What Were the 5 Biggest US Hits by the Go-Go’s?

No band made a bigger splash out of nowhere in the 80s than The Go-Go’s. It was silly to qualify them as an all-girl band. Better to compare them to any other pop band, because they certainly delivered the pop music goods in that era.

Videos by American Songwriter

Largely because they broke up at the height of their popularity, they only managed five Top 40 singles. Here are the hits that helped make The Go-Go’s legends.

5. “Turn To You” – No. 32 in 1984

When you listen to The Go-Go’s 1984 album Talk Show, you probably won’t notice any signs of strain. On the whole, it’s a better effort than their sophomore album (Vacation) from two years earlier. Behind the scenes, however, the band was fracturing. Jane Wiedlin was frustrated that the singing chores were mostly assigned to Belinda Carlisle, even on songs Wiedlin was writing. And Carlisle was being lured by offers of solo stardom. As a result, the punchy “Turn To You”, written by Wiedlin and Charlotte Caffey, turned out to be their last Top 40 hit.

4. “Our Lips Are Sealed” – No. 20 in 1981

Before the band was able to break in America, The Go-Go’s built a beachhead in Great Britain by touring there. During one of those tours, the legendary British ska group The Specials joined them. Jane Wiedlin carried on a brief romantic relationship with Terry Hall of The Specials during that time, even though Hall had another girlfriend. The two then collaborated on the writing of “Our Lips Are Sealed” about their clandestine affair. Hall would also later record the song with his group Fun Boy Three.

3. “Head Over Heels” – No. 11 in 1984

One of the subtle factors that helped The Go-Go’s turn out such consistently catchy product over their first three albums was that they divvied up the writing. Jane Wiedlin did most of the work in that department (which became a bone of contention). But Charlotte Caffey and Kathy Valentine also wrote a lot. (Gina Schock and Belinda Carlisle only had a smattering of writing credits on those first three records.) Caffer and Wiedlin contributed “Head Over Heels”, a whip-smart pop song with some unexpected instrumental flourishes.

2. “Vacation” – No. 8 in 1982

Kathy Valentine was the last addition to the classic Go-Go’s lineup, coming aboard not long before they recorded their first album. But she had already amassed some musical history prior to that, including a stint in a group called The Textones. She wrote and first recorded “Vacation” as a single for that outfit in 1980. Fast forward to The Go-Go’s second album, and the group did their own version of the song. Producer Richard Gottehrer helped them devise the cool intro. But the subtle melancholy of Valentine’s creation is what sells the song the most.

1. “We Got The Beat” – No. 2 in 1981

Stiff Records, the British label known for their work with classic artists like Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe, gave the first version of this song a release in 1980. For the most part, it sounds like the take that eventually went to No. 2 in the US, albeit a bit rawer. Once the band had a major label behind them in the US, and “Our Lips Are Sealed” had cleared a path as a hit single, they offered the reworked “We Got The Beat” as the next single. Written by Charlotte Caffey, it combined the band’s punk origins with a playful garage rock feel to create a pop masterpiece.

Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images