Rant #2,275: Bubblegum Music Is the Naked Truth (Part 2)

Oh yes ...

I know nobody asked for it, but here is the second part--songs numbers 5 through 10--of our Top Bubblegum Songs of All-time list.

We are leading up to 25 songs, and let me tell you, I could easily make this a Top 50 list, and maybe one day, I will add 25 songs onto this list, but for right now, we will mercifully keep it to 25.

Last week, you might remember that we listed the following as the top five bubblegum songs of all time:

1) Archies - "Sugar Sugar"
2) Monkees - "I'm a Believer"
3) Ohio Express - "Yummy Yummy Yummy"
4) 1910 Fruitgum Co. - "1, 2, 3 Red Light"
5) Beatles - "I Want To Hold Your Hand"

Now, we come to the next greatest bubblegum tunes, and it is important to note that these songs also defined this music, which celebrates its 50th anniversary of its acknowledgment as a music genre during 2018.

So here goes--

6) Tommy James and the Shondells - "I Think We're Alone Now": This song has to be on the list, and quite honestly, it could have been in the top 5. But this song pretty much defined the genre, and was simply one of the bushelful of hits generated by James and his bandmates, hitting No. 4 in 1967. The tune, written by Richie Cordell, has all the characteristics of the classic bubblegum songs that followed it--the bouncy tune, the simple and repeated lyrics, and, of course, the sexual undertones--that, like the Beatles and Monkees' tunes already listed, it served as a template for what was to follow.

7) Tommy Roe - "Dizzy": This No. 1 tune defined the genre when it hit the top of the charts in 1969. Written by Roe and Freddy Weller--the latter a member of Paul Revere and the Raiders--the song provided one of the greatest earworms of all time. Again, its simpleness is offset by its perfection, as it certainly is not only one of the great bubblegum songs of all time, but it is also one of the great pop songs of the 1960s, and this from an artist that had been around forever and started out his chart career as sort of a Buddy Holly soundalike ("Sheila"). And once Roe hit with bubblegum, he didn't stop, churning out one bubblegum hit after another.

8) 1910 Fruitgum Co.: "Simon Says": This is the tune that started it all for this group, and pretty much for Buddah Records as the prime dispensary for bubblegum music. It is light, bouncy, catchy, and puts a kids' game into another whole genre entirely. Written by Elliot Chiprut, the song is as simple as it can be, but the underbelly of the song is as sexual as it can be. But you would not know that if you were six years old and grooving to this on your transistor radio.

9) Ohio Express: "Chewy Chewy": Using the same formula as its first hit, Joey Levine and his backing band came out with another candy-coated pop concoction, and while it does not stick to you as did "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy," it nonetheless packs a potent punch. Reaching No. 15 in 1968, it continues to have that smarmy underbelly which is there, even if you didn't realize it or know it. Also important to note is that for some reason, "The Ohio Express" became just "Ohio Express" at this time, losing its article but certainly none of its punch.

10) Beatles: "She Loves You": OK, say what you want, but this song, along with "I Want To Hold Your Hand," gave this type of music its first blueprint. While this Lennon-McCartney song doesn't pack as much of a punch as the band's other entry on this list, it does showcase the jubilance found in most bubblegum songs, and if that is its main contribution to the genre, then the Monkees, the Archies, the two Tommys, and the Buddah stable of bubblegum acts salute this tune, another No. 1 record for the Fab Four in 1964.

So there you have it, we have finally reached the top 10 of this chart, the best bubblegum songs ever, in my humble opinion.

Next up is more, more, more Buddah bubblegum, and a bevy of other songs that define the genre--and are great pop tunes too.

Chew that bubblegum; you can't spit it out yet!