The summer of 1969 was a major turning point for rock music in the United States. Such bands as Supertramp and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young came together while The Beatles secretly decided to part ways. The Woodstock Festival brought together hundreds of thousands of hippies to witness an unparalleled lineup, capped off by Jimi Hendrix reinventing the national anthem as a protest song. Sometimes forgotten in the midst of these events is the steady progress up the charts of a bubblegum pop song that became the song of the year.
“Sugar, Sugar,” performed by a group of session musicians under the name of the cartoon group The Archies, was released in May and hit #1 on September 20. At first glance, it appears to be an unlikely candidate for Billboard’s song of the year, but the rising power of youth following World War II made it possible. Increased urban growth took teenagers away from farms and led to the leisure time and disposable incomes that gave the youth market its power. While some bands focused on society’s problems, others offered a less serious alternative in which music was a form of escapism. These factors came together to form the ideal conditions for bubblegum pop to rise to the top of the music scene and showed an expansion of the Youthquake movement.
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About the presenterKevin Hogg
Kevin Hogg is a high school English and Law teacher in British Columbia. He holds a Master of Arts degree in English Literature and is currently working on a narrative nonfiction book about the summer of 1969.