Pour a Little Sugar On It: Bubblegum Music Box Set Released
by Best Classic Bands Staff
The chart-dominating music genre of the mid-to-late ’60s is the subject of a new box set. Pour A Little Sugar On It – The Chewy Chewy Sounds of American Bubblegum 1966-1971 arrived September 27, 2024, as a 3-CD set from the Grapefruit imprint of Cherry Red Records. The 91-song set is available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.
The collection includes such genre staples as The Archies (“Sugar Sugar,” among their three tracks here), Lou Christie (“I’m Gonna Mke You Mine”), Tommy James & the Shondells (“I Think We’re Alone Now”), and The Cowsills (“Indian Lake”), along with key songs from the 1910 Fruitgum Co., Crazy Elephant, The Cuff Links, and Ohio Express (from which the set’s title was partially derived from).
But it also features some unlikely names who occasionally left their fingerprints in the sticky stuff (The Electric Prunes, The Beach Boys, Sparks, and Velvet Underground).
From the July announcement: In the late summer of 1966, manufactured pop quartet The Monkees – a Beatles-inspired concept inevitably nicknamed the Prefab Four – made their TV and vinyl debut. Overseen by industry veteran Don Kirshner, whose Brill Building-honed team supplied most of the songs, The Monkees were aimed at the pre-teen market effectively disenfranchised by the increasingly sophisticated nature of mid-60s pop.
The venture’s runaway success encouraged numerous other backroom songwriting/ production teams to step forward, with the New York-based Kasenetz-Katz partnership coining the term “bubblegum” as shorthand for the manufactured pop process.
Kasenetz-Katz hit big with such names as Ohio Express, 1910 Fruitgum Co. and Crazy Elephant, while Don Kirshner and his favored producer Jeff Barry – both sidelined when The Monkees rose up against their puppet masters – returned with cartoon pop group The Archies and the biggest-selling single of 1969, “Sugar, Sugar.”
Pour A Little Sugar On It examines the bubblegum phenomenon in forensic detail, with all of the aforementioned acts joined by hits from The Lemon Pipers, Tommy Roe, The Box Tops, Andy Kim and others as well as numerous cult 45s (The Raspberry Pirates, Cartoon Candy Carnival, The Four Fuller Brothers, among them). See the complete track listing below.
Pour A Little Sugar On It is housed in a 3-CD clamshell box that includes a 48-page booklet with rare photos and the stories behind all 91 tracks.
Related: Our friends at Culture Sonar have allowed us to share their feature, ‘Top 10 Bubblegum Hits’
POUR A LITTLE SUGAR ON IT – THE CHEWY CHEWY SOUNDS OF AMERICAN BUBBLEGUM 1966-1971 TRACK LISTING
DISC ONE
1 SIMON SAYS – 1910 Fruitgum Co.
2 YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY – Ohio Express
3 A LITTLE BIT ME, A LITTLE BIT YOU – The Monkees
4 BANG-SHANG-A-LANG – The Archies
5 MR. SUN, MR. MOON (album version) – Paul Revere & The Raiders
6 GIMME GIMME GOOD LOVIN’ – Crazy Elephant
7 CHERRY, CHERRY – Neil Diamond
8 BABY I LOVE YOU – Andy Kim
9 LOVE IS A WORD – Everyday Hudson
10 GROUPIE – The Four Fuller Brothers
11 I’M GONNA MAKE YOU MINE – Lou Christie
12 IF YOU’RE THINKIN’ WHAT I’M THINKIN’ – Dino Desi & Billy
13 THE JOKER WENT WILD – Brian Hyland
14 BOPPA DO DOWN DOWN – The Third Rail
15 TRACY – The Cuff Links
16 ALICE LONG (YOU’RE STILL MY FAVORITE GIRLFRIEND) – Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart
17 EVERYBODY KNOWS YOU’RE NOT IN LOVE – The Electric Prunes
18 FAIRY TALES CAN COME TRUE (HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT LUCY) – San Francisco Earthquake
19 LET ME BRING YOU UP – Ron Dante
20 LATIN SHAKE – Lt. Garcia’s Magic Music Box
21 MARATHON MARY – The Globetrotters
22 LOOP DE LOOP – Salt Water Taffy
23 FLY ME TO HAVANA – The Grass Roots
24 ME AND YOU AND A DOG NAMED BOO – Lobo
25 I’D LIKE TO TALK TO YOU – Mark Eric
26 JENNIFER TOMKINS – Street People
27 LOOKY LOOKY, MY COOKIE’S GONE – The Raspberry Pirates
28 BILLY’S GOT A GOAT – Patty Flabbies’ Coughed Engine
29 FEELIN’ SO GOOD (S.K.O.O.B.Y- D.O.O.) – The Archies
DISC TWO
1 I THINK WE’RE ALONE NOW – Tommy James & The Shondells
2 GREEN TAMBOURINE – The Lemon Pipers
3 THE GROOVIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD – The Fun & Games
4 WHO LOVES THE SUN – Velvet Underground
5 JINGLE JANGLE – The Archies
6 DOUBLE GOOD FEELIN’ – Gary Lewis & The Playboys
7 PEPPERMAN – Arnim-Hamilton
8 FA LA FA LEE – Halfnelson (Sparks)
9 WHAT’S YOUR NAME – The Music Explosion
10 INDIAN LAKE – The Cowsills
11 HOW SHE BOOGALOOED IT – The Beach Boys
12 SHE’S THE KIND OF GIRL – The Peppermint Trolley Company
13 CHEWY CHEWY – Ohio Express
14 CRY LIKE A BABY – The Box Tops
15 BOUNCING ALL OVER THE WORLD – The Globetrotters
16 SHE SOLD ME MAGIC – Lou Christie
17 GIRL ON THE SUBWAY – The Cherry People
18 MOVE IN A LITTLE CLOSER, BABY – Mama Cass
19 MONTEGO BAY (album version) – Bobby Bloom
20 CANDY APPLE COTTON CANDY – Ruthann Friedman (Art Podell & Nick Woods)
21 THE MARCH OF THE JINGLE JANGLE PEOPLE – San Francisco Earthquake
22 VALLERI – The Pineapple Heard
23 WOULD YOU BELIEVE – Mortimer
24 SUNSHINE GIRL – The Parade
25 BANANA MAN – The Knack
26 GO LIGHTLY – The Goggles
27 HOW DO YOU KNOW – Ron Dante
28 GINGERSNAP – Jamie
29 MR. PEACOCK – Orange Colored Sky
30 ARCHIE’S PARTY – The Archies
31 JAM UP JELLY TIGHT – Tommy Roe
DISC THREE
1 SHAKE – Shadows Of Knight
2 QUICK JOEY SMALL (RUN JOEY RUN) – Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus
3 JELLY JUNGLE (OF ORANGE MARMALADE) – The Lemon Pipers
4 GOODY GOODY GUMDROPS – 1910 Fruitgum Co.
5 THINGS (GOIN’ ROUND IN MY MIND) – Merrell Fankhauser & H.M.S. Bounty
6 WHO’S YOUR BABY? – The Archies
7 JUDY IN DISGUISE (WITH GLASSES) – John Fred & His Playboy Band
8 EVERYTHING IS MICKEY MOUSE – Cartoon Candy Carnival
9 HOW DO YOU LIKE THOSE APPLES – South Amboy Port Authority
10 KEEP ON – Bruce Channel
11 SOPHIA – San Francisco Earthquake
12 RED ROVER, RED ROVER – The Puddle (aka The Bunch)
13 LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE – The Peppermint Trolley Company
14 MAKE YOUR OWN SWEET MUSIC – The Golden Gate
15 BRAND NEW KEY – Melanie
16 SUNSHINE, RED WINE – Crazy Elephant
17 ALLEY POND PARK – Culver Street Playground
18 LET THE GOOD TIMES IN – The Love Generation
19 SUZANNE ON A SUNDAY MORNING – Rick Nelson
20 BUBBLE GUM AND BRACES – Bobby Sherman
21 MR. BUS DRIVER – Neal Dover
22 WIWWIAN WEVY – Pastrami Malted
23 NINNY BOP BOP – Bonnie & The Clydes
24 LOVING YOU MAKES EVERYTHING ALRIGHT – The Marshmellow Highway
25 DON’T LET LOVE PASS YOU BY – Ron Dante
26 CHEER ME UP – The Globetrotters
27 THANK YOU GIRL – Street People
28 CAN YOU TELL ME HOW TO GET TO SESAME STREET? – The Free Design
29 THE RAPPER – The Jaggerz
30 JENNIFER RAIN – The Goggles
31 SUGAR, SUGAR – The Archies
5 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationNow THAT is an inclusive definition of “bubblegum music.”
LOOK FORWARD TO BUYING POUR A LITTLE
SUGAR ON IT LOVE ALL THE SONGS.
THANK YOU FOR SHARING THE EXCITING NEWS I LOVE BUBBLEGUM MUSIC;
Wow! What a diverse collection. Hope the audio quality is equal to the offerings. But no ? and the Mysterians? Back in ’68, I was fortunate enough to see a show that included said Mysterians, along with the Ohio Express/Music Explosion, 1910 Fruitgum Company, and a band called Maxie Green’s Pleasure Machine. Make no mistake about it: all of these bands really rocked out. Call it what you will: a lot of bubble gum is simply good ole rock ‘n roll.
Beats the hell out of “In the Year 2525”.
Once again, I want to point out that quite a few of the artists included here would take offense at being included in a bubblegum collection. The Velvet Underground? The Box Tops? Lou Reed and Alex Chilton must be turning over in their graves.