Archie 50s Comics Archies Sugar Sugar 69 Song

Like The Lone Ranger, Ozzie And Harriet, Superman and Batman, one of the blogger's cartoon favourites in the 50s was Archie (Andrews) with his crazy group, Reggie, Jughead and girls Betty and Veronica (image). The comics, which was very popular in Singapore, started in 1946 and was written by Vic Bloom and drawn by Bob Montana.

By 1969, as famous as the comic strip, the teen bubblegum pop band spin-off with the same name, The Archies, earned a gold record with Sugar, Sugar. It was a four-week 1969 number-one hit single by comic book characters.

Actually, the album is the product of a group of studio musicians with a director and vocals. Not only was it at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and eight weeks at the top of the UK singles chart, the song lists at number 63 on Billboard's Greatest Songs Of All Time.

In 1970, singer Wilson Pickett hit the U.S. Top Forty with his own version of the song. Bob Marley And The Wailers also released their version as a Jamaican only single. In the same year,Tom Jones included it on his album, Tom. In 1971 in the UK, a heavy version was recorded by Jonathan King (Everyone's Gone To The Moon) under the name Sakkarin. It reached number 12 in the UK singles chart.

Sugar, Sugar was on the same 1969 hit list with The Rolling Stones, Honky Tonk Woman, The Beatles, Hey Jude and Simon & Garfunkel's, Bridge Over Troubled Waters. And just as popular in Singapore, the song was on everyone's lips. "Oh, sugar, sugar, you are my candy girl..."

There are highbrows out there who think bubblegum music is childish, silly and even low class but if one looks at the alumni it shares, is bubblegum music to be so dismissed?

Reference: Wikipedia.

Image: http://www.schweimmerlegal.com/

Original article: Andy Lim.