(By Elizabeth Tuico) In pandemic time, every day is Wednesday. Maybe that’s why I can’t stop watching the new documentary on The Go-Go’s. It feels like Saturday night.

Directed by Alison Ellman, the Showtime doc is a worthy tribute to an underrated band. Over the half the film is dedicated to their origin story. Formed in 1978, the Go-Go’s rose up through the ranks of Los Angeles’ burgeoning punk scene. Recollections of the freedom, creativity and tenacity of those early years are offered. The piece also sparks the question: Why Aren’t The Go-Go’s in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?

Unlike The Runaways, these young girls joined forces without a mentor. Jane Wiedlin and Belinda Carlisle are the two original members. Classically-trained musician Charlotte Caffey joined a few months later. Baltimore drummer Gina Schock and bassist Kathy Valentine round out the classic Go-Go’s line up.

Their 1981 album Beauty and the Beat fueled the imagination of this newly minted teenager. The Go-Go's are the most successful all-female group – the first and last band who played their own instruments and wrote the songs to top the Billboard charts. Only a handful of artists can brag their debut album hit #1 (like The Beatles and Elvis Presley). My original vinyl copy of the album is long gone. However, I can’t stop listening to online tracks from Beauty and the Beat. Traces of punk are found in every tune, but it’s overridden by catchy hooks and smart lyrics by bold young women.

1981 was a pivotal year. What was happening in the world?

• Ronald Reagan became president (and survived an assassination attempt).

• The Iran hostage finally crisis ends.

• Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer.

• MTV began broadcasting (and only music videos were featured, making it real music television).

• Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is assassinated.

• IBM releases its first personal computer.

• The hunger strike by Provisional Irish Republican Army and Irish National Liberation Army prisoners in Northern Ireland ends after seven months and 10 deaths.

Beauty and the Beat influenced me and other Gen Xers like Kurt Cobain and Billie Joe Armstrong. It is significant that women played their own music and headlined arena tours like the guys. For me, the possibilities were endless. Timing is everything, and The Go-Go’s (albeit unknowingly) seized the moment. Bright melodies and southern California style coupled with the underlying message of empowerment is what teenagers needed in the early 1980s. The world around us was dark, but The Go-Go’s lit up MTV.

The Go-Go’s ascent was electric. Like many success stories, the ride to the top was the best part. In the span of 12 months, they went from playing bars to Madison Square Garden. The pressure to drop a follow up album to Beauty and the Beat led to the quickly-produced Vacation. In 1984, The Go-Go’s bounced back with their hit album Talk Show, considered their best effort by IRS Records President Miles Copeland III.

Drugs, jealousy and financial disputes fueled the break up. In the music business, songwriting is where the money is made. Charlotte Caffey penned all the hits with the exception of Wiedlin’s Our Lips Are Sealed. Caffey’s earnings surged above the others (bankrolling her full-blown heroin addiction). Wiedlin wrote most of the lyrics, so her royalty checks were high. The three remaining members resented the principal songwriters’ financial boom since all five members working together earned the accolades.

After Talk Show was completed, the band’s management asked Wiedlin to reduce her songwriting credits so royalties could be divided equally. Having written most of the album, she said no but agreed to the five-way split for the next effort. More drama ensued and Wiedlin eventually quit, thus ending The Go-Go’s magic ride in 1985.

In some ways, the documentary is a little too neat and tidy. It fails to mention that both Schock and Valentine individually sued the group for additional compensation. From 2013-2018, Valentine was out of the band, and this incident isn’t addressed. But the glue that holds the film together is the music.  

Yes, The Go-Go’s oeuvre is limited compared to other bands. In 1999, the classic Go-Go’s reunited. Two years later, they delivered their fourth album God Bless the Go-Go’s. The band released “Club Zero” to coincide with the documentary. The first new Go-Go’s composition in 19 years, it launched at #7 on the Rock Digital Song Sales Chart. The band’s catalog gained in the week ending August 6, 2020. Album sales surged by 179%; on-demand US streams for the songs hurtled by 47%; and radio airplay rose by 13%. (Cha-ching for Caffey and Wiedlin.)

The Go-Go’s gift is not surrendering when beer bottles were thrown at their heads. In their early 60s now, these trail-blazing women still have something to say. With this renaissance, surely The Go-Go’s will be on the next Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ballot. We shall see.

5/12/21 Update: It’s official - The Go-Go’s will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.

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