Crank up the projector!
Grab some popcorn!
And let's go-gooooooooooooo!!
One type of movie I won't be discussing much here on Cinema Sunday are documentaries. Which is a bug not a feature because I enjoy a good documentary. I should watch more of them.
Recently I happened upon a documentary on Showtime called the “The Go-Go’s” based on the band of the same name that rose to prominence in the early 1980s.
The Go-Go's are unique in rock 'n' roll as the first all female band to write their own music, play their on instruments and score #1 hits on the music charts.
But while the Go-Go's are unique in that regard, their story is much like those of a lot of other bands.
The histories of rock 'n' roll bands usually follow a 4 part arc.
1) The hard times. Playing dingy clubs for little or no pay. Endless days on the road. The endless struggle to grasp one rung of the ladder after another, trying to land that precious record deal, chasing that elusive #1 hit on the Billboard chart.
2) The good times. Success! Alchemy in the studio produces an album that will stand the test of time. A single rockets up the chart to #1. Sold out live shows! Cheering fans!
3) It all goes to shit. Success breeds contempt. Band members are sniping at each other. Musicians who huddled together on their tour bus in winter because the heater was busted now cannot stand to be in the same room with each other. At least one person in the band is close to dying from excess drug use and drinking. The band is hurtling headlong at full speed into a wall of abuse, anger, jealousy and hate! The chart topping albums and the screaming fans are now bitter rewards for a life no longer desired. The band breaks up.
4) The quest for new relevance. With age comes perspective. The battles of the past are no longer that important. What is important is that the band was a family of sorts and there is a longing that stirs in their hearts to restore that family, if only for a little while.
The history of a rock 'n' roll band can be a cliche. And admittedly, the Go-Go's check off all these boxes in the narrative of their formation, rise, fall and redemption.
“The Go-Go’s” digs deep into this narrative, benefiting from some rare live footage of the band in their formative days. And the film benefits from band members fully prepared to be completely candid about the ups and downs of their time together. And this includes women who fell by the wayside during the band's evolution.
In Los Angeles in 1978, the Go-Go's were Belinda Carlisle (vocals), Jane Wiedlin (guitar, background vocals), Margot Olavarria (bass), and Elissa Bello (drums). They were raw and unrefined, flailing away at their instruments like they're fighting off attacking rabid badgers with Belinda screaming into the microphone an incomprehensible hodge podge of lyrics. It's punk rock in it's most undiluted form, anarchic and primeval.
Which was kind of the point. As Belinda Carlisle said, “In the punk scene, it was like, ‘Great! You don’t know what you’re doing! Just (bleeping) do it.’ ”
But the Go-Go's were heading in a different direction.
Charlotte Caffey (lead guitar, keyboards, background vocals) was added later in 1978, and in the summer of 1979, Gina Schock replaced Bello on drums. With these changes, the band began heading in the direction of a more pop infused sound. The Go-Go's of the punk rock scene were becoming the Go-Go's of Top 40 radio.
Which irked Margot Olavarria that the band was betraying it's punk rock roots. But punk rock roots is where the money ain't and subsequently Olavarria was replaced with Kathy Valentine and the journey towards becoming the Go-Go's was complete.
Yeah, it does suck that Margot Olavarria was fired from the band while she was sick with hepatitis A. The Go-Go's do not fuck around.
Bello and Olavarria are interviewed in the film and the wounds still hurt.
They are not the only ones looking at the legacy of the Go-Go's from the outside. Ginger Canzoneri was the band's manager from the get go. Canzoneri believed in the Go-Go's when no one else did and busted her butt to make them a thing.
Ginger Canzoneri fought for the band against the deeply ingrained sexism of the music business. Records labels rejected them because "girl groups don’t sell.”
She hocked her own stuff to raise cash for the band to finance their tour of the United Kingdom. The UK tour was rough. White nationalists made a point to be in attendance to spit on the women, throw beer bottles at them and hurl demands to "show us your tits!" As Jane Wiedlin noted, "They hated us. We were Americans and, worst of all ... we were chicks."
While it was a tough tour, it did make them a stronger band and it finally got them the attention to get a record deal. Miles Copeland of IRS Records wanted to sign the Go-Go's for the very reason other labels did not. As an all female group who wrote their own songs and played their own instruments, the Go-Go's were fresh and unique.
Ginger Canzoneri was still in there, fighting for the Go-Go's and doing the dirty work that the band members did not want to do (like telling Bello and Olavarria they were fired from the band.)
By the time of the Go-Go's 3rd album, Ginger Canzoneri was no longer their manager. She was replaced by a flashy talent agency, a flashy MALE management firm.
While replacing Bello and Olavarria may have arguably made the band "better", the ouster of Ginger Canzoneri as the band manager seemed cruel and more business driven. It is a move that the band still regrets.
The break up of the Go-Go's was just around the corner.
The intercine conflicts of the group that were always present in some form became more pronounced. Right out of the "rock 'n' roll" playbook, the personality clashes, creative differences and drug addictions rattled the fraying bonds that held the Go-Go's together.
Facing pressure from the new management team to accept new contract terms that would undermine her share of what the Go-Go's earned, founder Jane Wiedlin announced her departure from the group in October 1984. The band replaced her with Paula Jean Brown but the new line up was short lived. The Go-Go's disbanded in May 1985.
The documentary gives every one a voice, even those with some bitter recollections of their time in the studio and on the road. However, despite the divisions between the members of the Go-Go's, their relationships never turn completely bitter. The good times are still remembered fondly and with time and experience, the bad things are not really worth fighting about now.
These women had a truly bonding experience, pushing forward with a band in a world that didn't want them and made the world fans of the Go-Go's for life.
“The Go-Go’s” isn't always a fun movie but it is honest. The story of the Go-Go's is a story of a trail blazing rock band that even with the test of time still does not get the respect it deserves. (How the hell are the Go-Go's still NOT in the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame?)
Despite the struggles and defeats that tore the group apart in 1985, the Go-Go's endure. They still get together for the odd show or event and last year began writing new music together for the first time in nearly 2 decades.
Hell, they even rated their own juke box musical on Broadway with a show called "Head Over Heels".
The Go-Go's is a story for young women seeing other young women like themselves pounding away at drum kits and electric guitars and thinking, "Hey, maybe I can do that too."
“The Go-Go’s” is a film that tells this story in a compelling fashion.
Let's close out with a clip of the band and the film's director Alison Ellwood discussing the making of "The Go-Go's". (Caution: somehow someone misidentifies Belinda Carlisle as Kathy Valentine in this clip.)
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