365 Days of Song Recommendations: May 13

Lust to Love — The Go-Go’s

You may have heard the story of the Go-Go’s. The plucky L.A. girl punk band inspired by the Buzzcocks and Iggy Pop that sanded off their rougher edges and sold millions of pop records.

That’s the easy story, anyway.

In light of their recent (and long overdue) induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, let’s celebrate the first super successful all-girl rock group, the Go-Go’s, by going beyond that dismissive evaluation.

Take for example this early recording of “He’s So Strange,” a track that would later appear on their second album, 1982’s Vacation.

And now the 1982 album “pop” version:

The difference is gloss and a little bit of extra production. Those original song elements are all still right there. I prefer the original, but that’s not a condemnation of the latter track.

In 1978, Belinda Carlisle, Jane Wiedlin, Margot Olavarria, and Elissa Bello picked up instruments, learned to play them (kinda) and joined the punk scene. Guitarist Charlotte Coffey and Drummer Gina Schock (replacing Elissa) joined soon after. “I think that keep down inside, we thought we had something special, but we needed someone to tell us how to do it,” Belinda Carlisle said in The Go-Go’s, Allison Ellwood’s excellent rock doc. They were “screechy” and mostly clueless, but they had an inimitable stage presence. Five California punk girls doing it their own way in a world dominated by dudes.

The Specials played The Whisky, where the Go-Go’s were the house band. The two acts had an instant creative connection — and The Specials brought the girls overseas to tour the UK with them and Madness. They were spit at, heckled, ridiculed every night for being girls, for being American. This caused them to play harder, rage against their sexist critics. They upped their musicianship, determined to prove themselves. It was during this time that Jane penned “Our Lips Are Sealed” with Specials singer Terry Hall. Kathy Valentine replaced Margot Olavarria who became ill with Hepatitis A and rebelled against their transition toward poppier, more musical songs.

They finally recorded their first album, Beauty and the Beat in 1981 after signing with Miles Copeland and I.R.S. Records. “I saw them as a generation change,” he said.

Producer Richard Gottehrer compelled them to slow down, stop rushing — and that’s when those punk songs become pop songs, but those punk guitar riffs and edgy sensibilities remained.

Beauty and the Beat became a surprise hit, selling more than two million copies. Contemporaneous critics were mixed about the record despite support for its infectious hooks and innate sense of fun. They were often compared unfavorably to Deborah Harry and Blondie. Today Beauty and the Beat’s an essential stepping stone, a bridge between the punk rock of the late 70’s and the early New Wave era.

The album’s instantly recognizable toe-tappers “We Got the Beat” and “Our Lips Are Sealed” (note that song’s unusual chord progression, which is kinda punk) shoehorn the band among the more placid, familiar pleasantries of the 80’s popular music — but they’re so much more than that. On Beauty’s deeper cuts, there’s an underlying entropy pulling them back towards those punk roots.

As the first side of the record transitions from the up-tempo “Tonight” into the darker “Lust to Love” those roots are never more apparent. It’s “Lust to Love” that showcases their infectious background harmonies behind Carlisle’s vocals, the heavier instruments, darker themes, more than a toe-dip into post-punk ennui.

A deconstructed sun-drenched L.A. punk band, playing popular music to stick it to the boys that told them they couldn’t f’ing do it. Because they were cute, because they were girls, because they didn’t know what they were doing. The band’s whole career can be found in the space between those two songs. The Go-Go’s weren’t great because they were punk or pop — they were great because they were both.

And they’re still the only all girl band that played their own instruments and wrote their own songs to hit #1 on the Billboard album charts.

“Lust to Love” is the 133rd song on the exclusive #365Songs playlist! Listen and follow today!