Posted on 07/10/2021 1:26:33 PM PDT by nickcarraway
On July 8, 1981, the Go-Go's released their debut album, "Beauty and the Beat." To call the LP a watershed musical moment release would be underselling the album's influence.
Musically, the quintet's mix of nervy pop, gritty punk, rock, and girl-group harmonic gleam was a revelation. The five members — vocalist Belinda Carlisle, guitarists Charlotte Caffey and Jane Wiedlin, bassist Kathy Valentine, and drummer Gina Schock — were cool and confident onstage. These were talented women making music their way, following their own unique path — and showing legions of fans that they too could carve out space for themselves anywhere.
Thematically, the band softened punk's defiant stance with lyrics relatable to everyday life. Like the Go-Go's themselves, the characters of "Beauty and the Beat" were savvy and smart. Even if things didn't go quite according to plan — for example, "You Can't Walk in Your Sleep" uses the extended metaphor of insomnia and sleep disturbances (relatable!) to convey frustration over life's status quo — there was never a sense of feeling bleak or trapped.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
This I can agree with!
The Cars already beat them to it.
The cars were the cars but the go gos were the go gos. A monumential moment in my life. Throw in appetite for destruction and never mind. My early years are formed. I even take back in black as a defining moment..
The Cars were girls? Who knew.
Seems like pretty standard stuff. I guess the big deal is that they were women.
My mother the car came first.
One you may have missed was the bangles version of hazy days of winter in the movie less than zero. Dark dark movie.
I hope he does The Bangles next, that’s the chick band that made my putter flutter..still
Truly one of the worst comedy show concepts ever.
I’d do the Bangles. Wait...
Probably up there with Rango.
I read this headline and thought that a new Broadway musical about the
Go-Go’s is about to debut.
What about it?
“Seems like pretty standard stuff. I guess the big deal is that they were women.”
The Go-Go’s were interesting because they started out as a punk band. They reworked the frenetic 180-190 bpm pacing of some of their punk standards to a more commercially viable 150 bpm and the result was a unique, energetic sound that had not been heard before. Consequently their debut album was a massive hit which was completely unexpected.
Perhaps you don’t hear anything spectacular in their music now and that’s because their sound has been endlessly adapted and incorporated into the music that came after them.
Pardon me if you remind me of a woman I saw at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum who saw “nothing special” about the Wright Flyer. She was right that it is a relatively unremarkable aircraft compared to the many spectacular aircraft on display.
But what made it special is that it came first. Sadly, she was oblivious to this.
What made the Go-Go’s remarkable is that they changed everything that came after them. Maybe they’re not a musical Wright Flyer, but maybe they’re analogous to a ‘Glamorous Glennis’.
Overrated.
“What made the Go-Go’s remarkable is that they changed everything that came after them.”
Nonsense.
Their contemporaries Nirvana and Metallica changed everything after them. The pablum pop of the Go Gos would be forgotten if there wasn’t a Broadway musical coming.
What did Metallica change? Nothing. And people are still using MP3s.
What did Nirvana change? Now guitar music is dead?
Heavy Metal was mainstreamed by Metallica.
That’s impactful.
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