Tommy James & the Shondells - Hanky Panky (1966)

"Hanky Panky" is a song written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich for their group, The Raindrops. It was famously remade by rock group Tommy James and the Shondells, who took it to No. 1 in the United States in 1966.

This was Casey Kasem's 'anatomy of a hit' for "Hanky Panky" by Tommy James & The Shondells, with credit provided to a Pittsburgh disk jockey from WZUM, as related during the June 9, 1984 AT40 show.

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"...Now we're up to an AT40 extra -- a delayed action, number one song recorded by a group of school boys whose leader was only 13 years old. Here's the story. In 1961, they recorded a rock & roll song when they were going to Niles High School in Niles, Michigan. A small local label released it, but it flopped. Four and a half years later in 1965, the leader of that band -- a boy named Tommy -- was married and supporting his new family by playing clubs around Chicago. Then one day Tommy gets a phone call, a long distance phone call, from a stranger, a disk jockey who says, 'Hey! You better come to Pittsburgh -- your record's number one here.' And Tommy says, 'What record?' Well the man tells him, 'Hanky Panky.' Tommy couldn't believe it. What had happened was that that Pittsburgh disk jockey -- Mike Metrovich on station WZUM -- had found a copy of the record and played it as an oldie. His audience liked it and he kept playing it. And it became the number one song in Pittsburgh. That's when he phoned Tommy James. Well, the other members of Tommy's band wouldn't go to Pittsburgh with him to exploit their hit. So, Tommy went alone. And sold the rights to 'Hanky Panky' to Roulette Records. Now Tommy was gonna to need a band to back him up on all the bookings the hit would generate. And he found one, in a Pittsburgh night club. And they began touring together as Tommy James and The Shondells, while 'Hanky Panky,' promoted by Roulette, began hitting in the rest of the country. And by mid-summer of 1966, it was the number one song in the nation. During the next four years, Tommy James and The Shondells put eighteen more hits on the charts, seven of those in the Top 10. After which, Tommy James added thirteen more chart records as a solo act. Now, as an AT40 extra, here's the song that started it all, recorded when Tommy was 13 years old. Five years later, it was the number one song in the country --'Hanky Panky'..."

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Sam & Dave - Soul Man (1967) from the album Soul Men

"Soul Man" is a 1967 song written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter, first successful as a number 2 hit single by Atlantic Records soul duo Sam & Dave.

Co-author Isaac Hayes found the inspiration for "Soul Man" in the turmoil of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. In July 1967, watching a television newscast of the aftermath of the 12th Street riot in Detroit, Michigan, Hayes noted that black residents had marked buildings that had not been destroyed during the riots – mostly African-American owned and operated institutions – with the word "soul". Relating this occurrence to the biblical story of the Passover, Hayes and songwriting partner David Porter came up with the idea, in Hayes' words, of "a story about one's struggle to rise above his present conditions. It's almost a tune [where it's] kind of like boasting 'I'm a soul man'. It's a pride thing."

It was at Stax that Sam and Dave found their métier. The group was paired with a relatively unknown and untried house songwriting team, Isaac Hayes and David Porter. With the former largely responsible for the harmony and instrumental arrangements and the latter in charge of lyrics and vocal performance, Hayes And Porter would become perhaps the final songwriting team in the history of soul. Among their classic compositions are Sam and Dave's "Soul Man." Hold on, I'm Comin'." "When Something Is Wrong with My Baby." "Wrap It Up." and "I'll Thank You." These songs, in essence defined soul music in the latter half of the 1960s.

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The Four Tops - Reach Out I'll Be There (1966) from the album The Ultimate Collection

"Reach Out I'll Be There" (also formatted as "Reach Out (I'll Be There)") is a 1966 song recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label. Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song is one of the most well-known Motown tunes of the 1960s and is today considered The Tops' signature song. It was the number one song on the Rhythm & Blues charts for two weeks, and on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks, from October 15–22, 1966. It replaced "Cherish" by The Association, and was itself replaced by "96 Tears" by Question Mark & the Mysterians. Billboard ranked the record as the no. 4 song for 1966.

Rolling Stone later ranked this version #206 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". This version is also currently ranked as the 56th best song of all time, as well as the #4 song of 1966, in an aggregation of critics' lists at Acclaimed Music.

Written by Holland-Dozier-Holland, partly inspired by Burt Bacharach and Hal David as well as Bob Dylan, featuring an interesting array of instruments and one of the finest vocals ever captured within the Hitsville Studio; Reach Out I'll Be There had all the ingredients necessary to make it a sure-fire smash, yet its eventual release seems to have hinged on a casting vote from Berry Gordy! The Four Tops had suffered a slight tailing off after the massive success of I Can't Help Myself, with the Ivy Jo Hunter and Stevie Wonder penned Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever barely scraping the Top 50 in May 1966.

Influenced by the classical music Lamont Dozier had listened to as a youngster and largely crafted by Lamont and Brian Holland, Reach Out may well have followed the tried and trusted HDH formula in utilising bits and pieces of earlier work but stands out on its own thanks to the distinct feel. This was achieved by utilising a variety of instruments not previously heard, such as the flute (played on the session by the thirteen year old Dayna Hartwick, who had to be carried into the studio as she had a broken leg at the time; she would later appear on Marvin Gaye's What's Going On) and a unique percussive effect achieved by tapping hands on a wooden chair.

The end result was unlike anything HDH had produced before, a sound that some thought too much of a departure, including a couple of The Four Tops and many of those present at the Quality Control meeting when the single was first played. Whilst Smokey Robinson was against releasing it, Berry Gordy had the final say and ordered it released in August 1966. It turned out to be The Four Tops biggest ever hit, topping the R&B charts and pop charts on both sides of the Atlantic, helped in the UK by the presence of the group on a nationwide tour. Later cover versions came from Gloria Gaynor (#60 in the US and #14 in the UK in 1975) and Michael Bolton (#73 in the US and #37 in the UK in 1993).

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Cheap Trick - I Want You To Want Me (Live) on Live At Budokan (1979)

"I Want You to Want Me" is a song by the American rock band Cheap Trick from their second album In Color, released in September 1977. It was the first single released from that album, but it did not chart in the United States.

"I Want You to Want Me" was a number-one single in Japan. Its success in Japan, as well as the success of its preceding single "Clock Strikes Ten" paved the way for Cheap Trick's concerts at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo in April 1978 that were recorded for the group's most popular album, Cheap Trick at Budokan. A live version of "I Want You to Want Me" from the album Cheap Trick at Budokan was released in 1979 and became their biggest selling single, reaching #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, representing sales of one million records. In Canada, it reached #2 in on the RPM national singles chart, remaining there for two weeks[5] and was certified Gold for the sale of 5,000 singles in September 1979. It was also the band's highest charting single in Britain, where it reached #29.

Cheap Trick bass player Tom Petersson told Classic Rock magazine:

"My recollection is that [songwriter Rick Nielsen] did that song as a bit of a joke, because at the time when we had done that song there was a lot of pop music on the radio—ABBA, and all sorts of things, disco, [Rick thought] 'I'm just going to do an over-the-top pop song. I just want to do one that's so silly—total pop—and then we'll do a heavy version of it.' He didn't know what was going to happen with it. The idea was to have it like a heavy metal pop song. Cheap Trick doing ABBA—except a very heavy version."

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Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound Of Silence (1964) from the album Sounds Of Silence

"The Sound of Silence", originally "The Sounds of Silence", is a song by the American music duo Simon & Garfunkel. The song was written by Paul Simon over the period of several months between 1963 and 1964. A studio audition led to the duo signing a record deal with Columbia Records, and the song was recorded in March 1964 at Columbia Studios in New York City for inclusion on their debut album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M..

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Released in October 1964, the album was a commercial failure and led to the duo breaking apart, with Paul Simon returning to England and Art Garfunkel to his studies at Columbia University. In spring 1965, the song began to attract airplay at radio stations in Boston, Massachusetts, and throughout Florida. The growing airplay led Tom Wilson, the song's producer, to remix the track, overdubbing electric instrumentation with the same musicians who backed Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone". Simon & Garfunkel were not informed of the song's remix until after its release. The single was released in September 1965.

The song hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending January 1, 1966, leading the duo to reunite and hastily record their second album, which Columbia titled Sounds of Silence in an attempt to capitalize on the song's success. The song was a top-ten hit in multiple countries worldwide, among them Australia, Austria, West Germany, Ireland, Japan and the Netherlands. Generally considered a classic folk rock song, the song was added to the National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important" in 2013 along with the rest of the Sounds of Silence album.

Originally titled "The Sounds of Silence" on Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., as well as on the single release and Sounds of Silence album, the song was re-titled for later compilations beginning with Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits.

Heavy metal band Disturbed covered the song in 2015, which became very popular. Paul Simon endorsed the song as a result.

Similar Artists

The Beatles	The Mamas & The Papas	Cat Stevens	James Taylor

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Middle Of The Road - Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep (1971)

"Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" is a song recorded in early 1971 by its composer Lally Stott, and made popular later that year by Scottish band Middle of the Road for whom it was a UK number one chart hit. That version is one of the fewer than forty all-time singles to have sold in excess of 10 million physical copies worldwide. Despite its popularity when originally released, the song is rarely played on oldies radio stations today.

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The original recording by its composer Lally Stott, was a hit in France (Top 15), a minor hit in Italy, Australia and in the United States. Stott's record company, Philips, was reluctant to release the song overseas, and apparently offered it to two other groups: Scottish folk-pop group Middle of the Road, who were working in Italy at the time, and Mac and Katie Kissoon. While it is unclear which group Stott offered his song to first, Mac and Katie Kissoon produced their cover version first. Middle of the Road's version then initially became a hit on the Continent only, but later grew in popularity in the United Kingdom, reportedly via DJ Tony Blackburn favoring this version over the previously-produced version by Mac and Katie Kissoon. However, Middle of the Road's version didn't even chart on the United States Billboard Hot 100, and nearly flopped in the UK also, because it followed the Kissoon's previously-produced version. Middle of the Road's version eventually reached #1 in the UK and stayed there for five weeks in June 1971, while the Kissoons' version only reached #41. In the USA the Kissoon's version was a greater success, reaching #20 on the Billboard Hot 100, while Lally Stott's original version reached #92.

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Little River Band - Reminiscing (1978)

"Reminiscing" is a 1978 song written by Graeham Goble, and performed by Australian rock music group Little River Band. It remains their greatest success in the United States, peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #10 on the Easy Listening chart. The song is about a couple reminiscing about the past, with certain music (such as Glenn Miller or Cole Porter tunes) reminding them of certain memories.

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"Reminiscing" was given a BMI Five Million-Air award for five million plays on US radio – the highest achievement ever for any Australian popular song.

According to Albert Goldman's biography, John Lennon named "Reminiscing" as one of his favourite songs. May Pang, erstwhile girlfriend of Lennon, said "Oddly, with all the fantastic music he wrote, "our song" was Reminiscing by the Little River Band."

The original Little River Band song was used for the 2010 film The Other Guys starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg.

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Styx - Come Sail Away - from the album The Grand Illusion (1977)

"Come Sail Away" is a song by American progressive rock group Styx, featured on the band's seventh album The Grand Illusion (1977). Upon its release as the lead single from the album, "Come Sail Away" charted at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100, and helped The Grand Illusion achieve multi-platinum sales in 1978. It is one of the biggest hits of Styx's career.

Guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw from Styx performs at the Auditorium on December 30, 1977. This was the final show of the band's Grand Illusion Tour. Released six months earlier, the album generated two hit singles, "Come Sail Away" and "Fooling Yourself," while going on to sell three million copies. (Photograph by Dennis Felber.)

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Sweet - Love Is Like Oxygen - From the album Best Of Sweet (1978)

"Love Is Like Oxygen" is a song by the British band Sweet, co-written by the group's guitarist Andy Scott and Trevor Griffin, a musician who had played with various unsuccessful bands before becoming a roadie and sound engineer, and released in January 1978. The song was a departure from earlier recordings by the Sweet, which were more guitar-driven and featured high vocal harmonies. The extended album version of the song (6 minutes 19 seconds), which appeared on their album Level Headed, incorporates strings and has some disco elements.

Their first release on the Polydor label after their departure from RCA, it was also their last Top 10 hit, reaching #4 in New Zealand, #6 in Switzerland, #8 in Belgium, Canada and the United States, #9 in United Kingdom and #10 in West Germany.

Later that year it was honoured with a Song of the Year nomination at the Ivor Novello awards, although beaten by "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty. The song is frequently included on greatest hits compilations, usually in its edited single version.

February 18, 1978, Billboard Review

SWEET—Love Is Like Oxygen (3:20); producer: Sweet; writers: Scott, Griffin; publishers: Sweet/WB, ASCAP. Capitol P4549. First single from Sweet's new "Level Headed" LP opens with powerful guitar chorus before shifting gears into various instrumental changes. Tight, multi-layered harmonies accents the tune with an underlying tenderness while retaining a degree of biting toughness.

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Danny & The Juniors - At The Hop - from the album The Wonderful World Of The 50's - 100 Hit Songs (1958)

"At the Hop" is a rock and roll/doo-wop song written by Artie Singer, John Medora, and David White and originally released by Danny & the Juniors. The song was released in the fall of 1957, and reached number one on the US charts on January 6, 1958, thus becoming one of the top-selling singles of 1958. "At the Hop" also hit number one on the R&B Best Sellers list. Somewhat more surprisingly, the record reached #3 on the Music Vendor country charts.

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The song became more prominent after it was performed by rock and roll revival act Sha Na Na at the 1969 Woodstock Festival and featured in the 1973 coming-of-age teen drama American Graffiti. Musically, it's notable for combining several of the most popular formulas in 1950s rock'n'roll, the twelve-bar blues, boogie-woogie piano and the 50s progression.

From The 100 Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Songs Ever by Avram Mednick:

Another big favorite of the guys in my building in the Bronx was "At The Hop", by Danny & the Juniors. Lee would sing lead, which meant he grabbed a bat or a broom or a stick or something to use as a microphone and he took the verses while the others sang back-up and chimed in with the chorus. It had all the doo-wop elements, four-part harmonies, ahs and oohs, oh babies, adolescent sensibilities, and inane lyrics. Nonetheless, a classic which defined the era as much as any '50's hit:

Well, you can rock it you can roll it Do the stamp and really stroll it At the hop. When the record starts spinning Wet your lips, wind your chicken At the hop. Do the dance sensation That is sweeping the nation At the hop.

Mythology has it that Dick Clark advised the manager of Danny & the Juniors, a local Philadelphia doo-wop group, to change the lyric of a new song from "Do The Bop" to "At The Hop". True or not, the result was fabulous: number one on the charts for six weeks in the winter of 1958 and over a million copies sold. They followed quickly with "Rock And Roll Is Here To Stay", another huge hit, and then "Dottie", a lesser success. Other than records to capitalize on the twist and then the limbo, that was about it.

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Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons - Working My Way Back To You - from the album Anthology (1966)

"Working My Way Back to You" is a song made popular by The Four Seasons in 1966 and The Spinners in 1979.

Written by Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell, the song was originally recorded by The Four Seasons in 1966, reaching number nine on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. In the UK Top 50 chart it spent three weeks - all at No. 50. It is the only hit to feature the group's arranger Charles Calello in the temporary role of bassist/bass vocalist, having replaced original member Nick Massi.

The song is about a man who cheated on his girlfriend and also emotionally abused her. When she leaves, he realizes that he did love her and is very remorseful about his past actions. He vows to win her love back. It is in some ways a re-casting of the melody from their previous hit, "Let's Hang On!".

Not to suggest that the Four Seasons' bountiful success was entirely due to graft. Some of their performances in the mid-'60s were like the last word on the whole Doo Wop/street-corner style, like "Working My Way Back to You," a production so soulful that it was later covered note-for-note by a Black group, the Spinners. And, once again, it was macho: "I used to love to make you cry/it made me feel like a man inside," Frankie sang. Their songs spoke to all the struggling working class Joes coming home with lipstick on their collar to the young wife holding the screaming baby: "Joey, you promised!" You know, sometimes he might just have to take a swing. Rocky-type stuff, but at that time it worked. So much so that the Four Seasons enjoyed hit after hit, not officially disbanding until 1970. By then even they wore hippie clothes.

Joe S. Harrington. Sonic Cool: The Life & Death of Rock 'n' Roll p. 88

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The Beatles - Please Please Me on Please Please Me Album (1963)

"Please Please Me" is a song and the second single released by English rock group the Beatles in the United Kingdom, and the first to be issued in the United States. It was also the title track of their first LP, which was recorded to capitalise on the success of the single. It was originally a John Lennon composition, although its ultimate form was significantly influenced by George Martin. John Lennon: "Please Please Me is my song completely. It was my attempt at writing a Roy Orbison song, would you believe it? I wrote it in the bedroom in my house at Menlove Avenue, which was my auntie's place". (David Sheff. John Lennon: All We Are Saying).

The single was released in the UK on 11 January 1963 and reached No. 1 on the New Musical Express and Melody Maker charts. However, it only reached No. 2 on the Record Retailer chart, which subsequently evolved into the UK Singles Chart. Because of this it was not included on the multi-million selling Beatles compilation, 1.

The single, as initially released with "Ask Me Why" on the B-side, failed to make much impact in the US in February 1963, but when re-released there on 3 January 1964 (this time with "From Me to You" on the B-side), it reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100.

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Gary Lewis & The Playboys - Green Grass on The Best Of Album (1966)

"Green Grass" is a song written by Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway and was recorded by Gary Lewis & the Playboys. The song reached #8 on The Billboard Hot 100 in 1966.

May 14, 1966, Billboard

POP SPOTLIGHT

HITS AGAIN
Gary Lewis & the Playboys
Liberty LRP 3452 (M); LST 7452 (S)

Basing the package on their latest singles chart climber, "Green Grass,"the hot group has more hit sounds to appeal to the teenagers. Dealers will report rapid sales action on this LP chart winner.

May 7, 1966 Billboard

SPOTLIGHT SINGLES

GARY LEWIS AND THE PLAYBOYS - GREEN GRASS (Prod. by Dave Pell) (Mills, ASCAP) - Upbeat lyric romancer with top instrumental backing will prove another hit single for the group. Excellent electric piano in background.

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