The Archies. A cartoon studio group
with its own Saturday-morning TV show is just about as uncool an image as you
could ever want. So it comes as no surprise that rock critics have been trashing
Archies records for 30 years now. Wouldn't they be surprised, though, if
they ever took the time to really listen to Archies records? They'd discover
that this "bubblegum" band cut more than a few great songs. Between
September of 1968 and September of 1971, The Archies gave Saturday-morning TV
its best rock 'n' roll since the animated Beatles crashed the kiddie
airwaves three years earlier. Adults never realized how good it was . . . or so
it seemed, until a song called "Sugar, Sugar" was released, and
rocketed into the stratosphere.