heh heh, I was re-reading that Smay essay on the tube this morning. It's great but he does exaggerate his position for effect a LOT in the piece. All part I think of an ongoing corrective to the "folkie stab at a false authenticity" strand of pop criticism that Smay and Cooper refer to in their introducion to the book.

And even if Smay is reflecting a wider strand of opinion, the problem with the passage you quote is that there's only about 3 or 4 songs in The Archies' catalogue (enjoyable though nearly all of it is) that come even remotely close to matching "Sugar Sugar".