“Jingle Jangle” (The Archies)

Today’s classic song of the day is from that famous cartoon band, the Archies. “Jingle Jangle” was the group’s (and I use the word “group ” loosely) second-biggest single; released in November of 1969 it peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 early in 1970.

“Jingle Jangle” was written by the songwriting team of Andy Kim and the legendary Jeff Barry (formerly of Barry-Greenwich fame). Vocals were by the ubiquitous studio cat Ron Dante and the exquisite Toni Wine; Jeff Barry hisself sang Jughead’s “come on” bass part. The “band” were actually some of New York’s top session players, including Ron Frangipane on keyboards, Chuck Rainey on bass, and Gary Chester on drums. (You didn’t think Archie, Reggie, and the gang played on their own records, did you?) The song, like everything by that cartoon band, was produced by the Don Kirshner for his own Calendar Records, on that bright orange label.

As you might suspect, the Archies were a fake band created in the studio to provide music for the animated The Archie Show, which ran Saturday mornings on CBS. It started out, in the 1968-1969 season, as The Archie Show, but in later seasons morphed into The Archie Comedy Hour and then Archie’s Funhouse. It was pretty much the same show, whatever the title, produced by Filmation Associates. That’s the same studio that produced The New Adventures of Superman, The Adventures of Batman, Sabrina and the Groovy Ghoulies, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, and Star Trek: The Animated Series. Filmation’s shows were characterized by very cheap limited animation and copious reuse of stock footage. You got to see the same footage of Hot Dog conducting the band and Archie playing guitar in song after song after song.

Here’s the thing about the Archie show, though—it helped to sell a buttload of records. The hit singles released by the Archies included “Bang-Shang-a-Lang” (#22 in 1968), “Sugar Sugar” (#1, 1969), and, of course “Jingle Jangle” (#10, 1969). Those fictional high school kids sold more records than most flesh and blood groups of the time, in part because their bubblegum music—all written by Misters Kim and Barry—was so catchy. Those guys knew how to write memorable melodies and the session players they employed knew how to put it on tape. Admit it, you sang along to them when you were younger. Sing me, sing me, sing me!