March 23, 2007...
The Go-Go's have recorded "Let's Get Together" for the Disneymania 5 compilation. The compilation will be available to purchase on March 27, 2007. Ms. Jane Wiedlin produced the track, and it rocks! The original song was done by Haley Mills in the original Parent Trap movie from 1960. The Go-Gos bio March 2006
"I'm just trying to matter" was one of June Carter Cashs favorite expressions. Like that humble country music icon who pioneered a genre, The Go-Gos also matter and they =also= pioneered a genre. In fact, as they celebrate the 25th anniversary of their debut album Beauty And The Beat, the band matters more now than ever.
From their halcyon days as Americas Sweethearts to their current status as iconic superstars, the band continues to preside over an amazing three-decade reign as high pop priestesses. The internationally-loved pop hitmakers helped cement the foundation of the early 80s pop-rock sound without the aid of outside composers, session players or, most importantly, creative compromise. From their very first show, The Go-Gos sang and played their own songs, offering five feisty role models for a generation of ready-to-rock girls and good, hooky fun for pop-loving guys.
Their story truly is a punk version of the American Dream. They came, they saw and they conquered the charts, the airwaves and, with their kicky kitsch appeal, pop culture in general. For a while, the band was virtually inescapable: TV guest shots, magazine covers, high-profile concert tours and movie offers turned Belinda Carlisle, Jane Wiedlin, Charlotte Caffey, Gina Schock and Kathy Valentine into certified Rock Stars. Their sparking California pop appealed to an astonishingly wide cross-section of music fans.
Because of -- or maybe in spite of -- all this attention, they soared to become a pop phenomenon while having a lot of fun and blazing a brand-new trail -- for the DIY ethic in general, and women in music in particular. Their self-contained battle cry was a string of irresistibly catchy, self-penned pop singles featuring Carlisles infectious vocals, with Caffey and Wiedlins loud, punk rock guitars and sweet backing vocals, all slammed home with Valentines throbbing bass and Schocks big 60s beat.
Sure, before the Go-Gos debuted in May of 78, there were other all-female bands, but to a man (ahem, or in this case, woman) there was usually a seedy, cigar-chompin guy lurking just behind the curtain, pulling strings, writing songs and shaping the image as his gals danced on his string. But The Go-Gos didnt need no doctor in their house. No Phil Spector, Kim Fowley or Sonny Bono plotted their moves. It was their baby right from the start and they nursed the bouncing infant lovable on a diet of nonstop nocturnal nourishment in dank clubs all across the city.
They danced to their own joyous beat from the very beginning. The Go-Gos banded together in the truest of punk ethics: there was no master plan to get signed or in any way conquer the world. In fact, when Belinda Carlisle and Jane Wiedlin (then known by her adorably tough nome-de-punk Jane Draino) met, they werent even musicians. But since nearly everyone else in their viscous circle of friends was forming bands, they said why not? and jumped right in that darn fountain, fully clothed. The band was conceived in the very same gritty glitter of the rough Los Angeles scene that also birthed X, The Germs and The Weirdos.
By all accounts, their first show was short, sweet -- and very, very raw. They didnt care, they were just having fun. But, just as lust can turn to love, their newfound hobby turned to dedication. Two months later, real musician Charlotte Caffey joined and their sound quickly improved. The unique mix of snotty punk dischord, blended with sweet pop melodies was presented with a freewheeling lets have a party thrift-store chic attitude. The ensemble quickly cultivated a dedicated clique of fans and collected glowing notices in the notoriously fickle LA press.
By 79, with the addition of Gina Schock on drums, the Go-Gos were beating their path to stardom, on their own terms. They played every cool club and party in LA and, naturally, record companies were starting to sniff around. Still, the band remained true to their punk leanings, releasing an early version of We Got The Beat through the quirky Stiff Records in the UK.
As 80 turned into 81, Kathy Valentine joined and by April, the band was signed to upstart new wave haven IRS Records. As summer arrived, so did Beauty And The Beat, hot on the heels of their debut US single Our Lips Are Sealed. Summer turned to fall, and the world fell in love with the cute, bubbly and effervescent (and yes, they hate that description) Go-Gos.
But really, how could anyone who loves real music not love The Go-Gos? They melded the timeless songcraft of The Beatles, a defiant punk attitude, the blitzkrieg bombast of The Ramones, the deceptively dangerous allure of Blondie, the distinct personalities of The Monkees, 60s garage-band grit, good-girl wall-of-sound schmaltz, and a touch of 70s glam, all while creating a canon of work that deftly defined the spirited 80s sound. Even more astonishing is the fact that they merged all of those grand influences into streamlined MTV stardom -- without sounding overtly dated. Quite a fete, but then The Go-Gos are quite a band.
The double-platinum-awarded Beauty And The Beat reached number one and begat Vacation in 82 and Talk Show in 84 during the ladies charming reign of chart and radio smashes. And, like any truly classic rock band, their enduring hits -- including Vacation, Head Over Heels and Turn To You -- live on in countless compilations, movie soundtracks, remakes and, yes, even a string of very successful television commercials.
Having accomplished more in a few years than most bands could ever imagine, The Go-Gos were inactive for the last half of the 80s, splintered in various directions with each member busy with solo projects and real life. The groups legacy was rekindled in 90 when The Go-Gos reunited for a charity show.
In 94 the rejuvenated musicians contributed three new songs and extensive liner notes for the career-retrospective Return To The Valley of The Go-Gos. The band had also returned to sporadic touring by that time, occasionally revisiting the frivolity of the early 80s on stage while depressing grunge continued to rule rock radio. In 2000, their raucous and rocky off-stage history, often re-told and colorfully embellished, was unflinchingly presented in a very popular episode of VH-1s Behind The Music series with an accompanying greatest hits collection. Behind The Music: The Go-Gos Collection continues to be a strong-selling catalog item.
At this point, most bands would happily settle into obscurity or desperately fling themselves into futile and embarrassing updates of their sound. Not The Go-Gos. On the strength of the VH-1 special, God Bless The Go-Gos, an all-new collection of songs was released in 2001. A stack of glowing reviews soon followed, backed by a triumphant tour, later immortalized in the exciting DVD Live In Central Park.
Today, with the original hitmaking line-up intact, The Go-Gos live show continues to deliver every bit of the raw energy of their now-legendary punk beginnings, tempered with the wisdom of three decades of pop perfection. They have no need to change their sound to try to be modern or current or wander off on some trendy tangent. Why should they change a thing? Now, as in 81, no one sounds like The Go-Gos but The Go-Gos.
The whole world may have lost its head, but in a world gone crazy, The Go-Gos still have the beat. And now, twenty-five years after the release of their first album, go-go music still makes us dance.
