Songwriter Richie Cordell wrote (or co-wrote) and produced many of the group’s hits, among them the classic good-timing “I Think We’re Alone Now”, “Mirage”, and Tommy James and The Shondells Mony, Mony. The creation of Tommy James and The Shondells Mony, Mony was a group effort, involving Cordell, James, Shondells band member Peter Lucia, producer Bo Gentry, and Bobby Bloom. James and Cordell set out to create a party rock single working out everything except the song’s title, which eluded them even after much effort. They took a break from their creative endeavors on James’ apartment terrace, when they looked up at the Mutual Of New York Insurance Company’s large neon sign bearing the abbreviation for the company: M-O-N-Y. Both knew instantaneously their song now had a name for Tommy James and The Shondells Mony, Mony.
Tommy James and the Shondells Mony Mony produced a video when the song was a hit, hiring a video company to produce a short film of it. Even though a number of musical groups had already produced videos by that time, there was no market at all for that film in the US. Television stations would not air it, and it was originally shown between double features in movie theaters in Europe. The film was not seen in the US until the creation of MTV.
In recent years, the Billy Idol version has become the most played and popular version of Tommy James and The Shondells Mony, Mony. I still like the original and think Tommy James has not gotten enough credit for the list of pop songs that have covered into great dance songs these days that any good professional DJ keeps close by:
Mony Mony
I Think We’re Alone Now
Crimson and Clover
Hanky Panky
Sweet Cherry Wine
Crystal Blue Persuasion
Tommy James and The Shondells Mony, Mony Music Video
With “Mony Mony” becoming such a hit in the US and an even bigger one in the UK, James was contacted by George Harrison of The Beatles, who was working with a group called Grapefruit at the time. Harrison and the group had written some songs they wanted James to consider recording. Since the group came to a decision to change their musical style (and would do so with “Crimson and Clover”: see below) and the material Harrison and Grapefruit provided was in the style of Tommy James and The Shondells Mony, Mony, James turned down their offer.
The music business changed after the success of Tommy James and The Shondells Mony, Mony. Top 40 program formatting, based on 45 RPM single records, drove popular music on the radio. Few stations played cuts from record albums, so radio was, in effect, “selling” single records for the record companies.
James estimates the company owed him $30 million in royalties he never received.
I couldn’t resist adding the link to “I Think We’re Alone Now” as well! Another professional DJ favorite.