Best girl group

Published on Tuesday 15 January 2008 18:57

Leaders of pack

1 THE SHANGRI-LAS

These were the type of girls that mothers warned their sons about. Delinquent beauties from the wrong side of the tracks, the two sets of sisters (the Weisses and Gansers) would spit in your eye as soon as look at you, yet produced the most amazing songs and sounds of the 60s. Leader Of The Pack was the queen of the death-song genre and spawned a number of copycat tracks, but there was more to these New York gals than this “good girl meets bad biker” classic. Give Him A Great Big Kiss (“he’s good bad, but he’s not evil”), spoken eulogy Past, Present and Future and The Train From Kansas City are just a handful of some of their other masterpieces.

2 THE CRYSTALS

While the girls were touring England, Phil Spector had used members of the Blossoms to record the Gene Pitney track He’s A Rebel and He’s Sure The Boy I Love and release it as the Crystals to steal a march on his rivals. Despite further “Wall of Sound” hits with Da Doo Ron Ron and Then He Kissed Me, the band was shedding members, as disagreements between Spector and the girls reached a head. The Crystals that everybody knew and loved were finished by 1966, only a few years after they started.

3 THE GO-GOS

New wave met modern girl garage when The Go-Gos came together in 1980. Initial success in the UK with We Got The Beat (co-written with the Specials’ Terry Hall) brought even greater success in their native America as debut album Beauty And The Beat dominated the Hot 100. The catchy power pop continued with second album Vacation. In 1985, creative differences broke up the band.

4 FANNY

The greatest girl band you’ve never heard of, according to David Bowie – and who are we to disagree. Unusually for girl groups of the time, Fanny wrote and performed their own kick-ass rock ‘n’ roll and girl-group fans should look for their First Time In A Long Time box set.

5 THE RUNAWAYS

The “Queens of Noise” flame burned brightly during the new wave/punk era and produced solo artists in Joan Jett and Lita Ford, with fellow Runaway Micki Steele joining the Bangles.

&#149 Paul Johnston is co-founder of the Scottish music website www.jocknroll.co.uk