Doo Wop

Doo Wop

Before there was Hip-Hop, there was Doo Wop. This African-American art form with humble origins created the template for the modern pop song, and laid the groundwork for Rock and Roll, R&B and Soul music. And while the pioneers of Doo Wop, such as The Moonglows and the Five Satins, will never have the cultural cache of early rockers like Chuck Berry and Little Richard, their music was just as influential.

Doo Wop grew out of America’s highly segregated cities in the late 1940s. The music was invented by black teenagers in cities like Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. Growing up poor, they were unable to afford instruments, so they used their voices to recreate the popular swing music they heard on the radio. They used four-part harmony to impress the crowd, and sang nonsense syllables to simulate different instruments (“doo-doo-wop,” “doo wop de wada wada”).

The term Doo Wop first appeared in the background vocals of the 1945 song “Just A-Sittin’ And A-Rockin,’ by The Delta Rhythm Boys. Doo Wop was initially lumped in with R&B, and wasn’t widely called “Doo Wop” until the early ‘60s.

The genre revolved around groups, as opposed to the jazz age, where singers and instrumentalists were the stars. The Ink Spots, a black vocal group who were popular in the ‘30s and ‘40s, laid the path for Doo Wop with their unique vocal blend. The Mills Brothers were early pioneers who sang negro spirituals in multi-part harmonies inspired by barber shop quartets. They sang slow, sad songs and imitated instruments with their voices. Their choreographed stage moves were quickly adopted by other groups, who paid tribute by using “The” when taking a name. In 1943, they had a huge hit, selling six million copies of their rendition of “Paper Doll.”

Doo Wop began on the street corner, but made its way to high schools, colleges, and parties. Despite racial tensions, White and mixed-race Doo Wop groups, such as Dion and the Belmonts and The Crests, began springing up across the country in the mid-50’s. The Del Vikings were an interracial group from Pittsburgh made up of six former armed forces members. Their 1957 classic “Come and Go With Me” was the first song John Lennon sang for Paul McCartney when they met as teenagers. Other groups, like The Platters ( “Only You”, “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes”), featured a female lead vocalist.

Bands in matching outfits began springing up everywhere across the country. Many followed the trend of naming themselves after birds, like the Flamingos, The Crows, Ravens, the Penguins, the Blue Jays and the O Jays. The Orioles’ charismatic lead tenor Sonny Til was one of the first pop idols, and had underwear thrown at him onstage years before Frank Sinatra and the Beatles did. After the Orioles broke up in 1975, Til joined the touring version of The Ink Spots.

The Flamingos were Black jews from Chicago who formed in 1953. Their 1957 hit “I Only Have Eyes For You” (a song written in 1934 for the film Dames) is considered one of the pinnacles of the genre. The backing vocals have been sampled on several hip-hop albums, including the Fugees’ Grammy-winning 1996 album The Score. The Flamingos’ choreographed stage show and sophisticated harmonies helped land them in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The Teenagers, led by Frankie Lyman, introduced a sped up version of Doo Wop that influenced the Jackson Five and other Motown artists.

The Tokens turned a 1939 African folk song “Mumbe” into the Doo Wop hit “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” one of the most enduring songs of the 1960s.

The chord progression I – VIm – IV – V is also known as the Doo Wop progression. Songs that use this progression include “Blue Moon” (1934), “Earth Angel” (1954), “Stand By Me,” (1961) and “Every Breath You Take” (1983).

Doo Wop evolved to include bass, drums, sax, and piano, and eventually, full orchestras. Over time, sax and electric guitar became mainstays of the genre, and Doo Wop became indistinguishable from the R&B, soul and rock music of the day, before the British Invasion of the mid-60s.

The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Mamas and the Papas, and the Bee Gees can all thank Doo Wop for their harmony-heavy (and in the Bee Gees’ case, high-pitched) approach to writing hits.

One artist who was deeply influenced by Doo Wop is Paul Simon. His early, pre-Simon and Garfunkel recordings followed in the footsteps of Frankie Lymon and Dion and the Belmonts. Simon memorialized the enduring appeal of Doo Wop bands in his 1981 song “Rene And Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War.”

In 1984, Billy Joel brought Doo Wop back to the charts with his throwback a capella hit “The Longest Time.”

In 1998, rapper and singer Lauryn Hill had a summertime hit with “Doo Wop (That Thing)”, an ode to the good old days growing up on the corner, singing.