The Go-Go's 10 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Charlotte Caffey

Charlotte solely wrote the two words "Surf! Spy!" for the song "Surfing and Spying." Of the 12 original 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.

In 1981, The Go-Go's only released the instrumental "Surfing and Spying" on the B-side of the single "Our Lips Are Sealed" and not on the album "Beauty and the Beat." Thirteen years later in 1994, however, The Go-Go's did include this B-side surf song on their retrospective album "Return to the Valley of The Go-Go's."

Answer: George Morton

The Go-Go's cover the song "Remember (Walking in the Sand)"; however, George "Shadow" Morton wrote the lyrics and The Shangri-Las originally released the song as a single in 1964.

The recording of "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" on the album "Return to the Valley of The Go-Go's" is during a concert at Palos Verdes High School in Los Angeles on 4 Dec 1981 and according to SecondHandSongs, 34 other artists have also recorded this song, including Aerosmith, Jeff Beck and The Beach Boys.

According to Setlist.fm, The Go-Go's have performed "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" 36 times for their forth most-performed cover song at shows. In addition, 16 other artists have also performed Shadow's song at their shows with Aerosmith in second place at 24 times for their cover from the album "Night in the Ruts" released in 1979.

Do you "Remember (Walking in the Sand)," "Piano Man"? According to Songfacts citing an interview with Billy Joel and Q magazine, a 15-year-old Billy Joel played piano during the session for "the stranger" in July 1964. According to Joel, "There's two songs. One's called 'Leader Of The Pack' and the other is called 'Remember (Walking In The Sand)' and this is pretty easy stuff to play and then Shadow comes in. He's a pretty strange guy, Shadow. He's wearing this big cape and dark glasses and he played the producer role to the hilt. I think he had a thing about Phil Spector" (unknown, 1987).

Answer: Bobby and Larson Paine

The Go-Go's cover the song "Johnny Are You Queer?" however, Bobby and Larson Paine wrote the lyrics and Josie Cotton originally released the song as a single in 1981.

Fear, beer, queer, premier? This notorious song has a "queer" history.

In 1978, Philo Cramer and John Clancy of the punk band Fear write the song "Fetch Me One More Beer" and record it with 12 other songs on a demo tape at Paradise Studios in Burbank, California. While managing The Go-Go's, the Paine brothers heard the song, rewrite the lyrics and change its title.

According to Josie Cotton's interview with Magnet Magazine, "After they rewrote 'Johnny, Are You Queer?' the Paine brothers had the Go-Go's perform it in their live show. It became the band's big song, erupting in total anarchy at the end of the night (Hedley, 2006).

After The Go-Go's make the song popular, Fear challenge the Paines to a coin toss for the publishing rights and the Paines win. After a dispute to tour the UK with the bands Madness and The Specials in 1980, The Go-Go's sever their relationship with the Paines and the Paines forbid The Go-Go's to perform the song.

Larson Paine's girlfriend, Josie Cotton, records "Johnny Are You Queer?" as a demo, and the song eventually ranks number eight on Canada RPM Top Singles and number 38 on US Billboard Club Play Singles during 1981 and 1982.

Two years and four months before Josie Cotton's single, however, the premiere recording of "Johnny Are You Queer?" is The Go-Go's performing this song at the Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco on 1 Aug 1979. The Go-Go's eventually release this first-ever recording on their retrospective album "Return to the Valley of The Go-Go's" in 1994.

According to Discogs, ten artists have recorded a cover of "Johnny Are You Queer?": Meiju Suvas (1982), Fear (1991), The Knock-Ups (1998), Lisafer (1999), Hotbox (2001), Glass Candy (2002), Screeching Weasel (2005), Kelly Greenn (2005), Pink Stëël (2007) and Dirty (2015). According to IMDb, the song is featured in the films "Valley Girl" (1983) and "Jackass Number Two" (2006) as well as the TV series "Glee" Season 2, Episode 14 (2011). Let's hope the Paines at least allowed Fear to keep the coin.

Answer: Can't Stop the World

After releasing their debut album "Beauty and the Beat," The Go-Go's re-released "We Got the Beat" backed with "Can't Stop the World" as a single. The US release added a drumming intro, another 17 seconds and not only had the song peaked higher on the charts, but onto more charts: #2 US Billboard Hot 100 for 3 weeks, #3 Canada Top Singles RPM, #7 US Billboard Mainstream Rock, #25 US Billboard Top Pop Singles Year-End, #29 Australia Kent Music Report, #32 Canada RPM 100 Year-End and #35 US Billboard Dance Club Songs.

According to Dave Robinson, co-founder of UK-based Stiff Records, in the documentary "The Go-Go's" (2020), "I remember seeing 'We've Got the Beat' as a potential single, which was my talent to find the door opener. I tried to publish the song 'cause I could see that it would do well. Ginger [The Go-Go's manager], I think, was a bit more knowledgeable about the idea of hold onto what you've got."

Jane follows up in the documentary, "Thank dog, she knew an artist needs to keep their publishing" (Ellwood, 2020).

"We Got the Beat" has the distinction of being the most re-released song for The Go-Go's. According to Discogs, The Go-Go's have re-released "We Got the Beat" six times after their UK single and according to SecondHandSongs, 34 other artists have also recorded the song.

Answer: Tact

Although each Go-Go is very tactful, Tact is not printed on the album cover of "God Bless the Go-Go's." Belinda is Chastity, Charlotte is Modesty, Gina is Mercy, Jane is Purity and Kathy is Honesty. The Go-Go's previous manager, Ginger Canzoneri, was Art Director for the album in 2001 and perhaps should be Temperance after The Go-Go's fired her in 1982.

You're a green one, Jane Drano... Although The Go-Go's were to wear hooded habits to cover their heads for the artwork, someone's hair would still be a problem because according to photographer Maryanne Bilham's interview with RockPoP Gallery, "Jane Wiedlin had green hair at the time, so this was another interesting challenge we needed to work through. For this work, we selected a stylist named Robin Slater, who is well-known in Hollywood for her feature work on films such as 'Memoirs of a Geisha,' 'Artificial Intelligence' and 'The Grinch'" (Goldstein, 2007).

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

The compilation album "Return to the Valley of The Go-Go's" chronicles The Go-Go's legacy. The albums "Greatest" and "VH1 Behind the Music" only contain songs from The Go-Go's first three albums, and "Hellogg's Punk Tarts" is a bootleg recording of The Go-Go's at the Whiskey a Go Go on 4 Oct 1978.

The earliest recording on their retrospective album is a rehearsal of Jane's punk song "Living at the Canterbury" during Feb 1979 with Go-Go originalists Margot Olavarria and Elissa Bello. The album also contains a rehearsal of the song "Blades" during Jan 1980, which is Margot's only lyrical credit during her two years and ten months with The Go-Go's. The latest songs are three reunion tracks recorded for the album: "Beautiful," "Good Girl" and "The Whole World Lost Its Head."

Answer: Reflection

In the lyrics, Kathy is very cagey about her true feelings so any serious thought (reflection), idea or vision you may have formed about her will just be an illusion or chimera because "you'll never get what you see" for Kathy will be an "untouchable reflection," "your curiosity," a momentary "Vision of Nowness."

The Go-Go's have colored our world! "Vision of Nowness" is one of four songs with the color "blue" in its lyrics along with "Automatic Rainy Day," "Beneath The Blue Sky," and "Living at the Canterbury."

The Go-Go's also wrote the color "black" a total of three times in the songs "London Boys" and "Beatnik Beach." The Go-Go's song "Screaming" glooms the color "grey" eight times, "London Boys" returns to the palette with "white" twice and "Blades" bleeds "red" once in its lyrics.

The Go-Go's don't use the rhymeless "orange" in any lyrics; however, Charlotte does caution your "dayglo slacks" in the lyrics to "Fashion Seekers" while Jane collects "colored cord" in "Fun with Ropes."

Answer: Ugliest Girl in the World

Bob Dylan released "Ugliest Girl in the World" on the album "Down in the Groove" in 1988. Curiously, Kathy Valentine is the only Go-Go with lyrical credit on all three of The Go-Go's "worldly" songs.

The Go-Go's did not use the word "ugly" in the lyrics of any song but do use the words "horror," "jacked," "messed up," "trashy" and "wreckage" eight times.

FunMath: Who is the "beautifulest" Go-Go in the world? Let's analyze their lyrics. The Go-Go's use the word "beautiful" 12 times in one song, "go" 87 times in 25 songs, the term "in the" 22 times in 15 songs and "world" 71 times in 16 songs.

Of the 43 songs containing the keywords "beautiful," "go," "in the" and "world," Jane has lyrical credit on 29; therefore, Jane is the "beautifulest" Go-Go in the world by composing 67% of the lyrics. Charlotte is runner-up with 26 songs (60%). What nudged Jane over the top is she co-wrote two of the three "worldly" songs with second runner-up Kathy (35%).

I also analyzed the lyrics for The Go-Go's "ugly" synonyms, but my lips are sealed.

Answer: Greatest

The FunClue alludes to "Greatest" also being an adjective. The Go-Go's recorded "Cool Jerk" three times but only their swankiest version on their compilation album "Greatest" had ranked on a music chart.

Before a record deal, The Go-Go's originally recorded "Cool Jerk" on a five-song demo-tape at Gold Star Studios in West Hollywood in October 1980.

After their record deal, The Go-Go's recorded "Cool Jerk" on their second studio album "Vacation" in 1982.

After reuniting, The Go-Go's recorded the swankier version of "Cool Jerk" on their first compilation album "Greatest" in 1990, and this version ranked number 60 on the UK Singles Chart.

Fourteen years after their demo-tape, The Go-Go's returned to their original version of "Cool Jerk" to include on their retrospective album "Return to the Valley of The Go-Go's" in October 1994.

According to Setlist.fm, The Go-Go's first performed "Cool Jerk" at the Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood on 8 Aug 1979 and have since performed this song 142 times to be their 14th most-performed song at shows.

Answer: London Boys

The song "London Boys" from the album "Return to the Valley of The Go-Go's" fancies English boys.

"London Boys" is Jane Wiedlin's first song and she co-wrote it with Don Bolles, who was a drummer with the punk bands Germs, Nervous Gender, 45 Grave, Celebrity Skin, Heavy Metal Frogs, Krazy Homicide, Liars and the Exterminators. According to Discogs, Bolles has released three albums.

Although it's one of their earliest songs, The Go-Go's didn't release "London Boys" until 16 years later on their retrospective album "Return to the Valley of The Go-Go's" in 1994. According to Setlist.fm, The Go-Go's have performed "London Boys" 30 times and is tied with "Turn to You" and "Insincere" for their 26th most-performed songs at shows.