746 The Shangri-Las “Leader of the Pack” 1964

“‘Leader of the Pack,’ a Morton-Barry-Greenwich collaboration, was another melodramatic epic, a Romeo and Juliet teenage tragedy with all the contemporary trappings—a leather jacketed rebel without a cause, a good girl whose love will save him, and (via the appropriate sound effects), a motorcycle. Released in the fall of 1964, the record’s focus on death…kicked off considerable controversy, resulting in the song’s being banned in Britain. But in the U.S…., it went to number 1, and paved the way for a further two years of hits from the group” (Gillian G. Gaar, She’s a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll, 2002). 

The Shangri-Las “Leader of the Pack”