"Kind of a Drag" is a song written by

Jim Holvay James Steven "Jimmy Soul" Holvay (born May 16, 1945) is an American songwriter and musician best known for writing " Kind of a Drag", a number one hit for The Buckinghams. He is one of the founding members of The MOB, the first rock band to pe ...

and recorded by

the Buckinghams The Buckinghams are an American sunshine pop band from Chicago. They formed in 1966 and went on to become one of the top-selling acts of 1967, charting their only five top 40 hits in the U.S. that year. The band dissolved in 1970, but re-formed ...

. It was the title track of their debut LP. The single reached #1 on the U.S.

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

in February 1967, becoming the first #1 single within the new calendar year, remaining in the top position for two weeks, earning a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

. It was the first of the band's three Top 10 hits in 1967, among five total Top 40 hits for that year. Holvay was Chicago-based and had been performing with a group called The Mob. The co-producers of "Kind of a Drag" were the band's first personal manager

Carl Bonafede Carl Bonafede was born in the Little Italy Chicago community on October 16, 1940. He appeared as a young boy on local television on ''Morris B. Sach's Amateur Hour'' singing and playing the accordion. He appeared on an interview show, Ernie Simon ...

and big band leader Dan Belloc, owner of the Holiday Ballroom in Chicago. The arranger of the horn sound was Frank Tesinsky. The engineer at the first recording sessions held at

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll ...

in Chicago was

Ron Malo Ronald Clements Malo (August 29, 1935 in Illinois – August 15, 1992 in Burbank, California) was an American engineer for Chicago's Chess Studios from 1959 until 1970. He was the engineer for the first sessions the Rolling Stones did in the US, i ...

, who also mixed the final recording. The producers wanted to speed up the tempo of the final release. Ron Malo had the ability to do that, according to lead guitar player

Carl Giammarese The Buckinghams are an American sunshine pop band from Chicago. They formed in 1966 and went on to become one of the top-selling acts of 1967, charting their only five top 40 hits in the U.S. that year. The band dissolved in 1970, but re-formed ...

; Malo was able to keep "Kind of a Drag" in the key of G. Following this, the band's debut album, also entitled ''Kind of a Drag'', was released and featured the band's early recordings.Nite, Norm N. (1978). Rock On: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock N' Roll, volume II. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, p. 58, Norm N. Nite's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock N' Roll.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

* 1966 singles 1967 singles The Buckinghams songs Songs written by Jim Holvay Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles 1966 songs {{1960s-pop-song-stub