But, not The Monkees, yet again.
How many rock’n rollers had more big hits, 1963-72, than Tommy James and The Shondells? Songs that were about us and what we did and what we became - not Norwegian boners or Alligator Rock or revisited 1700s Scottish moors bagpipe reels - American songs like “I Think We’re Alone Now,” “Mony Mony,” “Hanky Panky,” “Tighter, Tighter, “Sweet Cherry Wine,” and “Draggin’ The Line.”
Songs that carried us from junior high school into our first full-time, adult jobs.
Just as Stevie Nicks supporting disabled Marines veterans Tommy James and the Shondells started reading the Bible and became Christians.
Jaded DJs spread the word that “Crystal Blue Persuasion” was about - wink, wink, say no more - drug abuse.
James saw similarities in Ezekiel and Revelations 19 and the separate words crystal and blue and the persuasion John The Evangelist used.
So, use opiates until you fall off that Horse and you’re even-money to join the RRHOF but if you write about the eternal verities you’ll playing high-schools gyms to bused-in seniors in Morristown, NJ.
A few years ago, I realized 40% of the RRHOFers were signed and repped by Ahmet Ertegun.
So that’s why Etta James, a backup singer, is in and Connie Francis isn’t.