FEATURE:
Vinyl Corner
Go-Go’s – Beauty and the Beat
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ALTHOUGH it is a bit tricky sourcing…
IN THIS PHOTO: The Go-Go’s in 1981/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
a fresh copy of Beauty and the Beat, I would recommend people do all they can to get hold of the debut from the New Wave band, the Go Go’s. The Go-Go’s were formed in Los Angeles in 1978 and gained fame in the 1980s. If Go-Go’s did not quite hit the peak of their debut on subsequent albums – and tensions/drug use in the band created fraction -, one cannot underestimate the legacy and brilliance of Beauty and the Beat. With singles like We Got the Beat gaining popularity and love around the world, the Go-Go’s were on the lips of many. Their 1981-released debut went on to sell over two-million copies and is double-platinum. It remains one of the most successful and important debut albums ever and was a key player in the American New Wave scene. At a time when we need fun and something sunny, the Go-Go’s’ debut is an album you need in your life. Belinda Carlisle, Jane Wiedlin and Margot Olavarria met at a Punk-Rock show in California and, apparently, they all were in the audience for the Sex Pistols’ final gig in 1978. It was clear there was this bond and chemistry that would see them form the Go-Go’s. With a singer and characterful as Belinda Carlisle – who would go on to have a successful solo career of her own -, all they needed was the tunes. Although the band could not play instruments when they met, they soon learned and honed their craft.
Soon, Charlotte Caffey joined as their lead guitarist – Elissa Bello joined on drums - and the Go-Go’s built a reputation as one of the freshest and most exciting bands on the Punk scene. Maybe they did not have the same rawness as the Sex Pistols and the Ramones, but there was a Pop edge and plenty of hooks. Mixing infectiousness with unique attitude, the band soon found themselves opening for Madness on a U.K. tour. The original line-up changed after tensions between Bello and Olavarria became too much. Drummer Gina Schock and bassist Kathy Valentine joined and, moving slightly away from Punk, a more Pop-flavoured sound came in. If the Go-Go’s were influenced, at the start, by the Punk bands at the time, the emerging New Wave scene took them in a new direction – enforcing what we would hear on their debut album. Although the band released a stunning album through the I.R.S. label, they struggled to get a deal at the time. In 1981, bands like Squeeze, The Human League and Genesis were releasing albums and there were very few, if any, female bands at the forefront. It is clear there was some sexism involved; labels not sure what to do with the Go-Go’s and there was that resistance. Now, you can hear bands who are inspired by the Go-Go’s; even a few years after their debut, more female bands were emerging but, in 1980/1981, there was not a lot of direct comparison.
It is just as well the band were signed and got to release the tremendous Beauty and the Beat. Despite early problems and a line-up change, the album is harmonious and sublime. Songwriting was split between the band but, for most songs, Charlotte Caffey and Jane Wiedlin took on writing duties. With most of the music/lyrics coming from the guitarists, there is a definite physicality and energy to the album – plenty of groove, sunshine and warmth too. Reviews were hugely positive at the time and retrospective critics have heaped praise on amazing debut. When reviewing the thirtieth anniversary release of Beauty and the Beat, American Songwriter had this to say:
“Beauty and the Beat, one of the 1980s cornerstone albums of American new wave, was both groundbreaking and inspired. Yielding the hits “Our Lips Are Sealed’ and “We Got The Beat,” this seminal recording has never sounded better than here on this new remaster, which manages to breathe new life into these songs no matter how many times you’ve listened to them.
“Can you hear them/They talk about us/Telling lies, well that’s no surprise,” sang Carlisle in “Our Lips Are Sealed,” which could be heard blasting from every car stereo during the summer of 1981. That breakthrough hit was soon followed up by “We Got The Beat,” which became the group’s most successful song and spent three weeks at number two on the U.S. hot 100. The classic 80s anthem’s lyrics “See the kids just getting out of school/They can’t wait to hang out and be cool,” left an indelible impression on pop culture.
The Go-Go’s magic relied on the masterful blending of upbeat melodies, catchy hooks, and background harmonies layered upon sad lyrics, while delivered with undeniable attitude. “Get dressed up and messed up/Blow our cares away/We rule the streets tonite/Until the morning light,” declares Carlisle with energetic angst during the frenetic “Tonite.” Carlisle gets right into your face as she sings “Change the lines that were said before/We’re all dreamers, we’re all whores/This town is our town, it is so glamorous/Bet you’d live here if you could and be one of us,” with an undeniable aggressiveness during the Hollywood ode “This Town”.
In another review, AllMusic highlight the catchiness and cleverness that one can hear all over Beauty and the Beat:
“It’s not quite right to say that the Go-Go’s' 1981 debut, Beauty and the Beat, is where new wave caught hold in the U.S., but it’s not quite wrong, either. Prior to this, there had certainly been new wave hits -- Blondie had been reaching the Top Ten for two years running -- but the Go-Go’s ushered in the era of big, bright stylish pop, spending six weeks at the top of the U.S. charts and generating two singles that defined the era: the cool groove of “Our Lips Are Sealed” and the exuberant “We Got the Beat.” So big were these two hits that they sometimes suggested that Beauty and the Beat was a hits-and-filler record, an impression escalated by the boost the Go-Go’s received from the just-launched MTV, yet that’s hardly the case.
Beauty and the Beat is sharp, clever, and catchy, explicitly drawing from the well of pre-Beatles ‘60s pop -- girl group harmonies, to be sure, but surf-rock echoes throughout -- but filtering it through the nervy energy of punk. With the assistance of Rob Freeman, producer Richard Gottehrer -- a veteran of the Strangeloves (“I Want Candy”) who also wrote the girl group standard “My Boyfriend’s Back” -- sanded down the band’s rougher edges, keeping the emphasis on the hooks and harmonies but giving the Go-Go’s enough kick and jangle that at times the group resembles nothing less than early R.E.M., particularly on “How Much More” and “Tonite.” But this isn’t Murmur; there is nothing murky about Beauty and the Beat at all -- this is infectiously cheerful pop, so hooky it’s sometimes easy to overlook how well-written these tunes are, but it’s the sturdiness of the songs that makes Beauty and the Beat a new wave classic”.
Beauty and the Beat is a classic and an album, thirty-eight years after its release, is still inspiring and providing surprises. I said how, today, there are artists inspired by the Go-Go’s but, at the same time, one does not hear so much New Wave; maybe we need to look back to the past and inject a bit of that rush and positivity back into the scene. As this article explains, the band did face derision and ignorance; how could one ignore such a great album?
“They weren’t totally unprepared, though. Carlisle says they had too many songs, but they eventually settled on the 11 that make up Beauty And The Beat. Guitarist Jane Wiedlin wrote album opener “Our Lips Are Sealed” based on a letter she received from former flame Terry Hall, singer of The Specials. (Hall is credited as a co-writer on the song.) “I knew it was a hit as soon as I heard it, and I was right,” Carlisle says in her book. For her part, Carlisle only co-wrote one song, “Skidmarks On My Heart.”
IN THIS PHOTO: The Go-Go’s in L.A. in 1981/PHOTO CREDIT: Janette Beckman
Although the song just seems to be about a guy who’s more interested in his car than his girlfriend, Carlisle notes in her book it’s about her brother, her cat, and her first car. Guitarist Charlotte Caffey, the primary songwriting force of The Go-Go’s, wrote eight of the songs (many with Wiedlin), and bassist Kathy Valentine also wrote one, “Can’t Stop The World.” The songwriting was as diffuse as it would get in The Go-Go’s, and Beauty And The Beat produced some of the band’s best and most loved songs: “Our Lips Are Sealed,” “We Got The Beat,” “This Town,” “How Much More,” “Lust To Love.”
That Rolling Stone article typified the media’s attitude toward the band: “The Go-Go’s are safe, wholesome, and proudly commercial,” wrote Steve Pond in the piece’s most infamous line. The Go-Go’s may have appeared on Beauty And The Beat’s cover in towels and facial masks (Carlisle’s idea) and in bubble bath on the back cover, but they weren’t exactly wholesome. “We were cute and bubbly, but we were also twisted, crazy, drug-addict sex fiends,” said Jane Wiedlin in Behind The Music. Caffey and Carlisle developed serious drug problems; in Carlisle’s case, they’d last well into the 2000s. “The whole sex thing was uncomfortable for us,” Carlisle told Spin in 1987. “[The Rolling Stone cover] caused a lot of shit, but the thing was, we were laughing at the typical way a female band could be packaged.”
In We Gotta Get Out Of This Place: The True, Tough Story Of Women In Rock, Valentine notes, “There was a real desire on the part of the media and society for us to be nonthreatening and wholesome… We could have done more to try to control the way our image was thrust on us, but for some reason, that had to be part of the package in order for us to be accepted”.
The band followed up Beauty and the Beat with Vacation in 1982 and, whilst there are some good moments and interesting facts tied to the album (the single, Vacation, is, perhaps the first cassette single ever), the reviews were not as positive. The band are, I think, still around today and there is always a chance we will see another Go-Go’s album. Not just a product of its time, Beauty and the Beat is an album that resonated through the years and remains one of the most starling debuts ever. Go and dig it on vinyl but, failing that, stream Beauty and the Beat and get lost in this gem. There is so much to enjoy (about the album) and these songs that get straight into the head. Some might have been a bit stuffy and dismissive of Beauty and the Beat in 1981 but, before long, the album hit and started to fly off of the shelves! In 2019, one cannot only appreciate it as one of the finest debuts ever but, when we look at the eclectic and stunning music of the 1980s, Beauty and the Beat is one of the…
IN THIS PHOTO: The Go-Go’s circa 1981/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
BEST of the decade.