'Leader of the Pack' (1964) by the Shangri-Las is one of the era’s most famous 'teen tragedy' songs. Produced by the young George 'Shadow' Morton, it dramatizes the tale of a high-school girl's biker-boyfriend and climaxes with her mother's desperate 'Be careful!' warning. The lyrics then narrate the boy’s fatal crash and the girl's heartbreak ('My baby is dead'). Its soap-opera style and catchy hook helped the song soar to #1. The track's melodramatic style epitomizes 60s girl-group pop. Decades later, 'Leader of the Pack' remains so iconic that a 1985 Broadway musical about the songwriting team (Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry) was named after it.
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