Not many votes last week, as the two Iron Maidens proved too much torture for most of you. The more famous Maidens, from what I recall... Ernie danced on stage with them and C sold them dodgy records. Didn't help them win against the Band Formerly Known As Bum. You never can tell.
The first thing that must be asked before we consider any of
today’s options is: Why is there an apostrophe in Go-Go’s? Does something
belong to them? Is it an abbreviation? No? Then it doesn’t need an apostrophe!
I was forced to consult the interweb. And lo! An answer from the horse’s
mouth!
Anyway, onto the bands themselves…
Let’s start with a little 60s surf rock. There was just
bound to be a 60s surf rock band called the Go-Go’s, wasn’t there?
THE GO-GO’S #1
Gary Usher was a singer, songwriter and record producer who
worked with the likes of The Beach Boys, The Byrds and Dick Dale. He gets a
co-writing credit on two top Beach Boys songs, Lonely Sea and In My Room, among
others. Iffypedia tells me he also “produced fictitious surf groups or hot rock
groups, mixing studio session musicians with his own troops”. I’m guessing this
was one of those entirely made up bands…
THE GO GO’S #2
Still in the 60s, with an apostrophe but no hyphen, we
encounter the Geordie band responsible for this weird Christmas novelty record.
Songwriter Les Vandyke (real name John Worsley) wrote Number Ones for Adam Faith and Eden Kane, as well as top 70s tune Gonna Make You AnOffer You Can’t Refuse by Jimmy Helms. But this was surely his finest hour… or perhaps not.
THE GO-GO’S #3
Belinda Carlisle, Jane Weidlin, Charlotte Caffey, Gina
Schock, Kathy Valentine, Belinda Carlisle.
Some debate (in that interview clip at the top of the page)
about the use of the definite article. If the band themselves can’t even make
up there mind whether or not to use a The, there’s no hope for the rest of us.
Still. Belinda Carlisle.
According to The Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, The Go-Go’s are “widely considered to be the most successful female rock band of all time”. I’m not sure how the Bangles feel about that. Still. Belinda Carlisle.
Way back when, an exaggerated exclamation of "Oh, Belinda!" briefly entered our schoolboy lexicon as the only statement necessary to convey how much we all fancied her.
ReplyDeleteCan we get No. 3 to do a cover of No.2's song for charity? That would be the winner. If not then I'll just stick with No. 3
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, whoever put the Official Go-Go's Youtube Channel together seems to believe that Belinda and co. actually recorded No. 2. Presumably when they were all 6 years old...
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0a8yAiFPQQ
There is no way I am voting for #3.
ReplyDeleteSo it's #1 for me. There's a lot of chickens round these parts, there's a lot of beach too, and it's the best song I've heard today that mentions the two.
ReplyDeleteBelinda!
ReplyDeleteHas to be number 3. 1 and 2 are no go go for me but I did laugh at that benign Dalek.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who just watched Fast Times at Ridgemont High for the first time recently (and really enjoyed it), it'll have to be #3 as they used that song by the Go-Go's for the opening scene.
ReplyDeleteHow on earth did that song about Christmas with a Dalek ever drop out of the festive playlists?! Oh, that's right, because it never dropped in, in the first place.
As for the apostrophe and the definite article, good to know, or not know as the case may be. Being called the Go Gos would have been a bit silly after all so sometimes good grammar has to be overridden.
Got to be The Dalek number 2 for me, never heard this or number 1 before. I never really got Belinda's Go-Go's although I love a lot similar stuff from the era so going with number 2 :-)
ReplyDelete#3 for me - if they're not the winner then surely the whole world has lost it's head (geddit?)
ReplyDeleteKathy Valentine was an original member of Girlschool (briefly, until she was replaced by Kelly Johnson)