Sugar, Sugar
Sugar, Sugar is a hymn to bubblegum music, sung by the Archies and written by successful writer Jeff Barry (lyrics) and Canadian Andy Kim (music). It was the most successful hit of 1969.
History of origin
Music producer and music promoter Don Kirshner founded the test tube rock band Monkees in August 1966 and placed them in the television series of the same name on NBC . The TV series served as the vehicle for the Monkees records, which were played by session musicians and which became hugely popular. When the Monkees' success waned in March 1968, Kirshner looked for a copy of this success story. After the music magazine Billboard reported in May 1968 that promoter Kirshner would put together a new rock group to produce the 17-episode cartoon TV series The Archies from autumn 1968, he used the same methods as with the Monkees. He used the accustomed composer Jeff Barry as a lyricist; Toni Wine brought with him as a session singer. Kirshner, in turn, brought in the experienced session singer Ron Dante as lead singer. The session musicians were Ron Frangipane (keyboards), Dave Appell (guitar), Chuck Rainey (bass) and Gary Chester (drums). The artificially assembled group was only intended for studio performances; they never really existed as a group.
Kirshner had meanwhile made further organizational preparations. He founded the record label Calendar Records in July 1967 and signed a distribution agreement with RCA Records in September 1967 . In this way he secured national distribution rights for his small label, which was now part of his music empire. In September 1968, the Archies got a record deal with Calendar Records.
The cartoon series The Archie Show started on CBS Saturdays on September 14, 1968 and ran for a year until August 30, 1969. The television series was based on the cartoon characters The Archies , the comic book publisher John L. Goldwater from December 1942 in newspapers had published. The banal content is about Archie, who is in love with Betty and Veronica at the same time and can't decide between the two. With ratings of up to 75%, the series was one of the absolute successes on US television. It served as a vehicle for the pop music of the fictional group Archies, which Kirshner had put together for this purpose only.
Recording and publication
The song is dominated by a pulsating bass line with a Caribbean-style riff on the keyboard. The textual content, however, gives rise to ambiguous interpretations. First of all, one recognizes a love relationship. This is also emphasized in the cartoon itself, where the beloved runs a candy stand. The lyrics are primarily about sweets, because the protagonist uses nicknames like "sugar" and "honey" for his lover. But the text passage “pour sugar on me” could also be a contemporary paraphrase for LSD that was drizzled into sugar cubes. For accompanist Toni Wine, Sugar, Sugar was not meant cryptic for drug use, but a phrase for feelings of happiness in a love relationship.
Lead singer Ron Dante was accompanied by Toni Weinstein (Tony Wine; background vocals). The impression of a polyphonic singing was achieved through multitracking effects . Ray Stevens added the rhythm by clapping his hands.
Sugar, Sugar was to become the Archies' third single and was recorded in January 1969 at RCA Manhattan Studio A, arranged and produced by Jeff Barry, who wrote almost all of the initial titles as sole author - including the first hit single, Bang Shang -A-long . Don Kirshner was the supervising executive producer and Mike Moran was the sound engineer . The still unknown Canadian Andy Kim contributed to the interpretable text and was responsible for the music.
The single released in June 1969 as Sugar, Sugar / Melody Hill (Calendar # 1008) was initially unsuccessful. The breakthrough came in July 1969 when the progressive radio station KYA in San Francisco played the record repeatedly and the drug scene promptly interpreted the passage “pour your sugar on me” as a drug reference. By August 30, 1969, one million copies had been sold; on October 30, 1969, more than 3 million were sold in the USA alone, and another million were added in Great Britain. Besides the USA (4 weeks) and GB (8 weeks), the record was number one in 6 other countries, including Germany (for 7 weeks). At least 6 million copies were sold worldwide. In Germany, Sugar, Sugar received a gold record for 500,000 copies sold .
When the cartoon series The Archies Show premiered on September 14, 1968 at CBS , Kirshner had given the cartoon characters a musical identity. The television series as a promotional vehicle gave the Archies a high profile and made the song the anthem of the music genre of bubblegum music. "The Archies have never toured, never appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, or given a press interview," because they never existed. The Archies were the only million seller in a fictional group. Sugar, Sugar aired in episode 1.6 of the animated series on October 27, 1968.
Cover versions and statistics
The song received a BMI award and, according to BMI, has only been covered 13 times. Wilson Pickett an impressive Soul variant thereof supplied from - taken on 19 November 1969 in the Criteria Studios in Miami - the fourth place of the rhythm - & - blues - hit parade 24 of the pop charts and reached rank. The British formation Sakkarin ( Jonathan King ) gave the title a comeback in April 1971 and made it to 12th place on the British charts. Sugar, Sugar was a track on Archie's second album Everything's Archie (released September 1969; 9 of 12 tracks were composed by Barry). David Hasselhoff covered the song on his album Open Your Eyes (2019).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Billboard Magazine, May 18, 1968, Kirshner Channeling Archies To A TV-Disk Launching Pad , p. 3
- ↑ Dante was an experienced session singer, who can be heard on Hang On Sloopy ( McCoys ) or Only in America ( Jay & the Americans ). In 1965 he formed The Detergents group , which had a hit with Leader of the Laundromat , a parody of Jeff Barry's Leader of the Pack . Since 1963 he made records as Ronnie Dante.
- ↑ Billboard Magazine, September 28, 1968, p. 3
- ↑ under sugar ( "sugar"), however, in slang and cocaine , among honey ( "Honey") and tetrahydrocannabinol understood containing drugs.
- ↑ Def Leppard uses this passage as the title on the single of the same name released in September 1987, but in the context of a love affair.
- ↑ a pop composer and singer, composed A Groovy Kind of Love for the Mindbenders in 1964
- ↑ The Monkees mostly recorded in the neighboring Studio B.
- ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 276
- ^ Günter Ehnert: Hit balance sheet - German chart singles 1956-1980 . 1st edition. Verlag popular music-literature, Norderstedt 2000, ISBN 3-922542-24-7 , p. 443 .
- ^ Fred Bronson, The Billboard Book of Number One Hits , 1985, p. 258