Why You Should Be Like the Go-Go's
If you haven’t heard about it or seen it yet, there’s a new documentary on Showtime about the Go-Go’s, and very worth watching. The Go-Go’s were a staple on the airwaves when I was in high school and you couldn’t watch MTV for half an hour without seeing one of their videos. Extremely dance-able and upbeat, their music is 80’s to the core.
What I didn’t know before watching the documentary is that they started out as a punk band. The girls all met each other through the late 70’s punk scene in L.A. and had such a connection to the raw, visceral form of music that they decided to form their own band — all girls, and they would write their own songs and play their own instruments.
The only problem? They didn’t know anything about playing instruments. With the exception of Charlotte Caffey, a bass guitarist classically trained in piano, and Gina Schock who had been playing drums since high school, the rest of the band were untrained musicians.
They jumped into it with blind abandon, for the love of the experience and passion they had for the project. Through a jumpy start (a couple original members were replaced, and they had a less-than-perfect first tour), they developed their chops and learned along the way.
The band on a break from the photoshoot for their 1982 Vacation album cover
During a stint as the opening act for The Police’s Ghost in the Machine tour, the Go-Go’s record surpassed The Police’s, and The Go-Go’s were the first all girl band to write and play their own music to reach #1 on the charts. Their debut album, Beauty and the Beat spent six weeks on top in 1982, and eventually went double platinum.
About their venture into unknown territory, rhythm guitarist Jane Wiedlin said this:
"If you have never been in a band before, you really don't realize how much the odds are stacked against you. Believe it or not, I think our naïve outlook on the business actually worked in our favor because we hadn't been frustrated with previous efforts. Seriously, we just didn’t know any better.
"It never occurred to me that we could fail. I had never worked for years in a bar band, or done like the Holiday Inn circuit. I had no idea how hard it was to make it in this business. Seriously, when we all started out, Kathy and Gina were the only experienced musicians. The rest of us were beginners…” ~ Jane Wiedlin, Jam Magazine, 1982
So, what does this have to do with you, or with making art?
Well, how many times do you stop yourself from trying art (or dance, or writing, or skateboarding, or anything) because you “don’t know how”? Do you know how many people I meet who say they “wish they could draw” or “can’t even do a stick figure”? The next time you stop yourself from trying something you really want to do, just remember how five girls from L.A. who didn’t have a clue, got to the top of the charts, sold platinum records, and have a star on the Hollywood walk of fame.
You just get out your pencil, follow the line, GO FOR IT and figure it out as you go (go).