Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus - Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus (1968/2018) Hi Res

The production duo of Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz defined the sound and spirit of the bubblegum era, helming quintessential if interchangeable records from the Ohio Express, the 1910 Fruitgum Company, and numerous others. According to an April 25, 1997, feature in Goldmine titled An Informal History of Bubblegum Music, the duo met while both were attending the University of Arizona, and their initial entrance to the music industry was as managers of a number of groups active on the New York City club circuit; their production debut was the Christine Cooper single "S.O.S. (Heart in Distress)," issued on the Cameo-Parkway label. The record was not a hit but it did bring Kasenetz and Katz to the attention of Cameo exec Neil Bogart, whose subsequent venture Buddah Records was to play a pivotal role in bubblegum's success.

In the meantime, in mid-1967 Kasenetz and Katz or Super K Productions, as they were collectively known jumped to Laurie Records to score their first Top Five hit with the Music Explosion's "Little Bit o' Soul." When Bogart founded Buddah soon after, the duo joined the label to release their production of "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy"; the song was written and performed by one Joey Levine but actually attributed to the Ohio Express, the first in a long line of Super K projects to play fast and loose with proper credits, with countless aliases disguising the fact that the same creative nucleus was actually responsible for the vast majority of bubblegum releases. In any case, "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy" was a million-selling hit in early 1968, its sunny escapism and infectious exuberance distilling the very essence of the Kasenetz-Katz aesthetic.

Here is a fun little artifact. In the late 1960s, Buddha Records was bubblegum central, with the 1910 Fruitgum Company and the Ohio Express. "Simon Says," and other zippy singles were crafted particularly for AM radio. A million miles from Woodstock, not a peace sign in the hemosphere, you would never know outside of Buddhaland, 1969 was going on.