1967 Pop Rock Song Became a Hit, Despite Radio Stations Editing Out an Entire Section They Disliked

"Susan" was a 1967 song from The Buckinghams that spent 12 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song peaked at No. 11, and that same year, Billboard Magazine named them the most listened to band in America.

However, at this time, the Buckinghams weren't happy with their music producer, James William Guercio. He had added an excerpt from Central Park in the Dark, a musical composition by Charles Ives, to "Susan" that contrasted harshly with the rest of the song. The band didn't like the sound of the excerpt. Neither did radio stations. Many edited out the section when they aired the song. After this disagreement, Guercio split with the band. He went on to produce Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears instead.

During an interview with XMFan, the lead singer of the band, Carl Giammarese, spoke about the big impression that the band made on its fans. "Today I'll still have people come up to me after the show and tell me they were in Vietnam and how our music helped them get through it," he said. "It gives me a really warm feeling and still gets me choked up a little bit when I think about it because I can really relate to and feel for what was going on at the time."

He continued, "Of course, our songs were not protest songs or heavy tunes - they were basically love songs, the guy-girl breaking up and getting together type music - and I think that kind of music was important to them being over there fighting that war too, because it made them think of their girlfriends back home and gave them something to hold on to. Maybe it was just a lighter note to help them forget about their problems and troubles that were going on there at the time."

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Giammarese also spoke about their expectations when they were first starting out. "Everything changed when The Beatles came along," he said. "All of a sudden, we all wanted to be Beatles and make hit records, be famous. My goals in '66 were to be in a successful band on the top of the charts, be a rock star and the whole nine yards. That's what we were striving for, even though we were a little bit unsure about how to get there, and some of it was just blind luck. A lot of it was we were just lucky to have the right look, the right guys in the band, and the right songs to come along."

The Buckinghams had other hits like "Kind of a Drag," "Don't You Care," "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy," and "Hey Baby (They're Playing Our Song)."

The band broke up in 1970. However, they reformed in 1980 and still tour to this day.

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This story was originally published June 20, 2026 at 9:53 AM.