When it's late in the evening....
My darling daughter probably doesn't know it, but her first concert was actually this week's featured artist. You see, her mother was about seven months pregnant with her when someone I worked with at Camelot Music got a number of us managers free tickets to see them. Their debut album had just been released and as we liked it, we made the trek from Decatur, IL to St. Louis and saw them at some little club (couldn't begin to remember it, though it may have been Mississippi Nights). I remember nothing about the show, either, other than my then wife and myself got home at some ungodly hour (likely two or three in the morning), and how amazed I was at her strength to keep going despite being that far along with our daughter....
The Go-Go's got their start in Los Angeles in 1978, and though they've broken up/took a hiatus a number of times since then, have made themselves a tremendous career. Their debut album was released in 1981 and was such a hit that it has literally carried them through the next forty-seven years. Over that time, they have been nominated for a Grammy, sold over seven million records, been inducted into the Women's Songwriting Hall of Fame, and have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (much deserved). The band has overcome some hardships: lead guitarist Charlotte Caffey was addicted to heroin for a number of years, drummer Gina Schock had open heart surgery in 1984 at the band's peak, and they have had a number of major disagreements over M-O-N-E-Y through the years. They've all had solo careers, though only lead singer Belinda Carlisle had any success. I wrote about Jane Wiedlin in Vol. CDLXXXVI, and bassist Kathy Valentine rounded out the group. For their career, the Go-Go's released four albums (two of which hit the top ten), three compilations, and sixteen singles (four reached the top twenty). The Go-Go's continue to perform at one off shows and were at Coachella just last month.
Fun Fact: The Go-Go's are the only all-female band who wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to have had a number one album on the Billboard 200. You'd hope there should have been more, but we're 0 for 2 on female Presidential candidates so not as surprising as one might think....
"We Got the Beat" was the second single released (technically first, because a different version was released in the U.K. earlier, but I'm splitting hairs) from their debut album, the rather playfully entitled Beauty and the Beat. The single peaked at #2 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album was their aforementioned #1 hit.
Every now and again as I relisten to my weekly tune, I am taken aback at how great a song actually is, and this week's tune was one of those relistens. From the very get go, Gina Schock's drumming drives the song into another dimension, and continues unabated until it's conclusion. Valentine's bass is a world of wonder as it beats a path to beauty, and Caffey's guitar propels the song's (it, amazingly enough, almost sounds like a bass guitar) groove. Carlisle's vocals are inspired (especially love her "Jump back!" during the acapella break), and it all rounds into a classic piece of pop pie. I would be remiss, as well, if I didn't give a big shout out to Caffey for writing it--it was a take-off on Smokey Robinson and the Miracles' "Going to a Go-Go" and, man-oh-man, does it take off. Just a stunning, stunning song, and in and of itself, would be enough to merit their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inclusion. One of those never ceases to amaze rock and roll moments....
Lyric Sheet: "Go-go music really makes us dance/Doing the pony puts us in a trance/Do the watusi just give us a chance/That's when we fall in line..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
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