On this day The Go-Go’s released their single “Our Lips Are Sealed”. The song would peak at #20 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and at #3 on Canada RPM Top 100. The single is on the New Wave side of the punk rock spectrum.
The Go-Go’s were an all female band from Los Angeles, California. They started out as a straight punk band with ties to the larger punk scene. Belinda Carlisle (lead vocals) had a brief stint in the band The Germs before getting ill and being replaced.
After some line up changes the band’s sound changed to more New Wave/Power Pop. The core band consisted of Carlisle (vocals), Jane Wiedlin (guitar), Charlotte Caffey (keyboards, guitar), Kathy Valentine (bass) and Gina Schock (drums).
The single “Our Lips Are Sealed” was written by Jane Wiedlen and Terry Hall. Hall was in the group The Specials and also Fun Boy Three. Not so blind gossip. Wiedlin and Hall had an affair while The Go-Go’s were supporting The Specials on their US tour in 1980.
The band would split up in 1985. There would be various reunion tours throughout the years. One was scheduled this year before it all went to shit. Belinda Carlisle would have the most commercial success post Go-Go’s with a solo career in the 80’s and 90’s. Jane Wiedlin would go on to release solo material and also record a single with the band Sparks. One of her latter projects is the band Elettrodomestico.
I promise I will stop teasing and get into first wave and hardcore punk. The Go-Go’s were by request.
The Go-Gos punk roots are made clearer in the excellent Under the Big Black Sun: A Personal History of L.A. Punk. Jane Wiedlin and Charlotte Caffey both contributed to it.
I want to read this.
That looks like a great book. I don’t know about John Doe but can’t imagine that Exene was a fan of the Go-Gos. I know she hated Debbie Harry.
It’s definitely a good book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it.
Once it reopens, the Seattle Public Library has several copies!
I have an old cassette Go-Go’s bootleg of a show from ’79 and it’s one of the most punk rock things I’ve ever heard. It’s not this show, but this gives an idea.
I was once in a Goodwill here in L.A. and I heard a woman with a squeaky voice speaking behind me. I thought to myself, that sounds like Jane Wiedlin. I turned around and it was Jane Wiedlin.