Which Spice Girl were you? If you were a female aged seven to 14 in 1996 you probably at least considered it. The Spice Girls were essentially a ‘60s girl group reincarnated for the ‘90s and, for many a 12-year old, they were practically the Beatles. Their messages on “girl power,” friendship and boys (delivered in platforms and mini-dresses) spoke directly to youthful impulses. This formula works: gangs of relatable girls have been cooing their heart’s desires for over half a century. Now, with spring on its way, it seems especially appropriate to take a look at the peachy girl-group sound.
“Maybe if I pray every night/you’ll come back to me/maybe if I cry every day/you’ll come back to stay.” So sings Arlene Smith in The Chantels’ “Maybe.” This was the first definitive girl group song, setting the tone with its plaintive lyrics and doo-wop beat. Unfortunately, The Chantels never had another hit. This was the case for many girl groups of the era, who lacked the same backing as their male label-mates. The media coverage and touring possibilities just weren’t there for a group of high school girls from the Bronx, so the Chantels — and many girl groups to come — had to rely on radio popularity to last.
To risk it on the airwaves meant following a certain safe, radio-friendly formula to get played, which led to a number of short-lived groups like The Starlets, The Jaynetts, The Sherrys, The Poppies and The Poni-Tails. Without coverage, these groups couldn’t rely as heavily on schtick or image, so they simply chose an appropriate name, warbled their hearts out and hoped to catch the public’s attention. Some girl groups did successfully carve out an image for themselves, like the Shangri-Las, who cemented their image as the bad girls” of ‘60s girl groups with songs like “Give Him a Great Big Kiss” — “Big bulky sweaters to match his eyes/Dirty fingernails/Oh boy, what a prize.”
But if girl groups are dismissed because they seem fluffy or inane, they’re also able to sneak in really heavy stuff for the same reasons. In many of these songs, what sounds like a sunny tune about love will actually talk about major desperation. Still, occasionally the songwriters and producers went too far with the melodrama and a song like the Shangri-Las’ “Leader of the Pack”,” about a motorcycle death, was banned for possibly inciting violence between “mods” and “rockers”.
The Shangri-Las sang a lot about the James Dean-type, the bad boy whose hair was too long, or who came from the “wrong side of town.” Today that archetype endures, although he’s described less specifically (presumably writing “he has lots of tattoos and doesn’t return my text messages” would be too specific . . . or not specific enough). The Vivian Girls — a contemporary “girl band” from Brooklyn that is now getting a lot of hype — cite The Shangri-Las as an influence and reference this bad boy figure too. Their lyrics read like a diary entry or an angry email: “you’re my guy/you fuck me all the time/I’m lonely every night/don’t know what you want from me.” In this way, they are as confessional as any ‘60s girl group.
This is the beauty of girl group songs: their simplicity means they don’t get to be evasive. If a man “done you wrong,” that is what you say. So, all the biggest, most adolescent feelings get a platform, along with cute outfits and choreography. Since the genre’s lyrics are so literal, the contemporary girl groups use this to say plainly what’s on their mind, rather than bothering to cloak it in metaphor. But if the lyrics of the ‘60s are to be believed, if they actually spoke to what those teenagers dreamt of, then today’s romantic ideas in music seem less, well, romantic in comparison. You only need to hear the titles from current girl groups like The Pipettes to get the idea: “Because It’s Not Love (But It’s Still A Feeling),” and “One Night Stand” are refreshingly straightforward, but a giant leap from “Baby Baby (I Still Love You).”
It has been said that all the “’60s girl group” babble about love was really just sexual feelings interpreted through romance. It seems the reverse could also be said for contemporary songs about feelingless one night stands. Likely, it’s somewhere in between; our impressions are more ambiguous, more adult. Girl groups say the big feelings for us — they get to be petulant teenagers forever.
