The Shangri-Las Songs Ranked
The Shangri-Las were an American pop girl group of the 1960s. Between 1964 and 1966, they charted with several hits documenting teen tragedies and melodramas. They remain known for their hits “Remember (Walking in the Sand)”, “Give Him a Great Big Kiss”, and in particular, “Leader of the Pack”, which went to #1 in the US in late 1964. The group was formed at Andrew Jackson High School in Cambria Heights, a neighborhood in Queens, New York City, in 1963. They were two pairs of sisters: Mary Weiss (lead singer) (born December 28, 1948) and Elizabeth “Betty” Weiss (born November 27, 1946), and identical twins Marguerite “Marge”/”Margie” Ganser (February 4, 1948 – July 28, 1996) and Mary Ann Ganser (February 4, 1948 – March 14, 1970). Initially, the girls performed without a name; however, when they signed their first deal, they began calling themselves the Shangri-Las, after a Queens, New York restaurant. Some discographies list The Beatle-ettes and The Bon Bons, who both issued singles in 1964, as early versions of the Shangri-Las; however, they are different groups. Here are all of The Shangri-Las songs ranked.
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10. Long Live Our Love (Golden Hits of The Shangri-Las, 1966)
“Hmmm, not sure about the slightly jingo-istic lyric girls, best leave that stuff to Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler, otherwise the song evidences again the Shangri-Las’ equal facility for happy-sounding pop as well as the doom-laden tragedies with which they’re more commonly associated.”
9. Right Now and Not Later (Shangri-Las-65!, 1965)
“Right Now and Not Later” by The Shangri-Las is exceptional pop soul performed at mid to uptempo with a strong production, as Mary Weiss demands immediate answers from her boyfriend who she suspects of seeing someone else behind her back”
8. Give Us Your Blessings (Shangri-Las-65!, 1965)
“Give Us Your Blessings is one of the band’s most over the top concoctions, involving thunder as a background noise and Mary’s ghostly whisperings to the parents who refused to bless her teenage love, thereby cursing it to a fiery end in a crash on a motorway. You wonder where the choirs of angels are.”
See more: The Shangri-Las Albums Ranked
7. Out In the Streets (Shangri-Las-65!, 1965)
“Out in the Streets” finds its characters tenuously balancing on the precipice of adulthood. This story’s heroine is concerned about her guy – a former street-tough, who no longer runs with the gang, and has become a shell of his former self; all for the good of the unnamed narrator. She knows that the do-good life is killing him, and that she must “set him free.”
6. You Cheated, You Lied (Shangri-Las-65!, 1965)
“Listen to that piano. Listen to the harmony. Only a stone would not be moved. Listening makes my eyes well up with tears. I adore the “Shangs, this track standouts for Mary’s lead, the doo-wop backing vocals, and that lead guitar…wonderful.”
5. Give Him a Great Big Kiss (Leader of the Pack, 1965)
“These chicks were too cool for school. One of the ultimate girl group records from the sixties. Caught your attention from beginning to end due to a perfect vocal arrangement. Nice use of the Shangri-Las’ talents. They don’t make ’em like this anymore.”
See more: The Damned Songs Ranked
4. Maybe (Leader of the Pack, 1965)
“If you are old enough to have stood on a dance floor with a young teenage girl and, with your bodies totally locked into each other, swayed slowly back and forth along with the Shangri-Las you know why I gave this little ditty a high rating.”
3. Twist and Shout (Leader of the Pack, 1965)
“Twist and Shout” is not one of Shadow Morton’s finest moments as a producer. The song features canned “live” crowd noises, obscuring an adequate version of the classic, (I’m not the biggest John Lennon fan but I have to give him credit for his performance, which is incendiary.)”
2. Remember (Walking In the Sand) (Leader of the Pack, 1965)
“There have been a truckload of singles that dealt with the loss of a summer romance, but no one did with more evocative coolness than the Shangri-Las. Singing with an almost trancelike emotion, the ladies give the record a hypnotic and haunting feel that only ramps up the desolation that comes from the end of a summer love. Has one of the most intriguing endings ever.”
1. Leader of the Pack (Leader of the Pack, 1965)
“Leader of the Pack was a massive hit for the Shangri-Las in the early sixties. Another tune that was part of the death cult in sixties rock and roll. The lyrics are delivered by a breathless slutty female singer with an attitude. A well produced up tempo rock tune that climbed to the top of the charts. The song sounds cool even today.”