

The last single, released 1972, was "Strangers in the Morning" its B-side song was "Plum Crazy". The only Archies song not to feature Ron Dante on lead was 1971's "Love Is Living In You", sung by Bob Levine (co-author of the song) and produced by Ritchie Adams. Wine, who was only paid for the recording session and quit the group when the song became a huge hit, was succeeded in 1970 by Donna Marie, who in turn was replaced on the final recordings by Merle Miller. Male vocals for the fictional Archies group were provided by The Cuff Links' lead singer Ron Dante and female duet vocals were provided by Toni Wine. "Jingle Jangle" also sold over one million copies, garnering a second gold disc award. Other Top 40 songs recorded by The Archies include "Who's Your Baby?" (U.S. In Billboard's Hot 100, it was ranked as the number one song of that year, the only time a fictional band has ever claimed Billboard's annual Hot 100 top spot. The most famous is " Sugar, Sugar", written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim, which went to #1 on the pop chart in 1969, sold over six million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. ProductionĪ set of studio musicians were assembled by Don Kirshner in 1968 to perform various songs. Two modern examples of the "cartoon rock group" could include the British band, Gorillaz-a musical project created in 1998 by British musician Damon Albarn and British cartoonist Jamie Hewlett, and Dethklok, a fictional death metal band created by Brendon Small.
#Who played bass on sugar sugar archies series#
Archie Comics' own creation Josie and the Pussycats was successful both as an animated series and as a comic book (and later a live action motion picture), but The Bingoes and The Madhouse Glads lacked its popularity and never appeared in animation. Animated versions of The Jackson 5ive, the Osmond Brothers, the Partridge Family, and The Brady Bunch also existed. These groups included The Groovie Goolies, The Hardy Boys, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids, The Banana Splits (actually live action with actors in animal costumes and dubbed speaking voices), The Cattanooga Cats, The Chan Clan, and The Neptunes. Several were also teenage detectives, influenced by Scooby-Doo. Most of these groups played bubblegum pop. This dates at least as far back as 1965 with The Beatles, but the Archies helped popularize the concept.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, animated series often featured musical groups that were fictional or sometimes based on real life musicians. Though the group no longer appears in animation, they are still frequently used in stories published by Archie Comics. One distribution mode for the Archies' music was cereal boxes: a cardboard record was embossed directly into the back of a box such that the record could be cut out and played on a turntable (although their music was also available on standard issue LPs and 45s). Finally, in the liner notes for 2008's The Archies Christmas Album, Reggie is listed as the bass guitarist. In more than one comic strip, Reggie is described as playing bass (although this is not necessarily canon, as storylines and hobbies/activities in the Archie world change from story to story). Six-string bass guitars do exist, however, and the Archies' recordings regularly featured a bass player. In most drawings, his guitar looks identical to Archie's, making him the band's second (or co-lead) guitarist-but a number of drawings clearly show Reggie's instrument to have four tuning keys, the most common bass design. The Archies are sometimes jokingly compared to The Doors, as they also had no bass player there is some confusion, however, over whether Reggie played bass or not. The roles the teens played in the fictional band were: Though their singing voices were soft and appropriate for pop vocals, their speaking voices are much different. Every member sings vocals, with Jughead handling the bass voice on a few tracks. They seem to have a preference for rock and roll, however.īetty Cooper and Veronica Lodge later also joined the group. The Archies play a variety of contemporary popular music, consistent with the era in which the comic is drawn.
