Update, November 26: If you're all caught up on your Riverdale — and if you're not, what are you even doing with your time? — you know all about jingle-jangle. It's the popular party drug that's been wreaking havoc on Archie and his pals, while their parents clutch their pearls and look on in horror.
Viewers now know that teacher Mr. Phillips was the "Sugar Man" supplying teens with the mind-bending pixie dust. But one question remains: Why on earth does this drug sound like something a clown would name his pet kitten?
Cole Sprouse (Jughead) has just confirmed our suspicions. As TVLine reports, Sprouse claims Riverdale showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa told the cast that the name is a nod to a 1969 song by The Archies. Its name: "Jingle Jangle," of course.
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"He sent us… this classic, twisty, ’70s, drug-trippy ‘Jingle Jangle’ song, and then it all made sense," Spouse said, adding that the show's stars also found the alliterative name to be vaguely ridiculous.
"Can you imagine having to say ‘jingle jangle’ on screen over and over again?" he joked. "I think we didn’t stop laughing for the first four episodes.”
You can rock out to the retro tune below. Just stay off the hard stuff, kids.
This story was originally published on October 18, 2017.
It looks like the kids could be getting hooked on something a little stronger than maple syrup on this season of Riverdale.
On Wednesday's episode "Chapter Fifteen: Nighthawks," Archie gets introduced to a brand-new drug with an (admittedly hilarious) name. In the second episode of the sophomore season, Reggie (now portrayed by new cast member Charles Melton, who replaced Ross Butler) tells Archie that he's able to score the teen Outlander his drug of choice — which, uh, could be something called "jingle jangle."
The drug is mentioned twice in the episode, so it's worth wondering: What is "jingle jangle," and is it a real drug? According to ComicBook, the origin of the drug's name could connect to something completely innocuous.
Riverdale, which is based on the characters from Archie Comics, loves nodding to its source material whenever possible, which is particularly delightful considering the CW drama is way, waaaaay darker than anything written in the original comic series. (Well, save for Afterlife With Archie, a series within the universe in which Jughead becomes a zombie and kills his friends.)
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In this case, "jingle jangle" is a song by the fictional band, The Archies, from the Archie Comics animated series The Archie Show.
The song is no "Sugar, Sugar" — a song Josie and the Pussycats covered in season 1 — but it's pretty catchy. Watch below!
Of course, just because The Archie Show has a wholesome meaning for the term doesn't mean this new jingle jangle drug craze won't sweep over Riverdale like a plague. I mean, this is the series in which Clifford Blossom (Barclay Hope) flat-out murdered his son Jason (Trevor Stines) in order to protect his heroin business.