Transcript
Jake Brennan (0:04)
Double Elvis Hey, Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. Now I don't know if you've heard but Mint's Premium Wireless is $15 a month. But I'd like to offer one other perk. We have no stores. That means no small talk crazy weather we're having. No it's not. It's just weather. It is an introvert's dream. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment.
Ryan Reynolds (0:30)
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Jake Brennan (1:00)
Start growing your business today. Head over to get started.TikTok.com TikTokads Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. The stories about Tommy James and the Shondells are insane. He was obsessed with guns, his hits were sanctioned by the mafia, he was heavily addicted to pills and a one time supplier of speed to the Vice President of the United States. Tommy James came up during a time when the music industry was in part controlled by New York's Italian mafia, and for a period in the 1960s that power was centralized at Roulette Records. The record label was run by convicted extortionist Morris Levy and operated in partnership with the Genovese crime family. This was where Tommy James made some of his greatest hits. Great music. Unlike that music I played for you at the top of the show, that wasn't great music. That was a preset loop for my melotron called Frank's nice and sleazy mk2. I played you that loop because I can't afford the rights to Monday Monday by the Mamas and Papas. And why would I play you that specific slice of Wrecking Crew cheese? Could I afford it? Because that was the number one song in America on May 21, 1966. And that was the day Billboard magazine reported that the rights to re release Tommy James in the Shondel's regional hit Hanky Panky had been purchased by Roulette Records, an event that would drastically alter the course of Tommy James life and very nearly lead to his death. On this episode, music The Mafia Mony Mony and Tommy James. James and the Shondells. I'm Jake Brennan and this is disgrace. Tommy James was exhausted. The black beauties helped. That's what they were called on the street anyway. Speed amphetamines. Late 60s heads used them to stay up all night to counter the grass. Soldiers over in Vietnam relied on them to stay awake on overnights in the shit. The soldiers were also relying on Vice President Hubert Humphrey to get them out of the mess that that President Lyndon B. Johnson had landed them in. It was 1968 and there didn't seem to be an end in sight for the Vietnam War. But if the VP and current candidate to replace President Johnson had a plan, the country didn't yet know about it. Tommy James waited in his midtown high rise for the car, struggling to keep his eyes open despite the late morning hour. He contemplated another pill. The car would be on time. The Vice President had sent it. Tommy James had been up all night. There was another sold out Coliseum show the night before. His group, Tommy James and the Shondells were flying high. One of the biggest in the country and abroad with massive top 10 hits beginning in 1966 with Hanky Panky continuing into 67 with I Think We're Alone now and into 68 with the movie Monster. Smash. Mony Mo Ne. Currently, the song was everywhere. Tommy heard it that morning on the radio in his apartment while waiting for his ride. He remembered back to writing that song in that very apartment. Stuck with his songwriting partner for hours, trying to find a word to hang the chorus on. Boney Boney. That wouldn't do. What about Phony Phony? Nah, that didn't make much sense. They sat on Tommy's outdoor patio, sharing a joint overlooking the Manhattan skyline, searching for an answer to unlock the riddle that was their song. And there it was in big neon letters staring back at them. The flashing Mutual of New York sign atop the insurance company's building at 1740 Broadway, a couple blocks from Tommy's building. The first letters of each word spelled it out for them. M, O, N, Y. Mony Mony. Moy Mony. Yeah, that's it. Yes, that's it. They had their hit. The song went like gangbusters up the charts and solidified Tommy James and the Shondells as one of the biggest pop groups of the day. So big and with such influence over American teenagers that the Vice President came calling upon Tommy and his group to help him boost attendance at the VP's campaign rallies that summer. It worked. Tommy and the Shondells could take a Humphrey campaign event and with their jaw balloon the size of the event from a couple thousand to more than 10,000, sometimes 20,000. Today's event was going to be different. Tommy knew it. He'd done many for Humphrey by this point and would do many more. Whatever was necessary to defeat Richard Nixon from gaining entry into the Oval Office. Tommy knew that today the VP was going to ask him for a favor. And where Tommy came from, from favors were currency. You didn't ask for them unless you were prepared to pay and you didn't grant them unless you were prepared to collect. When the limo arrived in the back seats, the party was in full effect. Comedian Alan King played it nonchalant, something cool and wet tumbling in the rocks, glass in his hand. He acknowledged Tommy with a hey kid. And went back to staring out his window. Actress Shelley Winters just stared at Tommy. She was clearly sauced, even at this early hour. She eschewed the formality of the glass and pulled Jack Daniels straight from the bottle. Whatever Alan King was annoyed with, it seemed to Tommy that the very drunk Shelley Winters was quite possibly at the top of that long list. Tommy sat back and played it cool, popped a pill, shot it back with a snort of Jack, rested his head back on the leather headrest and made like Alan King and ignored Shelley Winters. When they were on stage an hour or so later before Tommy's set, introducing the Vice President, Shelley almost fell over right there on stage in front of the audience. She was slurring her words, I'm Shelley Winters and I'm an actress and I can say any damn thing I want. And I say Hubert Humphrey is going to be the next President of the United States. Behind him on the stage, Alan King leaned over and quietly said to Tommy, at least she got his name right. Every time this fucking broad shows up, we lose 10,000 votes. The crowd roared with laughter. Alan and Tommy and everyone else in attendance all realized at that moment that the stage mics had picked up Allen's commentary and 10,000 plus people had just heard him. Shit talk Shelley Winters in real time. It didn't matter. If anything it helped. The crowd loved it and they loved Tommy and the Shondell set. And they loved Hubert Humphrey as well. The VP came on in rapped harmony, rapped power to the people, rapped non committal Vietnam strategy, rapped Tricky Dick in unemployment. Tommy James, like everyone else in attendance, lapped it up. Later that night, backstage, he sat with the Vice President and a small group of others. Humphrey asked Tommy if he would Lead the President's Council on Youth Affairs. It was a sub cabinet position, but an important one nonetheless. And here was Tommy James, singer of pop songs with nonsensical titles like Mony Mony and Hanky Panky, accepting the prestigious position. The Vice President was happy to hear Tommy's answer. He was also tired. He confided in Tommy, as he had come to do more often on their trips from campaign stop to campaign stop, that he was exhausted and had no idea how he was going to stay up all night writing this new speech. Tommy, ever the pleaser, saw an opportunity to help out and further embed himself in the VP's good graces. You know, when I have to stay up, I sometimes take these little stay awake pills. Tommy reached into his pocket, pulled out a vial of black beauties and gave one to Humphrey, who happily accepted. Needless to say, the VP's next speech killed Tommy. James was opportunistic. Life, especially in America, presented you with opportunities. It was like a game of cards. And to Tommy, it was all how you played them. He played his first break back in 1966 into a winning hand. He recorded a local single back on his home turf in Michigan, Hanky Panky. It sold okay, but failed to set the world on fire. So his band, the Shondells, split, abandoned him for the straight world, the service, marriage, etc. Tommy was adrift, alone, broke and busted. It stung. He thought he and his bandmates were boys, a gang in it to conquer hearts and the charts. But in the end, Tommy James and his Hanky Panky were nothing but a fad to the rest of his band. When he got the call from Pittsburgh's famous dj, the larger than life on air personality from wzumam, Mad Mike. Mike laid it down for him real simple. Tommy James, your song, Hanky Panky. It's a bona fide smash, man. I can't stop playing it. My listeners won't let me. Get your ass over to Pittsburgh with the rest of the Shondells and come on my show. The station will put together a concert for you to play to your fans. Fans? Tommy James had fans. He didn't even have a band anymore. That didn't matter. Instinctively, Tommy knew this was his opportunity. Sure, Mr. Mike. Me and the band will be there for sure. Right away, sir. Tommy wasn't about to tell the DJ he no longer had a band, that they'd left him in the lurch. He'd figure the band thing out. Later he'd find a band in a club 30 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Hey, you guys want to be the Shondells? Sure. Great. And voila. Tommy James once again had a band. And when it came to Mad Mike and the radio appearance, Tommy James was all, yes, sir, sure, sir, right away, sir. You can count on me, sir. Tommy sees the opportunity just like he would later with the Vice President. And just like he would after Pittsburgh in the Big Apple, when another larger than life personality would make him an offer he couldn't refute.