The Go-Go's Lingo 13 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Let's Have a Party

The Go-Go's covered Jessie Mae Robinson's song "Let's Have a Party" on the album "Return to the Valley of The Go-Go's" in 1994.

The Go-Go's confetti-bursting cover of "Let's Have a Party" was during a concert at Palos Verdes High School in Los Angeles, California on 4 Dec 1981, and the video "Totally Go-Go's!" not only captures this complete concert but also contains personal interviews with the sophomoric Go-Go's.

Although The Go-Go's cover of "Let's Have a Party" did not rank on any music charts, Elvis Presley and Wanda Jackson's covers did rank on the charts.

During 1957, Elvis Presley originally recorded Jessie Mae's song retitled as "Party" on the soundtrack of the movie "Loving You" and Elvis' version ranked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. During 2007, "Party" was re-released on the box set "Elvis the King" and Elvis' version again ranked on the UK Singles Chart at number 14.

During 1960, Wanda Jackson recorded "Let's Have a Party" on her self-titled debut album and Wanda's version ranked on four music charts in four countries peaking at number six on the Australian Top 100 Singles chart.

The Go-Go's released three songs with "party" in the title: "Let's Have a Party," "Party Pose" and "It's Everything But Partytime." Jane Wiedlin must be the only partygoer because she is the only Go-Go with lyrical credit on "It's Everything But Partytime" and "Party Pose." Party on, Jane! Party on, UK!

Answer: Surfing and Spying

Charlotte Caffey wrote the song "Surfing and Spying" on the B-side of single "Our Lips Are Sealed" from the album "Beauty and the Beat" in 1981; however, The Go-Go's did not include "Surfing and Spying" on the album.

Thirteen years later, The Go-Go's did include "Surfing and Spying" on their retrospective album "Return to the Valley of The Go-Go's" in 1994.

Preceding both albums, however, The Go-Go's originally recorded "Surfing and Spying" and four other songs on a demo tape at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, California in October 1980.

Of The Go-Go's 61 original songs, "Surfing and Spying" contains the fewest words in the lyrics with two: "Surf! Spy!" The Go-Go's song with the second fewest-words in the lyrics is "Automatic" at 74 words.

"Surfing and Spying" is also The Go-Go's shortest song at one minute and 57 seconds. The Go-Go's second shortest-song is "Speeding" on the B-side of the single "Get Up and Go" from the album "Vacation" at two minutes and seven seconds.

Answer: We Don't Get Along

Kathy Valentine wrote the song "We Don't Get Along" on the album "Vacation" in 1982.

According to Kathy's website, "I wrote this song when I was 19, and it was first recorded by Phil Seymour for his debut album [in 1980]. The Textones recorded it [on their third album 'Back in Time' in 1990], and The Go-Go's recorded it for our second album 'Vacation.' Wondering how it might sound as a sort of answer-back duet with a male and female, I got the idea for a remake and asked Rhett Miller (Old 97's) to sing with me...the result, with Jon Wurster (Superchunk, Bob Mould, Mountain Goats) on drums is as rockin' a version as there ever was!!" (Valentine, 2017).

Answer: Automatic Rainy Day

Jane Wiedlin, Gina Schock and Steve Plunkett wrote the song "Automatic Rainy Day" on the album "God Bless The Go-Go's" in 2001.

According to a review of the album "God Bless The Go-Go's" on SputnikMusic, "Other strong tracks include 'Automatic Rainy Day,' about that one friend who can always manage to suck all the life out of a room" (Divaman, 2017).

Perhaps the life-sucking characteristic in the lyrics would be "Just when it feels like the world...is together and whole...you come around...dragging your permanent cloud...and the weather turns cold."

"Automatic Rainy Day" is one of nine songs with a color in the lyrics and one of four songs with "blue" in the lyrics. The three other "blue" songs are "Beneath the Blue Sky," "Living at the Canterbury" and "Vision of Nowness."

Answer: Beauty and the Beat

The Go-Go's released their first album "Beauty and the Beat" on 8 Jul 1981 with 11 songs, including their biggest chart hits "Our Lips Are Sealed" and "We Got the Beat."

Twenty-four days after The Go-Go's released their debut album, "Beauty and The Beat" premiered on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart at number 186. "Beauty and The Beat" ultimately ranked on four music charts in four countries for 72 weeks from 1 Aug 1981 to 17 Dec 1982 peaking at number one on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart for six weeks from 6 Mar to 10 Apr 1982.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified "Beauty and The Beat" as Gold on 15 Dec 1981, as Platinum on 2 Mar 1982 and 2× Platinum on 14 Nov 1984.

Billboard and Rolling Stone magazines ranked "Beauty and The Beat" on five "best of" lists:
* On 26 Dec 1982, Billboard ranked number two on the Top Pop Albums of 1982.
* On 31 Oct 2002, Rolling Stone ranked number 36 on 50 Essential Woman In Rock Albums.
* On 11 Dec 2003, Rolling Stone included on The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
* On 22 Jun 2012, Rolling Stone included on Women Who Rock: The 50 Greatest Albums of All Time.
* On 1 Jul 2022, Rolling Stone ranked number 60 on 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time.

Charlotte Caffey wrote the most lyrics on "Beauty and the Beat" by solely writing three songs and co-writing six (49%); meanwhile, Gina is the only Go-Go with no lyrical credit on their debut album.

"Beauty and the Beat" contains The Go-Go's longest song title at ten words with 40 characters ("You Can't Walk in Your Sleep (If You Can't Sleep)"); meanwhile, "Beauty and the Beat" also contains The Go-Go's shortest song title at one word with six characters ("Tonite").

Answer: Jessie Mae Robinson

The Go-Go's covered Jessie Mae Robinson's song "Let's Have a Party" on the album "Return to the Valley of The Go-Go's" in 1994.

According to Music VF, 17 of Jessie Mae's songs performed by 20 artists ranked on the music charts with three reaching number one on the Billboard Hot R&B: "Old Maid Boogie" by Eddie Vinson and His Orchestra (1947), "Roomin' House Boogie" by Amos Milburn (1949) and "Black Night" by Charles Brown (1951). Patti Page's version of Jessie Mae's "I Went to Your Wedding" also ranked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during 1952.

According to the website of the Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center, "Because of the success of her exceptional storytelling, depth and broad reach through her writing...often of life's struggle and pain...Mrs. Robinson broke the color and gender barriers and became one of the first African-American female writers admitted to the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP)" (Shelby, 2018).

Answer: Our Lips Are Sealed

Jane Wiedlin and Terry Hall wrote the song "Our Lips Are Sealed" on the album "Beauty and the Beat" in 1981.

The Go-Go's song "Our Lips Are Sealed" ranked on 12 music charts in six countries for a total of 39 weeks from 29 Aug 1981 to 16 Apr 1982 and from 15 May to 25 Jun 1982 peaking at number two on the Australian Kent Music Report.

Of The Go-Go's 11 chart hits, "Our Lips Are Sealed" ranked on the most charts and for the most weeks than any other Go-Go's hit. "Our Lips Are Sealed" is also tied with "We Got the Beat" to be The Go-Go's highest-ranking hit on a music chart.

The Go-Go's chart hit "Our Lips Are Sealed" ranked on eight "best of" lists:
* On 1 Dec 1992, Life magazine selected to represent 1981 on 40 Years of Rock and Roll.
* On 7 Dec 2000, Rolling Stone and MTV ranked number 57 on 100 Greatest Pop Songs.
* On 10 Jun 2003, VH1 ranked number 43 on the 100 Best Songs of the Past 25 Years.
* On 8 Oct 2006, VH1 ranked number 25 on the 100 Greatest Songs of the 80s.
* On 3 Jul 2020, Rolling Stone ranked number 32 on The 100 Greatest Debut Singles of All Time.
* On 3 Aug 2021, Rolling Stone ranked number 61 on 100 Greatest Music Videos of All Time.
* On 16 Sep 2021, Rolling Stone ranked number 477 on 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
* On 23 Nov 2023, Rolling Stone ranked number seven on The 200 Best Songs of The 1980s.

Answer: Talking Myself Down

Jane Wiedlin, Charlotte Caffey and Susanna Hoffs wrote the song "Talking Myself Down" on the album "God Bless The Go-Go's" in 2001.

According to Medium's list of "20 Great Songs by The Go-Go's," "Charlotte Caffey and Jane Wiedlin wrote 'Talking Myself Down' with The Bangles' Susannah Hoffs, hooking into their Sixties pop side a bit more.

"Featuring a psychedelic broken piano introduction, 'Talking Myself Down' is a storming deep cut that gets a listener's attention straight away. This tune's lyrics reflect a more seasoned perspective as a kind of thematic successor to 'Head Over Heels,' rooted in hard won experience with struggles, vices, and baggage now behind them, but always lurking in the background, too" (Jones, 2021).

Answer: Beneath the Blue Sky

Jane Wiedlin and Kathy Valentine wrote the song "Beneath the Blue Sky" on the album "Talk Show" in 1984.

According to a review of the album "Talk Show" on The Daily Vault, "[The songs] 'You Thought' and 'Beneath The Blue Sky' are both solid melodic rockers, full of bounce and flair, with especially punchy bass work from [Kathy] Valentine on the latter. The thing is, everybody shines in this band; the four instrumentalists are all strong and all contribute to the songwriting, and Carlisle is a dynamite lead singer" (Warburg, 2021).

Of The Go-Go's 61 original songs, "Beneath the Blue Sky" is the only song with a color in its title. The Go-Go's also wrote the following six colors a total of 19 times in the lyrics of nine songs: blue (8×), grey (4×), black (3×), white (2×), navy and red.

According to a combined list of 1,788 colors from Color-Meanings, Crayola and Wikipedia, Jane would be the greenest Go-Go because you can spell ten shades with the 25 letters in Jane Marie Genevieve Wiedlin: gin, Erin, lime, green, viridian, jade green, lawn green, lime green, India green and vivid lime green.

Belinda Jo Carlisle's 17 letters would have a "Beatnik Beach" theme because you can spell the colors "sea," "coral," "sand" and "seal." Not only can you spell "leather" and "lace" with the 20 letters in Charlotte Irene Caffey's name, but Stevie Nicks and Don Henley also scored a chart hit with the song "Leather and Lace" in 1981.

Regina Ann Schock is the only Go-Go with "orange" in her letters and Kathryn Valentine is the only Go-Go with "venetian."

Fun Trivia is boring with only "tan."

Answer: Billie Joe Armstrong

Billie Joe Armstrong co-wrote the song "Unforgiven" with Jane Wiedlin and Charlotte Caffey on the album "God Bless the Go-Go's" in 2001.

Billie Joe Armstrong cofounded the band Green Day in 1987.

According to Music VF, 46 of Billie Joe's co-writes ranked on music charts in the US and UK with 22 peaking at number one, such as "Bang Bang," "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," "Dilemma," "Holiday" and "Know Your Enemy." Billie Joe also had five songs peak at number two, seven at number three and five at five. Billie Joe Armstrong hasn't had a chart hit peak at number four on a music chart...nor at number ten.

According to The Movie Database, Billie Joe Armstrong appeared in 11 movies: "Riding in Vans with Boys" (2003), "Disease Is Punishment" (2004), "Live Freaky! Die Freaky!" (2006), "The Simpsons Movie" (2007), "Heart Like a Hand Grenade" (2008), "One Nine Nine Four" (2012), "This Is 40" (2012), "iCuatro!" (2013), "Broadway Idiot" (2013), "Like Sunday, Like Rain" (2014) and "Ordinary World" (2016).