- Included among the Record Descriptions of Favorite Albums (Part 1).
- The Green Tambourine album shows a nice variety of songs and is viewed by Allmusic as being one of the best bubblegum albums.
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The Lemon Pipers – Green Tambourine (1968): Even at the time, the term “bubblegum pop” music made it seem more disposable and frivolous than it actually is. The classic bubblegum hits were the 1968 songs “Simon Says” by the 1910 Fruitgum Company and “Yummy Yummy Yummy” by the Ohio Express. Other hit songs in the same vein followed through the end of the 1960’s, with many being masterminded by Jerry Kasenetz and Jeffry Katz; one single, called “Quick Joey Small” came out under the name the Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus. The Archies are the most anonymous bubblegum band of them all, since they appear only as cartoon characters; however, their hit “Sugar, Sugar” was the #1 song of the entire year in 1969 and I believe outsold every Beatles single.
While many if not most of the bubblegum bands were one hit wonders, the Ohio Express had three other Top 40 hits. The #1 hit “Green Tambourine” by the Lemon Pipers is categorized as a bubblegum song these days, though I didn’t think of it that way at the time. For one thing, “Green Tambourine” became a hit in the time period between “Simon Says” and “Yummy Yummy Yummy”, probably before that “bubblegum” term had even come along. I viewed “Green Tambourine” as being among the psychedelic singles of the late 1960’s, such as “Crimson and Clover” by Tommy James and the Shondells and “Incense and Peppermints” by Strawberry Alarm Clock. In any case, the Green Tambourine album shows a nice variety of songs and is viewed by Allmusic as being one of the best bubblegum albums, assuming that it should be placed in that category at all. Incidentally, the record label Buddah Records is not spelled the same way as that of the man who founded Buddhism, Gautama Buddha.