You can get a pretty good clue to the fluffy, undemanding nature of bubblegum music by just looking at the names of some of the groups on a retrospective album just released by Varese Sarabande Records. They include Crazy Elephant, the Fun and Games, the Banana Splits, the 1910 Fruitgum Co., Salt Water Taffy and the Archies.
Or you can just listen to the opening 10 seconds of the album for a sample of what may have been the defining record of the pop confection movement of the late '60s and early '70s.
The word "bubblegum" was a catchy marketing term to describe a sound aimed at preteens — music that had a good-natured, nursery-rhyme, sing-along feel to it. The album's liner notes describe it gleefully as "chewy chunks of supersweetened pop."
"Yummy, yummy, yummy, I got love in my tummy," declares the Ohio Express' Joey Levine in "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy," a single that reached No. 4 on the nation's pop charts in 1968.
The track — from Buddah Records, which prided itself as the home of bubblegum — and such other blockbuster hits as the Archies' "Sugar, Sugar" sound as disposable today as they did the first time around.
But some of the other selections on "25 All-Time Greatest Bubblegum Hits" provide some unexpected pleasures.
Here's a look at some of the defining tracks in the retrospective:
The Ohio Express' "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy.". This track may open the album, but it was far from the first bubblegum hit of the rock era. The search goes back to Brian Hyland's "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-dot Bikini" from 1960 — if not beyond. The only interesting thing about the record is how much lead singer Joey Levine's nasal vocal reminds you of Eminem.
The Monkees' "I'm a Believer" (No. 1, 1967). I'm not sure this record really qualifies as bubblegum. The Monkees were sheer fun, but they made some extraordinary singles, including this one.
Dawn's "Knock Three Times" (No. 1, 1970). This may be lightweight pop, but the single has much more in common with the tradition of New York R&B-pop (think Ben E. King's recording of "Spanish Harlem") than the Ohio Express. It's a pop tart, much like Melanie's "Brand New Key," which is hard to resist.