(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please refer down below)
The Buckinghams - "Kind of a Drag"
Hit Number 1: February 18, 1967
Stay at Number 1: 2 Weeks
I've noticed a lot of this in the 1960s. As I enter 1967, I've seen my fair share of obscure bands that all of a sudden had this brief reign of stardom. Well, the Buckinghams are one of those bands. (Zero relation to Fleetwood Mac member Lindsey Buckingham) It didn't even take them long to become popular, as they formed in 1966 out of Chicago, the year before their first #1 hit in "Kind of a Drag". And "Kind of a Drag" was only the start of their popularity in 1967. They only had four other top ten hits in their entire history, all of them coming in 1967. I don't know why all of a sudden the cool thing to do was to buy Buckinghams' records, but it was thirty years before I was even born, so maybe I shouldn't talk too much about that.
What the band did do, however, was capitalize on the huge sunshine pop movement going on in America around that time. The Buckinghams weren't exactly psychedelic, as the lyrics in their songs actually make sense, but they weren't rock and roll either, and they used a lot of the same sounds you'd see in psychedelic rock. Most notably was the keyboards/organs, an instrument that we'll see a lot of as we continue to wind our way through the latter 1960s. "Kind of a Drag" is exactly that. It's generic, but it's nice enough.
The song was written by a guy named Jim Holvay, a fellow Chicago musician who was part of a band called the Mob. (From my research, they don't seem to have much chart success) Either he flat out gave up on the song, or he offered it to the Buckinghams, but either way he might've liked a do over on the decision. "Kind of a Drag" was an out of nowhere hit, that took down the Monkees' seven week reign at #1 with "I'm a Believer". There isn't much that makes "Kind of a Drag" that awesome of a song, as it's very generic, but it's not a song that I didn't enjoy while I listened to it. It's pleasant on the ears, and the horns section, along with the noodling keyboard solo, gives it a nice touch. Again, I don't know that it's #1 worthy, but there's nothing about it that makes me feel compelled to dislike it. It's a nice little nothing of a song.
GRADE: 6/10
SONGS REFERENCED:
The Monkees - "I'm a Believer"
MY INSPIRATION / MORE INFORMATION:
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