Leader of the Pack

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"Leader of the Pack" is a 1964 pop song recorded by girl group The Shangri-Las. It became number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 28, 1964.

The tune was credited to producer George "Shadow" Morton with Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. According to Morton [1], he originally wrote the song for a different group, the Goodies (also known as the Bunnies [2]), but instead it was needed as a follow-up to the Shangri-Las hit "Remember (Walking in the Sand)". Morton claimed he credited Barry and Greenwich as co-writers for business reasons, and recorded the song independently with the Shangri-Las; however, his recollection of these events has been questioned by Ellie Greenwich. It was also reported that a motorcycle was brought into the hall just outside the recording studio, and the sound of its revving engine was incorporated into the mix.

In the United Kingdom, the song was refused airplay by the BBC because it was considered likely to encourage violence between mods and rockers [3]. It still charted four times in the UK between 1965 and 1976, peaking at number 3 in 1972. [4]. The record also reached number 1 in Australia.

Later in 1965, a parody record, "Leader of the Laundromat," written by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss, was released by The Detergents. This resulted in Morton, Barry and Greenwich filing a lawsuit for plagiarism. The Downliners Sect also released a parody on their 1965 "Sect Sing Sick Songs" EP called "Leader Of The Sect."

In 1984, a Broadway musical, "Leader of the Pack," opened, based on the songs of Ellie Greenwich.

In 1985 the hard rockers Twisted Sister gave the song a short revival by putting a cover version (from the eponymous Leader's perspective) on their album Come Out and Play and publishing a video for the song.

The song was also used in the 2006 movie Happy Feet sung by the character Néstor who is voiced by Carlos Alazraqui, with a sad rhythm quite different from the original.

[edit] Trivia

• The opening line from "Leader of the Pack" - "Is she really going out with him ?" - was recycled both as the opening line of "New Rose" by the Damned - usually considered the first British punk rock record, in 1976 - and as the title of the 1979 hit song by Joe Jackson.
• Billy Joel, an unknown working as a session musician at the time, has been reported as playing piano on the original recording.^{[citation needed]}
• The Zombies' drummer Hugh Grundy recalls being the one revving up a real motorcycle backstage, when the Shangri-Las performed the song on a U.S. tour with the Zombies.
• The tune was used by the political satire group The Capitol Steps for their song "A Leader Like Barack", about Barack Obama.

Preceded by "Baby Love" by The Supremes

Billboard Hot 100 number one single November 28, 1964

Succeeded by "Ringo" by Lorne Greene