Billboard's Hot 100/ Top 40 Motown Chronicles - 1972 - [Pt. 3]

[Boogiedown]

Billboard’s Hot 100/ Top 40
Chart #39
Sept 23, 1972

Number of singles reviewed this week: 90
last week: 95

Motown has a single that enters the Top 10 making it the label's biggest record on the Top 40 in weeks. BEN by Michael Jackson is also the label's only record on the Top 40. Last week NATURE PLANNED IT by The Four Tops seemed the label's next best hopeful as it moved up 19 spots on the chart. This week, the third for the single, it slows way down and loses its bullet. Jermaine's debut single now seems to offer Hitsville the most glimmer of high charting hope as it moves up 10 spots. One less charter this time, for a total of five Motowners on the Hot 100.

The Top 10:

After a meteoric bolt to #1 from #9 last week , Three Dog Night's BLACK AND WHITE takes a surprising step down to #2 after holding the top spot for just one week. Mac Davis's BABY DON"T GET HOOKED ON ME, now #1 from #2, and already #1 for two weeks on the Adult Contemporary chart, resulted when the singer/songwriter was challenged by his label to write a song with a "hook". A bit of a shake-up as three new songs enter the Top 10, the highest by Michael Jackson and BEN, in at #6 from #13. Coming in just below that at #7 are The Main Ingredient with their first Top 40 and now Top 10 hit with EVERYBODY PLAYS THE FOOL, with a nine point jump from #16. Also reaching the Top 10 for the first time at #9 from #12 are The Raspberries with GO ALL THE WAY.
Three take big bows out: At #21, LONG COOL WOMAN by The Hollies plummeting from #6, from #23 to #8 falls BRANDY YOU'RE A FINE GIRL from Looking Glass, and plunging to #31 from #10 is I'M STILL IN LOVE WITH YOU by Al Green.

The Top 40:

Only Michael Jackson [#6] is on the Top 40 this week.

Biggest mover within the chart, 12 places {tie:}
USE ME - Bill Withers #13 from #25
YOU WEAR IT WELL - Rod Stewart #27 from #39

Five singles achieve Top 40 status, all American , two future +Top Ten+.

Highest debut:
TIGHT ROPE - Leon Russell- #34 up 7 from#41 [*First Time Artist]

+FREDDIE'S DEAD+ - Curtis Mayfield #36 up 8 from #44 [2nd Top 40 hit]
LISTEN TO THE MUSIC - Doobie Bros. #37 up 15 from #52 [*First Time Artist]
DON'T EVER BE LONELY [A POOR LITTLE FOOL LIKE ME] - Cornelius Bros.& Sister Rose #38 up 11 from #49 [3rd Top 40 hit]
+GOOD TIME CHARLIE'S GOT THE BLUES+ - Danny O'Keefe #40 up 11 from #51 [One Hit Wonder]

Hot 100:

10 new 45s, 3 Top 40 bound, 3 first time to chart on Hot 100.

Highest debut:
third tier
#80 LET IT RAIN - Eric Clapton

#82 - ALL THE YOUNG DUDES - Mott The Hoople
#83 - I'D LOVE YOU TO WANT ME -Lobo
#85 - ROCK N ROLL SOUL - Grand Funk Railroad
#87 - CANT YOU HEAR THE SONG - Wayne Newton
#88 - ONE MORE CHANCE - Ocean
#90 - AMERICAN CITY SUITE - Cashman & West
#97 - MEAN LITTLE WOMAN ROSALIE -Tommie Roe
#99 - DANCE DANCE DANCE - New Seekers
#100 - POOR BOY - Casey Kelly

Motown:
No debuts:

2nd week: - ^ THAT'S HOW LOVE GOES - Jermaine Jackson #73 up 10 from #83
2nd week: - ^ KEEP ON RUNNING - Stevie Wonder #94 up 4 from #98
3rd week: - ^ NATURE PLANNED IT - Four Tops #58 up 6 from #64
8th week: - YOUR WONDERFUL SWEET SWEET LOVE - Supremes #60 down 1 from #59

off: LOOKIN' THROUGH THE WINDOWS - Jackson Five
An eleven week run took this Clifton Davis written tune to #16. The album by the same title has done better reaching #7 on Billboard's Top 200 LP chart. It's the last hit including brother Jermaine.

*****

A very good week for:
O's .
with two in the top 5: Gilbert O' Sullivan's ALONE AGAIN at #5 and BACK STABBERS by The O'Jays at #4 . And Danny O'Keefe's GOOD TIME CHARLIE'S GOT THE BLUES enters the Top 40 at #40.

*****
The Trammps have restructured Judy Garland's famed tune, ZING! WENT THE STRINGS OF MY HEART [see chart #38].
Their version plays heavily off the 1958 version by The Coasters with Trammps' drummer Earl Young emulating the vocals of Coasters' baritone Billy Guy.



Then the TSOP gang did something very clever, to The Coaster's version of ZING! WENT THE STRINGS.... , they added... strings. In a prominent way, swirling throughout. Add that and a scratching guitar, bongos, and a constant beat emphasized by the high hat, and The Trammps are on their way to perfecting something new in the music scene.



Their version will now disappear and not become included on an LP until 1975 when Tom Moulton will get a hold of it along with other Trammps singles, and cleverly title the LP :
THE LEGENDARY ZING ALBUM.




****

A brief article in Billboard about The Four Tops:

[Who knew all these years they've wanted to write their own songs]

Los Angeles- The Four Tops, whose signing with ABC/Dunhill was officially announced only this week, have actually been in the studio with staff producers Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter for nearly two months. The ex-Motown stalwarts are recording a concept album dealing with urban ghetto tensions and, for the first tine in their careers, have written the bulk of the songs themselves. The Four Tops, who began making hits for Motown in 1965, are the first act to leave the label with all its original personnel.

Fact check: Their premier LP for ABC, KEEPER OF THE CASTLE beyond the title cut, is absent the "urban ghetto tension" theme, and there is only one cut that is mostly written by The Four Tops: TURN ON THE LIGHT OF YOUR LOVE.