GO GO TO THE ROCK HALL!
Justice finally has been served with The Go-Go’s long overdue induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Unwitting pioneers and historic trailblazers, The Go-Go’s bulldozed over every barrier in front of them, delivered a frothy and infectious mixture of pop/punk/New Wave concoctions that connected with the zeitgeist in the ’80s, inspiring a slew of female rockers, from Sleater-Kinney to The Donnas, Sheryl Crow to Liz Phair.
The following is a conversation with founding Go-Go’s members Jane Wiedlin and Charlotte Caffey for a look back at a career filled with beauty and the big beat.
GOLDMINE: The Go-Go’s were a punk rock band in the beginning of your career.
JANE WIEDLIN: Yeah, the scene wasn’t pop at all. We lived at the Canterbury. It was this apartment building that is now derelict as a result of an earthquake. I lived there, Belinda, the Bags lived there, The Deadbeats lived there. I think some of the Zeros might have moved in. The scene at the beginning was so small. There might have been a couple of hundred people. Everyone that was in the audience was also in a band, too. It was really small and really exciting and you got this feeling that you could do anything, because there weren’t any rules anymore.
GM: The group did its first gig at a Hollywood club called The Masque.
Yeah. It was this club in the basement of a porno theater on Hollywood Boulevard. It was a rehearsal hall and they also had shows there. That was one block from the Canterbury. For the very first gig it was me, Belinda, Margot (Olavarria)
