Gordon Campbell: On The History Of Doo Wop Music

The decade between 1952 and the early 1960s was the peak period for the style of music we now call doo wop, after which it got dissolved into soul music, girl groups, and within pop music in general. Basically, doo wop was a form of small group harmonising with a distinctive chord progression that – like hip hop – started out on the streets. Urban teens unable to afford musical instruments would use their voices (and nonsensical lyrical fragments like dip dip dip, and sha na na na) to imitate brass, bass and percussion.