Phil Spector’s first true “Wall of Sound” masterpiece wasn’t born in a flash of genius but through meticulous studio craft—”Da Doo Ron Ron” by The Crystals started with nonsense syllables that were supposed to be temporary placeholders, but Spector loved their simplicity so much he kept them; recorded in a tiny 19×24 foot room at Gold Star Studios with musicians packed wall-to-wall, the song required 30-40 takes from exhausted vocalist La La Brooks while Cher sang backup, creating a sound so powerful that when Spector played the final version to Sonny Bono, he simply declared: “That’s solid gold coming out of that speaker.”
“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.” Introduction “Da Doo Ron Ron” is a classic…