Various Artist - Growin' Up Too Fast: The Girl Group Anthology (1996)

From Mercury comes this collection commemorating the sound celebrated some years back by Grease. The spirit of a young, voluptuous, and conflicted Stockard Channing lives on in these discs, which celebrate the Shangri-Las, the Angels, Lesley Gore, Connie Francis, Dusty Springfield, the Honeybees, the Paris Sisters, and others. Listen to a song like Ginny Arnell's "Dumb Head" and you may come to understand how all this fussing about boyfriends ("The Boy Next Door," "Wonder Boy," "Hey, Big Boy," "I Want That Boy," "That's What Boys Are") actually represented feminism in its prenatal stage. Once you've proclaimed you're a "dumb head" with "a peanut for a brain"--well, it's time to examine your self-image and social status a bit and perhaps explore alternative lifestyles. What do you want to bet a disproportionate number of girl-group singers went on to publicly burn their bras in the years after these singles were recorded? --Steven Stolder