Time Machine co-ordinates VIIX43663065

Come join me in June of '65, where we learn...

On this day in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signs Medicare, a health insurance program for elderly Americans, into law. At the bill-signing ceremony, which took place at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, former President Harry S. Truman was enrolled as Medicare’s first beneficiary and received the first Medicare card. Johnson wanted to recognize Truman, who, in 1945,had become the first president to propose national health insurance, an initiative that was opposed at the time by Congress.  (from History.com).

In the foreground:  LBJ hands Truman a pen.  In the back:  Humphrey calculates which First Lady will pass out from the fart he just cut first.

Welcome, welcome (except for Hubert, you nasty boy) to the Musical Tardis where we have for you this week:  Who was more nuts for the Beatles- us or Australia?  A big rout in the Panel vote, what Lou Rawls' sister is doing here for a cameo, and one of the bigger projects I have yet undertaken for this show begins this week!  Plus, three debuts on the M10- one leads it off, and the other two split it right down the middle!  Just sign here, and away we shall go!

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Our lead off debut at #10 is by a lady whom I wouldn't fit in with politically (a self-described "big fat feminist lesbian"), and wouldn't go out to dinner with (as a "punk" she eschews armpit shaving- not a big deal- and deodorant- at her size, BIG deal), but her song is really good.  Introducing to the TM audience, Beth Ditto:





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This week, I asked myself a question- what do we do to celebrate the summer?  What I came up with- who is the biggest act of the summer?  So I spent about three days combing the Cashbox archive between the Martin Era 2.0 years of 1955-77 and the weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day, tabulating the hits by rank, and came up with a top forty acts of ME Summertime!  I'm going to fish them out to you 5 at a time the rest of the summer until we get to the top!  One thing I had to do to try and stay fair was to decide how to work out duets between stars.  What I decided was the "and-with" rule:  If connected with an "and" (say Elton John and Kiki Dee), it is considered a separate act and neither star gets the points in their solo ledger;  if it's a "with" (such as Paul Anka with Odia Coates) the star gets the points, his partner is out o'luck.    Another was it was too ponderous a project to write down EACH hit affected, so if you REALLY wanna know which hits a particular person or act had, leave me a comment and I will accommodate.  But it might take a while.  Anyway, let's start off  the 40 biggest acts of summer with the first five-

40- Gilbert O'Sullivan!  He may have only had three big hits, but two of them were summer hits!

Next, a tie for 38th, between...

Bobby Darin, and....

...Brian Hyland!  As if we could miss the guy who gave us Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini!

Next we have a cliff hanger right here on this stage!  Because next we have a THREE-way tie for 35th, but only two spots left for today's show! So you will have a whole week to wonder who it is that joins...

...the fabulous Four Seasons and...

...Herman's Hermits for that spot!  I'll give you a big clue...

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So this week, Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys is here to help out with the Panel!  Hi, Dennis!

Hey, dude!  Can I like, see those shades?

Can you still read the list if I just dim the lights a bit?

Wull, yeah, but they look so cool...

How about you just start off with our contestants?  I'll start you off by adding that we had 61 stations this week, and they gave us 13 contestants.  So then, Dennis, I... Dennis?  Where are you going?

Got the munchies, man!  See ya later!

Sigh.  This wouldn't have happened with Carl, but no, I hadda pick the stoner!  Anyway, here are your contestants:

The King leads us off with Crying In The Chapel, Cashbox's #4 nationally this week.

Freddie and the Dreamers make an appearance with Do The Freddie- this is one of two votes where the station missed the memo, as it fell off CB last week.

The Four Tops with I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch), the week's #3.

The earlier mentioned Herman's Hermits with I'm Henry VIII, I Am, at #18.

Normie Rowe, an Aussie act who would go on to be a bigger soap star, with It Ain't Necessarily So.  Perhaps his biggest musical note of fame was having a hit Down Under with a cover that the Guess Who would later make popular here (back in thier Chad Allen and the Expressions days), Shakin' All Over.

Billy Thorpe gets a vote for the second straight week (actually 2 of 'em as we  had three Australian channels in the mix) with a tune called I Told The Brook, written by Marty Robbins.  Marty took it to #81 back in '61.


Dickie Lee with a tune popular (if seldom heard) around this house- Laurie (Strange Things Happen) which sat at #16.

The Castaways (no, not Gilligan and his bunch) were awaiting their national debut in the last week of August with Liar Liar.

The Byrds with this week's chart topper on CB, Mr Tambourine Man.

The other "didn't get the memo" station voted for the Temptations and My Girl- a great song that peaked back in March.

Eddie Hodges, better known for being the title character in the 1960 film The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, was at #78 with a song called New Orleans.

The Sunglows, or Sunny and the Sunglows, were on the KTKT Phoenix charts- and if you've been around TM for a while, you know it wasn't the first time for this San Antonio band- with a tune called Peanuts.

And lastly but not leastly, the Rolling Stones with (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, the national runner up.

Now the winner this week copped 50+% of the vote, and the four I'll add in for you to guess from racked up another 35% put together.  So who was the vote hog?  Choose from the Byrds, the Four Tops, the Stones, Elvis, and the Hermits.  Other than Billy Thorpe, no one else got more than one.

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I was just telling Laurie I didn't feel that the M10 had found that big summer hit yet. There were tons of just monsters last summer, and no offense to Kidsmoke, I didn't see any on the horizon. But this week I just may have found a pair of them. And the first comes in all the way up at #6. Introducing to the M10 NYC band Public Access TV...



 



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So all these Down Under acts making the Panel got me curious about the Australian charts.  And one thing I learned was that they LOVED the Beatles.  In a 147-week stretch from the last week of 1963 till the 22nd of October 1966, the US charts had the Fab Four on top 41 weeks- an amazing 28% of the time.  But in Australia, that same stretch saw the Beatles on top a whopping 78 weeks- or 53% of the time for almost three years!  This included stretches at the top by I Want To Hold Your Hand (7 weeks), I Saw Her Standing There (7 weeks), I Feel Fine (8 weeks), Help! (8 weeks), We Can Work It Out (7 weeks), and Yellow Submarine (8 weeks).  Even songs that didn't necessarily make it to the top here- Roll Over Beethoven (2), I Should Have Known Better (5), and Rock And Roll Music (4)- made it all the way there.


I might do some other AusChart digging in upcoming episodes...  stay tuned.

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And how, pray tell, does Eunice Rawls with into our tale today?  Well, she was the subject of a song that old people like me know well- Sam Cooke's Only Sixteen, covered so well by Dr Hook in the seventies.  It was co-written by Cooke, Lou Adler, and Herb Alpert- and that Dynamic Trio also wrote another Cooke hit- again covered so well in the 70's by Art Garfunkel with Paul Simon and James Taylor- Wonderful World.  And the cover by- hey, these guys are everywhere this week!- Herman's Hermits is our 6D victim, charting at #5 nationally but ignored by the Panel.


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And next, the M10 debut at #5- which just might by THE monster I was looking for.  This is courtship.- small "c" and period at the end- a two man grouping fromLA:





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Stat Pack:  Patty Duke had our #65 in '65 with Don't Just Stand There, a sonic clone of Leslie Gore's You Don't Know Me, kinda, which would end up in the top ten.  It was the biggest of the young actress's four charting hits.

The Skyliners had the #101, a tune called The Loser.  The doo-woppers who scored a big hit with Since I Don't Have You, this one is more of a Righteous Brothers' style, and stopped in the low 70s.

In the UK, the top dog belonged to the Hollies- who had yet to get US airplay- with I'm Alive.  The biggest there that was on the chart here was Crying In The Chapel, which was 2 there and 4 here.  In the meantime, our #1, Mr Tambourine Man, was at #33 there.

And, I had a rather disappointing 34 "I know that" songs this week.  Better luck next time.


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And now, the remainder of the M10.

Beach House slides down to #9 with Chariot, a five spoke fall.

Amber Mark moves 2 to # 8 with Can You Hear Me.

POWERS takes a one notch dip to #7, no longer getting Closer.

Now the two debuts and the four above them are making life interesting for next week- I see it as a "black hole" upcoming, with 6 songs trying to cram themselves into 3 spots.  One who looks to be on the outs is Kidsmoke's And Mine Alone, which slips out of the top spot to #4.

Then comes Springtime Carnivore, still sitting at #3 with Midnight Room.

Moon Taxi made me notice this week's "odd anomaly". Of the three songs that got added to the "M10 shuffle" playlist back on 6 May, one- PVRIS's Heaven- has already hit #1 and drops out of the chart this week.  One- Closer- begins it's descent off the chart this week.  And Moon Taxi's Two High?  Well, it CLIMBS from 5 to #2.  Go figure.

And at the tops?  M10 says...

...Northern Faces and Messin' With Me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And who was the reeelie beeeg weeener this week on the Panel?  Why it was...

....the Stones and Satisfaction!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Next time, 1966, more of the biggest acts of summer, and a lot of things I don't know about yet!  Be here!