ABSTRACT
Vocal rhythm and blues, or doo wop as the songs came to be called, a subgenre of rock n roll written and sung by extremely young African-Americans, was part of a cultural milieu of the prevalent generational schism of the nineteen fifties. The music journalist Bill Millar, in writing about a sorely neglected corner of the post-war rhythm and blues field, says that, some 15,000 different black vocal groups first recorded during the 1950's. These groups were quintets or sextets mostly, so that the actual number of African-Americans entering the recording studio is quite large. Theodore Gracyk, in writing about authenticity in commercial music, says that, most popular music heard by most people-whether it be rock, hip-hop, or country-is created, distributed, and consumed as recorded music. Gangs tied to particular city streets had their own singing groups. When moving through the turfs belonging to other gangs, those gangs would give members of singing groups special waivers of passage.
