The Archies | |
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| Genres | Bubblegum |
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| Website | TheArchiesMusic on Twitter |
The Archies are an American fictionalrock band featured inmedia produced by, and related to,Archie Comics. They are best remembered for their appearance in theanimated TV seriesThe Archie Show. In the context of the series, the band was founded by guitarist/vocalistArchie Andrews, drummerJughead Jones, bassistReggie Mantle, percussionist/vocalistBetty Cooper and keyboardist/vocalistVeronica Lodge.
The music featured in the series was recorded bysession musicians, includingRon Dante on lead vocals andToni Wine on duet and backing vocals.[1] The recordings were released as a series of singles and albums that achieved worldwide chart success. Their most successful song, "Sugar, Sugar", became one of the biggest hits of thebubblegum pop genre that flourished from 1968 to 1973.[2]
In 2020, a new version of the band was introduced in the TV seriesRiverdale, withKevin Keller replacing Reggie Mantle. However, the band continues to appear with the five original members in the comic books published by Archie Comics.[3] A featurefilm of the Archies was produced forNetflix, and was released on December 7, 2023.[4]
The Archies first appeared in a comic book,Life with Archie No. 60 (April 1967). The fictional band was inspired by the success of the 1966 TV seriesThe Monkees;[5] in particular,Don Kirshner, who had managed the initially fictional band, wanted a musical act that he could fully control: as the Monkees were fictional but still used the real musicians' names, the musicians themselves became increasingly irritated at beingmicromanaged, leading to a dispute that culminated in Kirshner being fired. To avoid a repeat of the Monkees fiasco while still allowing himself full control, Kirshner commissioned a band based on cartoon characters—if thesession musicians tried to rebel or leave, they could be replaced seamlessly.[6] The early stories copied the TV show's fast cuts and action: "There were pages that had no panel-to-panel continuity at all, just pure strings of nonsense, fantasy, fourth-wall breaking, and exasperated commentary from Betty and Veronica."[5] The feature ended in issue No. 66.
A set ofstudio musicians was assembled byDon Kirshner in 1968 to perform various songs. Their most famous song is "Sugar, Sugar", written byJeff Barry andAndy Kim,[1] which went to number one on theBillboard Hot 100 in 1969, sold over six million copies, and was awarded agold disc.[7] In theBillboard Hot 100, it was ranked as the No. 1 song of that year, the only time a fictional band has ever claimedBillboard's annual Hot 100 top spot. OtherTop 40 songs recorded by the Archies include "Who's Your Baby?" (U.S. No. 40), "Bang-Shang-A-Lang" (U.S. No. 22), and "Jingle Jangle" (U.S. No. 10).[1] "Jingle Jangle" also sold over one million copies, garnering a second gold disc award.[7] Their records were released on the Calendar Records label,[1] which was shortly thereafter renamed to Kirshner Records.
Male vocals for the fictional Archies group were provided byThe Cuff Links' lead singerRon Dante and female duet vocals were provided byToni Wine.[1] Wine, who was only paid for the recording session and quit the group when "Jingle Jangle" became a huge hit, 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", sung by Bob Levine (co-author of the song) and produced by Ritchie Adams. The last single, released in 1972, was "Strangers In The Morning".
Jeff Barry,Andy Kim,Ritchie Adams,Bobby Bloom,Ellie Greenwich,Lesley Miller, Susan Morse and Maeretha Stewart contributed background vocals at various times, with Barry contributing his trademark bass voice (assigned to Jughead in the cartoons) on cuts such as "Jingle Jangle", "Rock 'n' Roll Music", "A Summer Prayer For Peace" (which hit number one in South Africa and Scandinavia in 1971), and "You Little Angel, You". Musicians on the Archies' records included guitaristsHugh McCracken andDave Appell, drummersGary Chester andBuddy Saltzman, bassistsChuck Rainey and Joey Macho, and keyboard player Ron Frangipane.
The sound engineer was Fred Weinberg, who was Jeff Barry's and Andy Kim's favorite and also recorded Barry's other hits "Be My Baby", "Baby, I Love You", and Kim's "Rock Me Gently". Fred Weinberg is a composer and producer in his own right. However, the music forThe U.S. of Archie, which aired in 1974, was produced by Jackie Mills, a Hollywood producer, who also producedBobby Sherman and theBrady Kids. The vocalist for these shows was Tom McKenzie, who also sang on someGroovie Goolies segments, and was a regular member of the popular singing groupDoodletown Pipers.
According to Ron Dante, over 100 songs were recorded, but at least 40 went unreleased.[8] In 2020, Sunset Blvd Records releasedRon Dante's Funhouse!, which includes some of the unreleased songs and most of the "Dance of the Week" segments, all of them pulled straight fromArchie's Funhouse andThe Archie Show, respectively.
Some of the group's songs have appeared on episodes of the TV seriesRiverdale.[9] The group made its debut inRiverdale, in the musical episode "Chapter Seventy-Four: Wicked Little Town", for only the second time in a live-action adaptation after the television filmArchie: To Riverdale and Back Again in 1990.[10] It includesKJ Apa as Archie,Cole Sprouse as Jughead,Lili Reinhart as Betty,Camila Mendes as Veronica andCasey Cott asKevin Keller.[11] For the first time, Kevin Keller is part of the group, replacing Reggie Mantle (played byCharles Melton). Kevin sings and plays keyboard. The song "Midnight Radio" was included in the series' musical episode soundtrack, which was released byWaterTower Music on April 15, 2020.
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding missing information.(April 2022) |
On November 10, 2021,Netflix announcedthe Indian live-action feature film adaptation of the Archies of the same name. The film was produced byTiger Baby Films and Graphic India withZoya Akhtar as director,[12] starringAgastya Nanda as Archie, Mihir Ahuja as Jughead, Vedang Raina as Reggie,Khushi Kapoor as Betty andSuhana Khan as Veronica, alongside others.[13] Filming started on April 18, 2022,[14] and then ended on December 19, 2022.[15]
The film was released on December 7, 2023.[4]The film's soundtrack was released bySony Music India on November 25, 2023.[16]
The Archies play a variety of contemporarypopular music, consistent with the era in which the comic is drawn. Most of the members sing vocals, with Jughead handling the bass voice on a few tracks. Their singing voices were soft and appropriate for pop vocals, but their speaking voices were much different, as their speaking roles were played by voice actors. The roles that the teens play in the fictional band are:
One distribution mode for the Archies' music was embossingcardboard records directly onto the back of cereal boxes, which were cut out and played on a turntable (although their music was also available on standard issue LPs and 45s).[18][19]
Though the group no longer appears in animation, they are still frequently used in stories published byArchie Comics. In 2020, the group made its second live-action appearance onRiverdale, withKevin Keller replacing Reggie Mantle. In this incarnation, Kevin sings and plays keyboard, and Veronica sings only.
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