LOOKING GLASS: GEMS/GETTY IMAGES. PRATT: FILM FRAME/MARVEL STUDIOS 2017.THE SELF-TITLED 1972 DEBUT ALBUM BY
New Jersey’s Looking Glass wavered between
midtempo country rock and plaintive ballads,
but “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” was an
exception. A breezy soft-rock number,
“Brandy” told the story of a seaside waitress’
unrequited love for a sailor, accented by a
backing chorus of “doot-doot-doot-doot” and
a horn section. The track propelled the quartet
into the national spotlight when it reached
No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated Aug. 26,
1972, after four weeks at No. 2 behind Gilbert
O’Sullivan’s “Alone Again (Naturally).”
It would be the band’s only song to crack
the top 30 and one of two titles to reach the
Hot 100 at all. Looking Glass peaked at No. 113
on the Billboard 200.
After its 1973 follow-up, Subway Serenade,
failed to chart, Looking Glass dissolved.
Frontman Elliot Lurie moved on to a solo
career and landed a single entry on the Adult
Contemporary chart in 1974, “Your Love
Song,” which peaked at No. 39.
But “Brandy” gained
a whole new generation
of fans this spring when
the song was featured
prominently in the film
Guardians of the Galaxy
Vol. 2. In the month
following the movie’s
May 5 premiere, the track
earned a 377 percent gain
in on-demand streams,
jumping from 1.4 million
to 6.6 million, according
to Nielsen Music.
Though the song plays during multiple
scenes, one in particular stood out to Lurie:
a character singing the tune in a T-top
convertible. “That is the way the song was
intended when it was first written,” he told
The Hollywood Reporter in May. “We were
hoping and praying for a hit record that
people would play in their convertibles with
the tops down.” —KEVIN RUTHERFORD45 Years Ago
‘BRANDY’ HIT
NO. 1 DECADES
BEFORE A
REDISCOVERY
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
exposed Looking Glass’ only top 10
hit to the streaming generation© Copyright 2017 by Prometheus Global Media LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in of the publisher. BILLBOARD MAGAZINE (ISSN 0006-2510; USPS 056-100) is published weekly except for two issues in January, Marchany retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,, June and August; three issues in April, May, July, September, November and December; and four issues in October by Prometheus without the prior written permission Global Media LLC, 340 Madi-
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REWINDING
THE
CHARTSCODA
Above, clockwise
from top left: Jeff
Grob, Larry Gonsky,
Lurie and Pieter
Sweval of Looking
Glass, circa 1972.
Left: Chris Pratt as
Star-Lord in a scene
from Guardians of the
Galaxy Vol. 2.80 BILLBOARD | SEPTEMBER 2, 2017