Peak
10
Weeks
13
Score
2,045
Chart Year
1970
Everybody knows about The Archies' #1 hit "Sugar, Sugar" and often dismisses that one hit as a fluke, but in fact The Archies scored four Top 40 Billboard hits - cartoon characters or not! "Jingle Jangle," the follow-up to "Sugar Sugar," was their second-highest charting hit, reaching #10 and selling enough copies to get certified Gold. In 1969, The Archies were Billboard's top group of the year, the only time a fictional band has claimed the top spot. A common distribution method for The Archies' singles was on the backs of cereal boxes, as a cardboard cutout that you could actually liberate from the box and play on a turntable. You'd be the king of eBay if you have one of these to sell today. A common misconception is that The Archies, like The Doors, had no bass player. Not so - the character Reggie was definitely identified as bass player and was credited as such on the liner notes for The Archies Christmas Album. The real-life Archies were generally a rotating cast of studio session musicians, including Ron Dante, Andy Kim, and Toni Wine. Don Kirshner produced them, and - if it's any clue - also produced The Monkees. The male bass voice in "Jingle Jangle," portrayed as Jughead's voice in the cartoons, is provided by Jeff Barry. To help you wallow in nostalgia, let's quote the immortal Lester Bangs in The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll: "The phenomenal success of this funny-paper combo led to a thousand Saturday-morning kiddy-video copies in the waning sixties and early seventies, including the leggy Josie and the Pussycats (actually a spin-off), Lancelot Link and the Evolution Revolution (acid-crazed simians), the Bugaloos (my personal faves), the Groovy Goolies (Munsters dipped in monosodium glutamate), the Banana Splits (whose theme song with its strange imagery - "Four banana, three banana, two banana, one / Five bananas playin' in the bright blue sun." - will be in my head unto the grave)." While the Archie newspaper comic strip of today is very much a zombie franchise, the anonymous team behind it appears to be very culture-aware. The comic humor site The Comics Curmudgeon took to referring to the "Archie Joke-Generating Laugh Unit 3000," abbreviated to 'AJGLU-3000,' a computer alleged to be supplying the jokes for the Archie strip that combines a dim awareness of the methods of humor without comprehending human nature. After the running gag went on for months, characters in the Archie universe actually started referring to the AJGLU-3000 themselves.
Sing me, sing me, sing me Sing me, sing me baby Ooooh ... ooooh La da da da da da da (sing me, sing me, sing me) La da da da da da da (sing the Jingle Jangle song) La da da da da da da (sing me, sing me baby) La da da da da da da Ever since I met ya I couldn't want ya better I couldn't love you stronger if I tried It's my true heart I'm showin' Or my nose would be growin' You know that it gets longer when I lie. Singin' La da da da da da da (sing me, sing me, sing me) La da da da da da da (sing the Jingle Jangle song) La da da da da da da (sing me, sing me baby) La da da da da da da Bein' kinda pretty And down here in the city Find it isn't easy to be smart. When tryin' to untangle The Jingle from the Jangle It's easy if you listen with your heart. Singin' La da da da da da da (sing me, sing me, sing me) La da da da da da da (sing the Jingle Jangle song) La da da da da da da (sing me, sing me baby) La da da da da da da We'll make the winter springtime And Jingle Jangle singtime Right on through the summer and the fall So darlin', don't be weepin' And please don't you be sleepin' When I come a-creepin' down the hall To sing ya La da da da da da da (sing me, sing me, sing me) La da da da da da da (sing the Jingle Jangle song) La da da da da da da (sing me, sing me baby) La da da da da da da Well, come on (well come on) Baby get it together Well, come on (well come on) Ooooh, yeah yeah yeah, yeah Well, come on (well come on) Gotta get it together Well, come on (well come on) Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on! La da da da da da da (sing me, sing me, sing me) La da da da da da da (sing the Jingle Jangle song) La da da da da da da (sing me, sing me baby) La da da da da da da
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nov 29, 1969 | 90 | 36 |
| 2 | Dec 6, 1969 | 53 | 73 |
| 3 | Dec 13, 1969 | 48 | 78 |
| 4 | Dec 20, 1969 | 34 | 92 |
| 5 | Dec 27, 1969 | 22 | 104 |
| 6 | Jan 3, 1970 | 17 | 109 |
| 7 | Jan 10, 1970 | 14 | 112 |
| 8 | Jan 17, 1970 | 12 | 114 |
| 9 | Jan 24, 1970 | 11 | 115 |
| 10 | Jan 31, 1970 | 11 | 115 |
| 11 | Feb 7, 1970 | 10 | 116 |
| 12 | Feb 14, 1970 | 20 | 106 |
| 13 | Feb 21, 1970 | 32 | 94 |