The Go-Go’s were revolutionary. Sure, The Runaways rocked, but the band that started out as a punk outfit in Los Angeles had morphed into something more to the world at large. They became a sensation. They wrote their own music and was the first time that a group of women had played their own instruments, written their own music, and hit the charts all the way to the top. The documentary The Go-Go’s is out now in all digital formats, and for fans of the band, and music in general, it is a must-see.
As a longtime fan of the band, there is a bounty of information about the group that I had no idea about prior. Their punk band roots and the scenes of punk Los Angeles of the mid-to-late 70s are brought to life effervescently. One thing chimes through and plays to why the band was able to come together as they did and produce the success that only comes from a band that is dialed in into one another. The punk music scene in the City of Angels provided many a landscape that they never had before, i.e., feeling a part of a “family” or a community that had been previously missing in their lives.
This is initially what brought the original lineup of the Go-Go’s together. Witnessing those early days and the musical tone that was a universe away from what you hear on the radio now, but they were important moments in their musical progression. When the personal beliefs as to the future of the band began to stake a hole in their collective growth of these women, the documentary delves into some really fascinating and heart-wrenching arenas. Director Alison Ellwood paints in the most palpable means that losing founding band members was difficult and supremely painful. These ladies are a family and losing a few members may cut a hole in your heart, but the end result—well, history has shown that it worked out alright for the Go-Go’s.
The “rise” of a rock act has been shown ad nauseam in documentaries. What sets what is shown in the Go-Go’s is how Ellwood took the time to lay the groundwork for each member of the band, former or current so that when the initial rocket of success struck with We Got the Beat, we are firmly vested in this group of women who are about to change the world. How they moved on from original drummer Elissa Bello and original bassist Margot Olaverra is handled with just the right touch. There was something that was not quite right with the band that was holding them back.
What they needed was to evolve from the raw punk landscape of the LA scene to something more sonically aesthetically pleasing to a wider audience and for well-laid out reasons, the two ex-members of the Go-Go’s were left behind. Both have varying degrees of being upset about it, and each contributes to the documentary in ways that weight it in emotive power that also simultaneously help define the band that the world now knows and loves.
Lead singer Belinda Carlisle, lead guitarist Charlotte Caffey, rhythm guitarist Jane Wiedlin, and drummer Gina Schock had come into their own and crafted a sound that was uniquely theirs. How Go-Go’s chronicles the meteoric rise (thanks to hard work and the arrival of MTV) is compelling, insightful, and above all else—entertaining as all get-ups.
Ellwood’s command of the material is masterful. She puts together a look at an iconic band—the most successful female rock band of all-time—that shows off the ladies’ immense talents, warts and all, and in the end, it is revealed that not only are the Go-Go’s an indelible contributor to the journey of rock and roll, but a group of women who have the most distinct of personalities, musical tastes, and attitudes. But one thing unites them, this band.
What else is recounted so brilliantly is not only the effects of mass success on a group of individualized individuals and how each handled it differently. Yes, there were lots of drugs, gallons of booze that all led to jealously and infighting that almost broke that bond that is a common current that runs through every single one of their tracks. It is also so striking that after all these decades, these four women remain tight and connected not only by the music, but their common experience and a sisterhood that no one can ever take away or any element of rock and roll excess can degrade.
If you are a Go-Go’s fan, The Go-Go’s is a must-watch that will result in days upon days of listening to nothing but their patented brand of pop-rock, but it paints a picture of trailblazers who broke glass ceilings and open doors for women in arenas that lie outside of rock and roll.
Grade: A