Silver were an American 1970s country rock band, best known for their 1976 pop hit "Wham Bam," written by country songwriter Rick Giles. Members of the group included John Batdorf (formerly of Batdorf & Rodney), lead vocals and guitar; Brent Mydland (later of the Grateful Dead), keyboards and vocals; Tom Leadon (brother of the Eagles' Bernie Leadon), bass guitar and vocals; Greg Collier, guitar and vocals; and Harry Stinson, drums and percussion. ... See more [+] Phil Hartman designed the cover art for Silver, the quintet's only album. The band's recordings were released on the Arista record label. The single's title, "Wham Bam", 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 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 himself co-produced the single with Tom Sellers; the rest of the album was produced by Sellers and Silver. Chicago radio superstation WLS, 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. The band can be heard in the 2017 Marvel Studios sequel film, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, as "Wham Bam Shang-A-Lang" is included on the movie's soundtrack.
