The Go-Go's - Greatest poll

We talked about The Go-Go's doc on Showtime on the other thread a bit. I just so happened to get a free preview of Showtime and I'm watching the doc right now, it's been great so far. Anyways, ILM has not done a Go-Go's poll so finally one is here.

"Head Over Heels," though there are very few wrong answers here.

how much more can i take
before i go crazy again
crazy again

God damn, I love The Go-Go's

They have a few perfect songs but "We Got The Beat" was the first song I heard from them as a pre-teen. so I gotta go with that.

Not for nothing, but Jane was always my favorite.

this doc is amazing, how they went from no record label wanting to sign them to being perfect for MTV. i'm now at the part where they are opening up for the Police and then they land a number one record in America while on that tour. could you image how that must have been for them? can't wait to finish, as i hear it gets really ugly...

verse: head over heels

pre-chorus/chorus: vacation

bridge: our lips are sealed

Cryptosicko is correct.

There are at least eight completely unimpeachable, utterly essential songs on this list, but after some deliberation I have to vote "Head Over Heels."

Nycnative and rogermexico are also otm, about Jane being teh awesome and about how the bridge of "Our Lips Are Sealed" is a moment of transcendent miraculous beauty.

Great band. Hearts 4evs.

Good comp, but I've since found the DIY EP they recorded prior to signing with a label (they made it partly to have something to sell at their shows), and I actually like those versions of "We Got the Beat," "How Much More," "Lust to Love" and "Cool Jerk" much more than the ones that were later recorded for I.R.S. and included on Greatest. You can hear why they were upset after hearing their debut LP for the first time - the newer versions are much slicker and poppier. They were still good recordings - and there's no way they would've gone platinum with their original sound - but they no longer sounded like a long-lost link to a later band like Sleater-Kinney.

Bird, I mentioned this on the other Go-Gos thread, but are you familiar with this excellent Rockpalast video?

I like the moment at which this catches them: professional and tight, but still scrappy and striving. Just about to go massive. Clearly having fun. But not yet confident that it will happen for them.

this thread is now dedicated to Dr. Morbius. no idea if he was a fan or not but i feel like he would have said something here.

RIP

I suspect like he would have contributed a one-sentence quasi-dismissal followed by a fond anecdote of having seen them open for someone back in the early days. I'll miss stuff like that.

Hey Puffin, I do know that show, it's pretty good - there's surprisingly a lot of early video from them pre-dating their debut LP's release, but a lot of it's in pretty poor quality.

I would be partial to this TV clip from 1980 but the sound's pretty bad with some kind of warbling effect from what's presumably tape damage or degradation.

You might know this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaZiYv5Chio

From a UK music documentary that was filmed in 1980 and released a few years later, quality's good and the performance is pretty lively.

FWIW, here's the EP version of "We Got the Beat" that Stiff re-released as a single before the band cut their first record for I.R.S.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuJHx1yplIM

(Actually that warbling effect isn't as bad as I remembered, but it's there.)

So many great tunes but gotta go with the top of the list and first hit, Our Lips Are Sealed. Extra credit for the iconic early MTV video. The car, the fountain, the fun times.

Vacation.

One of the highlights of the docu; Belinda in a bin-bag

https://i.redd.it/2dtg4a7okyt41.jpg

You can hear why they were upset after hearing their debut LP for the first time - the newer versions are much slicker and poppier.

Shades of R.E.M. / "Catapult," thought R.E.M. were fortunately able to get I.R.S. to back off the production shenanigans.

Yay! I had been thinking of making a Go-go's singles poll! I have no idea what to vote for, though.

Toss up between We Got the Beat, Our Lips are Sealed, Vacation and Head Over Heels

So many great tunes but gotta go with the top of the list and first hit, "Our Lips Are Sealed."

Went with this as well.

What astonishes me is how they were ALL songwriters (Carlisle less so) and wrote in every conceivable combination. We know Caffey and Wiedlin, bu Kathy Valentine is secret MVP, and she and Gina Schock wrote "You Thought" and "Good for Gone" and "

and and!

And she cowrote Vacation.

Just read her memoir, quite fun

Voted "Vacation". Hadn't really paid much attention to it until recently but right now it is my favorite. I think "Our Lips Are Sealed" is probably their best song though.

i love "we got the beat" so much, the groove sounds so post-punk to me

yep that's my fave.

my sister & stepsister fell in love with this band right at the start, I remember my sister saying "every song is good, not just the hits!" about B&TB. I always liked 'em but didn't pick the records up until mid-2000s, and they are tons of fun. there's also some great live radio broadcasts out there in bootleg/torrent land.

i just listened to this comp an shout out to "Beatnik Beach" but i have to go for "We Got the Beat."

What a fun poll, though I don't know their albums I love their singles. "Head Over Heels" gets my vote here, very surprised that we have not done a Go-Go's poll before.

what does everyone think of the new song? i think its great as it's fun and catchy as hell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23_LkaLE29k

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Seems like the right result. A fine tune. No shade.

That vote spread is kinda what I expected. So hard to choose from their Big Four hits since they're all perfect pop songs. A poll of all their songs other than the top four would be interesting. They had a lot of coulda-been singles, like "How Much More" imo.

Vacation worked so well here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn5PdUJ3xIE

Our Lips Are Sealed is such a brilliant song and the background with the co-writing and co-version by Fun Boy 3 elevates it even more. It almost sounds like something that Elvis Costello would have written which I don't think could be said for any other songs by either band.

Fleeter and more sophisticated than Elvis C.

Of the songs that got zero votes, "Mercenary" is the one I wish I'd thrown a vote to. The live acoustic version included on Return to the Valley of the Go-Go's is a powerhouse:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8BPf3fUyes

Xpost True. Try to imagine the wordy and convoluted middle 8 he would have came up with instead of the real one haha.