"I Want Candy"

Without looking it up, who else here thought the song "I Want Candy" was first recorded by Bow Wow Wow?

Well I found out tonight it wasn't.  It was some band called "The Strangeloves" in 1965. 



Here's the version I've always known:



Recorded some 20 years later during the heyday of Adam Ant I always figured Bow Wow Wow was mimicking that sound, I had no idea it was a cover until tonight.

Great. Now that damn song is gonna be stuck in my head all friggin' night. Thanks a lot, Toho!

Bo Diddley.. He said he wrote every rock song ever..

And of course I got that tidbit from one of those clickbait articles.  This one was called "The 50 Most Annoying Songs of All Time". 

assault_attack wrote:

Bo Diddley.. He said he wrote every rock song ever..

It does sound like a Bo Diddley song because as George Thorogood wrote it's "...good time music with that Bo Diddley beat".  But after finding this tidbit I dug around a little bit and it looks like that Strangelove band wrote this one.

When my son was a little kid he thought it was "I Want Pringles".



I used to say "I Want Candy" when the commercial came on and he would always correct me "No dad it's Pringles!". I would always say "No, it's candy!" without ever mentioning it was a real song.

A few years later he heard the real song and then said "Dad, you were right, it IS I Want Candy!". I said "Yep. Always listen to your dad!"

I knew it was a cover but never looked into who did it originally I like Bow Wow Wow's version and their other manufactured punk tunes.

I knew it was a cover but never looked into who did it originally I like Bow Wow Wow's version and their other manufactured punk tunes.

Knew it was from the 60's when Bark Ruff Ruff covered it. Then like now, didn't know who it was.

Bow Wow Wow was another one of Malcolm (Sex Pistols) McLaren's pre-packaged bands, if memory serves.

I remember reading somewhere that they caused a bit of controversy back in the day cuz the girl singer was nude (or at least semi-nude) on an album/single cover, despite being only 14 at the time

By the way, my favorite version of "I Want Candy" is part of this medley:

Fat Freddy wrote:

Bow Wow Wow was another one of Malcolm (Sex Pistols) McLaren's pre-packaged bands, if memory serves.

I remember reading somewhere that they caused a bit of controversy back in the day cuz the girl singer was nude (or at least semi-nude) on an album/single cover, despite being only 14 at the time

Yep!  That's what I remember too.  I used to have that album on vinyl (no, not because of the cover you pervs!) because I liked the sound of that song just like I had multiple Adam Ant albums at the time.  To me the sound was the same except one band had a guy singer and one had a girl. 

If I remember right the cover of the BWW album was just the girl lolling around in sand.  I didn't find it particularly "titillating" (no pun intended) but I did like the "tribal" sound of that song and some of Adam Ant's stuff.  Unfortunately as I remember it I hated the rest of that BWW album and I recently spun some Adam Ant on Youtube and I thought "Geez, that crap sucks."



EDIT:  OK, either I'm confusing the album cover I remember or I had a different one than the only one I can find on the internet.



Either way, in 2020 does that cover even cause anyone to bat an eye?

I didn't know this bit until I went looking for the album cover I thought I remembered. 

Quote :

Bow Wow Wow are an English new wave band, created by manager Malcolm McLaren in 1980. McLaren recruited members of Adam and the Ants to form the band behind 13-year-old Annabella Lwin on vocals.

No wonder I thought they sounded like Adam and the Ants!