Time Machine Co-ordinates VVIII41621779

Today we merge right into February 17th, 1979, and find that Vietnam is at war.  Not with us, but with China.  China was looking at "punishing" Vietnam for taking out their buddy in Cambodia, serial mass-murderer Pol Pot.  ANNNND it was a great way to dig in the spurs to the USSR, who had just signed a 25-year friendship treaty with Vietnam- and WITH whom a 30-year friendship treaty had JUST expired.  The Chinese army burst through lightly defended border lines, tried to tempt the Vietnamese army into a trap, hoping to knock out much of their main forces at one blow.  The Vietnamese never committed large amounts of Regular Army forces, didn't do a lot of slug-it-out fighting, and used Russian intel to avoid the trap; so after a few weeks of the attempt, China declared that they "had forced the gate" to Hanoi and thus really didn't need to GO there, and pulled out.  Whether their cases of Hanoius Interruptus were from not wanting to get caught in the same sinkhole the US did, or the idea of daring the Red Army to a fight in Mongolia lost its luster, IDK.

And welcome to our Time Machine for the week, in which we have a pretty big Panel blowout; a Doctor Who cameo on the 79 in '79; Carole King, Sly and the Family Stone, Steely Dan, and Fleetwood Mac, all on the 6D; and the Arcs slide their tendrils into yet another story- not bad for a band that charted on the M10 once for one week!  And we have three debuts, so let's kick off with one right now!

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Our first debut is the second single from a group that missed the M10 with their first by THAT much!  One of the most memorable (for me) songs that I just couldn't squeeze into the M10 at the time was a tune called Handsome by a band called Drug Cabin.  Drug Cabin was supposed to be a side project for members of an already-established indy act out of LA called Ambulance LTD, but it took on a life of its own.  Handsome, which was a Spotify suggest to me, was off their 2014 EP Wiggle Room; and the song Spotify slipped me this time was the title cut.  It debuts at #10.





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Our Presidents this week, Paul and Paula, now have the floor for the Panel picks.  Guys?

HE: Thanks, Mr. Martin, and thank you out there in radio land for voting for us last week!

SHE:  There were nine candidates from 21 stations this week, Paul, and they were all pretty big- well, almost...

HE:  The list starts off with one Mr. Martin indicates is a favorite of his, Olivia Newton-John's A Little More Love.  It was at #4 on the Cashbox countdown.  Hey, Paula, how many hits did we have?

SHE:  Well, we made the top 40 3 times, and the hot 100 5 times...

Um, guys...

SHE:  I'm so sorry, let's get back to the list.  Now this next song didn't chart here... because it was about cricket!

HE:  Not the insect, but the game.  It was called C'mon Aussie C'mon by the Mojo Singers, and was basically Australia's version of Talkin' Baseball.  Needless to say, it was #1 there, not here, so you might not want to vote for it.

You guys are doing a great job of padding your appearance...

SHE:  Thank you!

...but this isn't a day-long event, so...

HE:  Okay, speed it up!  Next up is Rod Stewart's Do Ya Think I'm Sexy...
SHE: I always have...
HE:... and it was the #1 on Cashbox this week.  Then comes  Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive at #5, Chic's Le Freak at #5, And Nicholette Larson's Lotta Love at #8.

She: Also we have Barry Manilow's Somewhere In The Night at #13, The Bee Gees and Tragedy at #21, and the Village People with that silly YMCA song at #6.  Back to you, Chris!

Thanks, Paula.  I won't mention the three singles you had that never got out of Bubbling Under Land;  however, I will tell everyone that there are just three candidates that got multiple votes.  So bend your considerations towards ONJ, Rod, and Chic, as we move on to the next debut this week:

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I'm skipping for now over a lower debut for story reasons and am revealing our high debut- all the way up at #6.  Give a warm TM welcome to- Chicano Batman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!






All I will add today is- look out, Foxygen....

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Carole King's 1974 lp Wrap Around Joy featured top ten singles Nightingale and Jazzman, which was lyriced (is that a word?) by David Palmer.  David you might know as the vocalist on early Steely Dan hit Dirty Work, which is one of my favorites.  And I stumbled onto a very nice cover of this song... which I'll get to in a minute.  On that same album were covers of Sly Stone's Everybody Is A Star (of the recent election controversy), and a hit by pre- big-in-America Fleetwood Mac, Hypnotised.  But the hit single on this lp was a song that had been passed down by Bruce Springsteen but not recorded by him at the time.  You see, he wanted to send it to Elvis, but was a bit too late.  So he gave it to the Pointer Sisters, and there, tucked in with all those covers on their lp Energy, is the song that charted highest but got no Panel Love- Fire, at #2.


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This week in the UK, the top song was Blondie's Heart Of Glass- which was just coming onto Cashbox at #78.  The highest here that was charting there was Le Freak (3 here, 36 there), and the vice versa was Heart Of Glass.  Now I might have mentioned somewhere that I had NEW Blondie in the rotation, and perhaps someday I'll sneak it in.  Like many acts from the good ol' days who are still singing, it just doesn't quite have the same vibe for me.  I have been through new lps in the M10 period by Elton John, Paul Simon, the Zombies... and outside of Boz Scaggs' Small Town Talk, not many of them making an impact.  This week, I noticed that the Pretenders were charting in the UK with one of their first singles (which didn't chart here, but should have) called Stop Your Sobbing.  I bring this up because the debut on the M10 at #7 this week... is brand new Pretenders, from the lp Alone... with a little help from Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant...





This new lp was produced by Dan Auerbach, who's best known for being a teammate of Leon Michaels on the Arcs!  Funny how stuff just keeps tying together...
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Our #79 in '79 this week is a tune I didn't know by name but vaguely remembered after playing by Queen, called  Don't Stop Me Now.  It was #9 on this week's UK chart, but it is already higher on CB than it would get on Billboard (85).  Funny thing is, this song was covered by UK act Foxes (who, while she may be a fox, is only one person), and that cover, which she never released, was used TWICE on Doctor Who- on both Mummy On The Orient Express and on Hell Bent!

So maybe THAT'S why it sounds familiar...

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No hints for the vote-  I'll just tell you that the winnah got 52.3 % of the vote- a total whupping!

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And now, the rest of the M10!

Gimme Shelter slips for Puddle Of Mudd from 7 to 9 in its 8th week.

Castlecomer goes back to #8 after a week at 6 with If I Could Be Like You.

POWERS drops from 2 to 5 with Dance.

Every week, I say, I'm surprised I have this song up here- and then the next week it moves up again!  Colony House, from 5 to 4 with You And I.

Orwells hold at #3 with Black Francis.

Surprise, surprise!  Sweet slams it back into forward and goes from 3 to 4 to #2 this week with the Peppermint Twist.

And the number ones?  M10 says...

...Foxygen for a third week with Follow The Leader!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the winner of the Panel vote and next week's president...

....Rod Stewart and Do Ya Think I'm Sexy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next time, 1976!  Be There!