Fool ( which was a video that sounded and looked like perhaps SOMEBODY shouldn't have gotten stoned before recording), the new top song is called Le Jour Se Le've ( basically, "The Sun Rises") by an interesting lady by the name of Esther Galil.  Esther was born to a native mother in Morocco; her father was a Spanish Jew from Toledo, and he soon moved the family to Haifa.  She is still active in anti-war singing, protesting the occupation of Iraq with Neil Young and others.  So I checked out her song, and it was PDG:



Alright, it's time at last for the end of the first round of AUTUMN MADNESS!  We made do with two "associate voters" this week (not that it matters, since YOU are the Duma and I am PUTIN!), so here we go...

The Final matches of the East in Greenwich Village:

ELO, Telephone Line, vs Paul Young, Everytime You Go Away (voting 2-0 for Paul):  Do you KNOW how much ELO stuff I have recorded?  Telephone Line.

Wings, Coming Up (Live at Glasgow) vs England Dan and JF Coley, Nights Are Forever Without you (2-0 for Dan and John):  Like Stephen T. McCarthy said a few rounds back, go with the tears.  Nights Are Forever.

In the Midwest at St. Louis:

Bobby Darin, Mack The Knife vs. Culture Club, Time (Clock Of The Heart) (voters say Mackie's back 2-0):  There is in most songs I really love, some little note, some little chord, that you might well pass by if you were normal.  But that thing is what makes a song stick with me.  I figured this would be an easy Bobby Darin win... until I hear the chimes in that last chorus... "and time makes the lovers feel like they've got something real..." that line gives me shivers every time.  Boy George pulls the upset.

Merilee Rush and the Turnabouts, Angel Of The Morning vs The Bee Gees' Nights On Broadway (voters split here):  I love Nights On Broadway.  I don't know how the Brothers Gibb could ever top it.

...but how do I vote against her?  Merilee moves on.

Out West, in sunny Honolulu:

Wings, Listen To What The Man Says, vs Asia, Heat Of The Moment (split vote):  My mind just rides on Linda's background part.  Wings win here.

Skyliners, Since I Don't Have You, vs Bonnie Tyler, Total Eclipse Of The Heart (2-0 Bonnie).  This is won in the first five notes, and the memories they evoke.  Skyliners get eclipsed.

And Southeast, in Muscle Shoals:

J Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers, Last Kiss, vs In The Shape Of A Heart, Jackson Browne (2-0 for the Kiss):  This week was going so easy, until... this one's hard, next one's worse.  I'm gonna chicken out and follow the crowd.  Last Kiss.

Strawberry Alarm Clock, Incense And Peppermints, vs Bobby Vinton, Blue On Blue (split vote; thanks a lot!):  OMG, this just isn't fair.  Both these songs run so very deep.  Can I play one by day, and the other by night?  I didn't think so.  SAC, by the narrowest of margins.  AARRRRRRRGH!!!

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Our big dropper this week is, somewhat appropriately, It's Too Late, falling 35 to #72.  The big mover, I'll give you a clue.  The songs that debut in the top forty at 37-39 came out of the 60's on last week's chart.  In other words, its coming up.

Now here's that new treat I mentioned.  I got thinking the other day about where the big name acts came fromin the US of A.  Which led me to, who is the top act from each state?  Well I used the list of top-charting acts by hits in the hot 100 (as much as I could and got me a list.  By no means official, but to the best of my ability.  Persons had to be born in the state; groups had to be founded there.  States that just couldn't manage one in our time frame (60s and 70s)... well, we worked with them.  So here, in alphabetical order are the top acts from the first FIVE states...

Alabama:  Wilson Pickett, who totaled 38 hot 100 hits, and 2 top tens.

Alaska:  This one presented a challenge, so here's what I got.  Country Singer Mel McDaniel did start his career on the charts in 1975, though his big breakthrough came with 1981's Louisiana Saturday Night.  He went on to record 8 more country top tens.

Arizona:  Linda Ronstadt had 31 top 100's 10 of them finding the top ten.

Arkansas:  I was surprised to learn Johnny Cash was born in Arkansas.  I was also a bit surprised to see that he hit the hot 100 45 times, though only registering the sole top ten A Boy Named Sue.

California: Before I found (and decided to go with) the most charting list, I was struggling whether the Eagles or Cher would get this spot.  Thankfully, the Beach Boys outdid both with 56 hot 100 singles, 14 of them going top ten.


Seven songs move into the top 40 this week.  At #40 is a really good song and a really odd story.  Dickie Goodman, the man responsible for those "sampling" comedy hits of the seventies like Mr. Jaws, had a contract with a PR firm whose one client was in the glass bottle industry, looking for ways to combat their market loss to plastic bottles for soda. Goodman came up with the rather questionable idea of naming a rock band The Glass Bottle, and hopefully getting some hits and generating interest.  He found a singer named Gary Criss and put together a band, and Dickie produced their lp.  The first single off that lp, I Ain't Got Time Anymore, cracks the 40 at 40, up 8 spots.  Criss went on to have a couple minor disco hits, and now is an antique car salesman.

Now for the three that jumped so high this week.  Up 21 spots to #39, Carole King's So Far Away.  Climbing 28 notches to 38, Rod Stewart and Maggie May.  And the big jumper with a 31-spot leap to 37, the Carpenters and Superstar. 

But wait!  We still have three more debuts!  Moving up 8 to #36, the "long awaited" coming of Mac and Katie Kissoon with their version of Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep.  Rising seven to 35, Paul Stookey with The Wedding Song (There Is Love).  And the high debut this week, climbing 9 to 34, Canada's Stampeders with Sweet City Woman.


Okay, got your guess in as to which debut in the hot 100 eventually makes the (BB) top 40?  Here they are, in order:

The Raelettes, to the best of my info, did not chart on Billboard with their song.
The Moments topped out at 98. 
The Main Ingredient lost flavor at 97.
Brenda and the Tabs stopped at 94.
Beginning to see why I didn't know these songs?
Funkadelic could only get to 93.
Graham Nash had a military setback at 73.
Johnny Rivers retired at 65.
Tin Tin stopped at 59.
The New Colony Six rolled to 56.

And the winner this time is Laura Lee, whose Women's Love Rights peaked at 36 on Billboard.  It would be her biggest top 40 hit, though she hit #3 R&B with a later single, Rip Off.  Who did you guess?  I think I would have took the Moments myself... just at a guess. 

Four tunes crack the top ten this week, so four must fall.  Dropping are:  Tom Clay's Medley (7 to 25), Mr. Big Stuff (6 to 18), Draggin' The Line (3 to 16), and Sweet Hitchhiker (5 to 11).


Next week, the second round starts!  Which four songs will advance out of the East sites in Atlantic City and Greenwich Village to go to the region finals in Philly?

Bobby Vinton's Blue Velvet vs ELO's Strange Magic;
Four Seasons' Rag Doll vs The Seekers' Georgie Girl;
Seals and Crofts' Summer Breeze vs Dion's Abraham, Martin, And John;
and ELO's Telephone Line vs ED&JFC's Nights Are Forever Without You!

And now, this week's top ten:

Moving in after a four-notch climb to 10, Bill Withers and Ain't No Sunshine.

That 19-notch jumper, from 28 to 9, is Paul and Linda with Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey.

Three Dog Night moves up a pair to 8 with Liar.

The Five Man Electrical Band move a notch to #7 with Signs.

Donny Osmond blasts into the top ten, going up 9 to #6 with Go Away Little Girl.

Marvin Gaye slips a spot to #5 with Mercy Mercy Me.

The Bee Gees slip from the top spot to #4 with How Can You Mend A Broken Heart.

The Undisputed Truth bulldoze their way from 12 to #3 with Smiling Faces Sometimes.

Aretha Franklin goes from #9 to #2 with Spanish Harlem (and I can't believe I haven't accidently left the "l" out of Harlem yet- I've been close a lot!)

 And that means our new top dog, up one spot from runner-up...

...John Denver with Take Me Home, Country Roads!


That's it from Martin central, kids, see you next week!