VIDEO SUGAR SUGAR ARCHIES MOVIE

1 on Billboard's Year-End Countdown in 1969. 'Sugar, Sugar' by The Archies - yes, from the comics - was named No. It was also a great year for music - but who knew that the year that produced songs like 'Fortunate Son,' 'Age Of Aquarius' and 'Everyday People' would crown a bubblegum pop tune by a fictional cartoon band as its top song of the year? The Stonewall Riots invigorated the gay-rights movement, Woodstock brought nearly 1 million people together to celebrate peace, love and music, and Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on the moon. Wilson Pickett even covered it, injecting some much needed soul into the proceedings.By and large, 1969 was a transformative year in the U.S. Fifty years later, “Sugar, Sugar,” remains a good pop song.

VIDEO SUGAR SUGAR ARCHIES MOVIE

Unlike the Monkees, who embraced the pop psychedelia in the culture and put out a grand folly of a movie called Head (with Frank Zappa! and Ringo Starr!), the Archies just kept banging out bubblegum until it turned into sunshine (the name of their third album) and the fad had passed. Rob Dante sang the lead vocals Toni Wine sang both Betty and Veronica (the latter had the higher register). But they all continued in the bubble gum vein, written by a small stable of songwriters such as Ritchie Adams, Jeff Barry, Robert Levine, Gene Allen, and others. The Archies released five albums in total, only the first featuring the comic characters on the cover. But so was that “candy girl” and that “honey, honey” and why wouldn’t people choose the latter? It was Billboard’s Number One song of the year for 1969, a year better known for the crumbling of the Summer of Love. Initially reluctant to play a fake band, pop radio started playing the single two months after its initial release, from May to July, and it would go on to spend 22 weeks in the chart, four of them at Number One. So take a rejected Monkees song, add a bit of Beatles-style, cheapo animation, and a guaranteed promotion machine (television) and “Sugar, Sugar” turned into a hit. (The rights for the Archie characters at that time were very affordable.) His son Ricky was reading Archie comic books, and the idea formed-why not turn the comic into a band, and have them perform the single.

Kirshner returned home knowing that the song could be a hit. “It’s a piece of junk,” he told Kirshner. Upon hearing “Sugar, Sugar” as a possible Monkees song, Nesmith absolutely refused. But that dismissiveness of the actors’ own talents led to tensions in the band, especially Michael Nesmith, who had his own country-leaning interests. This led to “Last Train to Clarksville” (Boyce and Hart), “Daydream Believer” (John Stewart) and “I’m a Believer” (Diamond), all solid hits. Music Supervisor Don Kirshner came from a career at the Brill Building, launching the careers of Neil Diamond, Carole King, and Tony Orlando, and on the Monkees, he was in charge of seeking out songwriters for the group, along with studio musicians, calling in the band to sing only when necessary. This then led producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider to ask themselves: why use the Beatles when America could manufacture its own? The Monkees were born in 1966: three Americans and one Brit sorta-moptops who starred in a sitcom based around their own hilarious, failed attempts to be as good as John, Paul, George, and Ringo.

Once the Fab Four had started to quickly outgrow their innocent image, King Features turned the four into a Saturday Morning cartoon show in 1965 so their Richard Lester-inspired antics could continue apace. How we got there, we must go back to the Beatles.

Video sugar sugar archies