Entertainment For Lively Minds
Bubblegum
Posted by Mousey on 16 December 2011 - 10:05am.
Bubblegum was the term given to songs like this ("Sugar Sugar" by The Archies) in the late sixties. It seems to have been exclusively American (happy to be corrected here) and from the same mentality that produced The Monkees and all the Tommy Boyce/Bobby Hart hits. That is, give the kids what they want and make some money.
They were actually great pop songs, with all the ingredients.
I can remember despising this music when it was on the radio and the Top Twenty etc, being much more into Jimi Hendrix and Cream and "underground" music.
What say you?
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This ?
Never seen that before
So that's what they looked like. They look like a Seattle grunge band that's been told to scrub up and dress properly if they want to appear on the television.
and this version
Bubblegum: UK
A whole bunch of offences, mostly produced by a certain J King.
Take it away, Jonathan. Oh God, it's horrible. Sorry about this.
Isn't that cheese rather than bubblegum?
A different taste entirely.
Knobcheese?
Bubblegum Goes Disco
I always thought this followed the bubblegum aesthetic
Lipps Inc - Funkytown
Confessions of a progger
They had no right. They didn't belong anywhere in my listening life. But I have to admit that, once the world of YouTube opened itself up to me, I found time to look up Funky Town as well as this personal fave.
Weirdly, they both use the same two-tone cowbell thing. Somebody knew how to hook me.
Huge fan of the genre
One of my top five bubblegum songs
My favourite:
Great tune and mildly unsettling lyric: tip-top!
(Yummy, Yummy, Yummy)
Best interpreted by, of course…
… this lady
As for the Ohio Express, this could be their finest 2 minutes 20: disposable pop at its best...
Ixnay
After Sugar Sugar, this is the greatest bubblegum tune ever
An art school classmate gave me her copy of The Best Of Buddah, snickering that she was getting rid of a pile of vinyl vom. Tiny fool! I was mighty grateful for finally having a copy of the greats on one disc.
Easy Choice
I'd rather listen to some Archies than Cream or Hendrix any day of the week. I always have and I suspect I always will. If they were all new artists today though, I suspect very much that I may dismiss the lot.
And here's another one I often sing
at traffic lights
Apparently these guys are still around doing the nostalgia circuit
Can anyone name the lead singer or any band member of the 1910 Fruitgum Co? Or the Ohio Express?
No, but didn't Andy Kim do vocals on The Archies' records?
I always had a soft spot
for the Archies' "Sugar Sugar". I love the way the organ/bell melody that follows each line of the verse sounds so lazy and behind the beat. Top tune.
Losers Weepers...
Finders Keepers by Salt Water Taffy:
Almost ashamed
to confess that I regularly listen to 'Sugar, Sugar', despite having despised it, back in the day, as a music-snob teenager. It's a really hypnotic tune.
Listening to it on a plane one time, I was rather embarrasesd to discover that the sound leaked from my headphones. I'd been hoping everyone was thinking I was listening to some fiendishly complex free jazz.
Bubbles N' Mash
I can't say I exhibited any early-stage music snobbery toward the Archies. Sugar Sugar was one of the first three singles (with Hey Jude and Honky Tonk Women) I inherited from older siblings, as well as a turntable with a broken tonearm (My, we had it tough in those days).
More recently, occasional Massive favourite Mark Vidler AKA Go Home Productions offered his unique take on it, crossbred with another source (who did his time as a songwriting hack for hire):
"...give the kids what they want and make some money."
Isn't that the definition of pop music?