VLVL (13) p. 270 - "He wanted to quote the Shangri-Las..."

[Richard Ryan]

*** Babies of Wackiness: "Reference to the Shangri-Las' old rock 'n' roll song "Leader of the Pack." The full line goes, 'He's bad, but he's not evil.'"

*** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shangri-Las

"...The [Shangri-las'] recordings for Morton featured lavish production with heavy orchestration and sound effects, and their next and biggest hit, "Leader of the Pack" (U.S. #1, UK #11), climaxes with roaring motorcycles and breaking glass. UK re-issues peaked at 3 in 1972 and 7 in 1976. The song epitomized the "death disc"; other examples include Ray Peterson's "Tell Laura I Love Her", Jan and Dean's "Dead Man's Curve", J Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers's "Last Kiss, and Twinkle's "Terry"."

*** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leader_of_the_Pack

"...In July 1964, Morton recorded the song with the Shangri-Las at the Ultrasonic Sound studio on the second floor of a Manhattan hotel. Billy Joel, then a young session musician, claimed he played piano on "Leader of the Pack", but this has been denied by Greenwich.

According to legend, to add the authentic sound of a motorcycle engine, one was driven through the lobby of the hotel and up to the floor of the recording studio. No one was arrested, but a ticket was issued[3]. However, in an interview four decades later, Shangri-Las lead singer Mary Weiss said the motorcycle sound was taken from an effects record. The Zombies' drummer Hugh Grundy recalls revving up a motorcycle backstage when the Shangri-Las performed on a U.S. tour.

In the United Kingdom, the song was refused airplay by the BBC, probably due to its death theme, although some have speculated that it was considered likely to encourage violence between mods and rockers [...]

In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the song among the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, at #447."