Top 5 - Hits Not Written By The Band's Primary Song Writers

I know, I know, long title. But bands seemed to have a single songwriter or songwriting duo. Take Jagger & Richards, or Plant & Page or Lennon & McCartney. Sometimes, the other band members pop out with a song that not only shakes up an album, but becomes a hit.

Here are my Top 5 Hit Songs Not Written By The Normal Songwriters In A Band. Did I just make the title longer?

5. Trick of the Light - The Who’s John Entwistle. While Pete Townsend did the lion’s share of the writing, The Ox did have a few songs pop up on some of their volumes. Trick of the Light is the best with it’s hard driving rhythms.

4. Radio Ga Ga - Queen’s Roger Taylor. Being in a band with Freddie Mercury and Brian May, not to mention John Decon’s contributions in their latter era, it would be hard to get a song in edgewise! Taylor’s first single reached #2 in the UK.

3. Sister Christian - Night Ranger’s Kelly Keagy. Jack Blades and Brad Gillis took on most of the band’s songwriting duties, but their biggest hit belongs to Kelly Keagy, the band’s founding drummer.

2. Something - Beatles’ George Harrison. While George was no stranger to penning songs for Beatles albums, Something went straight to #1 in the United States.

1. Hymn to Her - Pretenders Chrissie Hynde takes most of the songwriting duties occasionally bringing in some songwriting support. As the only band member to last the entire career of the band, many would say the Pretenders is Chrissie Hynde. She is also not afraid to include covers on albums, likely paying tribute to the musicians she admires. Hymn to her became a #8 song in the UK upon it’s release and wasn’t even written by anyone in the band, but a childhood friend of her’s named Meg Keene, someone who never again dove into the music business.

Can you think of some other songs that should be on this list? Let me know!