"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'm gonna make your life so sweet"), Andy Kim, and Ellie
Greenwich. Together they provided the voices of the various
Archies using multitracking. Ray Stevens, the comic singer,
provided the hand claps to the song.
The Archies' "Sugar, Sugar" was the 1969 number-one single
of the year. It spent four weeks at the top of the Billboard
Hot 100 from September 20, 1969 and eight weeks at the top of
the UK singles chart. The song lists at #63 on
Billboard's Greatest Songs of All Time.It also peaked at
one in the South African Singles Chart. 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 was earlier offered to The Monkees, 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 Beverley Hills hotel refusing to do
"Sugar, Sugar." Jones confirmed that Kirshner had offered it to
them, but stated they turned it down, and he never recorded it.
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.
On September 4, 2006, Dante and Wine performed the song
together on the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. This was the first
time they had publicly performed the song together. They
performed it again at one of Toni Wine's performances at the
Genghis Cohen in West Hollywood.
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.
In the TV Movie
Archie: To Riverdale and Back again(VHS reissued title,
Return to Riverdale), the now-older Jughead plays the
original version of the song to his son; later he uses it to
bridge the 'age gap' between them when he finds out his son is
shy around girls — the two perform a 'rap' version of the
song.
The song was featured in the episode
That's All There Isin the 1998 HBO Mini-Series From the
Earth to the Moon. Astronauts Al Bean and Dick Gordon are seen
singing the song in their Command Module during their 4 day
trip to the moon on Apollo 12 in November of 1969.
Millions upon millions of copies of this record were
distributed through an unusual distribution mode. A record of
the song was embossed directly onto the backs of Kelloggs
breakfast cereal boxes (Sugar Pops & Sugar Smacks) and the
cardboard record could be cut out and played on a
turntable.
The song is featured in
The Simpsonsepisodes "Boy-Scoutz N the Hood" and "Sweets
and Sour Marge". In the former, Homer has a hallucination about
dancing ice cream cones while trapped on a raft; he was
listening to the song on Rod Flanders' personal stereo, but as
the batteries run down, the song gradually slows down and stops
and the ice creams melt, ending his dream.
In the 1970's Filmation cartoon, Sabrina the Teenage Witch
is seen dancing to the song on the record player in the first
few minutes of "Weatherbee's Disasterpiece".
English hard rock band Def Leppard got the idea for their
1987 hit "Pour Some Sugar on Me" from the song.
The original recording can be heard in the
DreamworksFilm
Bee Moviewhile Barry, played by
Jerry Seinfeld, is dreaming.
The song was adapted for a TV commercial for Equal brand
artificial sweetener in the late '80s --
"Sugar (no no no no no no)/Now there's Equal (yeah yeah yeah
yeah yeah yeah)".
The song is adapted for a TV commercial for table sugar
product called "Gulaku" in Indonesia. They use many different
versions of the song, depending on the storyline that is being
depicted in the commercial. It is one of the most expensive
advertisements in Indonesia, and the TV commercial reintroduced
the song to Indonesian listeners.
The song was played in the 1996 movie
A Very Brady Sequelwhen Greg saw a beautiful girl coming
out of the swimming pool and later saw that it was Marcia.
The song was sung by Richie in an episode of
Family Matterswhen he and 3J were trying to win
affection of a girl to be their Valentine. 3J thought the song
too childish and it hurt Richie's feelings, but the girl
decided to pick him over 3J.
The gingerbread man in
DreamworksFilm
Shrek 2sings the song in the DVD's special feature "Far
Far Away Idol".