One Hit Wonders: 3 Songs From 1969

Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I’m Jumpin’ John, and in this podcast episode I will transport you listeners back to the year 1969!  The 1969-1970 time period is often referred to as an important transitional period in music that witnessed Album-Oriented Rock formats overshadowing Top 40 singles on the airwaves.  

Back in 1969 the music buying industry was becoming dominated by purchases of rock albums.  The focus of this podcast is not on those popular albums of 1969.  Rather, I will briefly discuss three singles that were released in 1969 and are now considered to be classic one hit wonders!  Those three songs were “In the Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)”  by Zager and Evans, "Sugar, Sugar" by The Archies, and "Spirit in the Sky" by Norman Greenbaum.  These three singles each would play significant roles in American music and pop culture.  

All podcasts on the Rock and Roll Flashback Podcast are produced by brothers-in-law Bill Price and "Jumpin' John" McDermott. The Podcast Theme Song, "You Essay", was written by John, and the basic track was recorded by Bill and John on April 1, 2004.
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Transcript

Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I’m Jumpin’ John, and in this podcast episode I will transport you listeners back to the year 1969!  The 1969-1970 time period is often referred to as an important transitional period in music that witnessed Album-Oriented Rock formats overshadowing Top 40 singles on the airwaves.  Back in 1969 the music buying industry was becoming dominated by purchases of rock albums.  Several albums sold over a million units in the U.S. in 1969.  In fact, 16 major LP’s that came out that year had over 1 and a quarter million units sold!  Think of albums like Tommy by the Who, Abbey Road & Yellow Submarine by the Beatles, Led Zeppelin I and Led Zeppelin II by Led Zeppelin, Crosby, Stills , & Nash by Crosby, Stills , & Nash, Blood, Sweat & Tears by Blood, Sweat & Tears, Let It Bleed by the Rolling Stones, At San Quentin by Johnny Cash, Green River, Bayou Country, and Willy and the Poor Boys by Creedence Clearwater Revival, Chicago Transit Authority by Chicago, Santana by Santana, Ummagumma by Pink Floyd, and The Soft Parade by the Doors.  

The focus of this podcast is not on those popular albums of 1969.  Rather, I will briefly discuss three singles that were released in 1969 and are now considered to be classic one hit wonders!  Those of you who know me know that I was really into album rock, so I was not particularly fond of these three singles.  Nevertheless, these three singles each played significant roles in American music and pop culture.

Denny Zager and Rick Evans met in 1962 at Nebraska Wesleyan University.  Six years later Zager and Evans, both on guitars and vocals, formed a pop-rock band with Mark Dalton on bass and Dave Trupp on drums.  “In the Year 2525” – or “In the Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)” - to give the song its full name – was a song that Rick Evans had written back in 1964.  The song’s basic theme was that of a world doomed by its passive acquiescence to and over dependence on its own overdone technologies, all while neglecting the unchecked exploitation of the Earth.  

The band recorded the song with production by Tommy Allsup and additional instruments from The Odessa Symphony.  It was recorded primarily in one take in 1968, at a studio in a cow pasture in Odessa, Texas. “In the Year 2525” was originally released on the small regional Truth record label in 1968.  It was a big local hit, getting heavy Nebraska airplay in Lincoln and Omaha.  In April 1969 RCA Records picked up the song, tweaked it slightly, and released it nationally.  The single’s “B” side was “Little Kids”, also written by Evans.  

 The song quickly rose up the U.S. singles chart.  It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for six consecutive weeks beginning July 12, 1969.  Thus “In the Year 2525” had the unique distinction of topping the U.S. charts at the time of two major cultural events: the first Moon landing on July 20th, 1969 and the Woodstock Music Festival a month later.  With U.S. sales of over 1 million units, the song was certified “Gold” by RIAA in July 1969.  “In the Year 2525” became a global hit, also topping the charts in Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand.  The song also reached #1 in the U.K. on August 30th, 1969, where it stayed for three weeks.  By 1970 the song had sold over 4 million units worldwide.  The song has since been covered at least 60 times in seven languages.  With its evocative lyrics, “In the Year 2525” has been used in multiple movies and TV shows, either in its original form or rewritten, including Alien 3, Millennium, Cleopatra 2525 and Futurama.  An album released in 1969, entitled 2525 (Exordium & Terminus), reached #30 in the U.S., but the following year's Zager & Evans LP missed the charts completely.  Due to Zager and Evans never releasing another charting single, they were truly one-hit wonders.  Zager and Evans have the unique distinction of being the only recording artists ever to have a chart-topping #1 hit on both sides of the Atlantic and then never have another charting single in the U.K. or U.S. after that.  Zager and Evans disbanded in 1971.

Have you ever had an annoying tune keep playing over and over in your head.  Well, this second one hit wonder certainly qualifies as one of those obnoxious tunes!  In the late 1960’s, Don Kirshner, former music supervisor to the Monkees, put together a group of studio musicians.  Kirshner called his studio band The Archies, a fictional bubblegum pop band from Archie Comics.  Back in early 1969 Jeff Barry and Andy Kim wrote a song , intended for The Archies, called "Sugar, Sugar".  For the recording, Ron Dante provided the lead vocals, accompanied by Toni Wine and songwriter Andy Kim. Using multitracking, together they provided the voices of The Archies.  Produced by Jeff Barry and ostensively recorded by the Archies, "Sugar, Sugar" was released as The Archies’ third single on the Calendar Records label on May 24th, 1969.  The “B” side was “Melody Hill”.  The single was rereleased on the Kirshner Records label in July 1969.  Enhancing the song’s popularity, the track was also made available (along with two other Archies singles) on the back of boxes of Post breakfast cereal Super Sugar Crisp.  

The single proved to be a huge commercial success.  In August 1969 the record was certified “Gold” by the RIAA for sales of one million.  Then, starting on September 20th, "Sugar, Sugar" started a four-week run at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, replacing the Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women".  It spent 22 weeks on the Hot 100 and was one of only ten singles to spend 12 weeks in the Top Ten during the 1960’s decade.  Between late October and mid-December 1969 the single also spent 8 weeks at the top of the U.K. Singles Chart.  On September 13, 1969 the song topped the Canadian singles chart, where it remained for three weeks.  

“Sugar, Sugar” was the featured song off the LP Everything's Archie.  That album, released in November 1969, was the second album credited to The Archies.  By ranking #1 for the year 1969 in both America and the U.K., and ultimately having worldwide sales of over 6 million units, "Sugar, Sugar" is the most successful bubblegum pop single of all time.  In 2018 “Sugar, Sugar” was ranked #81 in Billboard's Hot 100 60th Anniversary chart.

Massachusetts native Norman Joel Greenbaum had performed with various bands in high school and studied music at Boston University for two years.  In college he performed at local coffeehouses, but eventually dropped out and moved to Los Angeles in 1965.  Greenbaum became the leader and composer for Dr. West's Medicine Show and Junk Band, which recorded the novelty hit "The Eggplant That Ate Chicago" in 1966.  The group's psychedelic approach was going nowhere commercially, so Greenbaum decided to go solo as a folk artist.  He submitted an original song, "Spirit in the Sky", to Reprise Records.  His demo recording was a simple folk rendition, with Greenbaum accompanying himself on acoustic guitar.  Greenbaum has said that his initial inspiration for writing the song was after coming across a greeting card entitled “Spirit in the Sky.”  On the card there were Native Americans sitting in front of a teepee and a campfire, appearing to be spiritually worshipping some form of God, which represented a spirit in the sky.  Greenbaum’s “Spirit in The Sky” lyrics echoed an inspirational message of optimism for hope of an afterlife.  Although "Spirit in the Sky" has a clear Christian theme, Greenbaum was and remains an observant Jew.  Greenbaum says he was further inspired to write the song after watching a Christian-themed song performed by Porter Wagoner on television, and that Western movies were a major inspiration for "Spirit in the Sky".  Some devout Christians have criticized the lyric “never been a sinner, I never sinned.” Greenbaum has since admitted in several interviews that his lack of knowledge about Jesus and the Christian faith led him to flub the line.  He has said [and I quote] “I just didn’t know better at the time” [end quote].

Reprise paired Greenbaum with staff producer Erik Jacobsen, who formerly worked with the Lovin’ Spoonful.  Jacobsen radically rearranged the song for a new recording session at San Francisco’s Coast Recorders studio.  Jacobsen used session players Russell DaShiell on guitar, Doug Killmer on bass, and drummer Norman Mayell.  Jacobsen also brought in the Stovall Sisters (Joyce, Lillian and Netta) from Oakland to support the song with gospel hand percussion and vocal stylings, joined by additional singers.  Greenbaum used a Fender Telecaster guitar with a fuzz-tone circuit built into the body to generate the song's characteristic guitar sound.  The updated version now had pulsing electric guitar, gospel-styled backup singers, and a heavy, pounding rhythm accompanying Greenbaum.  Also Greenbaum’s vocal was now double-tracked.  

Reprise released Greenbaum’s debut album "Spirit in the Sky" in late 1969.  After the first two single releases from the album failed to chart, Reprise released the title track, with “Milk Cow” on the “B” side. "Spirit in the Sky" quickly rose up the charts in early 1970.  The single became a gold record in the U.S., selling two million copies from 1969 to 1970, and reached #3 on the US Billboard Hot 100, where it lasted for 15 weeks in the Top 100.  Billboard ranked the record the #22 song of 1970.  It also climbed to #1 on US Cashbox, and was for a time the best-selling single for the Reprise label.  "Spirit in the Sky" became a worldwide hit, reaching #1 on the UK, Australian, and Canadian charts in 1970.  Rolling Stone ranked "Spirit in the Sky" #333 on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".  The song was voted one of the Top 10 one-hit wonders in a Rolling Stone reader's poll.  The original version of "Spirit in the Sky" is heard in the films Miami Blues, Wayne's World 2, Apollo 13, Remember the Titans, Ocean's Eleven, The Sandlot 2, Katie and Orbie, Suicide Squad, and The Founder.  Kellogg's cereal used the song for a television advertisement in 1997, and it was the highlight of a lengthy television commercial for Nike shoes in 2005.  While Greenbaum's follow up 1970 single "Canned Ham" reached #46 in the U.S and #26 in Canada, Norman Greenbaum would never again replicate the commercial success of “Spirit in the Sky”. 

This has been Rock and Roll Flashback, as we traveled back to the year 1969.  That year saw the release of three of the all-time classic one-hit wonders by Zager & Evans, The Archies, and Norman Greenbaum.  I’m Jumpin’ John McDermott and – until next time – Rock On!