Life is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me) is a one-hit wonder from 1974 (reaching #8) that has confounded would-be karaoke kings for years.
Since it was recorded by a group of studio musicians (named Reunion), there is obviously no footage of the group playing live (nor any official video). This is the best of the fan-made videos on youtube.
Lead singer was Joey Levine, whose voice you've heard elsewhere on the Ohio Express' "Yummy Yummy Yummy" and other bubble-gum hits. He's also responsible for some of the catchiest commercial jingles of the past several decades
Here are the other versions I have (there may be others):
Sugar, Sugar was written by Jeff Barry (him again!) and Andy Kim (later known for Rock Me Gently), and was sung by Ron Dante (Archie) and Toni Wine (doing double duty as Betty and Veronica).
It was released in mid-Summer 1969 and by September it knocked The Rolling Stones' Honky Tonk Women out of the #1 spot, where it stayed for 4 weeks. In the UK, it remained at the top of the charts for 8 weeks.
And since MTV was still 12 years in the future, kids had to make do with this as the music video, broadcast as part of the Saturday morning Archie Comedy Hour.
The Archie Comedy Hour was produced by Filmation, who was sort of the poor(er) man's Hanna-Barbera when it came to 1960s and 1970s cartoons. Filmation was infamous for its limited animation (watch for lots of repetitive close-ups and really odd walking gaits), and for its limited stable of voice actors (seriously, did anyone imagine the Archie Comics characters talking like that?!?) But in their favor, Filmation had an amazing number of licensed properties.
Some thoughts ----
0:10 -- so poor Sabrina gets left out of the band (seems she could have hexed her way in).... and would a high school today (even in Riverdale) allow a kissing booth at their carnival .... and if so, what would be the going rate?
1:13 -- is Reggie trying to moonwalk?!?
1:22 -- Archie forgets to lipsync? (Or is Reggie singing lead vocals?)
1:42 -- Sabrina's kiss turns Archie into the Trix Rabbit (another cereal tie-in?)
1:58 -- What the heck?! Jughead just shows up from nowhere with his drum kit! (let's not mention Hot Dog conducting....)
2:21 -- is anyone buying that either Betty OR Veronica is responsible for that soul-sister shout-out?
While you're pondering this, you can grab your cereal and your crayons....
And a final thought... Super Sugar Crisp is now known as boring old Golden Crisp and no longer has cut out records on the back of its boxes...
Starting off the Summer Jukebox, I'm posting The Dixie Cups' other Top 20 hit -- a longing-filled ode to short-lived summer romances... This one hit #12 in the summer of 1964
Known primarily for the million-selling hit Chapel of Love, the Dixie Cups were two sisters and a cousin plucked from a New Orleans housing project and signed to girl-group label Red Bird Records. They were originally supposed to be called Little Miss and the Muffets, but luckily someone thought better of that.
People Say was written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, jointly responsible for many many 60s pop confections that will probably show up here. But for this inaugural post, here's a nice montage video stolen from youtube...
