In 1969, The Archies had the No. 1 song of the year with “Sugar, Sugar.” The “faceless” band that recorded catchy hits for the TV cartoon series of the same name featured singers Ron Dante and Toni Wine backed by an impressive group of session musicians managed by legendary producer Don Kirshner.
While they could have been easily dismissed as simply a made-for-TV band, in a new interview, Dante, 81, defended The Archies and their legacy.
“The music, we broke barriers with our music,” Dante said during an August 2026 appearance on Billy Corgan’s The Magnificent Others podcast. “Because it was pretty good rock and roll if you listen to it.”
Describing the music as “bubblegum rock,” Dante explained, “It was rock and roll. And it was rock and roll for very young people. It was never meant to compete with Led Zeppelin or the Stones. It was meant for 9- to 13-year-olds who chew bubble gum and eat cereal in the morning.”
Dante noted that to promote the music, producers cut a deal to put “Sugar, Sugar” on the back of Sugar Pops cereal boxes.
“Ten million boxes went out with a cardboard record that you could cut out and play like 21 times,” he shared. “And it was very successful. And it had four songs on it. So, a lot of kids six, seven, eight years old would be eating breakfast. They’d say, ‘What is that? Oh, let’s cut that out and play it.’ So, it was some of the first rock and roll they ever heard.”
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“I was never offended by the term bubblegum,” Dante added. “I thought they should know who’s playing on these records. The greatest New York studio musicians played on The Archie’s records. [Guitarists] Hugh McCracken, David Spinozza. Two of these guys were on the Archie Records. When Paul McCartney came to town to do [his album] Ram, who did he hire? Hugh McCracken and David Spinozza.”
“We had great drummers, we had great bass players, and they played on all the hits,” the singer continued. “So, it wasn’t like a little kid band over here making young music. It was grown-ups making young music.”
On paper, the Archies were a cartoon band, made up for the animated Saturday morning series that featured lead singer and guitarist Archie Andrews, bass player Reggie Mantle, keyboardist Veronica Lodge, percussionist Betty Cooper, and drummer Jughead Jones performing songs such as “Sugar, Sugar” and “Jungle Jangle.”
But the songs were meticulously written and produced by legendary duo Jeff Barry and Andy Kim.
“They didn’t dive deep into lyrics, but they dove deep into pockets on those records,” Dante recalled on the podcast. “I remember Jeff Barry working very hard on ‘Sugar, Sugar,’ making sure that the drums and the bass played what he wanted. It took an hour and a half or two hours to get the pocket. And then I came out and after the track was laid and did my vocal.”
Dante previously explained why he agreed to provide vocals for fictional singer Archie Andrews on “Sugar, Sugar” and other songs.
“I felt it had a really good beat,” he once told Goldmine magazine of the 1969 hit. “I wanted my vocal to be soft like Donovan’s delivery on songs like ‘Mellow Yellow.’”
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