February 5, 2021
Review: 'The Go-Go's' is a Love Letter to Five Women Who Ruled the Charts
Ken Tasho READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Not many bands can say that their classic 1980s hits are still played on the radio. Nor has any other all-female band since The Go-Go's topped the long-held crown of having a debut album go to number one when they wrote their own songs and played all of the music.
From the opening scene of a rabid crowd begging for more at a 1981 concert, to its 2020 reunion of band members in the studio recording "Club Zero" (their first single in 19 years), "The Go-Go's" is a love letter about five women who ruled the charts, and the world, and are still around to talk about it.
The legacy and talent of these five uber-talented ladies is really what "The-Go-Go's" documentary boils down to. Charlotte Caffey, Belinda Carlisle, Gina Schock, Kathy Valentine, and Jane Wiedlin weren't thrown together haphazardly by a record company Svengali. They worked their asses off to gain a number one debut album with "Beauty and the Beat," and followed it up with other hit albums and singles.
"The Go-Go's" isn't the sort of gossipy documentary seen on VH-1's "Behind the Music." The drug use of band members and the old news about in-fighting and lawsuits aren't examined, thankfully. You can refer to Carlisle's and Valentine's memoirs for those tales.
Directed by Alison Elwood – who earned rave reviews for her documentary about The Eagles – "The Go-Go's" breaks the band down to its core. At a whopping 45 minutes, the documentary first examines the formative years in 1978-1981. Early footage of the Los Angeles punk scene, with Carlisle, Wiedlin, and original members Margot Olavarria and Elissa Bello performing at the Masque, shows a feisty group of gals who wanted to make it to the top. They were escaping depression and issues at home, banding together because of the music and its all-inclusive attitude.
Stories of Caffey, Shock, and Valentine joining the band come later in the documentary, as well as how key hits "We Got the Beat" and "Our Lips Are Sealed" came to fruition.
Overlooked somewhat are the various reunion tours of the 1990s and onward, as well as glossing over 2001's "God Bless the Go-Go's" album. A genuine regrouping in 2020 at the Whisky A Go-Go in Los Angeles ends the documentary on a high note, one of the best examinations of a band who should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
"The Go-Go's" is available for streaming via Mercury Studios starting on February 5th, and on DVD/Blu-ray starting on February 26th.
