1910 Fruitgum Company. Bubblegum is generally traced to the success of the 1968 Fruitgum Company hit "Simon Says". Tommy rejects the "bubblegum" label for his music. In early 1967 songwriter Ritchie Cordell gave them the No. 4 hit "I Think We're Alone Now" and the No. 10 hit "Mirage". In 1968, James had a No. 3 hit with "Mony Mony". Co-written by James, Cordell, Cordell's writing partner Bo Gentry, and Bobby Bloom, "Mony Mony" reached No. 3 in the US and was a British No. 1 in 1968. The title was inspired by a flashing sign for Mutual Of New York visible from James's apartment balcony in New York. He followed it with "Do Something to Me". However, James was labeled as a bubblegum pop artist, which he hated. Therefore, he changed his style to psychedelic rock. The group toured with Vice President Hubert Humphrey during his 1968 presidential campaign, for which Humphrey showed his appreciation by writing the liner notes for their next album Crimson & Clover, which was released in Dec. 1968. From late 1968, the group began writing their own songs, with James and Lucia penning the psychedelic-tinged classic "Crimson and Clover", which was recorded and mixed by Bruce Staple, with James tackling vocal duties and playing many of the instruments himself, and featured the creative use of studio effects such as delay and tremolo. Further hits included "Sweet Cherry Wine", "Crystal Blue Persuasion", and "Ball of Fire", all from 1969. They also produced "Sugar on Sunday", later covered by the Clique. As the band embraced the sounds of psychedelia, they were invited to perform at Woodstock, but declined. The group continued until 1970. Hog Heaven At a concert in Birmingham, Alabama in March of 1970, an exhausted James collapsed after coming off stage from a reaction to drugs and was pronounced dead. He was not dead, however, and decided to move to the country to rest and recuperate, and left the band. His four bandmates carried on for a short while under the name Hog Heaven, recording two albums (one "self-titled" on Roulette Records in March 1971 and the second recorded in 1971, but unreleased until 2008), and landing one Hot 100 hit, "Happy," at number 98, but disbanded soon afterwards. In a 1970 side project, James wrote and produced the No. 7 hit single "Tighter, Tighter" for the group Alive N Kickin'. James launched a