The Buckinghams in Concert

Everyone who is a fan of the band The Buckinghams can easily name all the songs that were Top 10 hits, Top 20 hits, and Billboard Top 100 chartmakers. You have several songs that have personal, special meaning for you. But the song that took the native Chicagoans out of the basements of the band members' homes was the one USA Records released last, almost as an afterthought. "Kind of a Drag" has the distinction of being the song that took this band to the national level. Many wonderful bands are part of Chicago history, and they are as beloved today as they were in their time. But this one song, "Kind of a Drag" took flight and went to #1 on Billboard 50 years ago today, February 18, 1967. Imagine what it was like for five young men to hold a copy of "Billboard" in their hands. For a few years, Carl and Jon-Jon had gone to the newsstand each week, buying a single copy of "Billboard" and reading it cover to cover. These days you hear about ...

From a Jan. 5, 2009 article in the Illinois Entertainer magazine, Jim Holvay's "Kind of a Drag" receives top song honors as made a signature tune of The Buckinghams: Songs 1-10 Illinois Entertainer picks the 25 greatest songs in Chicago history, continued below: "Hearing how much Magic 104.3 used to blast this song from my mom’s Chevy Citation while on garage-sale rounds, one gets an appreciation of what 1967 was like for Chicago and The Buckinghams. What we know today as the “Chicago horn sound” was astonishingly new when “Kind Of A Drag” landed, and the song seemed to encapsulate every sound from their ensuing album: stately pop, garage rock, blue-eyed soul, British invasion. True, Chicago (the band) had already formed at this point, but “Kind Of A Drag” contained a lot of ideas they’d pillage." Full story link at: http://illinoisentertainer.com/2009/01/songs-1-to-10/comment-page-1/