The 60’s brings to mind great musical groups like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, great artists like Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix and unforgettable music like Inagaddadavida. This is serious music, maybe even a bit pretentious from time to time but there was another side to the 60’s which was silly and slick. The lyrics were trivial and forgettable but the melodies would get indelibly etched in your memory no matter how hard you tried to forget them just like the music of Andrew Lloyd Weber. This music was called bubblegum music and it was a helpful antidote to the pretentiousness of the later Beatles.
Try this video as an introduction. If you lived through the 60’s it will refresh your memories and if you didn’t it will show you an overview of the groups and the style of babble gum. Then if you aren’t turned off try the bon bons below.
Sugar Sugar by the Archies.
Yummy, Yummy, Yummy by Ohio Express
If you have a sugar high, maybe you are a bubble gum lover and if you want to learn more, I recommend that you check out this history of bubblegum music by a real bubble gum lover. If you have any memories that involve bubble gum music, leave a comment.
Love your song selections! They really bring back a lot of memories. I was a teenager in the 60’s and I think maybe music takes itself too seriously these days.
Joan,
You are right about music taking itself too seriously these days. Is there a current equivalent to bubble gum? The 60’s music was pretty pretentious too and I think that bubble gum was a good change up.
I have not-so-fond memories of my parents sending me to ballroom dance class in 1969. I learned the cha-cha, waltz, and some others that, at the time, I thought were a waste of time. But the exciting time for me was the final dance night. We, of course, had to dance all of the classics but then – the thrill of the night (I was only 13 remember) was the DJ playing “Sugar Sugar”. Ahhh – what fond memories after all.
Vicki,
And what steps did you use for Sugar Sugar after all your training?
Ha! Well – it wasn’t the waltz – that’s for sure. I remember the Pony and the Monkey – maybe it was some variation of the 2. Disco fever hadn’t started yet so I know it wasn’t the Hustle 😉
Perhaps the Hokey Pokey?
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