Top 10 Shadows Of Knight Songs

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Chicago’s northwest suburbs gave The Shadows of Knight a launching pad, and the band quickly turned local club heat into national chart action. Formed in 1964 as the Shadows, the group changed its name in 1965 after learning a British act already used the original name. The new moniker leaned into the British Invasion moment, and it also nodded to Prospect High School in Mt. Prospect, where four members attended and whose teams were called the Knights. Early on, the core lineup centered on vocalist Jim Sohns, with Warren Rogers, Norm Gotsch, Wayne Pursell, and drummer Tom Schiffour, then shifted as Joe Kelley came in on bass and Jerry McGeorge replaced Gotsch after Gotsch joined the U.S. Navy and served in Vietnam.

The band’s first real stronghold was The Cellar in Arlington Heights, Illinois, where they worked as the house band and built a devoted teen following on weekend nights. A major step arrived after a standout show supporting the Byrds at McCormick Place in 1965, which drew the attention of Dunwich Records producers Bill Traut and George Badonski. The group signed with Dunwich and recorded a cover of “Gloria,” originally released by Them, as its first effort for the label. The record broke wide after gaining airplay, with the band making a lyric adjustment that helped it fit AM radio standards at the time.

“Gloria” became their defining hit, reaching number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1966, climbing as high as number 7 in Cash Box, and hitting number 8 in Canada on the RPM Magazine charts. The single sold over one million copies and earned a gold disc from the RIAA. That success drove the band’s early album run, beginning with Gloria in 1966 and continuing quickly with Back Door Men later the same year. Their follow up singles kept them on the national charts, including “Oh Yeah,” which reached number 39 on the Hot 100, “Bad Little Woman,” which reached number 91, and “I’m Gonna Make You Mine,” which reached number 90.

Lineup turbulence arrived fast, with Schiffour leaving in 1967 and McGeorge moving on to H.P. Lovecraft, while Joe Kelley departed to front his own blues band. By mid 1967, Sohns was the lone original member still in the group, and he trademarked the band name, shaping the next incarnation of The Shadows of Knight around new personnel. The late 1960s also brought a different business reality, with Sohns signing the band to Buddah Records in New York and the group being paired on tour with bubblegum acts such as the 1910 Fruitgum Company and the Ohio Express. The period produced “Shake,” released on Buddah’s Team Records imprint, which reached number 46 on the Hot 100 and number 37 in Canada, and it led to the 1969 studio album Shadows of Knight.

The band’s reputation has remained tied to the garage era, and the record collecting culture that grew around it. In 1972, Lenny Kaye used the term “garage punk” in the track notes for the Nuggets compilation, pointing to The Shadows of Knight’s “Oh Yeah” as a prime example. That kind of canonization helped keep the group’s name circulating through reissues and archival releases, particularly as live recordings surfaced later, including Raw ’n Alive at the Cellar, Chicago 1966! and a 1972 performance captured in Rockford, Illinois.

The 1990s brought renewed visibility, driven in part by Sundazed Music remastering and reissuing the band’s first two albums, and by multiple live releases that documented how hard the group could hit onstage. In the 2000s, The Shadows of Knight stepped into a new round of public attention when they headlined Little Steven’s Underground Garage tour in 2006 with the Romantics. That same period also included a Halloween performance connected to Cheap Trick that was televised on VH 1 Classic. The band added a late-career studio chapter with A Knight To Remember in 2007, expanding its studio album count to four, while continuing to rely on live performances and reissues as the core of its late-era presence.

Outside of recordings and touring, the band’s story includes concrete, named detours that shaped its identity. Dan Baughman left the group to pursue a career in metal sculpture. Jim Sohns stepped into a behind-the-scenes role as road manager for Skafish from 1978 to 1980, then joined that band onstage to sing “Gloria” as an encore.

The group’s long tail continued into the 2010s and 2020s through reunions and new releases, including a 2016 concert in Arlington Heights celebrating Sohns’ seventieth birthday and the fiftieth anniversary of “Gloria,” and the 2020 single “Wild Man,” released with a remake of “I Ain’t Got You” on Steven Van Zandt’s Wicked Cool Records and debuting on Sirius XM’s Underground Garage. Jim Sohns died on July 29, 2022, and drummer Tom Schiffour died in January 2025, closing the chapter on the founding era while leaving a catalog that still connects Chicago blues attitude, British blues influence, and garage rock punch.

Top 10 Shadows Of Knight Songs

# 10 – Someone Like Me

We open with a song that definitely has that “Gloria” feel to it. This was the band’s sixth single release. It was issued in 1967 as a non album track single

# 9 – My Fire Department Needs A Fireman

If you listen to this track, it may cross your mind that The Runaways might have also been listening to this song when they wrote “Cherry Bomb.”

# 8 – Light Bulb Blues

This cracking song, “Light Bulb Blues,” was released as the B-side to
“Oh Yeah.” It was released in 1966. It was also issued on the Gloria album.

# 7 – I Am The Hunter

I wonder how many songs in Rock and Roll history have the word “hunter” in the title? This was the band’s only single released in 1970. It would be the band’s last single until the 2020s, when they made a comeback.

# 6 – I’m Gonna Make You Mine

“I’m Gonna Make You Mine” was the fourth single released by the band. It was issued in 1966. The song broke into the US Billboard Hot 100 peaking at number 90. It was also released on the album Back Door Man.

# 5 – Dark Side

The song’s opening chords remind me of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer’s “Lucky Man.” Yet this one came first. “Dark Side” was issued as the B-side to the band’s debut single “Gloria” in 1966.

# 4 – Bad Little Woman

The song “Bad Little Woman” was released in 1966. It was the third single released by The Band. It was also the band’s third song to break into the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 91.

# 3 – Shake

This one will help loosen up those rock and roll shoes. Such vintage rock and roll music from the 1960s and it’s a shame that too many people don’t realize that this band was so inspirational for so many groups to come later on. This is a biggie! And it should be bigger.

# 2 – Oh Yeah

Oh yeah, it would become the band’s second biggest single of their career. It was also their second single. It was released in 1966 and peaked at number 39 on the Billboard Hot 100

# 1 – Gloria

Most people associate this song with Van Morrison and Them. But this was a very cool version released a few years later. “Gloria” would become the band’s biggest single of their career. It was also their debut single. You just wonder how many bands had the biggest singles of their careers, also stand as their debut singles.