Boys. The Shirelles. 1960. Scepter.

 An explosive declaration of sexual desire. The vocalist, Shirley Owens, doesn’t surrender control of the lyric to passion, but instead projects strength as she recounts, with obvious pleasure, the memory of her experience with the titular sex. From the rhythmic clangor that opens the song to the exclamatory backing vocals that unanimously voice accordance with the lyric sentiment Boys boldly announces the emergence of the second wave of American teen independence, this time around eclipsing the era of race music and introducing the commercial crossover  potential of Jerry Wexler’s rhythm and blues. Boys is all vitality; there isn’t a musical note wasted. In jukeboxes from New Jersey to Hamburg, this remarkably perfect B-side exported the incandescent beauty of young sexual energy to a world awaiting liberation.

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