Time Machine co-ordinates VIXVII44482572

It's August 25th, 1972, and today we go to Wal-Mart!

Huh?

From Wiki:

(on this day) Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. first began trading on the New York Stock Exchange. On its opening day, the price closed at $33 per share. Although the value of the stock dropped 77% in the first two years, an investment of $1,000 would have grown to $870,000 from 1972 to 2008.


So get you some odds and ends, and get back in the Musical Tardis for the M10's 2nd anniversary edition!  And who will it be at the top this week?

The song that would be on its record fifth week at the top;
The song that would spend its first week at the top on its record 8th week on the chart;
The song that as a dark horse would be the sixth act to have multiple #1s;
Or the really dark horse that hit #1 on Cashbox 25 years ago in December... but charted NO other place in the world...

Hey... I think he's talking about ME...

Yes I am, and these four fought all this last week for my attention.  ONE of them is the anniversary #1... but which one?  Also, the final five of the biggest acts of Summer!  Let's go check out- the hits!


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So we start off by saying hello to Barry Gibb, who as POTM rep for his family group will give us a much more truncated list of candidates for this week's battle- 18 candidates from 49 stations!

Actually, Chris, that's quite a lot...

Well, if you want to avoid the job, quit winning!

Valid point, I suppose.  But last week, Karen Carpenter...

...is Karen Carpenter.  Think about it.

Yes, quite, I see your point.  Let's have a look at the list, shall we?

Well, our mate Gilbert O'Sullivan would certainly be a favorite, with Alone Again Naturally at #1 on Cashbox this week.

Mac- is that his name?  Mac Davis is at #13 with Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me.

The O'Jays are at #7 with Backstabbers.

Michael Jackson did his lovely rat love song, Ben, at #44 but on the rise.

Three Dog Night- how well I know THAT phrase- is at #18 with Black And White.

Looking Glass is at #2 with Brandy, You're A Fine Girl.

You're supposed to say that last part in parentheses.

Hh.  Mick is right about you.  You can be a straight...

Sorry.  Move on, please.

Righto.  Next would be the Troggs with another entry from our friends on Lorenzo Marquez Island.  It is called, Feels Like A Woman, and it charted in South Africa (#7) and in Rhodesia (#14).  Better?

Much.

Bread, who made such a run last week, is at #17 with Guitar Man.

Rod Argent and the band he named for himself are at #6 with Hold Your Head Up.

Luther Ingram's (If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Wanna Be Right is at #5.

The Right Reverend Al Green is at #3 with I'm Still In Love With You.

Stephen Stills- speaking of people involved in last week's episode- and Manassas are at - well, they peaked at #61 back in June- with It Doesn't Matter.  Apparently not.

Ah, the Hollies are at #4 with Long Cool Woman.  That was one of those that wasn't quite as popular back home in London, as I recall.

Here's a personal favorite- Chuck Berry is at #45 with My Ding-A-Ling.

Might not wanna advertise that.  There ARE some perverts around here.

I'm sure.  Meanwhile, one of our Australian stations was just getting about Donny Osmond's Puppy Love, which had peaked in the States back in April.

Gary Glitter is at #11 with Rock And Roll, Part 2.  Bit of a tarnish on Gary's image these days, right?

Alice Cooper is a bit late in the year with this, but his School's Out is at #23.  Number one back home right now...

And finally, a duo calling themselves Mel And Tim got a vote for Starting All Over Again- a song which is actually a couple months away from the charts here in the colonies.  And that's it!

Nice job, Barry.  Now this week's winner took a 20-point victory in the polls, so there's every possibility Barry was right about Gilbert O'Sullivan taking this.  The others who were involved in what race there was were, with one exception, nowhere to be found in the CB top ten.  So besides the #1 Alone Again Naturally, look at Looking Glass, Mac Davis, and Three Dog Night as your contenders.  In the meantime...

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This was a week in which I had a strong enough ten that it WOULD have been another no-debut week- except for one song.  And since there is just the one, instead of going right to her debut, I thought I'd share with you the FIRST time I encountered this lady's voice- in a song by our old friends, Flogging Molly.  Here they are- with the woman who will be doing our debut- Lucinda Williams:





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So not only did Barry give us the #1 in the UK, he reminded me that I hadn't even gotten around to looking UP that part of our show!  Obviously Alice also had the highest there that was on our charts, and the highest here that was on theirs was the Rev Al with I'm Still In Love With You at their #41.

The rest of the stat pack:  Glen Campbell sat at #101 this week with I Will Never Pass This Way Again, part of the minor chart slide he had between 1970's Dream Baby and 1975's Rhinestone Cowboy.

And the #72 in '72 was actually a pretty big hit for a change- Bill Withers' Use Me, which was in its second week on the chart.

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And now, the end of the summer's biggest event- the biggest acts of Summer in the Martin Era 2.0!  To review, from Memorial Day to Labor Day, from 1955 to 1977, and as usual with points assigned on a 10-9-8 etc basis.  I bring this up because, for the only time since we started our journey, I'm going to let you in on how the points scored.  We started our journey with #40 Gilbert O'Sullivan (him again?!) racking up 90 points.  We crossed the 100-point mark with Ray Stevens at #32.  We didn't cross the 150-point plateau until the Beach Boys last week at 158, and crossed 200 with the Everlys at 239.  So now, without further doo-doo- the Final Five:

At #5 with 277 points...

Whether as Paul and Linda, Paul solo, Wings solo- Paul McCartney and Wings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


At #4, with 292 points...

...the last surviving old-timer, Pat Boone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just nosing Pat for #3, with 294 points....

...the Rolling Stones!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At #2, with a comfortable 81- point advantage over Mick and the boys at 375 points...

...The Beatles, natch!

And could there have been any doubt about this one? with 580 points, over 200 ahead of second- from 18 top ten summertime hits, topping the Beatles by a solid six...................

...the King, and still Champeen, Elvis Presley!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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Now, let's get to the actual debut this week.  This was actually first released 25 years ago on an lp called This Sweet Old World- and a new live version is being released this year to celebrate!  And this particular song was released as a lead single.  Debuting all the way up at #6, here is Lucinda Williams...



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Okay, so I'm going to do things a bit different this week- I'm gonna give you the remaining NON-contenders for M10 #1 this week first, saving the Battle Grande for the end.

Cotton Mather fell this week from 3 to 10 with Girl With A Blue Guitar.

Squeezed down a notch to #9 this week were the Pom Poms with Heart In A Suitcase.

Alvvays climbed a pair to #8 with In Undertow.

Howard Jones likewise gained 2 to #7 with Just Look At You Now.

And a portent of things to come, perhaps- The Japanese House climbs from 6 to 3 with Somebody You Found.


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In 1987, Richard Carpenter called on Dusty Springfield to do the vocals on a song from his solo lp called Something In Your Eyes.  It would be a #12 AC hit.  Dusty was getting used to the AC side, and in 1989 she scored a hit with BJ Thomas with the theme from the TV show Growing Pains, As Long As We've Got Each Other.  The third version of the theme (the original with BJ solo was an lp cut, and the second with Jennifer Warnes wasn't recorded), it made #7 on the Adult Contemporary chart (just in case you didn't know what AC stood for).  The writer of this song was one John Bettis, who has a long list of writing credits (including Michael Jackson's hit Human Nature).  He was a co-writer with the aforementioned Richard Carpenter on the Carpenters' hit Goodbye To Love, which was at #8 on CB but got no love from the Panel.  Oh well, maybe Karen will take the guys on the Panel list next time...


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And just because we're doing things different this week...

...if you went with Barry and took Gilbert O'Sullivan this week, you're a winner!  Alone Again Naturally, in the last week of its 3-week run at the top on Cashbox, took 32.65% of the vote to 12.24 for Brandy and 10.2 for Mac Davis.

And now, As The Contenders Fall.....


Wayne, buddy, sorry, but you only moved up from 7 to 5 with The Letter.

Next to fall is Quiet Hollers, as Funny Ways spends week #8 dropping a pair to #4.

And it's over, it's over
I'm circling these vultures
Got me praying and it's hunger
Feeling something rotten
Last time I saw you said "What's up?"
And pushed right through
Then I tried to catch you
But we're always on the move
And now it's over, we're sober
Symptoms of the culture
And the night ain't getting younger
Last call's around the corner...

And so it goes for Foster The People, who despite intense lobbying near the end slip to #2 this week with the 4-week #1 Sit Next to Me.

Which means, at #1.....

...Northern Faces moves up from 4 to the top with Cops Come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Northern Faces now joins Beach House (3), The Explorers' Club (2), Lucius (2), Melody's Echo Chamber (3), and Chicano Batman (2) with multiple songs to hit #1 on the M10!

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Next week:  1973, Gilbert O'Sullivan, and the Biggest Songs Of Summer 2017!