Time Machine Co-ordinates VIX41722476

Today, I start Lipitor, and moments before starting today's post, I decided to look at the dos and don'ts.  I quickly ascertained that 90% of my current diet is a no-no, and I am expected to live on salmon patties and nuts.

So we hop in the Tardis and escape to 1976, where today the RIAA issued it's first spanking-new platinum record award for 1,000,000 copies sold.  Now, it doesn't mean it was the first million seller, just the first since they made up this new category.  And who wins the first one?

Why, the first vinyl album I ever bought myself- the first volume of Eagles Greatest Hits.  This disc went on to be the 2nd most platinumed (word?) lp ever, right behind Thriller.  And its winning it today is very ironic, as you will see when we get to the 6D.

Welcome to this week's Time Machine, and if my heart attack holds off long enough, we will see- the man who was replaced by his band- with a dog;  we will find out when a "bride" is actually a "bridesmaid"; a Panel contender with one version of a song- and a one-vote wonder with another; and for the first time, our #76 in '76 turns out to be a hit tune on the way down!  Come on in and let's Fly Like An Eagle!

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This week we had 30 stations deliver us 14 candidates for next week's president, including:

Eric Carmen's All By Myself, which was #3 on Cashbox this week;
Queen with Bohemian Rhapsody, currently #24 and climbing;
Neil Sedaka and the slow version of Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, #33 and dropping;
Aerosmith at #16 with Dream On;
Gary Wright at #8 with Dream Weaver;
Paul Simon counting down the Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover at #4;
The Miracles with Love Machine at #2;
The Bay City Rollers with Money Honey at #18;
The Four Seasons, who seem to make every candidate list, with Oh, What A Night (December '63) at #14;

***NOTICE:  Actually Chris's memory, like his chin, is a little fuzzy.  The Four Seasons have actually made, with this week, 3 out of 11 of the candidate lists.***

Whatever.  Next is Dr Hook with Only 16, the CB #27 this week.

Then come two versions of the Theme From SWAT- the American version by Rhythm Heritage, and a Canadian version by the THP Orchestra.  The first was #1 in the US of A this week; the other was #1 in the Great White North.
Rufus and Chaka Khan with Sweet Thing, at #15;
And finally, Hot Chocolate (which is still on the list of things I can have, apparently) with You Sexy Thing at #17.

And to help you out with your guess this week, I'll eliminate the one-vote wonders.  Please select from Gary Wright, Eric Carmen, Rhythm Heritage, the Miracles, and the Four Seasons.


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Next up, our only debut on the M10 this week, took it's time getting here- it is the OLDEST song on the M10 shuffle list from time I added it.  It is from a Maryland  band called Go Cozy, with Puerto Rican born vocalist Homero Salazar Andrujovich.  Their tune is called Silver Lining, and it comes in at #9:






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At this point, I'd like to bring out this week's President, Rod Stewart, to give us some words of wisdom to kick off the UK feature.  Rod?

I deliberate over the lyrics; I really do. I'll come up with one line in a day, and then it might be a couple of days before I come up with the rhyming line. It's never been easy for me. 

That would tend to explain lines like "Ain't Love A Bitch", then.  Jo-Anne commented that she never found you particularly sexy.  Do you have anything to say to that?

I was never a good-looking bloke. Not by a long chalk. 

Yeah, but you and Mick Jagger were never hard up for action.  What was your secret?

My life has been an open book, really. Everybody knows everything about me.

Okay, well, let's get at it.  If you please...

Certainly.  Once again we have the number one song taking the "Highest UK song on the US chart this week, with those dastardly Four Seasons and Oh, What A Night.  The highest song on your chart that charted here was  Love Machine, which we had at #14.  That about cover it?

Yep, thanks for stopping by and thank you for a successful term as President.

I see myself at 7:30 in the morning and it's not too pretty.* 

*With the exception of the chart data, for a change I used all real quotes from Rod courtesy BrainyQuote.
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This 6D is kinda gonna be mixed up.  First off the song, in an ironic twist vis-a-vis the lead in, was Take It To The Limit by the Eagles, which sat at #5 on Cashbox but got boned by the Panel.  The singer and co-writer was Randy Meisner.  And this song led to Randy leaving the Eagles.  You see, Don Henley considered this song a must-play at every concert.  Meisner, though was getting more concerned as time went on about his ability to hit the high notes it required.  One night it led to a big fight between the two, and that was the end of that.  But it wasn't the only time something like this happened to Meisner.  You see, back in the day, he was a founding member of Poco with Jim Messina and Richie Furay.  But as they completed that 1st lp, Meisner grew disenchanted with the control that Furay and Messina had over the band, and he quit just after it was to be released.  The lp cover was already designed, the lp recorded.  So they cut out and re-recorded his lead vocals, left his background vocals in uncredited (I believe), and replaced his picture on the cover...

See the dog?  That's where Meisner HAD been...


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About a month after peaking at #8, David Ruffin's Walk Away From Love was our #76 in '76 this week.  It was one of the few bright spots in the drug-ravaged career of the former Temptation.


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And now, the M10.

Drug Cabin holds at #10 with Wiggle Room, finding precious little of it on the chart.

You heard #9;  POWERS slips to #8 with Dance.

Castlecomer adds themselves to the list of acts that have reversed course on the chart, going back up to #7 with If I Could Be Like You.

And next week maybe Colony House will join them.  But this week, they slip to #6 with You And I.

The Pretenders (PretendER?) move up a pair to #5 with Let's Get Lost.

Foxygen slips to #4 with their 3-week #1, Follow The Leader.

I like a song that knows where it wants to be.  And the Orwells want to be at #3 with Black Francis, and they sit their for the 3rd straight week.

Roaring up into the runner up spot is Chicano Batman with Friendship (Is A Small Boat In A Storm).

And at the top?  M10 says...

...Sweet with the Peppermint Twist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And here is where that whole bridesmaid thing comes in.  A few weeks back, I speculated it might have a chance to tie that "most weeks on the chart for a record that peaked at #3" record, but they blew that last week.  Then I speculated they might tie that record for most weeks taken to get to #1, but they blew that too.  So instead, this is not only the SECOND longest time taken to hit #1, the SECOND cover of a big hit to make #1 (Gimme Shelter just beat it), but it is also the second OLDEST song to make the M10 #1 at 1974.  Always the bridesmaid- but the bride where it counted.

And the Panel winner, with 33% of the vote?

...Rhythm Heritage with the SWAT Theme!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe their first act as POTUS here will be to teach me how to spell Rhythm right the first time!  Meanwhile, tune in next time for.... 1978!