"Shangri-Las" Women's Crew T-Shirt

Four Teenagers from Queens Who Made the Darkest Records in 1960s Pop. The Ramones Owed Them Everything.

Mary Weiss, her sister Betty, and twins Marge and Mary Ann Ganser went to Andrew Jackson High School in Queens. In 1964 they walked into a recording session with a 22-year-old producer named Shadow Morton who had talked his way into the room by claiming he'd written them a song, then had to write one in a hurry. That song was "Remember (Walking in the Sand)." It went to number five. It featured actual seagull sounds.

"Leader of the Pack" came next. Morton reportedly rode a motorcycle into Gold Star Studios to get the engine sounds on tape. The song went to number one in October 1964. A girl's boyfriend dies in a motorcycle crash and she's left holding the memory. It was the bleakest number one pop song of its era, performed by teenagers, and it sold millions.

Then there was "Past, Present and Future" in 1966. Mary Weiss doesn't sing on it. She speaks — a monologue about a past relationship, delivered over an arrangement built on Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata," ending with: "Will I ever laugh again? What do you think? Don't touch me." It charted. It is one of the strangest and most affecting records of the decade.

The leather jackets. The Queens inflection. The refusal to soften anything. The New York Dolls studied them. The Ramones studied them. When punk arrived in the mid-1970s, the Shangri-Las had already drawn the blueprint a decade earlier from a high school in Queens.

Mary Ann Ganser died in 1970 at 22. Marge Ganser died in 1996. Mary Weiss spent decades outside music and released a solo album in 2007. The records survived all of it.

This tee is for the records and the four girls from Queens who made them.

Premium Quality

• Women's crew tee — Feminine fit, true to size
• Soft, comfortable fabric — Gets better with every wash
• Available in Purple Rush, Royal, and Black — Sizes XS–XXXL

Made to Order

For environmental and quality reasons, this tee is made specifically for you after you order. Please allow approximately one week for production. Tracking information will be sent as soon as it ships.