Punk-pop pioneers The Go-Go's celebrated in new documentary

On August 30, 1981, a five-piece girl-group from Los Angeles called the Go-Go’s played at My Father’s Place, the small but influential Roslyn nightclub. The band’s debut album, “Beauty and the Beat,” had been released several weeks earlier to strong reviews, but there wasn’t much advance press about the show. According to a listing in Newsday, tickets were $8.

As club owner Michael Epstein recalls, the concert was a surprise success. “I booked them, I had a date, and when the record hit, it was just synchronicity,” he says. “The club overnight sold out, even though no one knew who they were.”

That stop was one of many on the Go-Go’s journey from feisty punk band to pop history-makers (By January 1982, they'd be sharing a bill with The Police at Nassau Coliseum), as chronicled in Alison Ellwood’s new documentary, “The Go-Go’s.” The film takes pains to point out a sometimes overlooked milestone: The Go-Go’s are the first — and still the only — all-female rock group to write their own songs, play their own instruments and reach No. 1 on the Billboard album chart. “The Go-Go’s” airs on Showtime Friday, July 31, at 9 p.m., followed by an encore showing Saturday, Aug. 1, at 7:20 p.m.

Ellwood’s film (which premiered at Sundance earlier this year) begins with the band’s formation in the punk-rock petri dish of late ‘70s Los Angeles. The Go-Go’s launched in 1978 with singer Belinda Carlisle, guitarist Jane Wiedlin, bassist Margot Olavarria and drummer Elissa Bello. Guitarist-keyboardist Charlotte Caffey joined that same year. When firebrand drummer Gina Schock replaced Bello and Texas-born transplant Kathy Valentine replaced Olavarria, the band’s definitive lineup was complete.

That lineup debuted on New Year’s Eve, 1980 — fittingly enough at the famous Whisky A Go-Go. From there the band began to skyrocket. The Go-Go’s were soon signed to I.R.S. Records (known for The English Beat, R.E.M. and other new wave acts), and in July 1981 their debut album, “Beauty and the Beat,” appeared in stores.

It was the lead single, “We Got the Beat,” that caught everyone’s ear. Written by Caffey, the track came on strong with Schock’s pumped-up drumbeat and Valentine’s bass out in front of the guitars. Carlisle’s giddy voice and the cheerleader-style chorus sealed the deal. It was pure pop with a dash of punk spirit — perfect for young music fans who were transitioning out of the shaggy ‘70s and looking for vibrant new sounds.

“It was a good time for the Go-Go’s to be doing what they were doing,” says Denis McNamara, former program director for WLIR, at the time Long Island’s premiere alternative rock station. When McNamara joined WLIR in the mid-1970s, he says, the format was a mix of old and new tracks by classic rock artists. He began pushing the station to focus on new bands that were emerging mostly from England, but also from Los Angeles and New York. The Go-Go’s fit the new format perfectly and became a staple at the station.

“That album came through the door right on schedule,” McNamara says. He adds: “It’s so hard when you hear one great song from a band, and you go out and get the album and the other 11 songs aren’t so good. It’s always a gamble. But the Go-Go’s album was great.”

After “Beauty and the Beat” reached No. 1, the Go-Go’s story began to look like a pop fairytale, though behind the scenes it was a different story. The band landed the cover of Rolling Stone and watched their video for “Our Lips Are Sealed” go into rotation on MTV, but members began to gripe that some were being paid less than others. The Go-Go’s earned another hit with “Vacation,” the title track of their 1982 sophomore album, but the constant touring became a grind. The band’s refusal to let Wiedlin take lead vocals on her song “Forget That Day” (for the band’s 1984 album “Talk Show”) became a sore point. Meanwhile, Caffey was having trouble hiding an addiction to heroin.

Wiedlin left the band in late 1984 and was replaced by Paula Jean Brown (who would become a co-writer on Carlisle’s solo hit “Mad About You”), but the chemistry wasn’t the same. The Go-Go’s officially disbanded in May 1985, after just seven years and three studio albums.

Still, as Schock says in the film, “The story never ends.” The Go-Go’s reunited in the 1990s and became a regular touring act again. The band released a fourth album, “God Bless the Go-Go’s,” in 2001 and produced a Broadway musical, “Head Over Heels,” in 2018. Had it not been for the COVID-19 pandemic, the Go-Go’s would have played a July date at the NYCB Westbury Theatre, part of a tour intended to coincide with the documentary’s release. They’ve also written a new song, “Club Zero,” which comes out Friday, July 31.

It’s clear that even though arguments and lawsuits among the members have flared up over the years, the five Go-Go’s are still willing to celebrate their achievements together. “There was this power that we all felt,” Caffey says in the film. “We showed up as who we were and just, against all odds, busted through some ceilings.”