The Best of The Shirelles

Here's a fascinatingly complex story.

Imagine you and a few friends sing a song or two in the school talent show. Another classmate, says "you're fantastic and i bet we could all get rich if you make records for my mom's record label." None of you really want to be professional singers, but you're teenagers and Mary's mom it turns out isn't joking around.  You record a couple songs, you perform at actual gigs, all the money you're supposedly making is going into a trust fund that you'll inherit when you turn 21, it's all going great.

You're confused when Mary's mom sells her label to a bigger label for $4,000 dollars of 1950s money, and you aren't popular anymore. But, the new label hands you back to Mary's mom who says "that's because they didn't know how to distribute you properly, and we just took them for suckers, wink."

Then you find out it was all a lie, there's no trust fund, you don't get any of that money, but hey you were the first girl group, the first chart topping black artists, you can use that to start managing your career yourself if you want, or you can quit and we'll let Dionne Warwick take your place. Sorry you're sad and stuff. They were mad. They quit and sued. The label countersued. They all let the lawyers work it out, and went on their way.

Meet the Shirelles. Berry Gordy was a lot of things, but his business model was simply a positive refinement of stories like this. Part of the reason i like him so much is that he didn't cheat his artists like that. When he brought on a new artist he said "business is a real nasty thing, but i promise you that you'll get every penny i can negotiate for you." Why do you think so many of his artists stand up when people start talking smack about something he did?

I can totally picture him saying things like "i'm gonna hand you 5 songs, you might not like 'em, but one of them is going to be a hit; i just don't know which one. Yes, i'm going to make a lot of money, but you aren't my only act and i'm not going to rip you off just to line my own pocket. I'm not in it to take your money and run, your success is my success because it lets me do it again for the next band."

Sadly, the Shirelles themselves were unable to compete with Gordy's groups and the British groups of the 60s, but that's not the point. The point: some high school girls having fun had a major impact on the music industry and society at large, but they've all but faded into obscurity now because they got cheated by their deal makers. Critics like to point out that naiveté is a prominent component of what makes their music interesting, and i want to point out that their naiveté is what authenticity actually sounds like. Puppy dog R&B love songs is what the Shirelles were meant to sing, and they are great at it. It's a shame they don't get the props they deserve, but at least they didn't end up crazy, drug-addicted casualty divas like a lot of young girls after them. Give them a try next time you need a little 60s girl pop in your musical diet.

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