Good morning. It's Saturday, July 26, and we're bringing you the latest Society & Culture newsletter. Every week, we provide fascinating deep dives into the worlds of art, music, literature, film, food, sports, entertainment, and more.
This week marked the 60th anniversary of the Supremes' album "More Hits by the Supremes," which included two massive hits for the iconic American act. We thought it was the perfect opportunity to dig into a trend the Supremes helped popularize: the girl group.
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—Kevin Kearney, 1440 Society & Culture Section Editor |
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Background
Girl groups are all-female vocal acts that perform catchy, harmonized pop music. Some of the definitive girl groups include the Supremes, the Ronettes, the Spice Girls, and Destiny’s Child.
The girl group concept was popularized during the early rock ‘n’ roll era, but it’s been refined and reimagined since then, and is responsible for some of the most successful acts in popular music.
Early Incarnations
One of the original American girl groups was the Boswell Sisters, a vocal trio from New Orleans that often toyed with jazz standards’ compositions, experimenting with challenging renditions. The group became a popular radio act during the 1920s and 1930s, with few of their fans aware that group leader Connee Boswell used a wheelchair. (Watch the Boswell Sisters’ first feature-film performance.)
Other groups in the ‘30s and ‘40s replicated the Boswell model, fusing the vocal group style with vaudeville and swing, but many critics consider the first true girl groups to arrive with doo-wop and the Chantels’ 1957 single “Maybe,” a soaring teenage torch song—an ode to an unrequited love.
A Fine-Tuned Machine
By the end of the ‘50s, songwriters working in the Brill Building—a music industry hub in New York—began writing teenage love songs for girl groups in the Chantels’ model, including some with suggestive lyrics. One of those was “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” written by Brill occupants Gerry Goffin and Carole King for the Shirelles. Its risqué message, though, didn’t stop it from becoming the first girl group record to top the Billboard Hot 100.
In Los Angeles, producer Phil Spector and sound engineer Larry Levine enhanced the girl group sound by pioneering a studio method called the “Wall of Sound,” which produced massive recordings unlike anything else in pop music. In the early ‘60s, the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby" and other hit singles from Spector’s Philles Records defined the era.
Detroit’s Motown Records was also building girl groups through its assembly-line approach, working more soul and R&B into the formula. The label released popular singles from the Marvelettes and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, though its most popular group was the Supremes, who scored their first hit in 1964 with “Where Did Our Love Go?” The song would be the first of a dozen No. 1 singles for the group, making them the most successful American vocal group of all time.
Independent Women
The ‘60s girl groups had a profound impact, influencing the Beatles, who covered several of the era’s hits, and changing the sound of pop music. But the form fell out of fashion in the next decade, with solo female artists taking center stage, including Diana Ross, who left the Supremes in 1970.
The ‘90s saw a resurgence of the girl group, with acts like TLC, the Spice Girls, and Destiny’s Child turning the model on its head. While still strongly influenced by the ‘50s and ‘60s girl groups, these acts also worked in hip-hop and dance music. Most significantly, they emphasized female empowerment—or “girl power”—rather than adolescent yearning.
Today, the girl group model is still popular, especially with K-pop acts like Blackpink, who have made it an international sensation. |
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How doo-wop changed everything |
Doo-wop was a vocal-based pop music popular in the ‘50s that coincided with the rise of early rock ‘n’ roll, with the mid-tempo, harmony-heavy songs about teenage life providing the template for the girl group sound. This video essay breaks down the subgenre that crossed racial lines and shaped rock ‘n’ roll. Watch it here. |
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Why 'Be My Baby' is eternal |
Brian Wilson said the Ronettes’ song is “the greatest record ever produced.” It’s appeared in countless iconic films and even had a second life in the '80s. This article breaks down the song’s staying power and why, despite the illicit activities of its chief architect, Phil Spector, it sounds as fresh as ever. Read it here. |
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Watch a definitive girl group documentary |
The 1983 documentary “Girl Groups: The Story of a Sound” features archival footage of some of the Shirelles, the Ronettes, the Shangri-Las, and more alongside interviews with the performers and songwriters. It’s a fascinating look back at the music, told by the people who pioneered it. Watch it here. |
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The song Carole King regrets writing |
While working at the Brill Building, King became one of the architects of the classic girl group sound, including "Will You Love Me Tomorrow." One song she regrets writing, though, is the Crystals’ “He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss),” which she now believes normalizes domestic violence. Read about it here. |
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A legendary rock writer ranks the greatest girl group records |
Greil Marcus is considered one of the greatest American rock writers of all time, providing a literary legitimacy to rock ‘n’ roll when it was still considered mere pop culture. This 1975 essay on the great girl group records is the perfect example, offering a thought-provoking analysis of the era’s definitive singles. Read it here. |
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When Beyoncé had a last name |
Before she was the mononymous superstar, Beyoncé Knowles was one-fourth of Destiny’s Child, the biggest girl group of the 2000s. This oral history of the group’s early days delves into their first hit and why two members were suddenly dismissed after the release of the group’s second album. Read it here. |
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Beyond our weekly deep dives, we love finding great takes on the culture currently shaping our lives. Here are some of the best reactions, profiles, and think pieces we encountered this week.
> Why Did Hollywood Stop Making Comedies?
Stat Significant | Daniel Parris. This statistical analysis points out a fascinating conundrum: Audiences desire more blockbuster comedies, yet studios aren't meeting the demand. Parris breaks down why the genre, with its culturally specific jokes, rarely makes sense for studios' bottom lines. (Read)
> Tony Hawk Is Still Making You See the World Like a Skater
The Washington Post | Gene Park. The X Games legend redefined skateboarding as an athlete, but he also realigned the sport's place in culture with the video game "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater." This profile documents that shift and checks in with the elder statesman, who just recently became a grandfather. (Read)
> AI-Generated Music Is Going Viral. Should the Music Industry Be Worried?
CNBC | Dylan Butts. The Velvet Sundown racked up over a half million monthly listeners on Spotify before being outed as an AI-generated band. The revelation has industry insiders and casual listeners alike wondering what Spotify's seeming indifference to the scandal means for the future of music. (Read)
> Why Gen Z Goes Mad for Dostoyevsky
UnHerd | Christopher Akers. Sales for the Russian novelist's most popular works, "The Brothers Karamazov" and "Crime and Punishment," have tripled since 2020, while a lesser-known work has taken off on TikTok. Akers tries to answer why the writer's dense 19th-century tomes have exploded with younger readers. (Read)
> Skip the Club. Hit the Coffee Shop.
Eater | Paolo Bicchieri. Thanks to rising costs and a more sober younger generation, club culture is finding a new life during daylight. Bicchieri tracks the trend in San Francisco, where hip DJs rub elbows with baristas, entertaining caffeinated audiences in unlikely venues. (Read) |
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New in 1440 Society & Culture |
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In 1997, the Spice Girls met South African President Nelson Mandela. Standing beside the group, Mandela said, “These are my heroines.” |
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