Post-Box Tops, pre-Big Star, the teenaged Alex Chilton began recording his first solo material in 1969. Alex Chilton – Sugar, Sugar (The Archies cover) They perform the song engagingly, but as the evidence would soon show, Marley was better suited to bigger messages. And it’s raked up a lot of covers – including some by artists you never would have guessed…īob Marley & the Wailers – Sugar, Sugar (The Archies cover)į’rinstance, would you have guessed that before Bob Marley caught a fire, he chewed a little bubblegum? Marley and the Wailers’ cover of “Sugar, Sugar” was only released in the United States, likely as not in an effort to gain success via airplay. It’s been remade for Archie-related live-action TV shows, not once but twice. Sung by Ron Dante and backed up by Toni Wine (who turns 72 today!), it’s the perfect AM rock song, the #1 song of 1969, one that Lou Reed once admitted he wished he’d written. The Wicked Pickett’s version is indeed eternally worthy of relistening, but I don’t want to slight the Archies song. “This has songs on it I’ll actually want to listen to more than once!” In a twinkling he was holding a Very Best of Wilson Pickett CD, containing Pickett’s classic “Sugar, Sugar” cover. “If it doesn’t matter what version you lip-sync to…” “I have to learn this song for a lip-sync for work.” He grimaced. One day a customer came in and asked, “Do you have a copy of the song ‘Sugar, Sugar’?” We did, of course I took him to the Various Artists section and handed him a copy of Billboard Top Rock ‘n’ Roll Hits: 1969. Wilson Pickett even covered it, injecting some much needed soul into the proceedings.I used to work in the music department of a chain bookstore. Fifty years later, “Sugar, Sugar,” remains a good pop song. 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.
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