The Classic Rock and Roll Reader: Rock Music From Its Beginnings to the Mid‐1970s Available to Purchase

I feel that the essence of post‐1950s pop music is contained in “Be My Baby” (1963) by the Ronettes. I learned from page 188 of this book that Veronica and Estelle Bennett and their cousin Nedra Talley were working “as go‐go dancers at the Peppermint Lounge in New York” when they met the record producer Phil Spector, who fell in love with Veronica (“Ronnie”) and persuaded them to make a record for his label. The combination of Spector’s “wall of sound” and the way the girls handle the vocal harmonies seems to express the exciting side of being young.

This...