Song of the Day 5/18: The Go-Go’s, “Our Lips Are Sealed”
I like the Go-Go’s, really I do. Their peppy power pop fit nicely with the New Wave movement of the early ’80s and MTV made sure you noticed how easy they were on the eyes. I saw them play at the UD Fieldhouse — the old one north of Main Street that had acoustics like a quonset hut — and they gave a fun show, though my most enduring memory is that they were really tiny (Belinda Carlisle is supposedly 5’7″, but she didn’t look any taller than Jane Wiedlin, who’s 5’1″).
But are they worthy of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? The poobahs said yes — standards are noticeably lower for any act featuring women, or Blondie wouldn’t have sailed in its first year of eligibility — so they’ll be inducted this year. Their main claim to the honor: They remain the only all-female group to reach the top of the album charts writing their own songs and playing their own instruments. Their debut album, “Beauty and the Beat,” spent six weeks at No. 1 in 1982, eventually selling more than 2 million copies.
This tune, which opened the album and became its first single, wasn’t their most popular — it stalled at No. 20 — but the video was in constant rotation on MTV and sealed their image as effervescent good-time girls, a far cry from the punk rockers they were when Belinda Carlisle and Jane Wiedlin started the band in 1978. (Fun fact: Two years earlier, Carlisle briefly joined the Germs, under the name Dottie Danger).
Wiedlin, the band’s principal songwriter, co-wrote this one with Terry Hall, the British singer who fronted the Specials and later Fun Boy Three, about the clandestine affair they conducted when the groups toured together (Hall sent Wiedlin the lyrics, she wrote the music). It was a big hit in several countries, but not in the U.K., where the darker version recorded in 1983 by Fun Boy Three was more popular.
Most assuredly, a bop.
Speaking of the old UD Fieldhouse with the unfriendly acoustics, I saw the Stray Cats there while still in High School and The Bangles while a student.
About a month after the Bangles played in Newark I saw them interviewed and Susanna Hoffs said “You think it is going to be like ‘Hard Days Night’ and it is more like ‘Spinal Tap’.
I am fucking sure she was talking about the poor turnout and lethargic audience they had to contend with in good old Newark Delaware. 100%
Not to be confused with the Bangles, though often confused with the Bangles. Wonder if this clears the way for the latter’s Hall entry.
“You think it is going to be like ‘Hard Days Night’ and it is more like ‘Spinal Tap’. Guessing it’s a reference to the band business in general, very few of us make it to “the good times” and instead slog on because we love it.
> [RRHOF] standards are noticeably lower for any act featuring women, or Blondie wouldn’t have sailed in its first year of eligibility
I’m sorry, what?
There are even fewer women in the Rock Hall of Fame than I thought — I count about 35 — but the pool is small since not that many women had a high profile in the early years. It shouldn’t be surprising if they sometimes lower standards to get more in.
Nobody would argue low admission standards in the case of Hall members Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin, Patti Smith, Dusty Springfield, Aretha Franklin and the like. Madonna was an easy call on impact alone.
The Supremes, Shirelles and Ronettes are worthy representatives of the girl groups. I guess there could be room for more. Carole King, Donna Summer, Linda Ronstadt and Bonnie Raitt are safely in.
Low standards might explain the entry of Joan Jett and maybe Heart and Janet Jackson (imo). Other than that, there’s nobody I’d take off the list.
The list of eligible female acts includes Sandy Denny, Karen Carpenter, Bjork, Carly Simon and Kate Bush, who can meet whatever standards are set. I hope they keep stopping Pat Benatar at the gate.
Can anybody explain to me why Dionne Warwick(e) is not in?
She had scores of hit singles. Yes, most were written by Burt Bacharach, but his songs are notoriously difficult to sing, and she sang them beautifully. Which is why he wanted her to sing them.
I feel like there are artists already in the Hall who don’t have anything close to her resume.
El Som, I agree with everything you’re saying.
Dottie Danger!
Except for Patti Smith and sometimes Linda Rondstadt, every female act Nathan listed is rock-adjacent, not rock. There are plenty of female solo artists but few all-female or female-led bands, and I think the poobahs are pretty eager to flesh out their representation. Hence the Go-Gos whom, as I said, I like. I just think they’re no better than lots of bands who don’t get a sniff, and I stated what I think makes a difference.
The Shirelles? Six top 10 singles in a little less than four years hardly makes a Hall of Fame group to me, but they admitted lots of “girl groups” from the ’60s. The early days actually had more female performers; the pool of possible inductees shrinks once rock replaced rock and roll.
Joan Jett? I’d sooner see the Runaways in there if we’re talking about influence rather than record sales, and if she’s in there for her solo career, why is Billy Idol ignored? Heart is borderline; long career, lots of product moved, and I think they met the performance standard. Janet Jackson moved product, period, and is part of the hall’s tendency to fawn over big-selling acts that aren’t actually rock.
Except for the fact that most of them aren’t rock, I have no problem with admitting any of these acts (except Blondie, and even there my gripe is more that they waltzed in on the first ballot). Most of their crappy selections are all-male bands (Scorpions? Really, guys?) because most of their selections overall are male.
I think Rock-Adjacent Hall of Fame might actually be a good name. Or maybe Hall of Fame for Popular Music Made After the Dawn of Rock ‘n’ Roll Plus Major Influences (which include Ruth Brown, Etta James and Laverne Baker, all properly in the Hall). Rock itself is now just one of many strands of post rock ‘n’ roll popular music, so to limit the Hall to just “rock” would make it a niche institution of mainly historical interest. I’d actually be OK with that as long as it left room for the likes of Joni Mitchell. Chrissie Hynde, who’s already in with the Pretenders, was a pure rocker. Some argue she should also be there just as herself.
Given the lack of transparency or standards, I can’t say who belongs in there and who doesn’t. Given their track record, I’m surprised Pat Benetar isn’t in yet, and given what one can make out about their priorities, she probably should be. Melissa Etheridge, too. Did they just not move product for long enough? I can’t believe their outside because they were too commercial, although there are acts that were too popular for the taste of the critics on the Conclave of Cardinals.
One way to get more women in there would be for the dinosaurs in charge to acknowledge more folk-oriented music. Sure, Joan Baez is in there, but where are the Indigo Girls?
I put it inaccurately when I said it was easier for any female-centric band. I think the standards are lower for female rockers because there have been so few of them. I fully expect the Bangles to make it in the next few years, and if the Go-Go’s qualify, why not?