The Shangri-Las - Leader Of The Pack (The Steve Allen Show)

Video Info

Author:

John1948ElevenB

Description:

PLEASE NOTE: I divided my uploads between multiple channels, Bookmark this link in your browser for instant access to an index with links to all of John1948's oldies classics. LINK: http://tinyurl.com/Channel-Index Along with the Shirelles and the Ronettes, the Shangri-Las were among the greatest girl groups; if judged solely on the basis of attitude, they were the greatest of them all. They combined an innocent adolescent charm with more than a hint of darkness, singing about dead bikers, teenage runaways, and doomed love affairs as well as ebullient high-school crushes. These could be delivered with either infectious, handclapping harmonies or melodramatic, almost operatic recitatives that were contrived but utterly effective. Tying it all together in the studio was Shadow Morton, a mad genius of a producer who may have been second in eccentric imagination only to Phil Spector in the mid-'60s. Originally the Shangri-Las were comprised of two pairs of sisters from Queens, NY (identical twins Marge and Mary Anne Ganser and siblings Mary and Betty Weiss). They had already recorded a couple of obscure singles when they were hired by George "Shadow" Morton to demo a song he had recently written, "Remember (Walkin' in the Sand)." The haunting ballad, with its doomy "Moonlight Sonata"-like piano riffs, wailing lead vocal, and thunderous background harmonies, seguing into an a cappella chorus backed by nothing except handclaps and seagull cries, made the Top Five in late 1964. It also began their association with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller's Red Bird label, which would handle the group for the bulk of their career. The quality of Morton's work with the Shangri-Las on Red Bird (with assistance from Jeff Barry and Artie Butler) was remarkable considering that he had virtually no prior experience in the music business. The group's material, so over-the-top emotionally that it sometimes bordered on camp, was lightened by the first-class production, which embroidered the tracks with punchy brass, weeping strings, and plenty of imaginative sound effects. Nowhere was this more apparent than on "Leader of the Pack," with its periodic motorcycle roars and crescendo of crashing glass. The death-rock classic became the Shangri-Las' signature tune, reaching number one. Several smaller hits followed in 1965 and 1966, many of them excellent. "Give Him a Great Big Kiss" proved they could handle more conventionally, bubbly girl group fare well; "I Can Never Go Home Anymore," a runaway tale that took their patented pathos to the extreme, would be their third and final Top Ten hit. These all show up on oldies collections, but lots of listeners remain unaware of the other fine singles in their catalog, like the moody "Out in the Streets," the dense orchestral swamp of "He Cried" (which cuts Jay & the Americans' original, "She Cried," to pieces), and another teen death tale, "Give Us Your Blessings." Some of their best songs, in fact, were B-sides; "Dressed in Black," yet another teen death drama, had a marvelously hushed and damned atmosphere, and "Paradise" was co-written by a young Harry Nilsson. Their most unusual single of all was "Past, Present and Future," which didn't feature a single sung note, presenting a somber spoken monologue and occasional spoken background chants over a classical piano track reminiscent of "Remember (Walking in the Sand)." It was too unconventional to rise above the middle of the charts, especially given that the narrative could quite possibly be construed as the recollections of an assault/rape victim. Unlike some girl groups, the Shangri-Las were dynamic on-stage performers, choreographing their dance steps to their lyrics and wearing skin-tight leather pants and boots that were quite daring for the time. Their real lives, however, were not without elements of drama themselves. Their constant personnel changes baffle historians; sometimes they are pictured as a trio, and sometimes one of the members in the photos is clearly not one of the Weiss or Ganser sisters. Worse, the Red Bird label ran into serious organizational difficulties in the mid-'60s, and wound down its operations in 1966. The group moved to Mercury for a couple of dispirited singles, but had split by the end of the 1960s. Shadow Morton went on to an interesting, erratic career that included involvement with Janis Ian, the New York Dolls, and Mott the Hoople. Mary Anne Ganser died in 1970; the cause has been a source of mystery but it was due to either encephalitis, complications from a barbiturate overdose, or as the result of a seizures. Her sister Marge died in 1996 of breast cancer. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide

Views:

46,256

@John1948ElevenB lol!!! ..boy things changed quickly after that.. at my junior high school the break bouncer~teacher would spend the break looking at the girls' skirts and send them to the office if they were too short. Well, some of the girls... By that time, rule was one inch above the kneecap. . He let me get away with it. I was so glad, because It would have looked too funny, really. My legs were too long, if that makes sense. Wow the sixties.. i was over 50 years old, maybe that's why !!!

@Izzielotzafunnies In our school they could be just above the kneecap but few girls wore them that short.

wow.. wayback when ya got in trouble at school if your knees showed ... look out look out look out !!! loveit, it makes me smile, even though it is so sad

its a recording, if you listen to the real song it is exactly the same. plus its easy to tell. but who cares, THIS SONG ROCKS

shame this no LOVE IT button :o) i guess you know that billy joel played the piano on this track...?

@jaychristy01 No wig! Those girls Mary and Betty had a lot of hair. She just gathered up the outer layer and rolled it up into a bun. One of the colored album labels entitled, The Shangri Las, the complete collection, shows both Mary and Betty with heads loaded with hair!

@jaychristy01 Yes, they were lipsynching. This isn't a new thing. that's what groups regularly do on shows - then and now

@John1948ElevenB I don`t know but you might be right when you said that Mary Weiss might have some pretty strange hairdos on top of her head that is qualifies and not a wig. She was pretty over there.

@1961FloridaBoy Are you sure it's a wig? Some of the girls could come up with some pretty strange hairdos. This one qualifies.

Mary Wiess was very lovely over there on The Steve Allen Show and I noticing that she ( Mary ) has a wig on top of her head.

Except for the high heels that's just how a lot of the girls dressed for school back in the day. I miss ladies.

Embed This Video Code

Just copy and past the code above into any place online that allows html to be embedded at this video will appear there.

The Shangri-Las - Leader Of The Pack (The Steve Allen Show)

Video Info

Comments

Other Common Tags:

Embed This Video Code

Related Videos