1960s: The Girl Group

You may not know it, but The Ramones cite as two of their influences The Crystals and The Ronettes. Learning of this I was shocked because it is not often enough that I hear men include as part of their influences any women artists, largely keeping certain music genres male-centered.

Male-centered was a way to describe mainstream music up until this point.

The Crystals, The Ronettes, and the like, including but not limited to The Supremes, The Marvelettes, and The Shangri-Las, were a breath of fresh air musically and visually from the rock and roll which preceded the girl group era and was followed by the (white) British Invasion.

The girl group era largely featured almost exclusively women of color. This dynamic set the foundation for recent groups such as TLC and is evident in the fact that Beyoncé only tours with an entirely female cast of musicians and dancers called The Suga Mamas.

Here is "And Then He Kissed Me", the song played in the film Goodfellas of which initially introduced me to the group.