The Girl Groups of the 50s & 60s playlist

In the early 50s a bunch of harmony groups became very popular, laying the foundation for two decades of eventual Girl Group mania. Appealing to a wide audience, with its mixture of black doo-wop, straight beat rock and roll, and white pop.

It also created some epic hits and groups we will never forget. Like Supremes and my own personal favorites, The Ronettes.

My favorite song by them might be ”You Baby”:

Most major hits of the genre was created in by the song writers, artist and musicians in the Brill building and at Motown. But the genre inspired many more groups to get on the bandwagon. I tried to find a few of those too for my playlist.

Unusual topics for pop songs

I can’t pick any favorites from this playlist, since I like so many of these songs. Instead I’ll let you know about two of the more interesting songs in the playlist.

Firstly ”Past, Present & Future” by the Shangri-Las. To me its pretty clear that the subject matter of this song is some sort of sexual assault. A pretty explosive topic.

Secondly, and on the same theme, ”He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)” by the Crystals. An equally disturbing song.

None of them are easy listens but I think that they are important in the genre. Being issues (too) many women can relate to.

The opposite of these songs are of course included in the playlist to, like ”Pretty Red Balloons”, ”Popsicles and Icicles” and ”Shing-a-Ling”.

Please let me know if there’s something you miss in the playlist by leaving a comment.

In the early 50s a bunch of harmony groups became very popular, laying the foundation for two decades of eventual Girl Group mania. Appealing to a wide audience, with its mixture of black doo-wop, straight beat rock and roll, and white pop. It also created some epic hits and groups we will never forget. Like…

In the early 50s a bunch of harmony groups became very popular, laying the foundation for two decades of eventual Girl Group mania. Appealing to a wide audience, with its mixture of black doo-wop, straight beat rock and roll, and white pop. It also created some epic hits and groups we will never forget. Like…