Novelty hits always did well here in Chicago ... and "Earache My Eye" by the comedy duo Cheech and Chong was no exception. Known primarily as a best-selling ALBUM act, Cheech and Chong scored three straight chart-topping hits here in Chi-Town ... "Basketball Jones", a #13 National Hit and "Sister Mary Elephant", which peaked at #24 in Billboard Magazine, BOTH soared all the way to the #2 Spot here in Chicagoland ... and this one, "Earache My Eye", went all the way to #1.
Another popular Top Ten Hit that you rarely hear anymore was "Who Do You Think You Are" by Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods, the follow-up to their chart-topping hit "Billy, Don't Be A Hero". Wrapping up the "abbreviated" Top 15 WLS MusicRadio Chart this week is my all-time favorite Osmonds song, "Love Me For A Reason". (Despite ten Top Ten National Hits ... and now a hit Las Vegas stage act featuring Donny and Marie ... you don't hear much Osmonds Music on the Oldies Stations anymore ... but for a while there, they went toe-to-toe with The Jackson Five for the teeny-bopper market. Certainly Top Ten smashes like "One Bad Apple", "Yo Yo", "Down By The Lazy River" and this one, "Love Me For A Reason", deserve a spin every once in a while!) In fact, speaking of Donny and Marie, you'll find this duo still hanging on the chart with their remake of the old Dale and Grace tune, "I'm Leaving It All Up To You".Olivia Newton-John would hold down the #1 Top Spot for a total of three weeks before she would be displaced by First Class and THEIR big One Hit Wonder, "Beach Baby". "Rock Me Gently", sung by Andy Kim (rather than a forest preserve full of animals as it is THESE days) held down the #7 spot ... his record topped the WLS Chart two weeks earlier.
A quick glance at the Album Chart (showing LPs and Tapes ... lol ... jeez, how dated does THAT look nowadays!!! lol) shows Bachman-Turner Overdrive with TWO of the Top Four Albums this week ... "Not Fragile" is in at #1 and "Bachman-Turner Overdrive II" is holding down the #4 spot. And The Beach Boys were back on the comeback trails with their hits collection "Endless Summer", too. It debuted at #9 this week and would help to launch a whole new generation of Beach Boys fans in the weeks to come.
