These posts are about the songs that can accurately claim to crossed the key line of chart success, becoming Top 40 hits on Billboard, but just barely. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 40. Tommy James spent plenty of time in the Billboard Top 40 when he was backed up by the Shondells. Debuting under the name Tommy James and the Shondells with the 1966 chart-topper “Hanky Panky” (a song they’d released at least twice previously without James’s name as prominent on the label), the group had a string of hit through the rest of the sixties, … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “I’m Comin’ Home”

These posts are about the songs that can accurately claim to crossed the key line of chart success, becoming Top 40 hits on Billboard, but just barely. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 40. Fanny was billed as the first all-female rock group to release an album on a major label. Naturally, given the stultifying sexism of the era, it’s entirely possible the band wouldn’t have reached that status without the behind-the-scenes influence of a male. Richard Perry was a producer with an eclectic batch of records on his resume, including Captain Beefheart’s Safe as Milk and God … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “Charity Ball”