Doo Wop Music

Doo wop music was a creation of the African American communities during the 40’s which really began to take off in the 50’s with the popularity of other great and new music fads. Doo wop consisted of vocal harmony that began in the industrial Midwest, as well as the northeastern including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Baltimore and became one of the largest R&B styles of the mainstream, pop culture music industry during the 50’s.

There were many great artists that built the name of doo wop such as Arlene Smith of the Chantels, The Belmonts, and Bill Haley’s Comets. These artists presented a new sound that was extremely popular within the teen crowd that embraced the style with great excitement and helped these artists launch a whole new genre of music during the 50’s. Such songs as “Rock Around the Clock”, “See You Later Alligator”, “Skinny Minnie”, and “R-O-C-K” by Bill Haley’s Comets, and “There’s a Moon out Tonight”, “Morse Code of Love”, and “Stardust” by The Capris, were highly popular and made it to the top of the charts for years.

Many of these doo wop hits continue to be played as there are several loyal fans of the genre. The doo wop music of the 50’s continued strong forming throughout the later years into new styles of doo wop creating the R&B that is known today. Many of the artists of today still sample and use bits of the older doo wop songs as they were catchy and brought a beat about them that was still fresh and new during the days of their birth. Remembering doo wop, it is easy to see an R&B quartet or quintet snapping their fingers, turning and spinning, arranging the vocals just perfectly to embrace the audience with the rock’n’roll flavor that took over the 50’s.