The Crystals were instrumental in popularizing the "girl group" sound of the early 1960s and Phil Spector's dense, string-heavy "wall of sound" production style. They were also one of the most successful girl groups of the era. The quintet was assembled by bandleader Benny Wells to showcase his niece, Barbara Alston; however, she most often sang backup. All of the members had gospel backgrounds, but Wells convinced them that a female a capella group would do better performing pop music.
One of the Crystals first jobs was making demo recordings of new songs for the music publisher Hill & Range. Their offices were fortuitously located in the Brill Building; Phil Spector heard the group while they were rehearsing and he quickly signed them to Philles, his new label.
In September 1961, immediately after the members of the group graduated from high school (so immediately that, acc
ording to legend, they were still wearing their caps and gowns), they made their first record. The Crystals had a few modest successes before Spector gave them their first big hit, the Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil song "Uptown," one of first songs that balanced an attractive pop arrangement with socially relevant lyrics. One assumes this was the motive behind the Crystals' next record, the infamous "He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)." Cynthia Weil and Gerry Goffin wrote the song, a narrative about a woman confessing her infidelity and the reaction of her "loving" partner, after they discovered that their babysitter, who recorded as Little Eva, had been physically abused by her boyfriend. The song was likely intended to be a sarcastic message about why women tolerate abuse, but none of this came through on record. Despite Spector's dark instrumentals, the chirpy backing vocals made the song sound like a disturbing endorsement of domestic violence. Most radio stations refused to play the record, and consumers didn't buy it. The song was eventually withdrawn from the group's catalogue, and members of the Crystals have since testified that they objected to recording it.
Ironically, none of the members of the Crystals sang on one of their biggest hits. Spector was at home in Los Angeles when an opportunity arose to record the Gene Pitney tune "He's a Rebel." The group, however, was in New York, and instead of flying to New York, Spector brought in Darlene Love and the Blossoms to record the song as the Crystals. However, the "original" Crystals did record "Da Doo Ron Ron," and "Then He Kissed Me" in 1963, a pair of songs that epitomize Spector's dense "wall of sound." Both were top ten hits in the United States and the United Kingdom. The group recorded a few more minor hits before Spector shifted his attention to Victoria Bennett and the Ronnettes. The Crystals bought out their contract in 1965 and moved to another label, but by this time the era of the girl groups was largely over, and they broke up in 1966.
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The Robins, The Chantels, The Bobbettes, The Caravans, Dorothy Love Coated and the Gospel Harmonettes, The Angelics
Must Haves:
 "Uptown"
"Then He Kissed Me"
"He's a Rebel"
"There's No Other (like my baby)"
The Shangri-Las, The Ronnettes, The Dixie Cups, The Beatles, and a host of modern female doo-wop groups
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