And that’s why the Go-Go’s were able to get together, prosper, learn their instruments as they went along, and learn how to write songs together. It was this inclusive, small family of people who didn’t feel like they fit in with regular society. That was not the beginning of the punk scene - the beginning of the punk scene was a bunch of outsiders, art-school people, women, people of color, queer people. So it was the punk scene, which most people, especially when they think of California punk, remember as being the hardcore pushing and shoving and all guys in a mosh pit beating each other up. There was no way there was room for bands in the popular rock scene that didn’t have any experience and were all girls.
Wiedlin, who co-wrote some of the Go-Go’s most popular songs, indeed has a few regrets about that era - wisdom she says comes with age and acceptance.ĭo you think the Go-Go’s could’ve come into existence without the L.A. The honor’s belatedness hasn’t dampened Wiedlin’s enthusiasm for it, though she’s eager to revisit the band’s early years, which led to Beauty and the Beat’s very existence. 6.)įour decades later, the Go-Go’s - consisting of vocalist Belinda Carlisle, lead guitarist Charlotte Caffey, guitarist Jane Wiedlin, bassist Kathy Valentine, and drummer Gina Schock - are getting inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this weekend with its newest class, a milestone that Carlisle (correctly ) believes would’ve come earlier if it weren’t for “ a lot of misogyny” within the Rock Hall.
Beauty and the Beat’s success presented a moment of possibility for brazen sisterhood and musicianship on the biggest stages, even if their Billboard record still hasn’t been matched. If “Our Lips Are Sealed” and “We Got the Beat” are the power-pop standards that paired perfectly with open convertibles, “Tonite,” “This Town,” and “Lust to Love” are their amorous siblings sweating at the Whiskey a Go Go before all the money and drugs came along, a sound that recalled the band’s roots in the Los Angeles punk scene. It’s not lazy hyperbole to state that in March 1982, the Go-Go’s accomplished something women in music never had: Their debut album, the irreverent and joyous Beauty and the Beat, hit the top spot on the Billboard charts months after its July 1981 release, cementing their legacy as the first all-women band who wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to have a No. “We absolutely forbade our record company from putting out any more singles, which is probably the dumbest thing a band has ever done.”
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