Mackinney, Lisa - Dressed In Black: The Shangri-Las And Their Recorded Legacy

The first full-length history of the Shangri- Las, one of the most significant-and most misunderstood pop groups of the 1960s. Sisters Mary and Betty Weiss, together with twins Mary Ann and Marguerite Ganser, were schoolgirls when they formed the Shangri- Las in 1963, and had a meteoric rise to fame with songs like 'Leader of the Pack' and 'Remember (Walking in the Sand).' Their career was cut short for reasons largely beyond their control, derailed by the machinations of Mafia-linked record executives, and heartbreak and tragedy followed. Historian Lisa MacKinney marshals an impressive array of new evidence to tell the Shangri-Las' story, dispelling many myths and long-standing mysteries along the way. Equally importantly, DRESSED IN BLACK radically rewrites the accepted narrative of the Shangri-Las' place in rock history. As young women, they were permitted little agency within a male-dominated industry that viewed teenagers as fodder to be manipulated and exploited by producers, songwriters, and label owners. This has long served as an excuse for critics to deny the musical input of the group members, to trivialize the Shangri-Las as a 'girl group,' and to and to assign their work a lesser rank in the canon of "authentic" rock and roll. MacKinney’s great achievement here is to foreground the Shangri-Las’ considerable abilities and musicality, and establish the centrality of their performance of their songs to the group’s underappreciated artistic achievement. MacKinney writes an in-depth analysis of key Shangri-Las’ recordings, and makes a powerful case that their achievements warrant a far more prominent place for the Shangri-Las in the history of popular music.