The GoGo’s have made an energetic appearance on the US version of the Today show performing their classic hit We Got The Beat. With the members of the band spread across the world they got together online to perform their 1981 hit and they look like they’re having a mountain of fun.
A new documentary about the a band has been released in the US, and it includes the band’s first new material in 20 years. The documentary traces the band’s journey from the 1970’s LA punk scene to becoming the first all girl group, who played their own instruments, to have major chart success.
When lead singer Belinda Carlisle chatted to OUTinPerth a few years ago she shared her memories of their early days saying it was really difficult for the band to get signed.
“Record companies would come to see us and they wouldn’t sign us. They’d tell us, ‘We love you but you’re an all women band and that’s never been a success, maybe on a cult level but it’s never made the charts.'”
Continually knocked back by record companies, Carlisle says the band used to give themselves six months to make an impact…and then another six months. Carlisle gave credit to those all girl bands that appeared before The Go-Go’s like Joan Jett’s band The Runaways and Jean and June Millington’s band Fanny, but in the late 1970s the all girl bands were not common.
“It was obvious to us and everyone around us that we should be signed and making albums and it was frustrating at that time because it was a gender issue. It was really unique… The Go-Go’s were the first of their kind because not only did we write and perform our own songs, we did it all ourselves. There was no Svengali, no Simon Cowell – everything was done on our terms.”
In 1981 the band got their big break when they signed with IRS records and released their debut album Beauty and the Beat. The first single on the album, Our Lips Are Sealed, was a sensation – it reached the Top 20 Billboard in America, while here in Australia it rose as high as number two.
The band broke up a few years later, but all of the members continued in the music world. While Carlisle had a massive solo career, guitarist Jane Weidlin also released many successful solo records, and Charlotte Caffey found success with The Graces, while continuing to write many of the hits of Carlisle’s career.
They’ve reformed several times over the decades, putting out new tracks, touring, and even created a Broadway musical Head Over Heels. Now the documentary has once again highlighted what a groundbreaking band they were, and there’s been renewed calls for them to be inducted into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame.
Take a look at their performance on the Today show.
The band also performed their new track to kick off The 19th Represents, the inaugural summit of The 19th News, a new nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy.
Take a listen to the band’s latest, and possibly last ever song Club Zero.
OIP Staff
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