Doo Wop

Doo wop is a style of music that is based on a polyphonic vocal arrangement.

The concept

Doo Wop is characterized by the extensive use of nonsense syllables and melismas. Other important features are the concise and clearly lifted by the other voices bass and the frequent use of falsetto. The songs are largely based on the harmonies and the scheme of rock ' n' roll and rhythm-and - blues ballads.

The heyday of the Doo Wop falls in the 1950s and early 1960s. A doo-wop group usually consisted of four or five members: a lead singer, a first tenor, a second tenor, baritone and bass. The roots of this style are in the Gospel, jazz, the blues and barbershop singing.

The name derives from the typical nonsense syllables, such as Diddle -De- Dum, You -wah or even doo-wop.

The term doo-wop was isolated in the late 1950s used but not made until 1969 popular by the New York disc jockey Gus Gossert ( Gribin / ship, pp. 201f. ). At the time of its construction, this type of music with rock ' n ' roll or rhythm and blues fell, depending on whether it was the group is a white or black formation.

Even today, many doo-wop numbers under Rock ' n ' Roll are subsumed. Is also used as the name Street Corner Music, because the group often sang on street corners. Some purists reject the notion Doo Wop or want to know him confined to the oeuvre of white performers ( Gribin / ship, p 157).

History

The path to the Doo Wop

The tradition of vocal groups began in the U.S. in the 1920s with groups such as The Revelers ( the models of the Comedian Harmonists ), and in the 1930s and 1940s with the Ink Spots, the Mills Brothers, the Delta Rhythm Boys or Cats & the Fiddle with Tiny Grimes. This type of music was the domain of African Americans.

The doo-wop era (1948-1963)

As a birth year of the Doo Wop true in 1948, when the Orioles took up with the ballad It's too soon to know the first number that has all the stylistic features ( Gribin / ship, p.43). 1951, there was an initial boom of the doo-wop style groups as The Clovers, The Dominoes and The Five Keys conquered the R & B charts. Even performers and audience were exclusively African American.

The mid-1950s found white youngsters increasingly pleased with the music of blacks. So managed the first doo-wop title to jump first in the U.S. Billboard Rhythm & Blues charts, with increasing acceptance in the white group of buyers in the U.S. pop charts. From this time the classic Sh- boom coming from the Chords (July 1954), Earth Angel by the Penguins ( December 1954 ) or In the Still of the Night by the Five Satins ( September 1956 ). All three titles were able to achieve massive crossover success, Earth Angel even developed million-seller status. Later, the first so-called mixed groups, which consisted of white and black members ( The Del- Vikings, The Rob Roys, The Fascinators, The Crests ) emerged. It was a sign for the end of the ruling in the then U.S. racial segregation.

Around the year 1957/58, the first consisting exclusively of white members of groups came on as Dion and the Belmonts, the dandies and the Academics. There were predominantly Italian-American, who brought the bel canto style of Italian opera in the music. The target audience of these groups were the white teenagers, although they were also successful in the R & B charts.

1960 saw a huge boost in popularity Doo Wop. Old recordings, which were recorded but relatively unnoticed years earlier, were massive hits. These included There's a Moon out Tonight by the Rama Lama Ding Dong capris or of the Edsel. The focus on the instrumentation was greater, the use of nonsense syllables excessive. Novelty hits like Mr. Bassman by Johnny Cymbal or Who put the Bomp by Barry Mann, who played with the style elements of the genre, testify to the enormous popularity of Doo Wop, but are also an indication of the approaching end of the era.

From about 1960 the black doo-wop groups integrated in their numbers increasing elements of that style of music, which soon received the name Soul. It developed a transition style (transitional style), which ranged from Doo Wop and Soul. Many later Soul - Stars began their careers as members of vocal groups, such as Curtis Mayfield ( The Impressions ), Barry White (The Upfronts ) or Wilson Pickett ( The Falcons ).

In the years 1955 to 1963 approximately 15 percent of all number-one hits of the U.S. Billboard charts can be attributed to the genre Doo Wop ( Gribin / ship, p.14). Beginning of 1964, the British Invasion of the Doo Wop - as well as the classic Rock ' n' Roll - put an end, at least As for the presence in the charts.

Post- Doo - Wop

After the abrupt end of Doo Wop as a mass phenomenon rescued African-American musicians elements of doo -wop in the Soul. Some groups such as The Dells and The Manhattans were successfully modified with a little doo-wop sound in the 1970s. Also in the surf music - especially the vocal surf - Doo Wop lived on, as in the vocal harmonies of the Beach Boys, although this more likely to pop vocal groups of the 40er/50er years the Four Freshman leaning like. Even Frank Zappa took a doo -wop album ( Cruising with Ruben & the Jets).

Until well into the 1960s there were in the U.S. ( mainly in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia ), a predominantly from Acappellagruppen (eg zirconium, Apparitions, Count Five) existing strong doo-wop subculture that on labels as CatTime, Snowflake, Times Square or Relic is well documented on numerous LPs and singles.

In the late 1960s it came to the U.S. at a rock ' n ' roll revival that would actually deserve the name Doo -wop revival, there were but especially Doo -wop numbers dug up by the emerging oldies radio stations were. WCBS, with Gus Gossert as moderator, was the beginning of the 1970s, the most listened-to stations across America. Dozens of groups ( The Nutmegs, The Channels, The Belmonts ) reformed himself, gave acclaimed concerts and took on new plates. The Revue band Sha Na Na sang At The Hop Woodstock. The musical Grease celebrated with many doo-wop songs like huge success on Broadway. The film American Graffiti, with a variety of doo-wop songs in the soundtrack, became a worldwide blockbuster, as The Wanderers. The hit TV series Happy Days even had a doo-wop song title.

Around the same time came to record labels, founded by fans of this music and in painstaking detail shots and information contributed together and the Doo Wop made ​​available to the fans. In the United States were the first Relic Records, Crystal Ball Records and Collectables Records. In Germany, the later appearing Bear Family Records, DJ Records, and Little Maria Records.

A little later than in the U.S., it also came to Europe to rock ' n ' roll revival. British groups such as Mud, The Rubettes, Rocky Sharpe & the Razors, Showaddywaddy and the darts discovered the Doo Wop new. Even the famous hit of the English pop group The Housemartins, Caravan Of Love from 1986 is closely related to Doo Wop.

Doo Wop in Germany

In Germany in the 1950s/60s annual Doo Wop did not matter. Few American doo-wop numbers were included in the German charts. There was not a single German doo-wop group, which met with national resonance. Chance of German artists who covered Doo -wop songs, but these adaptations can be difficult stylistically associated with the genre. These include Ted Herold Wonderland ( Trouble in Paradise by the Crests ), Ralf Bendix with At The Hop (Danny & the Juniors) or Chris Howland with Blonde Star ( Little Star by the Elegants ). Commercial success was granted none of these recordings.

It was only the third Rock'n'Roll Revival mid-1970s gave Doo Wop in Germany some popularity. In radio broadcasts such as Werner Voss ' Rock and Roll Museum, Gerd salting Memory hits or See You later Alligator with the moderator Barry Graves audiences with doo-wop music was made known. Thus, the ground for German doo-wop groups was prepared. Modeled after the British bands were formed mainly in the north of the Republic of formations such as Kool Cad ' & The tailfins, Jay Bee and his Jupitors, the Five Voices / Fi Tunes, Pendletones, Belangels, Chotalls and Crystalairs. The ( now defunct) Belangels also had some publications in the U.S. under the name Chordliners and were thus the first German doo-wop group that made ​​it largely with their own material across the pond. The Munich Rock'n'Roll band Spider Murphy Gang has the doo-wop song Sh- boom Chords under the title Sch -Bum ('s life is a dream wiar ) adapted and released as a single in 1985.

Among the still existing and well-known groups include the Crystalairs, the Fabulous Flops that Mysterials that Chaperals, the Fairy Tales, the Glaciers and the Retromantics.

Others

Since the 1990s, the typical motels from the 1950s and early 1960s are referred to in the Wildwoods in the U.S. state of New Jersey as a doo-wop motels.