Smash Palace's "Poor Man's Paradise" Climbs to #63 on National Triple A Radio Charts
A lost 1987 power pop album, the original lineup back together, and a single climbing the national Triple A charts. Smash Palace's moment is finally here.
The Philadelphia power pop veterans' lost 1987 album finally gets its moment, four decades later
Smash Palace are having quite a run. Four months into its radio campaign, "Poor Man's Paradise," the lead single from their 87 LP on Think Like A Key Music, has climbed to #63 on the national Triple A radio charts and is still rising. For a band whose story includes one of power pop's most notorious "lost albums," this feels like something close to justice.
If the name doesn't ring a bell, the backstory will hook you. Brothers Brian Butler (vocals) and Stephen Butler (lead guitar, vocals) first surfaced in Quincy, a new wave-power pop outfit who released an LP on Columbia Records in 1980. That band met an absurd end when producer Quincy Jones spotted the name on a marquee at the Whisky a Go Go and sent a cease-and-desist. The Butlers regrouped as Smash Palace, signed to Epic Records, and released a self-titled debut in 1985 that earned an MTV video for "Living on the Borderline" (directed by Nigel Dick) and a growing reputation as one of the sharpest power pop acts on the East Coast.
Then the wheels came off. Their A&R champion Dick Wingate left Epic and urged the band to follow him to Polygram. They did. The Polygram deal evaporated. And the follow-up album they'd been recording in 1987, brimming with hooks and ready to go, was locked in label purgatory. For nearly four decades, it existed only as a whispered "what if" among power pop collectors.
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The 87 LP: A Lost Album, Found
Released 10 October 2025 on TLAK, 87 finally tells that story. The album reunites the original Epic Records lineup: Brian Butler, Stephen Butler, Harry Lewis (drums), Phil Rizzo (bass), Greg Persun (rhythm guitar), and Gregory DiDonato (keyboards). Five of the original 1987 demos appear in their raw, unvarnished glory, while five tracks have been lovingly re-recorded by the reunited lineup with four decades of wisdom and road miles behind them. The result is a unique bridge between the band's critically acclaimed 1985 debut and the parallel universe where this album came out on schedule.
The sound is pure Smash Palace: '60s jangle, '70s rock swagger, '80s power pop punch, and a melodic instinct that never lets go. "Poor Man's Paradise" is the album's calling card, and Triple A radio programmers across the country have clearly agreed, keeping it in rotation week after week.
Still Climbing
The single debuted on the Triple A charts late in 2025 and has been a steady climber ever since, recently holding at #63 with no signs of slowing down. The band also cracked the top 2 in the charts' "Surging and Emerging" section. For an independent release on a boutique reissue label, competing in the same airspace as major-label acts, these numbers speak to the quality of the song and the tenacity of everyone involved, from radio promoter Bob Laul to the stations that have championed the track.
Live dates are coming, too. Smash Palace kick off on April 11, 2026 at 113 North in Wayne, PA.
87 is available now on CD and vinyl from Think Like A Key Music, Bandcamp, and all streaming platforms.
— TLAK Press Desk
