Song of the Day 9/4: The Archies, “Sugar, Sugar”
Some great, classic songs by great, classic artists were released as singles in 1969. “Get Back” by the Beatles. “Honky Tonk Women” by the Stones. Sly’s “Everyday People,” Creedence’s “Proud Mary,” Elvis’ “Suspicious Minds.” None of them was Billboard’s No. 1 song for the year.
That honor went to a tune written for children and credited to a cartoon band that owed its existence to some disgruntled Monkees.
Pop impresario Don Kirshner produced the music for the Monkees’ weekly show, relying on his stable of songwriters and studio musicians. The formula worked great for a year, until the Monkees started demanding more control. Kirshner angered them by releasing a single without approval from the TV producers, who showed him the door.
The success of the the TV show helped inspire an imitator, in the form of a Saturday morning cartoon with characters licensed from the Archie comic books. Producers wanted a musical number for each show, something to play over the wacky-antics segments patterned on the Monkees. This was a perfect fit for Kirshner, who could now dispense with those peevish humans altogether.
Kirshner produced dozens of Archies songs per season, most co-written by Brill Building legend Jeff Barry and Canadian singer Andy Kim. The best were released through Kirshner’s record company, credited to the Archies; the actual musicians, led by vocalists Ron Dante and Toni Wine, were never named. A few of the songs hit the charts, but “Sugar, Sugar” hit the jackpot.
The single spent four weeks at No. 1, and it wasn’t just Americans who fell for it. The song hit No. 1 in more than 20 countries, from South Africa to Sweden to Brazil, and missed the top 10 only in Italy, where it reached No. 11. It stayed on Billboard’s Hot 100 for 22 weeks.
Ron Dante had the looks to make a Tiger Beat cover, but he never expressed any regret for letting his voice stand alone (he was also lead singer of a one-off hit, “Tracy” by the Cuff Links). He was mostly singing commercial jingles when he heard Kirshner was looking for his Archie, and he got the job. “I knew it would get a big push, because Don Kirshner was like PT Barnum,” Dante said. “He could promote anything.” Dante wasn’t sure where this video was shot, but said it was probably done by a Cleveland TV station in 1970, when he was promoting his first album under his own name.
After the final verse, Dante sings a line that’s had a long afterlife. If “pour a little sugar on me, baby,” sounds more familiar than the song, it’s because Def Leppard’s signature song, “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” was inspired by it. Frontman Joe Elliott said “Sugar, Sugar” was the first record he ever bought.
The Archies had four singles reach Billboard’s top 40. The most successful was the follow-up to “Sugar, Sugar,” “Jingle Jangle,” which reached No. 10. That’s Jeff Barry singing the bass part. Dante later went into record production, most notably producing the first nine solo albums by Barry Manilow.
