Music and Lyrics, Head Over Heels
The Go-Go’s, who started as Los Angeles punk rockers in 1978, made history as the first all-female group who sang their own songs and played their own instruments to top Billboard charts. Their debut album, Beauty and the Beat, went to No. 1 and won them a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. When their punk sound morphed into New Wave and “power pop,” the group’s lineup changed. By 1981, it had solidified to Jane Wiedlin, Belinda Carlisle, Charlotte Caffey, Kathy Valentine and Gina Schock. They broke up in 1985, reunited in 1999 and have been touring ever since. Songs include “Our Lips Are Sealed,” “We Got the Beat” (Beauty and the Beat, 1981); “Vacation,” “Get Up and Go,” “This Old Feeling” (Vacation, 1982); “Head Over Heels,” “Turn to You,” “Yes or No” (Talk Show, 1984); “Cool Jerk” (Greatest, 1991); “The Whole World Lost Its Head,” “Good Girl” (Return to the Valley of the Go-Go’s, 1994); “Unforgiven” (God Bless the Go-Go’s, 2001). The Go-Go’s have sold more than 7 million albums.