Not every band can say they went from specializing in California punk to riding the new wave of surf-lovin popsters in the early eighties, but the Go Go’s did it all in stride. With hits like “We Got the Beat,” “Vacation,” and “Our Lips are Sealed,” Belinda, Charlotte, Jane, Gina and Kathy were hot like Bananarama and the Bangles in those days, during an overnight craze for sunny hits meshing 60's surfer rock and 70's punk.
The band’s reign was short, but the Go Go’s offered three albums. Their first two releases, Beauty and the Beat and Vacation, fared the best, but by the 1984 release of Talk Show, the girls were just that: all talk and no show. Cue in the drug addictions and a band split; the Go Go's were made for Behind the Music.
Unsurprisingly, the band’s story did end up on the show in 2000, just a year before the release of God Bless the Go Go’s, and four years before Jane’s strange admittance back onto VH1 via the Surreal Life. Several solo attempts and greatest hits later, the girls are back with God Bless the Go Go’s, where the band mocks their short-lived careers, producing rather unflattering effects.
The album’s producers are comprised of Boston team Sean Slade and Paul Kolderie (Radiohead, Hole), who try to create a live sound on God Bless the Go Go’s. The disc usually prefers rock over pop this time around, with the exception of a few immature rah-rah chorus lines, like the Let’s go!/Let’s Go! on “Stuck in My Car,” reminiscent of Carlisle’s cheerleading days. Billie Joe of Green co-writes “Unforgiven,”one of many singles bearing obsession to the band’s past . “Apology” answers appropriately, proclaiming Apology/I’m sorry/but I have no regrets. The opposite seems true several tracks later on the hippie-inspired “Daisy Chain,” co-penned by Jill Sobule of “I Kissed a Girl” fame, where the girls are back to that tragic break in 1985 with lyrics of, unironically, regret (Flowers bloom/they fade too soon/what happened to/our daisy chain).
Aside from their inconsistency, however, the Go Go’s worst no-no of all on the disc falls in their image perception; one involving taking on Catholic nun personas, a move that earned the band some heat from the Catholic League back in 2001. The Go Go’s try too hard to get listeners to sympathize the band’s personal loss, rather than just moving on and evolving as musicians. Seventeen years after their last palatable release, aside from the Catholic scandal and classic VH1 memorabilia, God Bless the Go Go’s offers flat soda pop.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - J White
Check out the writing credits on Our Lips Are Sealed. Jane Wiedlin co-wrote it, so (a) it isn't a cover version per se. Also, The Go-Go's released it in 1981, and Fun Boy 3 released it in 1983. That also suggests to me that the Go-Go's version wasn't a cover. Can you cover a song released two years in the future?
2 - Crystal E.
Who would have thought someone would have wanted to cover a Go Go's song? Well, here's a case where the cover's a helluva lot better than it's original. I should have known better than to undermine the intelligence of all those fearless Go Go's historians out there............
3 - Dave Nalle
The cover of Our Lips Are Sealed is so close to the original arangement as to be indistinguishable by anything except that the vocal quality is lower because the duff sisters can't sing.
Oh, maybe you're referring to the original version with The Special. Here's the scoop on that. The Go Gos were originally formed as backup singers to tour with The Special. A number of girl bands, including Bananarama got their start that way.
That's how that great older version originated - the two bands were more or less one at one point.
I actually saw The GoGos on tour with The Special many years ago and it was quite a show. They opened for the Police and pretty much outclassed them in every way. In fact, most of the audience left when the Police started stinking the place up.
Dave
4 - Eric Olsen
the Go-Go's were formed as a punk group in LA called the Misfits in '78. They toured with Madness in '80. "Our Lips Are Sealed" was co-written by Terry Hall of the Specials and Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go's for their first album. The Specials didn't record it but Hall's next group Fun Boy Three did.
5 - Rodney Welch
It might be convenient for the sake of the story to say that the Go-Gos last album was a drag, but I sure dopn't think that's the case with Talk Show. It still has a lot of bounce to it. "Head Over Heels" and "Turn to You" are great slices of sunny summer pop.
6 - SFC Ski
No argument here, the Go-Go's were a great group, most people don't appreciate Gina Schock's talents in arranging the songs, or her excellent drumming.
7 - Eric Olsen
I absolutely love the Go-Go's - their first album is a classic that hasn't dated a day and there are great moments on Vacation and Talk Show. They were a real group, did their own thing, should be revered
8 - wally bangs
Thousand Oaks girl Belinda Carlisle as Dottie Danger played drums for the Germs too for a short while (actually one hour at one show, later becoming a prop girl of sorts for the band). Love the Go-Go's - they rock!
9 - Eric Olsen
good point Wally, forgot about the Germs angle. I actually talked to them at LA clubs in '80
10 - Crystal E.
I don't understand the comment on how it was "convenient" to say it was a drag. Convenient for what story? This one, or the one the band created themselves after dropping from the music scene in '85?
That's great that everyone loves the Go Go's. They were fun in the eighties. But if the band is going to release a CD now, they should have really thought about contributing something to music as a whole, not just an album they and their fans 4 life.
Just curious, does everybody own and love their NEW CD, or is this all a sense of euphoria waving over from this eighties flashback?
11 - Dave Nalle
Eric. My recollection is that only two members of the GoGos ultimate lineup were in the Misfits. And the tour I saw the GoGos on with The Specials was in 1981, and while they were there as an opening act, they also performed 2 or 3 songs together including Our Lips are Sealed.
Belinda Carlisle, Jane Wiedlin and Charlotte Caffey did indeed sing backup for The Specials on their second album, More Specials, as I suggested earlier. Bananarama filled a similar role a couple of years later for Fun Boy Three, providing the female counterpoint vocals on a number of their songs, including the irrtatingly infectious hit "It Ain't What You Do".
So there ya go.
Dave
12 - BRICKLAYER
Crystal,
Based on your review and comments, it seems you don't think much of the album or their fans, so what was the point of dredging up a 4 year old album that didn't even garner much attention when it came out, and offering absolutely nothing insightful, interesting, or funny about it? Maybe next you could enlighten us on Bryan Adam's post millenium output. Are you hoping that the people who did buy the album 4 years ago will throw up their hands in the air and yell "She's right, by god! I'm selling this thing tomorrow!" Or maybe you're trying to do your part in thwarting any potential resurgence in incredibly likely and iminent GO GO's comeback mania? You're not a member of a competing '80's era girl group are you?
13 - Eric Olsen
okay Dave, but they weren't formed as a backup group for the Specials
14 - Anna
Regardless of what the Go-Go's are doing now, you at least have to give them props for what they did for girl bands in the '80s and beyond. I can hear their influence even now in some millennial bands.
15 - Crystal E.
Thanks Bricklayer:
Thanks, it was actually a re-release, a record companies do when, say, oh i don't know, one of the band members ends up on a hit TV reality series. Excuse me for finding interest in something i came across.
Also, forgive me for not liking the CD, but i'm entitled, as a critic, to criticize. I'm so sorry we can't all be the corporate lapdogs record companies would hope for. I guess all review materials, this day on, should be administered to that band's biggest fan.
That wouldn't be biased at all, would it? Or maybe you'd prefer to hear me say a few nice things about the album, just so everyone's happy.
Reviews are opinion pieces. Don't like mine? Write your own.
16 - BRICKLAYER
Crystal,
You are a thousand times forgiven for not liking the CD, as I also found it lacking. And, I apologize for not knowing it was re-released, that changes my whole angle, dangit. I am not a critic myself, but rather a fan of critics, and therefore was not aware of the reissue. You see, I must purchase my own music on my meager salary, and I am sadly not able to keep up with up to the minute current goings on. I would never, ever, try to deny you or anyone else of their God given right to dislike anything, especially a music album! Keep sticking it to the Man, and DEATH TO ALL CORPORATE LAPDOGS!!!!!!!!!1
Yours in Solidarity,
Bricklayer
17 - Eric Berlin
I thought that Belinda Carlisle had at least a moderately successful solo career in the late 80s. I seem to remember liking some of your stuff, at any rate.
And I agree with you, Eric: the two early albums still sound super fresh, almost timeless. Great bounce and energy, great combination of pop, punk, and girl-rock.
18 - JR
That's great that everyone loves the Go Go's.
Not quite.
19 - Eric Olsen
always the iconoclast JR!
Crystal, the review is good and the factual error no big deal, and you corrected it anyway. And even if it hadn't been a reissue, you can review whatever you want whenever you want as far as I'm concerned.
All I would say is please don't take this stuff so personally. You do a great job, just press on and keep doing your best.
Take it as a compliment when someone cares enough to suggest a correction.
Something has definitely been in the air the last couple of days. I've been tense as hell
20 - Vern Halen
I caught the tail end of a story called 100 Lowest Moments in Rock History or something like that, and they were talking about some infamous video the Go Go's shot. Anyone know anything about that?
21 - BRICKLAYER
Mr. O,
Regarding the tenseness, may I suggest aromatherapy? It has worked wonders for me!
DEATH TO CORPORATE LAPDOGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
22 - Eric Olsen
thanks Bricky, had an old girlfriend who was an aromatherapist - that woman was a constant olfactory workout!
And I have dead corporate dog in my lap right now
23 - Eric Berlin
Vern,
I think that's the tape from the early 80s where the Go Go's are all drugged up, looking puffy and sloppy and obviously wasted.
It's not that terrible (at the least the clip I saw) but it's a far cry from the perky popsters that was the general image at the time.
24 - Dave Nalle
Vern, I think that's the video where they were all done up as nuns. I believe it was banned in some places.
Dave
25 - Eric Berlin
I don't know anything about that one, but I'd be surprised if it wasn't the one I was talking about.