The Shirelles, The Ronettes, The Supremes — these and other “girl groups” left an indelible mark on the 1960’s music scene with their catchy lyrics, bouncy melodies, and poofy hairstyles. Inspired by their success, music promoters rushed to duplicate this winning formula in sometimes bizarre ways, including the world’s first (and only) “gerbil group,” Francine and the Fuzzettes.
? Stop! In the name of fuzz… ?
It’s the Shaggy-Las!
I can’t figure out why it won’t embed. 🙁
Never mind, it embedded!
Um, I had hair like the backup singers at that time. And I loved the girl groups! Did Francine and the Fuzzettes have any hits? I didn’t hear them but in those days there were regional hits. And Mike you are a genius!
? O, my heavens, they are so bad! What a riot.
I was thinking more on the lines of ” Caged! My owner’s got me locked in a cage” to the tune of “Chained” or “Chains of Love” (my baby’s got me locked up in chains And they ain’t the kind That you can see……)
Now just a darned minute, there, Murray C! The Shangri-las were *fabulous.* Probably the best purveyors of white teenage girl angst in the 1960s anywhere, largely due to the songwriting gifts of Shadow Morton, and also Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. And they left a real mark on American culture.
Now that I’ve got that off my chest, I LOVE your version of Chains (Gerry Goffin and Carole King) > Caged. You should finish the lyric!
Hear! Hear! I identified like crazy with the Shangri Las in the early 60s, aspirationally of course. I was 11, 12.
I was even younger. Didn’t matter. L – U – V’d them.
I’ll give you this, the lip-syncing is pretty bad.
Let’s try something live.
Most of these shows required lip-syncing because the records were produced in a way not replicable live.
I chose a fairly upbeat tune for the Shaggy-Las—not that easy to find, because most of the Shangri-la hits were very downbeat: Leader of the Pack, Remember (Walking in the Sand), You Can Never Go Home Anymore … They did have a hit cover of Shout which you can also find on YouTube.
I love these pretty colored gerbils! I’ve had 5 of them and miss their silliness. I can listen to their chittering anytime.
Their fuzzy outfits remind me of Sonny & Cher’s furry vests.
Oh dear lord, those vests from the 70’s. Thank goodness they went out of style. And talking about Cher, she was the best part of the new Mamma Mia movie, especially her singing Fernando and Super Trouper. The rest of it was enh, ok but not as good as the first. Cher could sing the phone book and make it a top 10 hit
Cher is a good role model for us older women. She does not stop and continues to be outspoken.
Don’t forget the bell bottoms they wore, some “bells” were big enough to hide a family of gerbils. 😛
*There’s* an image.
Squee! So adorables! We hardly ever see gerbs here and these are just too cute!? Ive had gerbils ever since the 7th grade. I had to convince my dad to let me get them.? In the *many* years since, ive only had a couple of years with no gerbies. They are the best!
Let’s give the boys equal time. Here are the Robins:
Please tell me that they toured with the chipmunks.
Yay! We don’t see enough gerbils on here! Although that’s probably because they rarely stay still enough to photograph… ? Thanks!