The Archies

The Archies are, perhaps, the first band people think of when they think of bubblegum music. That makes plenty of sense, given their story: a fictional cartoon group designed for The Archie Show, their music was recorded by session musicians, and they gifted bubblegum its biggest, most memorable song, “Sugar Sugar.” But the album it eventually appeared on was plenty of fun: they definitely caught the mood of the bubblegum moment and mercilessly exploited it. The ace up their sleeve was having their songs written by Jeff Barry, whose history includes co-writes with the likes of Ellie Greenwich, Phil Spector, and Shadow Morton. Pop royalty, in other words, and his time with wife Greenwich at Red Bird, not to mention a stint with The Monkees, served him well for these craftily designed pop nuggets. In 1970, a post-Box Tops, pre-Big Star Alex Chilton gleefully immolated “Sugar Sugar” in the sessions for his debut solo album. He knew what was up.