Silver was an American 1970s
country rock
Country rock is a genre of music which fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal s ...
band, best known for their 1976 pop
hit "
Wham Bam
"Wham Bam" is a 1976 song by the American group Silver, written by country songwriter Rick Giles. It was the only charting song by the group. John Batdorf sings lead vocals.
Background
Arista executives gave the band the song to record, after c ...
," written by country songwriter Rick Giles. The song peaked in charts in USA, Canada and Australia.
Members
Members of the group included
John Batdorf
John Batdorf (born March 26, 1952) is an American singer and songwriter from Yellow Springs, Ohio. He is the son of Jack and Nancy Batdorf, and nephew of Earl Batdorf, aka Earl Scott, a Country singer who charted several hits during the mid-1960s ...
(formerly of
Batdorf & Rodney), lead vocals and guitar;
Brent Mydland (later of the
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
), keyboards and vocals;
Tom Leadon
Tom Leadon (pronounced ''led-un''; born September 16, 1952) is an American musician. He is one of the founding members of Tom Petty's original band, Mudcrutch, and remained its guitarist following its revival in 2007. He is the brother of Bernie ...
(brother of the
Eagles
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...
'
Bernie Leadon and a former member of
Tom Petty's early group
Mudcrutch), bass guitar and vocals; Greg Collier, guitar and vocals; and
Harry Stinson, drums and percussion.
Phil Hartman designed the
cover art
Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game (box art), music album (album art), ...
for ''Silver'', the quintet's only album. The
band's
recordings
A record, recording or records may refer to:
An item or collection of data Computing
* Record (computer science), a data structure
** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity
** Boot sector or boot record, r ...
were released on the
Arista
Arista may refer to:
Organizations
*Arista Networks, a software defined networking company
*Arista Records, an American record label, division of Sony Music
**Arista Nashville, a record label specializing in country music
*Arista (honor society) ...
record label.
Career
The
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
's title, "
Wham Bam
"Wham Bam" is a 1976 song by the American group Silver, written by country songwriter Rick Giles. It was the only charting song by the group. John Batdorf sings lead vocals.
Background
Arista executives gave the band the song to record, after c ...
," was shown as "Wham Bam Shang-A-Lang" and peaked at #16 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 the week of October 2, 1976. It is ranked as the 70th biggest hit of 1976.
Arista
Arista may refer to:
Organizations
*Arista Networks, a software defined networking company
*Arista Records, an American record label, division of Sony Music
**Arista Nashville, a record label specializing in country music
*Arista (honor society) ...
executives gave the band the song to record after concluding that none of the other tracks on the album they produced had single potential. Arista head
Clive Davis
Clive Jay Davis (born April 4, 1932) is an American record producer, A&R executive, record executive, and lawyer. He has won five Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer, in 2000.
From 1967 to 1 ...
himself co-produced the single with Tom Sellers; the rest of the album was produced by Sellers and Silver.
Chicago radio superstation
WLS WLS may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* WLS (AM), a radio station in Chicago, Illinois, US
* WLS-FM, a radio station in Chicago, Illinois, US
* WLS-TV, a television station in Chicago, Illinois, US
* DWLS, a radio station in Metro Manila ...
, which gave "Wham Bam" much airplay, ranked the song as the 80th biggest hit of 1976. It peaked at number eight on their surveys of October 23 and 30, 1976.
Arista released two further singles by the band, "Musician (It's Not an Easy Life)" and "Memory" which featured the non-album track "So Much for the Past", written by Brent Mydland, on the B-side.
Aftermath
Silver broke up in 1978. Mydland joined the
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
in 1979, and was the band's longest-tenured keyboardist, remaining with the group until his death in 1990 at the age of 37.
Mydland was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...
as a member of the Dead in 1994. Leadon rejoined Mudcrutch when that band reunited in 2007. Stinson became a country session musician, and was a member of
Steve Earle
Stephen Fain Earle (; born January 17, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, author, and actor. Earle began his career as a songwriter in Nashville and released his first EP in 1982. Initially working in the country music g ...
's backing band The Dukes in the mid 1980s.
The band can be heard in the 2017
Marvel Studios
Marvel Studios, LLC (originally known as Marvel Films from 1993 to 1996) is an American film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of the Walt Disney Company. Marvel Studios produces the Mar ...
sequel film, ''
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
''Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'' is a 2017 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team Guardians of the Galaxy, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to ' ...
'', as "Wham Bam Shang-A-Lang" is included on
the movie's soundtrack.
Discography
* ''
Silver'' (1976)
See also
*
List of 1970s one-hit wonders in the United States
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Silver (band)
Rock music groups from California
Musical groups from Los Angeles
American country rock groups