Question: What was the first girl group song?
Answer: In terms of style, the Chantels' 1958 hit "Maybe" was the prototype for much of the girl group era's classic singles -- it was full of passionate romantic yearning and sung by a female quartet. It was also poppier than most doo-wop derived ballads of the time, which didn't hurt. But the girl-group era as we now know it was kicked off in earnest by 1960's "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow," written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King and recorded by the Shirelles. The subject matter, very daring for its time, dealt with the fear of being used by a man -- a classic Girl Group subject -- and was pop enough that the Shirelles, who'd already scored a number of R&B hits, rejected the song at first. Fortunately, wiser heads prevailed, and the girl group genre as we know it was born. (The Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love," released in the summer of '66, could arguably be considered the last hit of that era.)
