The Go-Go's Lingo 8 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lips Unsealed

Belinda Carlisle released her autobiography "Lips Unsealed: A Memoir" on 1 Jun 2010.

In her memoir, Belinda unseals one of the reasons Jane Wiedlin quit The Go-Go's.

"I understood Jane's problem. She was cute, full of personality, and she wrote some of our best songs; she had an ego like anyone else, yet she stood off to the side, and it bugged the crap out of her...until finally she blew."

"Jane resented me for getting all the attention. She'd had moments like this before. Sometimes it was about boys, and sometimes, like this time, it was about the spotlight. I didn't think it was true, and in fact I knew reviewers [critics] paid as much, if not more, attention to the songs as to me. Unfortunately for her, the band was built around one lead singer, around that singer's look and sound, and that job belongs to me."

"One day Jane just couldn't take it anymore. She smashed the mirror in her hotel room and flew back to the States. When she returned, she had decided to leave the band and pursue a solo career, though she kept that news from us for a few more months" (Carlisle, 2010).

Answer: Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone magazine ranks The Go-Go's on several "greatest" lists.

The Go-Go's Album "Beauty and the Beat"
* 31 Oct 2002: 50 Essential Woman-in-Rock Albums (#36)
* 11 Dec 2003: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
* 22 Jun 2012: Women Who Rock: The 50 Greatest Albums of All Time
* 1 Jul 2022: 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time (#60)

The Go-Go's Song "Our Lips Are Sealed"
* 7 Dec 2000: 100 Greatest Pop Songs (#57)
* 3 Aug 2021: 100 Greatest Music Videos of All Time (#61)
* 15 Sep 2021: 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (#477)
* 23 Nov 2023: 200 Best Songs of the 1980s (#7)

The Go-Go's Song "Vacation"
* 4 Jul 2013: Best Summer Songs of All Time (#8)
* 27 Sep 2022: 100 Best Songs of 1982 (#7)

The Go-Go's Song "Head Over Heels"
* 17 Sep 2014: 100 Best Singles of 1984 (#48)

The Go-Go's also appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine twice.
* 5 Aug 1982 (Issue 375): "Go-Go's Put Out"
* 5 Jul 1984 (Issue 425): "The Go-Go's: Women on Top"

Answer: Susanna Hoffs

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

Susanna cofounded the Bangles in 1981 but after disbanding in 1989, Susanna started her solo career.

As a solo artist, Susanna released nine studio albums: "When You're a Boy" (1991); "Susanna Hoffs" (1996); "Under the Covers, Vol. 1" (2006); "Under the Covers, Vol. 2" (2009); "Someday" (2012); "Under the Covers, Vol. 3" (2013); "Bright Lights" (2021); "The Deep End" (2023) and "The Lost Album" (2024).

Five of Susanna's studio albums ranked on nine music charts in six countries: "When You're a Boy" (five countries); "Susanna Hoffs" (Switzerland); "Under the Covers, Vol. 1" (US); "Under the Covers, Vol. 2" (US) and "Under the Covers, Vol. 3" (UK).

Four of Susanna's songs ranked on 18 music charts in nine countries: "My Side of the Bed" (nine countries); "All I Want" (five countries); "Unconditional Love" (three countries) and "Only Love" (Australia).

Susanna also co-wrote Atomic Kitten's chart hit "Love Doesn't Have to Hurt" on their album "Feels So Good" in 2002 and this song ranked on music charts in three countries for nine weeks peaking at number four on the UK Official Singles Chart.

"Shagadelic, Baby, yeaaaah!" Susanna appeared in all three Austin Powers movies: "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" (1997), "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" (1999) and "Austin Powers in Goldmember" (2002).

Answer: Carlene Carter

Carlene Carter co-wrote the song "I'm the Only One" with Kathy Valentine and Danny B. Harvey on the album "Talk Show" in 1984.

Carlene Carter, daughter of June Carter Cash, released 11 studio albums: "Carlene Carter" (1978); "Two Sides to Every Woman" (1979); "Musical Shapes" (1980); "Blue Nun" (1981); "C'est C Bon" (1983); "I Fell in Love" (1990); "Little Love Letters" (1993); "Little Acts of Treason" (1995); "Stronger" (2008); "Carter Girl" (2014) and "Sad Clowns & Hillbillies" (2017).

Seven of Carlene's studio albums ranked on 14 music charts in seven countries: "Little Love Letters" (four countries); "Sad Clowns & Hillbillies" (three countries); "Musical Shapes" (two countries); "Little Acts of Treason" (two countries); "I Fell in Love" (US); "Stronger" (US) and "Carter Girl" (US).

According to Music VF, 14 of Carlene's 123 songs (11%) ranked on music charts with the songs "I Fell in Love" (1990), "Come on Back" (1990) and "Every Little Thing" (1993) peaking the highest at number three on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.

In 1991, Carlene Carter was nominated for a Grammy Award (Best Female Country Vocal Performance) and an Academy of Country Music Award (Top New Female Vocalist).

Answer: Fun with Ropes

Jane Wiedlin wrote the song "Fun with Ropes" on the album "Return to the Valley of The Go-Go's" in 1994.

According to Belinda's interview with Vulture, "'Fun with Ropes' is also really funny. It's all about bondage. The lyrics are really, really funny and genius. That song has always been fun to sing because it does push the envelope. For a normal crowd, if there ever is a 'normal' crowd at a Go-Go's show, a normal person probably would be a little taken aback by the lyrics because of the subject matter" (Ivie, 2021).

All good things come to an end. Of the 150 Go-Go's lingos in this series of quizzes, "Fun with Ropes" is the ninth of nine with no repeating letters.

Answer: Hollywood Bowl

The Hollywood Bowl inducted The Go-Go's into its Hall of Fame on (Sat) 21 Jun 2014.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, during the ceremony, "Go-Go's guitarist Jane Wiedlin harked back to the band's early roots in a subculture some later fans might not know they derived from, remarking, 'We started a little punk band less than a mile from here'" (Pener, 2014).

The Go-Go's had five shows at the Hollywood Bowl but only one show had all five Go-Go's.

The Go-Go's first show at the Hollywood Bowl was during their Vacation World Tour on 29 Aug 1982 with all five Go-Go's. The Go-Go's second show at the Hollywood Bowl was 30 years and 1 month later on 29 Sep 2012 with Abby Travis standing in for Kathy Valentine (wrist surgery). The Go-Go's third, fourth and fifth shows at the Hollywood Bowl was during their 40th Anniversary Tour from 2 to 4 Jul 2018 with Gina Schock's drum tech, Chris Arredondo, sitting in for Gina (neck surgery) for all three shows.

Answer: IRS Records

The Go-Go's signed their first recording contract with I.R.S. Records on (Wed) 1 Apr 1981.

I.R.S. Records released The Go-Go's first five albums: "Beauty and the Beat" (1981), "Vacation" (1982), "Talk Show" (1984), "Greatest" (1990) and "Return to the Valley of the Go-Go's" (1994).

According to the On A&M Records website, "Beauty and the Beat was the first RIAA Gold and Platinum certifications for I.R.S. Records" and "The group [The Go-Go's] was the only artist from I.R.S. ever nominated for Grammy awards (1981 as Best New Artist and in 1982 their Vacation album was nominated in the Best Album Package category" (Pfenninger, 2021).

I.R.S. Records also released Belinda Carlisle's first solo album in 1986. I.R.S. Records closed in 1996, reopened in 2011 and closed again in 2015.

Answer: Miles Copeland

Miles Copeland cofounded I.R.S. Records in 1979 and signed The Go-Go's first recording contract on (Wed) 1 Apr 1981. To celebrate their momentous day, Miles and The Go-Go's held a "signing party" at the iconic Kelbo's Tiki Hut in Los Angeles.

The Go-Go's felt like sellouts. According to Miles' interview with Please Kill Me Online, "Yeah, they [The Go-Go's] pleaded with me once they heard the [final mix of their debut] record. They said, 'Look, you have got stop this record from coming out. We've got to remix it. All our friends are going to hate us.'"

"And when I listened to it, I kind of agreed with them. I remember I said to Richard [producer], 'I sent you a punk group and you gave me back a pop group.' It was the most expensive record I'd done up to that point. I was in it for 100 grand or so."

"So I listened and listened and thought, 'you know, I think Richard is right.' And then I called the group and said, 'I'm going to go with the record as it is.' And they were very upset, until it started climbing the charts, and then of course we're heroes. Both Richard and I sort of gained some stature from that" (Davidson, 2021).

Answer: Robert Hilburn

The song "Robert Hilburn" is one of The Go-Go's earliest songs as a punk band and not recorded on any album or single.

According to Jane 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" (Adams, 2011).

According to Setlist.fm, The Go-Go's only performed "Robert Hilburn" twice in 1978 and one of these shows was at the Whiskey a Go Go in West Hollywood on (Wed) 4 Oct 1978.

According to Discogs, "Hellogg's Punk Tarts" on Hellogg's Records is a bootleg recording of this show at the Whiskey a Go Go in 1978 with originalists Jane Wiedlin, Margot Olavarria, Belinda Carlisle, Elissa Bello and Charlotte Caffey.

According to an audio-only recording of this bootleg on YouTube, The Go-Go's performed 12 songs during this show and five other songs on their setlist have also not been recorded on any album or single: "B-Movie," "Don't Hang Up," "Just a Number," "Overrun" and "We're Here Now" (Go-Go's - October 4th, 1978 at Whiskey a Go Go, Hollywood, CA, uploaded by Distort Oakland).

Answer: Steve Plunkett

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

Steve Plunkett is the cofounder of the glam-metal band Autograph as well as its singer, guitarist and songwriter from 1983-1989 and 2002-2005. In addition to four other Steves, Plunkett is one of 13 past members of this high turnover band.

According to Music VF, three of Steve's co-writes ranked on music charts in three countries: "Turn Up the Radio" (1984), "Blondes in Black Cars" (1985) and "How Much Love" (1990).

Did you recognize "Turn Up the Radio" from Steve's list of chart hits? "Turn Up the Radio" from the album "Sign In Please" was such a success, Autograph released it nine times on seven albums. Autograph eventually released 11 albums containing a total of 124 tracks so if "Turn Up the Radio" is on nine tracks, "Turn Up the Radio" is 7% of Autograph's discography.

The chart hit "Turn Up the Radio" ranked on the Billboard Top Rock Tracks for 19 weeks from 17 Nov 1984 to 23 Mar 1985 peaking at number 17; the Billboard Hot 100 also for 19 weeks from 22 Dec 1984 to 27 Apr 1985 peaking at number 29 and the Canada Top Singles for 14 weeks from 9 Mar to 8 Jun 1985 peaking at number 53. RIAA certified "Turn Up the Radio" as Gold on 1 Apr 1985.