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I would say tradition would dictate the correct spelling. I have found numerous references using the traditional spelling, and not many with what I consider non-traditional.Silkie said:
http://www.gotickets.com/concert/doo_wop_hall_of_fame.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_styles_of_music:_A-F
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/music/sfl-little-anthony-doo-wop-030809,0,2107657.story
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2009/03/20/rockhall-presenters-announcement.html
And then there are enthusiasts who don’t like the term not matter how it is spelled. :
;DI've noted from at least one source that 'group rhythm and blues' is preferred over 'doo-wop.'
Anyway, like an earlier post suggested, just enjoy the music. It's been called 'the forgotten third of rock and roll.' Our station focuses on 'Doo-Wop Wednesdays,' and I daresay we play music that was never heard in this area, as rural station managers may have been somewhat reluctant to play this music.
Continuing with the racial biases of the time, 'black' groups were often relegated to lesser-quality studios, often late into the night/morning. It's like any other kind of music: some is great, some shows many inherent flaws. Also, I much prefer the original recordings to the 'white' cover versions.
Anyway, like an earlier post suggested, just enjoy the music. It's been called 'the forgotten third of rock and roll.' Our station focuses on 'Doo-Wop Wednesdays,' and I daresay we play music that was never heard in this area, as rural station managers may have been somewhat reluctant to play this music.
Continuing with the racial biases of the time, 'black' groups were often relegated to lesser-quality studios, often late into the night/morning. It's like any other kind of music: some is great, some shows many inherent flaws. Also, I much prefer the original recordings to the 'white' cover versions.
GridLeakBias said:I would say tradition would dictate the correct spelling. I have found numerous references using the traditional spelling, and not many with what I consider non-traditional.Silkie said:
http://www.gotickets.com/concert/doo_wop_hall_of_fame.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_styles_of_music:_A-F
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/music/sfl-little-anthony-doo-wop-030809,0,2107657.story
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2009/03/20/rockhall-presenters-announcement.html
And then there are enthusiasts who don’t like the term not matter how it is spelled. :
Tradition often trumps the Constitution too. I prefer the real thing.
D
DoubleC
Guest
My Station KRKE www.realoldies1600.com Does The Real Doo Wop Stop Sundays at Noon. An Hour of Doo Wop This weeks feature is on Dion & The Belmonts
Just listen to the Pat Boone cover of Little Richards' "Tutti-Fruitti", and you'll never listen to another cover again! :-[
Some covers are very good. For example, Dion's version of "Ruby Baby" is great. Not to take anything away from the Drifters original. Dion adds a very jazzy vocal.
Smith's version of "Baby It's You" blows away the Shirelles version.
Smith's version of "Baby It's You" blows away the Shirelles version.
The previous posts on "covers" reminds me of the problem with defining doo-wop. Bear with me while I digress:
A cover originally meant a record that was put out AT THE SAME TIME to compete with the original versions. It was very common for a hit song in the 40s to have a number of recorded versions on the charts at the same time (eg: a male vocal, a female vocal, an instrumental). By the early 50s, covers of hit SONGS were made for different markets (pop, Country, R&B) because radio programs or jukebox locations would not have played the song recorded in another genre. Also, sometimes a bigger label with better distribution would cover a breaking record by a smaller label. Today ANY re-recording is commonly referred to as a cover. We have lost a perfectly good term.
When I first heard the term doo-wop it was in the 1968 record "Bring Back Those Doo-wops" by the Bagdads on Double Shot, which mentioned a number of older songs. This was way before Nader and Gossert popularized the term. While I don't suggest that the songs mentioned in that record were all inclusive, today the term doo-wop is commonly used to encompass a much greater variety of styles of music. Doo-wop was not a term that we used in the late 50s-early 60s when the iconic doo-wop songs were current. Although I would prefer to see it applied only to the songs that Gossert used it to describe, like "cover", I expect I will see its definition change by popular usage.
Now if someone would would only define Jazz, Country, Northern Soul and Belgian Popcorn.
A cover originally meant a record that was put out AT THE SAME TIME to compete with the original versions. It was very common for a hit song in the 40s to have a number of recorded versions on the charts at the same time (eg: a male vocal, a female vocal, an instrumental). By the early 50s, covers of hit SONGS were made for different markets (pop, Country, R&B) because radio programs or jukebox locations would not have played the song recorded in another genre. Also, sometimes a bigger label with better distribution would cover a breaking record by a smaller label. Today ANY re-recording is commonly referred to as a cover. We have lost a perfectly good term.
When I first heard the term doo-wop it was in the 1968 record "Bring Back Those Doo-wops" by the Bagdads on Double Shot, which mentioned a number of older songs. This was way before Nader and Gossert popularized the term. While I don't suggest that the songs mentioned in that record were all inclusive, today the term doo-wop is commonly used to encompass a much greater variety of styles of music. Doo-wop was not a term that we used in the late 50s-early 60s when the iconic doo-wop songs were current. Although I would prefer to see it applied only to the songs that Gossert used it to describe, like "cover", I expect I will see its definition change by popular usage.
Now if someone would would only define Jazz, Country, Northern Soul and Belgian Popcorn.
A
andreajesus
Guest
I know that Christine Vitale who hosts the "Group Harmony Alley" Sunday nights from 6 to 9PM on WFDU 89.1FM DISLIKES the term doowopp - SHE prefers to refer to the music as "street corner vocal group harmony"...and since Christine started out under the tutelage of one Mr. Ronnie "I" Italiano, WHOM we ALL miss - I tend to take her word for it... 8)
Andrea
Andrea
The argument surrounding a “definition” of doo-wop surely will probably continue long after you and I have left this earth.Ed Salamon said:
That said, here is a link to the Sam Houston State University (Huntsville, TX) website. The reading is long, however the analysis [of doo-wop] is comprehensive and it is based upon musical fundamentals, not personal ideologies. It is worth taking the time to absorb if one is interested in gaining insight to the doo-wop definition dilemma.
http://www.shsu.edu/~lis_fwh/book/roots_of_rock/Doo-Wop2.htm
Very true statement, as what we now label as doo-wop was presented (at the time) by the jocks, music publishers and recording artists as fitting within the Rhythm and Blues (R&B) genre. An analogy would be the Big Band era – it was not known as such until long after the Dorseys, Glenn Miller, Bunny Berrigan, Lionel Hampton, Harry James, Gene Krupa and others no longer ruled the roost.Ed Salamon said:
OK, you asked.Ed Salamon said:Now if someone would would only define Jazz, Country, Northern Soul and Belgian Popcorn.
The Jazz music of the Big Band Era evolved from African-Americans pursuing careers in the arts following the Civil War. American music through the early nineteenth century was melodically based, much of it with a square or waltz rhythmic structure, whereas African music was based around rhythm and accent, rhythms and accents that may actually shift and move in relation to each other as the music progresses.
The big change that took place in jazz music (rhythmically) was the shift away from the Ooom-pah-Ooom-pah (1-2-3-4) rhythmic structure. Ooom-pah has a strong accent on "1." African musical tradition tends to count towards the accented beat so that an African may count 2 on the same beat a European (meaning, white American) would count 1. It is also typical of West African music to have rhythms of different lengths overlaying each other, creating shifting accents. Which is to say that by the late 1920's African-American Jazz music had developed a tradition where musicians put a strong rhythmic accent on "2" and "4" (oom-PAH-oom-PAH) and melodic accents anywhere BUT on "1."
Not bound by European traditions of form, early Jazz bands played music that was, to put it mildly, loosely structured. A soloist or an instrumental section of the band played the melody (as they interpreted it) and the remaining musicians improvised the harmony and rhythmic embellishments. Many Jazz bands "arranged" their music by rehearsing it by "ear" many times until all the musicians were in agreement about what went where and when.
Country: Ask Barbara Mandrell, she was country when country wasn’t cool.
Northern Soul: See Detroit and Chicago.
Belgian Popcorn: Is that a genre, or just a Super Bowl snack?
It's her show, she can call it whatever she wants.andreajesus said:
I'm with the late Ronnie I (who sold me a lot of great records at Clifton Music) and Christine Vitale in that I am uncomfortable with the term doo-wop, but I admit it comes in handy in giving a brief definition for the kind of music I like.
I appreciate the the definition of Jazz. I was attempting to make the point that all genres of music are areas for strong debate because fans of a genre can be extremely opinionated about what does and doesn't belong and passionate that there is only one definition. I spent more than thirty years as a radio programmer, and one of the great challenges and opportunities was determining what listeners and potential listeners want to hear in a music format. Two of my favorite stations to program were Oldies KBZT in San Diego where listeners still wanted to hear local hits when we signed it on in the late 70s, and Country WHN New York in the 70s and early 80s, where listeners decided that Haggard and Jones could coexist with The Eagles, Marshall Tucker Band and Poco.
I appreciate the the definition of Jazz. I was attempting to make the point that all genres of music are areas for strong debate because fans of a genre can be extremely opinionated about what does and doesn't belong and passionate that there is only one definition. I spent more than thirty years as a radio programmer, and one of the great challenges and opportunities was determining what listeners and potential listeners want to hear in a music format. Two of my favorite stations to program were Oldies KBZT in San Diego where listeners still wanted to hear local hits when we signed it on in the late 70s, and Country WHN New York in the 70s and early 80s, where listeners decided that Haggard and Jones could coexist with The Eagles, Marshall Tucker Band and Poco.
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