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What Celebrating 50 Years Since Reaching #1 on Billboard Means in the World of The Buckinghams

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

Announcing The Buckinghams' new CD is Here!

You asked for it, you got it! Announcing the arrival of The Buckinghams' new CD on Fuel Records! It's called Flashback! Are you ready to hear new recordings of some of The Buckinghams' earliest hit records? The ones they released first on USA Records in Chicago and played in concert there and all around the midwest when they toured? Pluse all their Billboard chart hits. You'll really like these tracks. Here's the list:  GET YOUR OWN COPY EARLY AT The Buckinghams' web site,  BEFORE IT'S AVAILABLE ANYWHERE ELSE.   Visit The Buckinghams ' web site and get it today.

Early Music from The Buckinghams featured in Time Out Chicago Magazine

Various Artists By Brent DiCrescenzo 2131 South Michigan Avenue: 60’s Garage & Psychedelia from U.S.A. and Destination Records (Sundazed) At 2120 South Michigan Avenue, a monument and museum honor the home of Chess Records. Across the street sprout fresh cement foundations for urban condos. But four decades back, another modest music studio and label sat on that block. Paul Glass started U.S.A. Records as an extension of his distribution biz and hired music promoter and part-time law student Jim Golden to sniff out hip teen acts to cash in on Beatlemania. With an ear for a radio hit, Golden successfully scoured suburban garages and farmland sock hops for the hottest garage rock on the Lake Michigan plain. Well, the ones that weren’t already big enough for Chicago’s larger rock imprint, Dunwich. 2131 South Michigan Avenue beautifully collects forgotten beat bands that probably ruled as pop gods in their corn towns... As with most any good collection of dusty grooves, the anecdotes a