While not successful in the UK, it got a huge surge in popularity in continental Europe, especially the Nordic countries, with acts such as The Renegades and Hep Stars bringing it to number one in Finland and Sweden respectively.
Therefore, it is possible to find their 1960s recordings credited either to (Kim) Brown-(Denys) Gibson- (Ian) Mallet-(Stuart Graham) Johnson or Brown-Gibson-Mallet-Johnson-Taylor.
[5] Lead singer Svenne Hedlund had heard the Renegades version on Swedish radio show Nordisk Skivdisk, and saw the potential of it.
[6] Their song "A Tribute to Buddy Holly" had been released in February of that year, and quickly rose to the charts in late March following their appearance on Drop-In.
[10] Olga Records then promptly released three singles in late March, those being "Summertime Blues", "Farmer John" and "Cadillac".
[5] A proper studio version was later recorded as the title and opening track of their debut album We and Our Cadillac, which was released in September 1965.
This version opens with Hep Stars' tour manager Lennart Fernholm shouting out the band members names to a hysteric audience.
In a retrospective review, Bruce Eder of AllMusic states that ""Cadillac" was a good representative of the group's sound during this period, a piece of lusty, bluesy garage rock.
dominated by an agonized lead vocal, somewhere between Gene Vincent at his most quiet and menacing and David Aguilar of the Chocolate Watchband doing his best anguished teen emoting, and some very prominent organ riffs by Andersson.
"[18] The track was the second most successful release in Sweden of that year, only surpassed by the Rolling Stones "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"[19] "Cadillac" undoubtedly became one of Hep Stars biggest singles of the 1960s, and it is today often considered their signature song along with "Sunny Girl" and "I Natt Jag Drömde".