Day 310: The Go-Go’s – Beauty and the Beat
Today it’s time for another lesson in music history, this time it’s in the form of classic bands of women in rock. The Go-Go’s were a pioneering group who were apparently the first group of women who wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to have an album top the Billboard 200.
Album cover courtesy of I.R.S. Records
The Go-Go’s was formed in 1978, emerging from the L.A. punk scene as a punk band. However, several changes in line-up and the prospect of mainstream fame got them to heavily sanitise their image and move more towards the power pop band that they were on their 1981 debut, Beauty and the Beat, where the final line-up of the band consisted of singer Belinda Carlisle, keyboardist and lead guitarist Charlotte Caffey, drummer Gina Schock, bassist Kathy Valentine and rhythm guitarist Jane Wiedlin.
I’m sure a lot of people my age and older have heard their biggest hits, like “Our Lips Are Sealed” and “We Got the Beat”, but considering that they’re a record-breaking, pioneering rock band, they’ve not really cemented themselves in the public consciousness in a same way as their male counterparts. Frankly, I didn’t even know that Belinda Carlisle was in a band, I just always thought she was a solo act. But they are recently getting their comeuppance a bit, they got inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.
That being said, I’d have been a bit more interested in hearing the more punk rock origins of the band, but I’m sure Beauty and the Beat must have been amazing to listen to as a girl or young woman at the time. It has a very sunny, upbeat and energetic power pop or pop rock sound that’s fun to listen to, but it’s not something I think I’ll reach for too much in the future – it’s a decent pop record that has a very important place in history, but it’s a lot less ground-breaking in its sound in 2026 than it was at the time, which is probably credit to them, but still.
Beauty and the Beat is a 7.5/10 for me – it’s good, I’m glad I heard it but it’s a one and done for me. However, I just watched the video below and there’s a joy to it that’s pretty infectious, I might need to give the album another go at another time, it might grow on me.
Also, I found the tidbit that I mentioned earlier absolutely unbelievable, that 1981 was the first time a band of women playing their own instruments and writing their own songs to have an album top the charts. Well, it gets worse: to date, they’re the only band to do it. The closest we’ve gotten is the Bangles, who had a number 2 album in 1986. I hope that’s a record that gets broken again soon because phew, that’s shocking.