Sunday morning music

Some of you are going to hate me for this . . . but do you remember bubblegum pop music?  I do, with a cringe or two as I think of some groups who were very popular in the late 1960’s and early to mid 1970’s.  One of them was a British outfit calling themselves “Middle Of The Road“.  I went to one of their live performances in South Africa in the early 1970’s, for reasons that escape my adult self (put it down to what was, at the time, a less than mature musical taste, if you like!).

At any rate, they were reasonably successful in Britain and its former colonies, and had some airtime here in the USA.  Here’s a selection of some of their hits.  Remember to chew gum while you listen.  (Not!)

Amazingly, they’re still around!  Here’s a live performance from 2016 in Berlin.

Ah, memories . . .  What were your favorite bubblegum pop groups and songs, way back when?  Let us know in Comments.

Peter

10 comments

  1. All I remember is that someone called our local music station and said he wanted to hear "Sugar, Sugar" by the Archies and the DJ played "Won't Get Fooled Again!" by the Who. Loved it!

  2. Even when I was a kid, I wanted to put a gun to my head every
    time I heard yummy, yummy, yummy I got love in my tummy!

    I still cringe when I hear bubblegum music.

  3. The Sweet had to be the ultimate bugglegum band yet when they weren't doing singles, they played some of the best rock of those simpler times.

  4. Miraculously, I'd (somehow) forgotten all about this "musical genre/era", and misremembered the atrocity/tragedy called "disco" as being the very nadir of "popular" music history – my mistake…

    How truly fitting it is that the most prominent and widely-known name from that thoroughly-forgettable genre – The Archies – was not only altogether fictional as a "group"(it's not really possible to term any of them from that era a "band") , but was not even composed of actual humans, being merely animated minor-league comic-book characters.

    (It's really kind of unfair to their memory to bunch The Monkees in with the rest of that mob, BTW – "made-up-for-TeeVee" as that group was, they actually had some genuine talent and delivered some halfway-decent musical performance, on occasion…)

  5. Let me offer one contrasting view. For all the cringing about bubblegum music, note that she is singing in harmony, and accompanied by instruments in harmony with a melody.

    Contrast that with today's "music" which is simply beating a drum to death, with the same words being repeated, repeated, repeated, repeated, …

    It's why I've had quite a discovery, listening on youtube (radio won't play it) to 60's, 70's, & 80's music, where there is actual songs with actual lyrics to listen to. Bubblegum might sound sickly sweet, but I prefer it to "music" today.

  6. LOL, amusing reading your comments Steve Sky as I was listening to the Ramones when I saw this article.

    I loved bubble-gum pop, SWEET was definitely the epitome for me. Going through their best of CD is the soundtrack to my youth.

    Little Willy
    Blockbuster
    Ballroom Blitz
    Fox On The Run
    Love Is Like Oxygen

    I like almost all music, but bubblegum holds a place in my heart because of the memories it brings back…

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