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American vocal group
the American vocal group

The Crystals are an American vocal group that originated in New York City. Considered one of the defining acts of the girl group era in the first half of the 1960s, their 1961–1964 chart hits – including "There's No Other (Like My Baby)", "Uptown", "He's Sure the Boy I Love", "He's a Rebel", "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me"– featured three different female lead singers and were all produced by Phil Spector. The latter three songs were originally ranked number 263, number 114, and number 493, respectively, on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. However, two songs were omitted from the magazine's 2010 update, leaving only "He's a Rebel" at number 267. In the 2021 update, "Da Doo Ron Ron" was added back to the list at number 366.

Soon after "He Hit Me" flopped, Phil Spector began recording singer Darlene Love and her backing group the Blossoms. The Crystals were not able to travel from New York to Los Angeles fast enough to suit the LA based Spector, who wanted to quickly record writer Gene Pitney's "He's a Rebel" before Vikki Carr could release her version on Liberty Records. As Love and the Blossoms were also based in Los Angeles, Spector recorded and released their version under the Crystals' banner. It was not the first time Spector promised the Blossoms a single and release it under the Crystals name. The song had originally been offered to The Shirelles, who turned it down because of the anti establishment lyrics. It marked a shift in girl group thematic material, where the singer loves a "bad boy", a theme that would be amplified by later groups (especially The Shangri Las' "Leader of the Pack"). "He's a Rebel" was the Crystals' only US number one hit and also made the UK top 20. Their follow up single, "He's Sure the Boy I Love", was also recorded by Love and the Blossoms. It reached number 11 on the Billboard chart and features a spoken intro by Love. "He's a Rebel" kept Pitney's own "Only Love Can Break a Heart" off the top spot on 3 November 1962. Pitney never reached the Hot 100's summit.

Though it is unclear as to the level of their participation in "(Let's Dance) The Screw", the 'real' Crystals definitely began recording again under their own name in 1963. However, Thomas had departed to get married, only to join another mildly successful group, The Butterflys, along with another original Crystal, Myrna Giraud. This reduced the group to a quartet. Alston, known for her shyness and stage fright, was never comfortable with being out front, stepped down from the lead spot giving it to Dolores "LaLa" Brooks. According to Brooks, she had been doing Alston's leads in their live shows for a while. After "(Let's Dance) The Screw", the group's next release was "Da Doo Ron Ron". The song was a top 10 hit in both the US and the UK, as was the follow up single "Then He Kissed Me", with lead vocals also sung by Brooks. Brooks also flew out to Los Angeles to record tracks for the seasonal album, A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records. At the start of 1964, the Crystals flew to the UK for their first European live shows. "Then He Kissed Me" soared to number 2 in the UK,

"Then He Kissed Me" was the opening song to which Elisabeth Shue danced around her bedroom in Adventures in Babysitting (1987); it was the song in which Ray Liotta and Lorraine Bracco enter the Copacabana on their first real date in the movie Goodfellas (1990); it was featured during the episode 'Homer and Marge Turn a Couple Play' on The Simpsons (2006); it was also featured in the episode 'Stand By Meg' on Family Guy (2018). It was also covered by Asobi Seksu and used on their live album Live at the Echo 10/6/06. "Da Doo Ron Ron" was played during a scene in a dance club in the 1979 film Quadrophenia, and by Russell Ziskey (Harold Ramis) to train ESL students in the 1981 comedy Stripes. "He Hit Me (and It Felt like a Kiss)" was used in the episode 'Mystery Date' on Mad Men (2012). Crystal was the name of one of the girl group inspired street urchin characters in the musical Little Shop of Horrors, along with Chiffon and Ronnette. Amy Winehouse cited "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)" as an influence when writing her album Back to Black. The American singer Lana Del Rey used the same phrase in the song "Ultraviolence" in the album of the same name.