Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

At one stage of the 1960s female groups we all the rage.

Whatever happened to them? The Chiffons, The Shirelles, The Dixie Cups, the Shangri-las and the like, seemed to fade away with the advent of the male groups that flourished with the British Invasion.

While they never disappeared completely, I have wondered why the tide changed in favour of the "Guy Groups". Was it simply that guitar bands were "in"?

Good choice for a discussion topic, my take would be that young males did not rush out and buy tracks by Girl Groups most of us dreamed of being in group ourselves, a lot who contribute to this forum were, I too was in the Vectors and only one thing held us back, we were ****!.

Girls probably bought the records but did not become really attached to a group, they liked the record and bought it but if they did not like the next release they didn't, simplistic I know but for a while with beat groups, once I had latched onto them I bought everything I could by them and one group in particular became part of my life in some ways.

There is one American site which lists literally 100's of girl groups who were about in the sixties but whilst I would not doubt the veracity of the author names could be thrown in just for effect I doubt a third of ones listed made a record though it is claimed 750 girl groups had a song on the charts US or UK between 1960 -66

http://www.girl-groups.com/groups.htm


What is interesting, the most successful girl group ever in my view, The Supremes, were originally 4 members and were called The Primettes, The Supremes were originally a male group who turned into Ruby and The Romantics.

Florence Ballard suggested they adopt the name The Supremes, she was originally the lead singer and they released a number of singles before Where Did Our Love go, none of which made any impression.

Ross in 62 was working in a Dept store in Detroit to survive. Barbara Martin was the 4th member who left before the hit single, whether it was of her own accord, not sure, Ballard of course died broke as far as I understand, yet some claim she was the better singer, but Berry Gordy preferred Diana.

Interesting that The Supremes held their own during the 1960s while others did not.

I think your comments about groups are on the right track. There weren't many female guitarists or drummers and as such males had the edge in this respect, during a time of group mania.

Well... as i said once, "one girl in a band (preferably myself) is quite enough!" (i've been in two bands, but in both cases i was the only "girl" in the band...)
Joking aside, the only girl group that really rocked (to me) was the Liverbirds. The other point is that... well, everybody gets older, n'est-ce pas? And then again, as Roy has already said, "boys" prefer to do their own thing, and girls are "working" as audience, showing "where wind blows", so to speak.

I was watching a Phil Spector biography last night and the focus was on girl bands. All the bands mentioned on this thread did not write their own songs and thus were at the mercy of producers or managers who lost interest after their initial appeal was over. There never seemed to be a nurtured girl group other than The Supremes, with longevity.

By the same token Mike a lot of beat groups didn't, in some cases that is citied as being a reason why their appeal faded.

Oh, BTW. I'm wondering if there's any documentary left of the Vectors (the name rings a bell somehow, but perhaps it's because i've studied maths for 15 years)?
(if you think i'm wondering if there was anything ******** than my 1st band, or at least my 2nd, then maybe you're not too far from the truth. Kiddin'. )
And yes, songwriting might have been the key factor in their lack of success (i mean girl groups, of course): looks like it was the key factor in group's success in the 60s. Growing older, getting married & having kids could've been the other key factor, among others.

For a time (British Invasion - ?), self contained bands were the rage, and the girl groups had to have darn near an orchestra behind them. That just became passe.

Now, of course the old ways are back somewhat, with the Britanny's and Christina's of the world dancing and a'singin' with a huge contingency of musicians behind them, and a lot of dancers next to them, to make the music seem exciting.

I never really considered The Supremes a true girl group, they didn't sound the same at all, were more R&B than most of the others and were also of a different post-Beatles era unlike the majority of the Girl Groups. I thought the best one was The Ronetts. I also loved The Shirelles. As to why they faded? I haven't any idea at all. I do know the majority were American and American bands began passe quickly when The British invasion took over, yes I think they too were victims of the British Invasion like a lot of other great American singers and bands. It was a certain sound that went out of style I guess as everything changed when The Beatles completely floored us Americans.

I seem to recall they co-existed peacefully on radio with the Brit. Inv. movement. It seems when hippie/psychedelic/social commentary pop came in they (save the Supremes) faded. Even then Diana Ross was engineering her solo move (The Supremes vs. Diana Ross and the Supremes).
Girl groups were fun and sang mostly about boyfriends, good and bad. Suddenly, Motown is all about Psychedelic Shacks.
Hard to imagine the Ronettes (loved them) getting into that.

Watchoomean suddenly, Jerry? Motown was a psychedelic shack from day one...it just took the right moment for it to come out in the lyrics.

"...only one thing held us back, we were ****!..."

You were ahead of your time, Roy...that would never hold you back today...