DooWop, Those Were The Days!
Real music that one could understand!
DooWop was the music I remember in the 1950's Do you remember these tunes? Doo Wop is close harmony singing that comes from the heart. There where many exponents of this type of musical genre`, not all of them good. Some of the more popular ones where, The Platters, The Bon-Airs, The Drifters, The Princetones, The Celtics and many many others.
Unlike Barbershop Quartets, Doo-Wop was sung about the trials and tribulations of the youngsters of the late 40's through the 50's and into the 60's. Yes... I left high school in 1961...
Doo-Wop was characterized by having a Lead Singer, who sang the words whilst the rest of the group sang a cappella type backing. These backing vocals would often include the words "doo wop ah doo wop," from which this type of music derives it's name. Poke through some of the samples of DooWop music.
Though now out of fashion, Doo-wop will never die. It is a much loved and dearly remembered type of singing that people will always recall with a gleam in their eye and a smile on their lips. In fact I dare any of you that remember those days, to listen to one of these songs and not recall some happier time in your life.
Paul remembers dancing to Doo Wop in Junior High School in the mid-1950's. 45's were king .
Did you know? - In the beginning and during its heyday, this type of music did not have a specific name; the term "doo-wop" was not used.
In the 1950s, this type of harmonized group sound was referred to (broadly) as "rock and roll", but more narrowly as "R&B". However, R&B was still too general a term, since R&B included single artists, instrumentalists, and jump blues bands, as well as vocal groups.
At the time, the best and most accurate term used was probably "vocal group harmony", but the style still did not have an official name, despite the fact that it dominated the charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
The term "doo-wop" first appeared in print in 1961, notably in the Chicago Defender, when fans of the music coined the term during the height of a vocal harmony resurgence. After the doo-wop era ended in 1964, making way for the Beatles, some record stores began selling the old doo-wop records, but had to categorize them with a name.
The record stores began using the term "old town music" to describe the sound, which indicated the music's urban roots. "Old town" was the accepted term for a long time, but it never really caught on.
Grease Was Like It Really Was! I Know, I Was There!
We had real cars in those days
For those of you who are still a little bit puzzled as to what I am talking about here is an example. Anyone who has seen the Film or Stage Musical 'GREASE' Will remember the slow dance scene in the High School.
Well the song that was being sung in this scene by Sha Na Na ( the group on the stage) was called 'Tears on my Pillow'.
This is a good example of what Doo-Wop is. Doo-wop never really took off in Europe, but was extremely popular in America where it started. In fact it is now part of American folk music lore.
Hello Ladies... They love their 1953 Cadillac... We love their poodle skirts