Great Doo Wop Songs of the 1950s - Music - Forums : Best Ever Albums

RFNAPLES
Level 8

Gender: Male
Age: 75
Location: Durham, NC, USA

A Teenager in Love-Dion and The Belmonts-1959
At My Front Door-The El Dorados-1955
Come Go with Me-The Del-Vikings-1957
Crying in the Chapel-The Orioles-1953
Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)-The Penguins-1954
For Your Precious Love-Jerry Butler with The Impressions-1958
Get a Job-The Silhouettes-1958
I Only Have Eyes for You-The Flamingos-1959
I Wonder Why-Dion and The Belmonts-1958
In the Still of the Night-The Five Satins-1956
Little Darlin'-The Diamonds-1957
Little Star-The Elegants-1958
Maybe-The Chantels-1958
Money Honey-Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters-1953
Oh What a Nite-The Dells-1956
Only You (And You Alone)-The Platters-1955
Sh-Boom-The Chords-1954
Since I Don't Have You-The Skyliners-1959
Sincerely-The Moonglows-1955
Speedo-The Cadillacs-1955
The Book of Love-The Monotones-1958
The Great Pretender-The Platters-1955
Why Do Fools Fall in Love-The Teenagers feat.. Frankie Lymon-1956
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Last edited by RFNAPLES on 03/07/2010 05:30; edited 1 time in total

Charicature

Age: 49
Location: Vermont

With The Pretenders you've also got to include Smoke Gets In Your Eyes amongst their greatest (I didn't see Only You at first but now I see you included it).

Hmmm...doo wop...if I can hit the category right...

Sea Of Love - The Honeydrippers
See You In September - The Tempos
You're The One - The Vogues
This Diamond Ring - Gary Lewis and the Playboys
My Girl - The Temptations
Charlie Brown - The Coasters
Yakity Yak - The Coasters
This Magic Moment - The Drifters
Some Kind of Wonderful - The Drifters
Up On The Roof - The Drifters
Under The Boardwalk - The Drifters
Blue Moon - The Marcels
Love Potion #9 - The Clovers
Book Of Love - The Monotones
Rhythm of the Rain - The Cascades
He's So Fine - The Chiffons
Sixteen Candles - The Crests
At The Hop - Danny and the Juniors (East Coast) and Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids (West Coast)
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RFNAPLES
Level 8

Gender: Male
Age: 75
Location: Durham, NC, USA

Charicature wrote:

With The Pretenders you've also got to include Smoke Gets In Your Eyes amongst their greatest (I didn't see Only You at first but now I see you included it).

Hmmm...doo wop...if I can hit the category right...

Sea Of Love - The Honeydrippers
See You In September - The Tempos
You're The One - The Vogues
This Diamond Ring - Gary Lewis and the Playboys
My Girl - The Temptations
Charlie Brown - The Coasters
Yakity Yak - The Coasters
This Magic Moment - The Drifters
Some Kind of Wonderful - The Drifters
Up On The Roof - The Drifters
Under The Boardwalk - The Drifters
Blue Moon - The Marcels
Love Potion #9 - The Clovers
Book Of Love - The Monotones
Rhythm of the Rain - The Cascades
He's So Fine - The Chiffons
Sixteen Candles - The Crests
At The Hop - Danny and the Juniors (East Coast) and Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids (West Coast)

It was not the Pretenders but The Platters that released Smoke Gets in Your Eyes-1958 and My Prayer-1956 but The Great Pretender-1955 and Only You (And You Alone)-1955 are better Doo Wop songs.

According to allmusic: “Doo Wop was one of the most popular genres of rock & roll and R&B in the late '50s. Doo wop artists were vocal groups, with each singer in the group taking a different part that interweaved with the other singers. Frequently, the backing vocalists sang nonsense words as rhythm, and the genre's name derives from this trait. Most doo wop groups started as a cappella bands, performing without instrumental accompaniment. The hit doo wop singles inspired countless teenagers to form their own a cappella groups, though many of them were never recorded. Despite its a cappella origins, few doo wop records were made without instrumental backing. Doo wop faded away in the early '60s, though its influence was felt throughout popular music in the following decades.”

These songs weren’t released in the 1950s:

Book Of Love-The Monotones-1958 should have been included on my list. I have edited the original list to include it.

These Doo Wop songs are good, but not great:

Reserve judgment on these songs:

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Charicature

Age: 49
Location: Vermont

[quote="RFNAPLES"]

Charicature wrote:

It was not the Pretenders but The Platters that released Smoke Gets in Your Eyes-1958

I know that, obviously getting crossed up with "The Great Pretender"...I was ready for bed when I typed that last night Wink

As for the definition of doo wop, I was going by the Wikipedia definition:

Quote:

Doo-wop is a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music, which developed in African-American communities in the 1940s and which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and 1960s.[1] An African-American vocal style known as doo-wop emerged from the streets of northeastern and industrial Midwest cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore and Pittsburgh. With its smooth, consonant vocal harmonies, doo-wop was one of the most mainstream, pop-oriented R&B styles of the 1950s and 1960s.

So I still make an argument for the songs you ruled "not doo wop" and, of course, the ones you say aren't great are a matter of opinion. Though I'll give you Yakity Yak. Very Happy

Admittedly, it's been a while since I've listened to some of the songs I listed, so I'd have to listen again to see if they've got the correct vocal stylings, but I seem to recall they did. Could be wrong, though.

As for Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids' version of At the Hop being sometime in the 1970s...well, I blame my father for bad info on that one Wink

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RFNAPLES
Level 8

Gender: Male
Age: 75
Location: Durham, NC, USA

Yes Doo Wop also appeared in the 1940s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. You might even find later examples of it. But my topic was Great Doo Wop Songs of the 1950s.
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Charicature

Age: 49
Location: Vermont

RFNAPLES wrote:

Yes Doo Wop also appeared in the 1940s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. You might even find later examples of it. But my topic was Great Doo Wop Songs of the 1950s.

Well, I did say I was typing when I was ready for bed Embarassed

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RFNAPLES
Level 8

Gender: Male
Age: 75
Location: Durham, NC, USA

Yeah, I was tired too. That is why I limited my choices to the 1950s. There were some good Doo Wop songs in other generations but they generally got lost among all the other more popular genres.

For example, Blue Moon-The Marcels-1961, Daddy's Home-Shep & the Limelites-1961, Those Oldies but Goodies (Remind Me of You)-Little Caesar & the Romans-1961, and Stay-Maurice Williams-1964 are all great 1960s Doo Wop but they get lost among all the other greater 1960s songs, e.g.:

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chrisinillinois

Gender: Male
Age: 50
Location: Illinois

Some favorites:

"60 Minute Man" by the Dominoes (1951): Great guitar figure on the intro followed by Clyde McPhatter's distinctive wail. Wonderful bass lead by Bill Brown. And salacious lyrics.

"One Mint Julip" by the Clovers (1952): Classic jazzy piano riff that Ray Charles would later make famous, and fantastic, funny lyric.

"Money Honey" by the Drifters (1953): More classic Clyde McPhatters. Covered by everybody.

"Gee" by the Crows (1953): Fantastic vocal melody. Arguably the first rock 'n' roll song. Big influence on the Beach Boys.

"Work With Me Annie" by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters (1954): More great vocals and raunchy lyrics. Great guitar solo.

"Sh-Boom" by the Chords (1954): Beautiful song. Nonsense lyrics until you learn that "sh-boom" refers to a nuclear explosion... "Life could be a dream, sh-boom, if I could take you up to paradise above..." That's heavy stuff for 1954.

"Riot in Cell Block #9" by the Robins (1954): Hard, hard doo wop, with a nasty riff (which Leiber and Stoller recycled over and over, notably in Elvis' "Trouble"), banging drums simulating machine guns, and the whole group yelling "There's a riot goin' on!!!" The clear forerunner of heavy metal, as far as I'm concerned. The lead singer was Richard Berry, who later wrote and cut the first version of "Louie Louie." Most of the Robins, of course, went on to become the Coasters.

Firebird85

The Platters - Only You

The Lettermen - A Summer Place

Tommy Edwards - It's All In The Game

ffudnebbuh
level 8

Gender: Male
Location: Boston

Those are all great doo wop examples, I especially loved the Clovers "Blue Velvet", ..."Little Star" was my first record, 1958,,,got for Christmas when I was 4