Song: No Sugar Tonight (1970) Artist: The Guess Who Album: American Woman Writer: Randy Bachman No Sugar Tonight was released as a B-side for the Guess Who’s single, American Woman, perhaps their best-known song. The single hit number one on the week of May 9, 1970, becoming their biggest hit. Originally, however, No Sugar Tonight was … Read more
Song: La Grange (1973) Artist: ZZ Top Album: Tres Hombres What’s the most covered ZZ Top song? La Grange. What ZZ Top Song is most often played on the radio? La Grange. Released in 1973 on the album, Tres Hombres, the song also has the most interesting history, although it was not originally a big hit, … Read more
Song: Soulshine (1994) Artist: Allman Brothers Band Album: Where It All Begins Soulshine is actually the song I think about when I think of the Allman Brothers Band. But, not even the songwriter himself, Warren Haynes, who joined the band in 1989 after they reunited, originally thought of it as an Allman Brothers song. When … Read more
“Everyone is helpful, everyone is kind, On the road to Shambala…” Like all of Three Dog Night’s top ten hits, Shambala was a cover song. It was actually written by Daniel Moore, but the first artist to make the song actually entered a week before Three Dog Night’s version, which appeared on their album Cyan. Texan … Read more
“Mama told me not to come; that ain’t the way to have fun!” Three Dog Night, from 1969 to 1975, was a hit-making machine. They had 21 songs on the charts, and 11 of them were in the top ten, not to mention 12 gold albums in a row. Yet, they wrote few of their own … Read more
Song: Maggie May (1971) Artist: Rod Stewart Album: Every Picture Tells a Story (Mercury) Maggie May was Rod Stewart’s first big number one hit. Ironically, it was the B-side of the song he thought would be his breakthrough, Reason to Believe, a cover of a folk song by Tim Hardin, today a true classic in … Read more
Long before Bananarama got a hold of it, in 1970, the song Venus became the first of only two songs out of Holland (the Netherlands) to rise to the top of the American chart. Not to be confused with the Frankie Avalon song of the same name, Venus was recorded by the band Shocking Blue, led … Read more