The Archies
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The Archies are a garage band founded by Archie Andrews, Reggie Mantle, and Jughead Jones, a group of adolescent fictional characters of the Archie universe, in the context of the animated TV series, The Archie Show.
[edit] The fictional group
The Archies play a variety of contemporary popular music, consistent with the era in which the comic is drawn. They seem to have a preference for rock and roll, however.
Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge later also joined the group. Every member sings vocals, with Jughead handling the bass voice on a few tracks.
The roles the teens play in the fictional band were:
- Archie - Lead Guitarist
- Reggie - Second Lead Guitarist
- Jughead - Drums
- Betty - Tambourine/Percussion
- Veronica - Organ/Keyboard
- Hot Dog - mascot
Like The Doors, the Archies had no bass player.
An unusual distribution mode for their music was as 45 cardboard records embossed directly onto the backs of breakfast cereal boxes so that the cardboard record could be cut out and played on a turntable.
[edit] The real group
A set of studio musicians were assembled by Don Kirshner in 1968 to perform various songs. The most famous is "Sugar, Sugar", written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim, which went to #1 on the pop chart in 1969 and earned the group a gold record (in fact, in Billboard magazine's Hot 100, it was ranked as the number one song of that year, the only time a fictional band has ever claimed Billboard's annual Hot 100 top-spot). Other Top Forty songs recorded by The Archies include "Who's Your Baby?," "Bang-Shang-A-Lang," and "Jingle Jangle."
Male vocals for the fictional Archies group were provided by Ron Dante and female duet vocals were provided by Toni Wine. Wine was succeeded in 1970 by Donna Marie, who in turn was replaced on the final recordings by Merle Miller. The only Archies song not to feature Ron Dante on lead was 1971's "Love Is Living In You," believed to be sung by Phil Cody. Jeff Barry, Susan Morse, Joey Levine, Maeretha Stewart, Ellie Greenwich, Bobby Bloom and Leslie Miller contributed background vocals at various times, with Jeff contributing his trademark bass voice (portrayed as being sung by Jughead in the cartoon) on cuts such as "Jingle Jangle" and "You Little Angel, You." Musicians on Archies records included guitarist Hugh McCracken, bassists Chuck Rainey and Joey Macho, keyboard player Ron Frangipane and drummers Buddy Saltzman and Gary Chester.
Their antiwar protest single "A Summer Prayer For Peace" was an unlikely South African chart-topper in 1971. Writer/producer Jeff Barry can be heard in the spoken parts on this track along with lead vocalist Ron Dante. Most of the Archies' songs were produced, written or co-written by Jeff Barry.
