Songoftheday 5/22/12 - Don't you know what kind of man I am, don't say I'll ever fall in love again...

.38 Special - "Caught Up In You"

from the album Special Forces (1982)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #10 (three weeks)

weeks in the top-40: 12

This week's Song of the Day is by southern rock band .38 Special. Named after a bullet by Smith & Wesson made for a revolver, the groiup came together in the mid-70's behind singers Don Barnes and Donnie Van Zandt in northern Florida. Van Zandt's older brother Ronnie was the lead singer for iconic southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the Special had always been a more mainstream version of that group. In 1981 they had their most recognizable hit, "Hold On Loosely", which was a top-3 rock hit that year.

However, it took till their third album to give them their biggest hit in their original incarnation, with a song that harnessed the fire of rebel rock to a set four-minute pop package.

By the end of the 80's, Barnes would leave the group, replaced for a time by Max Carl (and have an even bigger hit with "Second Chance". The band, with Barnes returning,  would revisit the song with country star Trace Adkins a couple years ago...

Van Zant's younger brother, Johnny, would replaced his brother Donnie in Lynyrd Skynyrd after the plane crash that killed a big chunk of the band, and the brothers would also collaborate under the moniker Van Zant as a country duo, having a top-10 country hit with "Help Somebody".

Up tomorrow: Indiana's native son breaks through as a Cougar.