Because the snappy drumbeats and bouncy guitar riffs of “Our Lips Are Sealed” open Magnificence and the Beat, you possibly can’t assist however faucet your ft. It’s new wave at its finest: pop with simply sufficient edge and loads of hooks. And when the album was launched in July 1981, it was additionally the world’s introduction to 5 of the good girls in music: The Go-Go’s. With unforgettable tracks like “We Got The Beat,” “This Town” and “Our Lips Are Sealed,” Magnificence and the Beat established The Go-Go’s as one of many hottest new bands of the last decade. Not solely did it hit No.1 on the Billboard 200, it stood because the second best-selling album of the yr, and one of many highest-selling debut albums of all time.
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Punk beginnings
Regardless of the report’s radio-friendly, cheerful melodies, The Go-Go’s have been truly a product of Los Angeles’ burgeoning punk rock scene. Enjoying beneath the pseudonym of Dottie Hazard, frontwoman Belinda Carlisle started her musical profession within the late 70s as a drummer for the LA band Germs (her bandmate Pat Smear went on to hitch Nirvana and, later, Foo Fighters). Guitarist Charlotte Caffey performed bass in native band The Eyes, whereas rhythm guitarist Jane Wiedlin was a mainstay of the scene and an in-demand underground clothes designer. The three girls, together with unique Go-Go’s Elissa Bello and Margot Olavarria, met and bonded at reveals – finally deciding to kind a band of their very own.
With common gigs at venues like Hollywood’s Whisky A Go Go and The Masque, The Go-Go’s shortly constructed a following. Quickly, they have been provided a assist slot with Insanity on tour within the UK, and it was there that the group recorded their very first single, “We Got The Beat”/“How Much More,” on British indie label Stiff Information.
By the flip of the 80s, drummer Gina Schock and bassist Kathy Valentine had changed Bello and Olavarria, solidifying The Go-Go’s basic line-up. The band’s sound had developed, too, transferring away from punk rock in the direction of the rising, pop-forward new wave style.
In April 1981, the quintet signed with IRS Information, house to a number of the largest different, new wave, and school rock acts of the last decade, together with The Bangles, R.E.M., Useless Kennedys, and The Stranglers, amongst others. The Go-Go’s quickly headed to New York to report their debut album with producers Rob Freeman (Blondie, Ramones, KISS) and Richard Gottehrer (Richard Hell, Joan Armatrading, The Fleshtones).
A pop-cultural touchstone
In the meantime, the infectious “We Got The Beat” was launched within the UK. All through the summer time, the high-energy observe picked up steam in Europe’s dance golf equipment, making its approach to DJs throughout the Atlantic, the place it peaked at No.35 on the Billboard Scorching Dance Membership Play chart. Although the IRS model of the tune, re-recorded for Magnificence and the Beat, wouldn’t formally be launched within the US till January 1982 (and with a special B-side, “Can’t Stop The World”), it nonetheless packed a punch, spending three weeks at No.2 on the Billboard Scorching 100 and changing into The Go-Go’s’ largest hit. The observe additionally performed throughout the opening credit of the 1982 cult basic Quick Occasions At Ridgemont Excessive, formally cementing the tune as a touchstone of 80s popular culture.
Magnificence and the Beat’s lead single, nonetheless, was the sassy but wistful “Our Lips Are Sealed.” Launched in June 1981, the tune was impressed by a letter that Jane Wiedlin acquired from The Specials’ frontman, Terry Corridor. The 2 had an affair whereas The Go-Go’s have been on their first UK tour, however their temporary relationship wasn’t for naught. Corridor’s phrases have been borrowed all through the observe – a lot in order that he was credited as a co-writer.
Although “Our Lips Are Sealed” solely peaked at No.20 on the Billboard Scorching 100, it additionally landed on the Dance and Rock Tracks chart, in the end remaining on the US charts for over 30 weeks – which is extremely uncommon for the lifespan of a single. The tune did higher in Canada and Australia, although, peaking at No.3 and No.2, respectively.
The embodiment of cool, carefree LA
The colourful, accompanying music video for “Our Lips Are Sealed” adopted the band in a 60s convertible, driving round Beverly Hills and splashing about within the metropolis’s well-known Electrical Fountain. To teenagers all over the world, The Go-Go’s have been the embodiment of a cool, carefree LA life-style.
One other spotlight on the album is the tongue-in-cheek ode to Los Angeles, “This Town.” In layered harmonies, the ladies taunt, “This town is our town/(This town) It is so glamorous/Bet you’d live here if you could/And be one of us.” Then they expose the truth of their metropolis within the final verse: “Change the lines that were said before/We’re all dreamers – we’re all whores/Discarded stars/Like worn out cars/Litter the streets of this town.”
Elsewhere on the album, influences of 60s-era girl-group balladry could be heard in songs like “Fading Fast,” whereas rougher, quicker tracks like “How Much More’,” “You Can’t Walk In Your Sleep (If You Can’t Sleep),” and “Skidmarks On My Heart” reveal the band’s punk rock roots, bringing to thoughts lots of their contemporaries, The Jam and The Conflict amongst them.
Breaking gender boundaries
Following its launch, Magnificence and the Beat earned The Go-Go’s their first Grammy nomination – for Finest New Artist – and left followers looking forward to extra, as evidenced by their sophomore bestseller, 1982’s Trip. Whereas the band would go their separate methods by the center of the last decade (with a number of reunions to observe all through the 90s and past), Magnificence and the Beat stays a foundational new wave report. The album additionally broke gender boundaries, establishing The Go-Go’s the one all-female act to wholly write and report a No.1 album on the Billboard 200.
A long time after its launch, Magnificence and the Beat nonetheless feels contemporary, pressing and… simply plain cool. At first look, the band might simply have been disregarded as a manufactured pop act, however that couldn’t have been farther from the reality. Although their music was performed on High 40 radio, The Go-Go’s weren’t something just like the polished, pop acts of the period. As a substitute, they provided one thing else – true musicianship, sharp-witted lyricism, and a singular, defiant sound. Embodying the unbiased spirit of the social misfit, The Go-Go’s have been, maybe, the unique purveyors of “girl power”, providing youngsters across the nation one thing to narrate – and, in the end, aspire – to.
Magnificence and the Beat could be purchased right here.
