band a "radio song:" (Steve Cash quote): "It was completely different than [most] of the music we [had] played up to that point. It had something; it had a [catchy] hook." Band member Jerry Mills would concur: (Jerry Mills quote): "'Jackie Blue' sounds commercial [because] it has a certain structure that happens to sound good on a car radio." "Jackie Blue" was the first of the band's singles to feature Lee on lead vocal, drawing comparisons to the Beach Boys – who were in fact a seminal influence on Larry Lee – and also Fleetwood Mac, with Bill Mann of The Montreal Gazette, apparently assuming the track was sung by a woman, dismissing "Jackie Blue" as "an outrageous [knockoff] of Fleetwood [Mac]'s sound, down to the female lead." "Jackie Blue" would rise as high as #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1975 and would reach #1 on the singles charts in both Cash Box and Record World. According to Steve Cash the single broke out because of heavy airplay in Baltimore and Chicago and then essentially "sold itself" without the benefit of effective promotion from A&M Records, although Mike Granda would opine that A&M (Mike Granda quote): "knew how to market 'Jackie Blue' and did a fabulous job." According to band member Steve Canaday, the ...Daredevils' album It'll Shine When It Shines underperformed for the parent album of a near #1 hit single (Steve Canaday quote): "['Jackie Blue'] appealed to an audience that was not familiar with our band" and were not necessarily interested in the ...Daredevils beyond that one song, which was "too pop" for fans of the ...Daredevils' self-titled debut album. "Jackie Blue" would prove to be somewhat of an albatross for the Daredevils, who felt pressured by A&M to cater to the song's fans: (Mike Granda quote): "As soon as 'Jackie Blue' [ran its course] they wanted 'Jackie Green' and 'Jackie Brown'". (Larry Lee quote:) "They wanted a specific sound – they wanted an album full of 'Jackie Blues.'" Although Granda maintains the band "stuck to our guns" both the ...Daredevils' third and fourth albums: The Car Over the Lake Album (1975) and Men from Earth (1976), drew critical comment that the ”...Daredevils were patently courting further Top 40 success à la ‘Jackie Blue’.” – which would however remain their final Top 40 hit. The album version of the song has a running time of