So today we arrive in October 9th of 1968, and a lot of things happened. Most significantly in my family, it was the day after my father's father turned 86, the day after my father turned 52, and the day after my sister Sue turned 20. Yep, yesterday was "Bring a Martin into the world" day. Also today, thanks to the Busy Beaver Button Museum, I am reminded that on this day Richard Nixon in a campaign speech for his first term, said, “Any man who has had a chance for four years and could not produce peace, should not be given another chance.” That came back to bite him in '72 with this museum exhibit:
Today, we have POTM Alex Chilton from the Box Tops with us to... uh-oh, what is it Nardole?
He refused to come on. He heard.
I was afraid of that. How did he find out?
Sir, Mr Presley is doing a 'boycott Time Machine' over it...
For pity's sake, like it's the show's fault!
I quite agree, sir. But you know how he is...
Yes, unfortunately. Folks, what we are referring to is that Hey Jude by the Beatles scored what is possibly the biggest victory in TM history. It lapped the field a time and a half, and lapped the #2 song just shy of FOUR times. Which really kind of messes up the whole show, because, in addition to that, NO new M10 debuts this week! Not to mention a star from just beyond the Martin Era 2.0 purview- Eddie Van Halen- became a member of "rock and roll heaven" this week.
Why don't you do a list of his biggest hits? You've done that before in these situations...
Hey, good idea! So while I figure out what constitutes my best Van Halen songs, why not listen to one of my favorites?
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Before we go off the VH deep end, let me give you something to guess at this week- who finished second? Of course, there WERE 12 other songs that collected 31 votes between them, so see who you think might have been watching the Beatles' collective butt disappearing into the distance. Choose from:
The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Fire, #3 on Cashbox this week;
Mary Hopkin and Those Were The Days, at #23;
The O'Kaysions and Girl Watcher at #7;
and the Beatles, again, with the flip side, Revolution, at #13. And yes, Hey Jude was #1- for the fourth of a 7-week run.
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So Van Halen's career was neatly divided in two when David Lee Roth left as lead singer and was replaced by the Red Rocker, Sammy Hagar. But by then, VH had already turned a bit more pop-py, with Roth's last lp scoring hits like Jump and I'll Wait. But I cut my rock teeth on the OLD stuff, so I'm going to give you a personal Van Halen top 14 here, so you can see what I would put on a personal Van Halen playlist!
14- Dancing In The Street, from Diver Down: It cracked the top 40 at #38, and was #3 on mainstream rock in 1982.
13- Hot For Teacher from 1984; it hit #56 in, of course, 1984.
12- Finish What Ya Started from OU812, the lone "Van Hagar" song on my list. it went to #13.
11- Where Have All The Good Times Gone, a Kinks cover, from Diver Down. It got to #17 on MSR without being released as a single.
10- Running With The Devil from VH1; it peaked at #84.
9- You're No Good, which was a big Linda Ronstadt hit. It was an airplay hit from VH II.
8- Beautiful Girls, from VH II. It also stalled at #84.
7- Everybody Wants Some, from Women And Children First. Airplay hit.
6- Somebody Get Me A Doctor from VH II. Airplay, though wiki notes it was released in Japan.
5- Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love, from VH I. Released but not charted.
4- The one I played above, You Really Got Me, another Kinks cover, their very first single which peaked at #36.
3- Panama, from 1984. Another #13 hit.
2- Jaime's Crying, from VH I. Again, released but not charted.
And my #1 Van Halen song? Tune in in a bit...
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Ever hear of Seattle-area band the Frantics? Why , they tore up the charts in 1959-60 with their hits Straight Flush (#91), Fogcutter (#93), and Werewolf (#83). Still no? That's okay, they were just one of the bands signed to Dolton records in that time frame. Dolton had some big successes- albeit through a distributorship with Liberty- first hitting with the Fleetwoods, then a bit later with the Ventures. They also featured the label's founder- a lady who wasn't having so much success (although she would become briefly a big country star later on) named Bonnie Guitar. (Yeah, her real last name was Buckingham, but that's a mouthful!) Bonnie would play acoustic guitar on the Fleetwoods' first big hit, Come Softly To Me. That song, I saw, was one of a couple of covers that Percy Sledge did live on his Sledge In South Africa lp in 1970. Another one was a song that was written with him in mind- but since he didn't get right to it, the writers recorded it and it became a big hit for them- their first really big hit in the USA. And that song is our 6D victim this week- the Bee Gees and I've Gotta Get A Message To You, #4 without a Panel vote.
Ready for that all-time Van Halen favorite of mine? First let me point out that, if you went by chart performance, their top 5 would look like this:
1- Jump (#1)
2- Why Can't This Be Love (#3)
3- When It's Love (#5)
4- Oh Pretty Woman (#12)
5- Panama, I'll Wait, and Finish What Ya Started (all #13)
NONE of which is my top song! My best VH, from Women and Children First- the only single from that album, peaking at #55....
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The Overseas if you please was also dominated by Hey Jude- New Zealand, Canada, and Australia had it at the top. Finalist Mary Hopkin's Those Were The Days was the top in the UK, and South Africa had the Flames With For Your Precious Love- a largely spoken word, but still pretty good, track. And the big mover this week was Cream's White Room, flying up 35 spots from 52 to 17.
On the South Africa thing... I think we may have found Elvis's vacation home! The Beatles only ever charted their 4 times- Help! hit #1, We Can Work It Out and Ticket To Ride hit #2, and Paperback Writer #9. Now Elvis himself hit 14 times (keep in mind, they didn't start charting till 1965-6), hitting #1 with Crying In The Chapel, Suspicious Minds... and, uh, Do The Clam...
Great music
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