The Go-Go's were an 80's new-wave all-girl rock band who made history as the first all-female band to write their own songs, play their own instruments and have a No.1 album on the Billboard charts. Formed in 1978 they released their seminal debut album Beauty and the Beat (1981), which would eventually reach No.1 on the Billboard 200 chart and stay there for six weeks. It was also included on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Beauty and the Beat is considered a bedrock album of the American surf rock genre and spawned one of the greatest hit singles of the 80s, "Our Lips Are Sealed" as well as "We Got The Beat".
Their second album Vacation (1982) spawned two hit singles "Vacation" and "Cool Jerk" and was a commercial success if not as critically successful as their debut. After the release of Vacation the band were forced to take an extended hiatus when drummer Gina Schock was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect and had to undergo surgery. They returned in 1984 with the critically acclaimed album Talk Show, from which came the hit single "Head Over Heels". Commercially the album wasn't successful and growing tensions within the band led to the departure of founding member, rhythm guitarist, vocalist and primary songwriter Jane Wiedlin, in late 1984. The Go-Go's replaced her with Paula Jean Brown but shortly after founding members Belinda Carlisle and Charlotte Caffey decided that they wanted to move on to solo careers and disbanded the group in 1985. The band reformed in the mid 90's and began touring and released the critically acclaimed album God Bless the Go-Go's, but sales were bad and the album peaked at No.57 in the US charts. However the band continue to perform together today and are working on several projects including a project for Disney that will feature child musicians, performing Go-Go's material called The Po-Go's.
