The Go-Go's were punk. That's the key.
They formed in Los Angeles in 1978, rising out of the same mire that had produced X, The Germs, Black Flag, and so many other influential punk bands. Listen to the first pressing of their song "We Got The Beat". Not the cleaned-up redux off their 1981 debut album, but the original version first recorded in 1980 for UK-based Stiff Records. Go-Go's manager Ginger Canzoneri had made a deal with British indie label Stiff Records to release the original version of "We Got the Beat" as a single, in support of the band's 1980 UK tour with Madness and the Specials (souce: Wikipedia).
You don't get on a 1980 UK tour with Madness and the Specials without some street cred, believe that.
"We Got The Beat" (Stiff Version) has that energy, that frenetic punk rhythm, that underground voice that the misfits embrace and the normies lament.
Also, by being punk, they 100% embrace that D.I.Y. directive. The Go-Go's were exceptional musicians and songwriters. Even if that's not how they started out. Their debut album, "Beauty and the Beat", off I.R.S. Records, was a first for an all-female band both writing their own material and playing their own instruments.
Behind the curtain, The Ronettes and The Crystals had Phil Spector. The Runaways had Kim Fowley. Cher had Sonny, at least in the beginning. The Go-Go's had, well, they had The Go-Go's. There was no seedy record executive plotting out the course of their career, writing their songs and telling them how to dress. Their expression was raw and unfiltered, their intensity came from just wanting to have a good time and play all the cool L.A. clubs. Hell, look no further than the cover of Beauty And The Beat to see how much these women cared about being stylish and fashionable. That cover is a big "F.U." to the whole thing, and it's glorious.
Sure, later the punk devolved into pop-punk and new wave, they took MTV by storm and were told to "slow down" their songs by their record producer. And, obviously, by 1985, it was all over; broken and lay bleeding off the Sunset Strip, just down the street from the Tower Records.
There were the solo careers, the album re-releases, the reunions, the induction into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame, that whole tired trajectory of bands who burned bright for a short time, but then exhausted all the fuel and faded away.
The Go-Go's, though, they deserved better than that trite coda to their story. They broke down barriers in a male-dominated industry, they were trailblazers who demonstrated that women could write, perform, and produce top-quality rock and pop music. Their combination of musical talent, punk rock roots, commercial success, and cultural impact set them apart from other all-girl bands of the time and left a lasting legacy in the music industry.
God Bless The Go-Go's.
