Superlatives
A Vulture series in which artists judge the best and worst of their own careers.
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In the early 1980s,the Go-Gosredefined whatwomen in the music industrycould accomplish.
(Nope, not even withthe ChicksorHaim.)
(Theyre now reconciled.)
And I love the chord progression, how it drops out in the beginning and then kicks in.
Its probably my favorite song to perform live.
I dont like singing that song.
I dont like that song.
And I dont like the way I sing it.
But I mean, a lot of people love that song and the music video is hysterical.
We were in drag.
Lust to Love captures it, too; that was one of the first songs we wrote.
The Go-Gos is five people.
Its not any one person.
But those were the best days.
I mean, the struggle.
I mean, we had no money!
But back then it was fantastic.
Im really, really lucky to have experienced something like that.
In all the different scenes in the world, Los Angeles had its own theme.
New York mightve been the junky sort of dark scene.
London was angry and political.
Los Angeles was various kinds of sunny.
California was about art.
It was different everywhere, but it was a great, great thing to be a part of.
So that song brings me a lot of joy when I sing it.
It was instant love with that and with We Got the Beat.
Our Lips Are Sealed was one of them.
I think its the Go-Gos theme song, really.
That was probably the most fun we had as a band beforeBeauty and the Beathit the airwaves.
It was all about music, all about fun.
We didnt take anything seriously.
We thought it was a girls club.
Everything was really, really exciting.
We loved every minute of it.
It was still very intimate, even though we had large audiences.
It was a great, great time in music.
We had little shitty speakers in the car and it came on.
It was like,Wow.It was summer and I remember the windows being down in the car.
I think it really sums up California summertime, for sure.
Song that shouldve been a single
I think Lust to Love wouldve been a hit.
So to milk everything out of that one album wasnt the thing to do.
I would have chosen that for number three.
Most MTV music video
Our Lips Are Sealed for sure.
That was our first one.
We thought it was a waste of time, at the time.
Everybody now knows that video in the States.
It put the Go-Gos on the map.
It felt like California.
And it beautifully sums up the essence of the band.
I think thats one of the things about the Go-Gos that people do respond to.
Its part of the magic of the band.
Favorite irreverent lyrics
Oh my God.
Well, people dont really pay attention to the lyrics of a Go-Gos song.
What they dont realize is that theres a real dichotomy between the lyrics and the music.
Like with Head Over Heels, the lyrics are really dark if you pay attention to them.
But Fun With Ropes is also really funny.
Its all about bondage.
The lyrics are really, really funny and genius.
That song has always been fun to sing because it does push the envelope.
Its everybodys sensibilities rolled up into one ball.
I think Gina is the backbone.
Shes very, very funny, but very, very serious about that.
Charlotte is nurturing, talented.
Jane is a lyrical genius.
Kathy, a great musician.
I think people sort of wrote off the music and didnt listen to the lyrics.
They dont listen to whats underneath it all.
We were written off as a pop band.
What was great about the documentary is that people dont realize where the Go-Gos came from.
Thats the most interesting part of the story, coming out of that punk scene.
We did everything ourselves.
Thats just not done these days, or if it is its very rare.
I cant think of anybody thats come out of that.
But listening to it now, it really is an amazing album.
It was always really hard to listen to my voice because I felt that I didnt sound great.
Ive realized thats why its considered to be an important album.
Its a signature Los Angeles early punk album.
And it has that girl group thing, which I always loved and grew up with.
Like, I listened to the Shangri-Las and the Shirelles constantly as a kid.
We had that element too, the bad girl group.
Theres not one stinker in the bunch.
Some of the names, Im sorry, do not belong in there.
So I would just write the Go-Gos, check the box, and send it in.
They kept sending me ballots!
Just by the ratio of men to women in it, that really says it all.
I think that were smart-asses by nature, and that somebody said something to somebody.
Because thats very possible.
So if it happens, that would be amazing.
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