Two "personal" stories from the height of Doo Wop. My sister (ten years older than I) absolutely LOVED the song "Where or When" by Dion & the Belmonts. She played the record all day long (literally). My mother finally reached the breaking point, and she broke the record. My dad, who was in the jukebox business (us three kids had over 500 of the old 45s) came home the next day with five copies of the song for my sister, figuring that would last awhile before my mom went on a breaking spree again.
Useful business for a guy with teenagers. When I was a kid in Brownsville, there was a flea market set up in a disused trolley car barn near us. One of the booths sold used records from jukeboxes--3 for $1. Collected many that way.
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My brother was in a doo wop group (along with future Red Sox star, Rico Petrocelli) and they'd sing on the street corners and practice a lot. They weren't all that bad and they went on to sing on the boardwalk in Coney Island. They'd usually get mild applause when done. Their big mistake came in timing.... they performed one night to their usual mild reception and then were followed by a gangbusting group who garnered great applause. The name of this group? The Tokens (who later went on to fame with "The Lion Sleeps Tonight").
Into the Sixties, I'd see guys with New York Stock Exchange linen coats gather in building entrances (for echo) singing the Channels' "The Closer You Are." Most NYers would say that Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers were the quintessential NY doo wop group, but "The Closer You Are" was the quintessential doo wop song, IMO.
Ntra la porta tua lu sangu � sparsu, E nun me mporta si ce muoru accisu... E s'iddu muoru e vaju mparadisu Si nun ce truovo a ttia, mancu ce trasu.
