The Go-Go's 7 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Charlotte Caffey

Charlotte solely wrote "Kissing Asphalt" and she is the only Go-Go to have solely written a song on the album. Of The Go-Go's 15 songs on the album "God Bless The Go-Go's" and its two singles, Charlotte solely wrote one and co-wrote ten; therefore, Charlotte contributed the most by composing 30% of the lyrics on the album. In addition to Charlotte's one sole-writing credit, Charlotte solely teamed with one outside writer on one song to be the only Go-Go with lyrical credit on two songs.

The album "God Bless The Go-Go's" has a total of 15 writers. Each of the five Go-Go's contributed to the lyrics as well as ten outside writers: Billie Joe Armstrong, Bill Bartell, Heatherton, Susanna Hoffs, Steve Plunkett, Craig Ross, Jill Sobule, Peter Stuart, Jim Vallance and Anna Waronker. Of The Go-Go's 15 songs on the album and its two singles, outside writers contributed the second most by composing 26% of the lyrics on the album.

Ten outside writers on one album is the most of The Go-Go's four studio albums; however, to include The Go-Go's three compilation albums, "Return to the Valley of the Go-Go's" contains the most outside writers at 12 for 19% of the lyrical credit on 37 songs.

Answer: Kathy Valentine

While with The Textones in 1980, Kathy had exclusively written "Vacation" and released it as a single. While with The Go-Go's two years later, Charlotte and Jane helped Kathy rewrite "Vacation" and according to Caffey's documentary interview in "The Go-Go's" (2020), "I really felt like the original version kinda went down and this, it [melody] should have gone up" (Ellwood, 2020).

According to an interview with Songfacts, Jane changed the original line "I've thought a lot of things about you" to "Can't seem to get my mind off of you" as well as "Go-Go-fying it" by adding a chorus (Wiser, 2007).

The music video for "Vacation" cost $50,000, which was high in 1982. According to an article in Los Angeles Times with Bill Berger, executive vice president of Arista Records, the average cost for a video in the early 1980s was about $25,000 (Hunt, 1989).

Answer: Charlotte Caffey

Of The Go-Go's 12 songs on the album "Beauty and the Beat" and its three singles, Charlotte solely wrote three and co-wrote six; therefore, Charlotte contributed the most by composing 49% of the lyrics on the album.

With Charlotte solely writing three songs, Jane solely writing one and both co-writing six, Charlotte and Jane wrote over 80% of the album!

Answer: I'm with You

Two months after releasing the album "Talk Show," The Go-Go's re-released "Turn to You" backed with "I'm with You" as a single. "Turn to You" peaked at number 32 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 95 on Canada RPM Top 100 Singles in 1984.

The Go-Go's are always thinking of you because they wrote the word "you" 499 times in the lyrics of their songs. In fact, of the 1,482 unique words in the lyrics of their 61 songs, "you" are most repeated word and easily outclass "the" at a mere 349 times. The unselfish Go-Go's have also referred to "you" more times than the words "me" (150), "my" (138) and "mine" (7).

Forty-eight of The Go-Go's 61 songs (79%) have the word "you" and most prominently in the songs "You Can't Walk in Your Sleep (If You Can't Sleep)" and "Fading Fast" at 28 times each.

Three songs (6%) have the word "you" 25 to 29 times, five songs (10%) 20 to 24 times, seven songs (15%) 15 to 19 times, seven (15%) 10 to 14 times, eleven (23%) 5 to 9 times and fifteen songs (31%) have "you" 1 to 4 times.

Jane solely wrote four of the 48 songs (8%) and used the word "you" 74 times. Charlotte and Kathy solely wrote two of the 48 songs (4%); however, Kathy wrote "you" 35 times and Charlotte 29 times. Therefore, of all The Go-Go's, Jane thinks of you the most.

Answer: Let's Have a Party

The Go-Go's cover the song "Let's Have a Party"; however, Jessie Mae Robinson wrote the lyrics and Elvis Presley originally released this song for the film "Loving You" in 1957.

In addition to "Let's Have a Party," The Go-Go's cover three other songs on this compilation album: 1) "Cool Jerk" was written by Donald Storball and the Capitols originally released this song as a single in 1966. 2) "Johnny Are You Queer?" was written by Bobby and Larson Paine and Josie Cotton originally released this song as a single in 1981. 3) "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" was written by George Morton and The Shangri-Las originally released this song as a single in 1964.

Answer: Return to the Valley of The Go-Go's

The compilation album "Return to the Valley of The Go-Go's" was the first to contain never previously-released songs and was sold as two different versions: one-disc with 18 tracks (Japanese CD has 20 tracks) or two-disc with 36 tracks. The one-disc version contains three never previously-released songs, the two-disc contains nine and both contain three new "reunion" songs: "Beautiful", "Good Girl" and "The Whole World Lost Its Head."

Answer: Love

Lyric: "A million times said...In as many songs...But before you...I could never sing along...I love you...I do."

The feeling of love is old but "It's new to me...I'm not sure...How I should be."

Which Go-Go "loves" you the most? The Go-Go's wrote the word "love" 60 times in the lyrics of 16 of their 61 songs (26%). Jane solely wrote five of the 16 songs (31%) and used the word "love" 15 times while Charlotte wrote the word twice in one song. Moreover, Jane reaffirms "I love you (oh yes, I do)" nine times in the lyrics to "This Old Feeling." Neither Belinda, Gina nor Kathy has ever expressed their feelings for you.

Answer: Music critic

According to Wiedlin's interview with The A.V. Club, "Robert Hilburn was a sort of LA legend. He was a rock-music critic. 'Robert Hilburn' was a scathing song about him. It's kind of a dumb move for a young band trying to get somewhere to actually criticize Robert Hilburn, but I don't even know if he ever heard about it. Or if he did, by the time he heard about it, we were doing so well, that he didn't dare not like us."

Continuing in the interview, "It wasn't that he actually criticized us. I was just saying he was a 'poser,' which, back in the '70s, was the biggest insult you could put on someone" (Adams, 2011).

Seven years later, the "poser" seemed to relish their breakup by writing, "The clock has finally struck midnight in one of pop's most engaging Cinderella stories. The Go-Go's have broken up. Despite the band's vow to continue last October when co-founder Jane Wiedlin left the L.A.-based quintet for a solo career" (Hilburn, 1985).

Answer: Vacation

The Go-Go's first released the title track "Vacation" as a single to promote the album "Vacation" in 1982, and it had ranked on 11 music charts: #6 US Cash Box Top 100, #8 US Billboard Hot 100, #13 US Billboard Mainstream Rock, #17 US Billboard Dance Club Songs, #18 Sweden Top List, #23 Canada Top Singles RPM, #31 Netherlands Single Top 100, #39 US Cash Box Year-End, #43 Australia Kent Music Report, #76 American Top 40 Year-End and #87 US Billboard Hot 100 Year-End.

Answer: Forget That Day

According to Wiedlin's interview with Songfacts about "Forget That Day," Jane remembers the squally weather of that day during "another dramatic, tumultuous, everything-has-to-be-high-drama kind of relationship. It was all very "Wuthering Heights"" (Wiser, 2011).

"Forget That Day" may have been the beginning of the end for The Go-Go's. According to Wiedlin's documentary interview in "The Go-Go's" (2020), after asking to sing lead vocals on this "super personal" song, Jane evokes not only being rebuffed but also humiliated with "'What makes you think you're good enough to sing a song?' which is something I'll never forget hearing. It was a huge betrayal, and I did not know how to get past it" (Ellwood, 2020).

According to Carlisle and Wiedlin's interview with Rolling Stone magazine, the interviewer observed, "When her bandmates saw that scene [in the documentary] at Sundance, their jaws hit the floor. Everybody was horrified, as to, 'Did I say that?' 'Did I say that?' Carlisle says now, 'It was addressed finally.'"

"After they approached me, we talked about it, and it was a very emotional conversation," Wiedlin says. "I'm not gonna say who said it because that would be just mean. Who cares? It's super water under the bridge" (Grow, 2020).