Friday, February 12, 2010

I miss the good old Girl Group sounds of the 1960's....


Recently, I've been driving the I-5 corridor a lot from Portland to Seattle. And not surprisingly, that drive has included a lot of listening to music, and rediscovering some new and old favorites.

One of these perennial favorites that keeps popping up is a compilation of 1960's girl group music. And though a lot of it is cheesy, sexist or just plain creepy, I love it. I love the vocal harmonies, the production, the pure poppiness.. and I love the frequently ridiculous spoken interludes most of all.

I'm sure most of you have heard "Leader of The Pack" by the Shangri-La's.. but there are many other songs which use the same technique. Here's one of my favorites - "Nightmare" by the Whyte Boots (who are pictured looking appropriately dangerous to my right) Though I don't miss a pop-culture sterotype of women who only want to go to the beach (or the bad side of town, or the hop) in order to find the boyfriend who will love her forever (or until he breaks her heart, or gets killed in a motorcycle crash), there's something about this kind of music that I just can't get enough of. And I ask you, dear readers, is there anyone out there now doing something that can be classified as an direct descendant of this stuff? (because I don't know.) And also, what bygone music styles are you nostalgic for? Or what music do you love even though its message sometimes makes you want to gag?
and finally, a girl group song dissing a guy, rather than moping over him :
"I'd Much Rather Be With The Girls" Donna Lynn.

2 comments:

cjbc said...

Check out Dartgun & the Vignettes some time...a Portland punk band with 3 doo-wop girl backup singers. http://facebook.com/dartgunandthevignettes

xrobinbanksx said...

check out Gigi