{"id":3200,"date":"2024-05-28T01:25:37","date_gmt":"2024-05-28T01:25:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=3200"},"modified":"2024-05-28T01:31:03","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T01:31:03","slug":"ftv-billboard-top-100","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=3200","title":{"rendered":"FTV: Billboard Top 100"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Love, love will keep us together \/ Think of me babe whenever \/ Some sweet-talking girl comes along, singing her song \/ Don\u2019t mess around, you\u2019ve just got to be strong, just stop \/ \u2018Cause I really love you, stop \/ I\u2019ll be thinking of you \/ Look in my heart and let love keep us together \u2026\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

For me, this song by The Captain and Tennille puts me in Oregon in early June of 1975.\u00a0 When I graduated from Northern Michigan University the first time, I celebrated by taking my first ever crosscountry airplane trip to visit my good friend Mitch in Lake Oswego.\u00a0 Before Mitch and his roommate Jack decided to seek employment out west, we spent a lot of our time doing those usual late-teenage hijinks in and around Marquette.\u00a0 I was still an undergrad when M & J quit their jobs at the local Red Owl and headed for Eugene, Oregon.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Their job seeking plans there hit a roadblock;\u00a0 when they got there,\u00a0 the grocery store workers in Eugene were on strike.\u00a0 There had to be a quick change of plans so they headed north toward Portland to find work.\u00a0 The prospects were better in Lake Oswego where they were able to land at a store in the Safeway chain.\u00a0 Ironically, I only learned about their first destination when we got together for dinner at the WOAS-FM West Coast Bureau in Eugene a couple of years ago.\u00a0 Funny how the events from fifty years ago have circled back around to Eugene.\u00a0 The WCB relocated to the Emerald City about ten years ago and Mitch currently lives outside of Portland in the sleepy little hamlet of Boring.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When they were clearing out their digs in Marquette, Mitch left me with a box of books from his student days.\u00a0 Mitch\u2019s mother worked at the NMU Bookstore and my mother would help out there during the early semester book rush.\u00a0 Mom spied this box in the basement and recognized some of the titles from her time helping students find books.\u00a0 I should note that I never had to run to the bookstore to get in line to find the cheapest (read: used) books because my dear mother would take my class list and set aside all my books before the bookstore doors opened for the semester.\u00a0 It was at her suggestion that I took this box of leftovers to the resale window where I scored a modest $30 or so.\u00a0 Yes, a box of books earned less than one used title would cost these days.\u00a0 I dutifully sent a check to the Oregon boys and Mitch later told me this was my contribution to them not living on crackers and peanut butter until they got ahead of the game in Oregon.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With my job search underway and one less than promising interview under my belt, I boarded the Blue Goose (the nickname of North Central Airlines taken from the logo on the tail of their Douglas DC 8 turboprop planes) and headed west.\u00a0 Actually, we headed south toward Chicago with two or three intermediate stops.\u00a0 From Chicago, it was a straight line flight on a big United Airlines jet to Portland.\u00a0 I learned a lot by tuning into the radio chatter between the United flight deck and the ground control stations.\u00a0 We were designated as a \u2018heavy\u2019 flight which helped the air traffic controllers keep us segregated from the smaller, lighter aircraft.\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember the flight designation, but every interchange always included something like \u2018United 370 Heavy\u2019 so I got the impression that in the airline world, we were a big dog.\u00a0 I was tickled to have a window seat and a totally non-responsive seat mate to my left.\u00a0 She tolerated my attempts to communicate with her long enough to mention she hated checking in her skis but she was bound for Mt. Hood for a June ski week.\u00a0 With that, she promptly went to sleep for the rest of the flight.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As we neared Portland, the captain announced we were arriving early so he told us we would kill a little time by taking a 360 degree aerial tour of Mt. Hood.\u00a0 I made the mistake of waking my seatmate up only to be told, \u201cYeah, I have seen it before.\u201d\u00a0 It was a bit of a disappointment for me, however, as we were seated on the right side of the plane.\u00a0 When the pilot banked to the left, all I could see out of my window was blue sky.\u00a0 Looking across the aisle, the only thing in view were rocks and forest zipping by – it was a pretty good indication of how fast we were traveling.\u00a0 With the sightseeing done, we lined up and started our descent into Portland.\u00a0 From my window, it looked like we were about to land in the Columbia River until the water gave way to the runway built on a patch of earth next to the river.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When Mitch and I loaded my suitcase into the old Chevy he was driving, the music began.\u00a0 Over the next two weeks, everywhere we went, we had the radio blasting.\u00a0 I won\u2019t pretend to remember the station call signs, but I do remember they were one of those \u2018we play all the top hits all the time\u2019 stations.\u00a0 When we weren\u2019t in the car, the radio was always on at the townhouse Mitch and Jack shared in Lake Oswego.\u00a0 With the number of miles we covered during my stay, there was one constant – the playlist on the radio burned some of those top hits into my brain.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is why there are a slew of songs from the <\/span>Billboard Hot 100<\/span><\/i> list from June of 1975 that put me right back in Oregon when I hear them today..\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Love Will Keep Us Together<\/span><\/i> was No. 2 on the chart so we heard it every half hour.\u00a0 The jaunty bounce of the intro brings an image of driving down the blacktop either toward Portland, the Pacific Ocean, or Mount Hood.\u00a0 While I didn\u2019t get a very good view of Mt. Hood on my flight in, we could see it clearly in the distance from just about any ground location.\u00a0 We also took a car safari up and over the mountain on the way to visit a hot springs resort in the intermontain plateau called Ka-neeta.\u00a0 We took a swing up to the ski area but only stopped there for a quick look see at the Timberline Lodge ski area.\u00a0 It was a long day so I am betting we only heard The Captain and Tennille fifteen or twenty times that day.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0No.s 3, 4, and 5 on the hit list were <\/span>When Will I Be Loved <\/span><\/i>(Linda Ronstadt), <\/span>Bad Time <\/span><\/i>(Grand Funk), and <\/span>Old Days<\/span><\/i> (Chicago) – all songs that I still like a lot.\u00a0 Even in my \u2018still looking for work\u2019 phase, I bought the three albums with those songs as soon as I got home.\u00a0 Unlike today\u2019s prices in the resurgent vinyl record market, albums only cost a couple of bucks, not $20 or $30.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m Not Lisa<\/span><\/i> by Jessi Colter was at No. 6 and still rising up the charts but it was one of the few songs I remember from that period that got annoying to hear in heavy rotation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There must have been a little wiggle room for the DJs (or whomever was in charge of making up the station playlist) to not include some of the top sellers.\u00a0 I can not remember even hearing <\/span>Love Won\u2019t Let Me Wait <\/span><\/i>(No 7 with an up arrow by Major Harris), <\/span>Get Down, Get Down (Get On The Floor<\/span><\/i>) coming in at No. 10 by Joe Simon, or Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes <\/span>Bad Luck – Part 1 <\/span><\/i>(No. 15).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Elton John\u2019s <\/span>Philadelphia Freedom, <\/span><\/i>The Average White Band\u2019s (AWB) anthem <\/span>Cut The Cake, <\/span><\/i>and Michael Murphey\u2019s <\/span>Wildfire <\/span><\/i>occupied slots No. 9, 11, & 12, respectively.\u00a0 Elton John, of course, managed to hang around a few more years, didn\u2019t he?\u00a0 AWB eventually went away but bassist Hamish Stewart is currently touring as a member of Ringo Starr\u2019s All-Starr Band and Michael Murphey changed lanes (but not too far away from his cowboy roots) and went totally country.\u00a0 <\/span>Philadelphia Freedom <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Cut The Cake<\/span><\/i> still get my feet tapping but I always felt like <\/span>Wildfire <\/span><\/i>was a bit too maudlin for me, but apparently the record buying public liked it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We had a standing joke that each and every time we headed down the hill toward the business district in Lake Oswego, we heard the Doobie Brothers.\u00a0 At No. 14, <\/span>Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me<\/span><\/i>) was an energetic romp in a slightly different groove than they would hit when Michael McDonald joined the band.\u00a0 Keyboardist\/vocalist McDonald joined the band in April of 1975 to take some of the pressure off original guitarist Tom Johnston.\u00a0 Tom\u2019s health took him on and off the road a few times and the 1977 <\/span>Takin\u2019 It To The Streets <\/span><\/i>album was the only Doobie\u2019s record featuring both McDonald and Johnston.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The official video for <\/span>Take Me In Your Arms <\/span><\/i>also shows Jeff \u2018Skunk\u2019 Baxter on guitar in the period before he started sitting on a barstool while performing.\u00a0 The opening guitar rhythm brings to mind a mental movie reel of us turning right out of Mitch\u2019s driveway and cruising all the way to the \u2018T\u2019 intersection at the end of the main street.\u00a0 My third band, Sledgehammer, only had a couple of gigs left in the early summer when I returned from Oregon.\u00a0 Guitarist Lindsay had graduated from high school and had already left for Florida.\u00a0 I had warned Barry and Mike that if a job came calling, I would also be leaving.\u00a0 We had stopped booking new jobs even though we had to pass up a lot of requests.\u00a0 If we had not been wrapping it up, I am pretty sure we would have added <\/span>Take Me In Your Arms<\/span><\/i> to our already Doobie Brother\u2019s heavy list of tunes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Shining Star <\/span><\/i>(No.16) came out well into Earth, Wind, and Fire\u2019s career, but it marked their first song to crossover from the Hot Soul Singles Chart to become a No. 1 <\/span>Billboard Hot 100 <\/span><\/i>hit.\u00a0 Former Chess Records session drummer Maurice White first formed the core of the band in Chicago in 1969 where they performed as The Salty Peppers.\u00a0 Once he relocated to Los Angeles, they released five albums in a stretch from 1970 to 1975.\u00a0 Over the history of the band, more than 40 members have cycled through the ranks and their eclectic style led <\/span>The Detroit Free Press\u2019s<\/span><\/i> Bob Talbert to write, \u201cI\u2019m not sure what to call this group.\u00a0 Must there be a label? Afro-gospel-jazz-blues-rock?\u00a0 \u201d\u00a0 I would say, \u201cYes, if there needs to be a label, that would do!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After working on projects with Melvin Van Peebles (a movie soundtrack) and the Ramsey Lewis Trio, their popularity was trending upward, especially on the college circuit.\u00a0 Appearing at the massive California Jam concert at the Ontario (CA) Speedway on April 6, 1974 cemented their reputation as a major act.\u00a0 E,W&F\u2019s fifth and sixth albums were recorded at Colorado\u2019s Caribou Ranch Studio.\u00a0 The sixth (<\/span>That\u2019s the Way of the World<\/span><\/i> – released in March of 1975) included the infectious <\/span>Shining Star<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 The track made E,W&F the first black act to reach to top of both the <\/span>Billboard Singles <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Album Charts<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 The song also won a Grammy for the Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.\u00a0 The success of this record allowed them to hire their own horn section which they dubbed \u2018The Phenix Horns\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I didn\u2019t accidentally skip No. 13 on the list due to some superstitious impulse.\u00a0 Alice Cooper\u2019s <\/span>Only Women Bleed<\/span><\/i> was such a departure from anything else he had done it took me a while to warm up to it.\u00a0 In June of 1975, it was still climbing the charts (it eventually reached No. 12) even though the title was listed only as <\/span>Only Women<\/span><\/i> on the single and some airplay charts.\u00a0 No doubt some record company suit was concerned that the title might make people think it had something to do with the female menstrual cycle (and that may be true as some radio stations refused to play the song and it did also drew protests from some feminist groups).\u00a0 The song was penned by Alice and guitarist Dick Wagner (formerly of the Michigan band The Frost) and was the second single released from Alice\u2019s debut solo album <\/span>Welcome to My Nightmare <\/span><\/i>(March 1975).\u00a0 The true subject matter concerned a woman in an abusive relationship and the music had been written for The Frost but Wagner never liked the lyrics.\u00a0 He showed Cooper the riff and together, they re-wrote the lyrics.\u00a0 Alice, it seems, was ahead of the times about women\u2019s issues.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The song did find critical acclaim, however, with a variety of trade publications weighing in.\u00a0 The <\/span>Billboard<\/span><\/i> staff described the lyric content as \u2018stunning\u2019.\u00a0 <\/span>Record World <\/span><\/i>called it, \u201cA ballad with a surprisingly international flavor.\u00a0 Alice\u2019s new sound should prove a soft touch for reaching his widest audience yet.\u201d\u00a0 One British reviewer in <\/span>Disc Magazine<\/span><\/i> wondered if listeners would be, \u201cshocked by the subdued sound of Cooper\u2026the song is a fairly harmless lament about downtrodden maidens and quite unlike anything he\u2019s done before.\u201d\u00a0 This probably describes my initial reaction (\u201cThat is Alice Cooper?\u201d) but it grew on me and, again, the chart success would indicate record buyers got over their \u2018shock\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There were a couple of offerings in the Top 25 by Freddy Fender, Roger Whittaker and Disco Tex & The Sex-O-Lettes that didn\u2019t move my \u2018I like that\u2019 meter much, so we will skip No. 19, 20, and 23.\u00a0 <\/span>Magic<\/span><\/i> by Pilot took the No. 17 slot with an up arrow and that is still a humable tune for me (unfortunately, a new wonder drug is now using the tune to shill their product).\u00a0 <\/span>How Long<\/span><\/i> by Ace made me a life-long fan of singer \/ keyboardist Paul Carrack – another instance where I went looking for their album as soon as I got home.\u00a0 McCartney\u2019s new band Wings was on a roll and <\/span>Listen To What The Man Said <\/span><\/i>was climbing up the charts while sitting at No. 22.\u00a0 Perhaps not the strongest tune in the Wings arsenal but it did sell and get airplay.\u00a0 Carly Simon hit No. 24 with <\/span>Attitude Dancing <\/span><\/i>which was released in May on her <\/span>Playing Possum <\/span><\/i>LP.\u00a0 <\/span>Attitude<\/span><\/i> was a strong follow up to 1974\u2019s <\/span>Haven\u2019t Got Time for the Pain<\/span><\/i> single and would climb to No. 18.\u00a0 With Carole King on background vocals, <\/span>Rolling Stone<\/span><\/i> called the track the album\u2019s \u2018show stopper\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There were other entries climbing toward the Top 20 by 10 cc, BTO,\u00a0 Eagles, War, Steely Dan, and the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, but it is time to retreat to the song sitting at No. 1 in June of 1975.\u00a0 That honor fell to America and their latest hit, <\/span>Sister Golden Hair.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 Besides the constant radio play, the thing that made this one of my all time favorite America songs was seeing them perform it live.\u00a0 Mitch had scored tickets to see them at the Paramount Theater.\u00a0 When we got there, the line waiting to be admitted ran completely around the building which occupied a whole block.\u00a0 We were at the end of the line not 100 feet from the people standing right in front of the main entrance.\u00a0 By the time the line had snaked all the way around the building, we knew there would be no seats on the main floor.\u00a0 I believe there were two balconies so we went to the top most level and happened to find two seats together just over the rail that separated the upper and lower sections of that area.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Talk about a wonderful concert – all killers and no fillers.\u00a0 Each familiar tune got a big reaction from the crowd but when the steel guitar riff that opens <\/span>Sister Golden Hair<\/span><\/i> started, the place absolutely erupted.\u00a0 I was lucky enough to grow up across the street from the NMU campus and even before I could drive, there were a lot of impressive musical moments for me to experience.\u00a0 Seeing America perform the No. 1 hit on the charts live ranks as my favorite concert moment and I make it a point to thank Mitch from time to time for making it happen!\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Fodder for another time, but I couldn’t help but notice some of the songs that were just sneaking into the bottom of the June 1975 <\/span>Hot 100<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 Many of these would become background music for my first year teaching in Ontonagon – songs like <\/span>Ballroom Blitz <\/span><\/i>(Sweet No.100), <\/span>Bloody Well Right <\/span><\/i>(Supertramp \/ 92), <\/span>Holdin\u2019 on to Yesterday <\/span><\/i>(Ambrosia \/ 88), <\/span>Sweet Emotion<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

(Aerosmith \/ 83), <\/span>Got To Get You Into My Life <\/span><\/i>(Blood, Sweat & Tears \/ 81), <\/span>Sail On Sailor <\/span><\/i>(Beach Boys \/ 77) and the new trend setting <\/span>Jive Talkin\u2019 <\/span><\/i>(Bee Gees \/ 65).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As long as we started with The Captain and Tennille, let\u2019s let them have the coda for this article – remember them adding this little gem to the chorus fade out?\u00a0 <\/span>Sedaka is back . . .<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Top Piece Video – My favorite live concert moment – America’s No 1 hit\u00a0Sister Golden Hair –\u00a0<\/em>Sorry – I could not find a version with Dan Peek playing the steel guitar but this version features the lick done on slide guitar after Peek had left the band.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Love, love will keep us together \/ Think of me babe whenever \/ Some sweet-talking girl comes along, singing her song \/ Don\u2019t mess around, you\u2019ve just got to be strong, just stop \/ \u2018Cause I really love you, stop \/ I\u2019ll be thinking of you \/ Look in my heart and let love keep […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11,8,6,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-new-music","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3200"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3203,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3200\/revisions\/3203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}