| "Sugar, Sugar" | |||||||||||
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| Single by The Archies | |||||||||||
| from the album Everything's Archie | |||||||||||
| Released | July 26, 1969 | ||||||||||
| Recorded | 1969 | ||||||||||
| Genre | Bubblegum pop | ||||||||||
| Length | 2:48 | ||||||||||
| Label | Calendar (1969-1970) RCA (post-1970) |
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| Writer(s) | Andy Kim Jeff Barry |
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| Producer | Jeff Barry | ||||||||||
| The Archies singles chronology | |||||||||||
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"Sugar, Sugar" is a pop song written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim. It was a four-week 1969 number-one hit single by fictional characters The Archies. Produced by Jeff Barry, the song was originally released on the album Everything's Archie. The album is the product of a group of studio musicians managed by Don Kirshner. Ron Dante's lead vocals were accompanied by those of Toni Wine (who sang the line "I can make your life so sweet"), and Andy Kim. Together they provided the voices of the Archies using multitracking.
When the song was initially released, Kirshner had promotion men play it for radio station execs without telling them the name of the group (due to the somewhat disappointing chart performance of the Archies' previous single, "Bang-Shang-a-Lang", which went to number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts). Only after most of the DJs liked the song were they told that it was performed by a cartoon group. The Archies' hit wound up as one of the biggest (and most unexpected) number-one hits of the year, one of the biggest bubblegum hits of all time, both in America and in Great Britain, thanks partly to association with the hit CBS-TV Saturday morning cartoon series.
The Archies' "Sugar, Sugar" was the 1969 number-one single of the year. A week after topping the RPM 100 national singles chart in Canada on September 13, 1969 (where it spent three weeks), it went on to spend four weeks at the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 from September 20 and eight weeks at the top of the UK singles chart. The song lists at number 63 on Billboard's Greatest Songs of All Time.[1] It also peaked at one in the South African Singles Chart.[2] On February 5, 2006, "Sugar, Sugar" was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, as co-writer Andy Kim is originally from Montreal, Quebec.
The song is said to have been earlier offered to The Monkees (although songwriter Jeff Barry, in an interview published in the book Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth, says this is not true), although additional rumors that it was recorded using session musicians with Davy Jones providing all the vocals, but never released, are false. Don Kirshner has said that Mike Nesmith put his fist through the wall of the Beverly Hills Hotel refusing to do "Sugar, Sugar".[3] Jones confirmed that Kirshner had offered it to them, but stated they turned it down, and he never recorded it.[4] The band thought it seemed cheesy and at that point they were looking to mature their sound. However, Monkees archival expert Andrew Sandoval has suggested that the band may instead actually have been offered a tune called "Sugar Man", but with the passage of time the parties involved simply mis-remembered it as being "Sugar, Sugar", in large part because it made a better anecdote.
The song was included in the 1995 movie Now and Then and appears in the movie's soundtrack album. It is also used as the opening theme for the hit television series Cake Boss.
Former President George W. Bush has said "Sugar, Sugar" is one of his favorite songs. The song played in Jenna Bush's wedding party in May 2008.[5]
Although official music recording sales certifications were not introduced in the United Kingdom until the British Phonographic Industry was formed in 1973, Disc introduced an initiative in 1959 to present a gold record to singles that sold over one million units.[6] The awards relied on record companies correctly compiling and supplying sales information, and "Sugar, Sugar" was erroneously awarded a gold disc in January 1970 having sold approximately 945,000 copies; the RCA informed Disc that one million copies had been shipped, however not all were sold.[6][7] Nevertheless, following the introduction of music downloads in 2004, "Sugar, Sugar" passed the one-million sales mark.[8]
In the United States, "Sugar, Sugar" was classified by the RIAA as a gold record in August 1969,[9] meaning it sold 1 million units (the gold threshold was later lowered to 500,000).[10] The single also topped the 1969 Billboard Year-End chart.[11]
"Sugar, Sugar" is also considered to be the most produced recording ever after the breakfast cereal company Post Cereal placed millions of the records on the back of their Super Sugar Crisp cereal boxes.
| Chart (1969) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada (RPM) | 1[12] |
| United Kingdom (UK Singles Chart) | 1[13] |
| United States (Billboard Hot 100) | 1[14] |
| Preceded by "Laughing" by The Guess Who |
Canadian RPM number-one single September 13, 1969 (three weeks) |
Succeeded by "Jean" by Oliver |
| Preceded by "Honky Tonk Women" by The Rolling Stones |
US Billboard Hot 100 number one single September 20, 1969 (four weeks) |
Succeeded by "I Can't Get Next to You" by The Temptations |
| Preceded by "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" by Bobbie Gentry |
UK number one single October 25, 1969 (eight weeks) |
Succeeded by "Two Little Boys" by Rolf Harris |
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