Because at that time we gave a fuck what people thought of us.
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(Nope, the Chicks dont qualify.
Neither do the Bangles.
Haim came kind of close at No.
It was this inclusive, small family of people who didnt feel like they fit in with regular society.
I saw these beautiful, huge pictures of kids in London, just dressed so outrageously.
So I went to them and they took some of my designs.
And at that time I met someone who was to become one of my closest friends, Pleasant Gehman.
The place was called the Masque.
It was this horribly filthy and dark dungeony basement below a porno theater.
And the plumbing was constantly breaking and overflowing and the electricity would go out.
I mean, it was just a hellhole, but it became my little home.
And its where the scene started for us in Hollywood.
So it kind of grew from there.
You didnt know how to play an instrument prior to the bands formation.
I actually took up folk guitar a little bit.
For a few weeks I was playing the folk guitar.
That was the whole of my experience.
Maybe I can learn how to do it again.
Her makeup was perfect.
Her hair was amazing.
She had the best style and I just immediately loved her.
And as it turns out, she was the right person to be the lead singer.
She had a ton of charisma.
And then Charlotte, she was part of the punk scene but still had really long blonde hair.
She totally looked like the quintessential California surfer chick, but she was such a badass on bass.
We didnt know her history, but she studied musicin college.
She knew all about music theory, and she played the piano and bass.
Luckily for us, she agreed to start playing guitar.
Definitely in Hollywood and Los Angeles, where we were from, it was a very tight scene.
Everyone knew each other and we were all like a family, so it was super-supportive.
It wasnt intimidating or scary.
It was just a lot of fun.
Certainly the Go-Gos were very influenced by surf music, especially Charlotte.
She possessed that genius combination of punk and surf for her guitar playing.
We obviously loved the Beatles.
Even though they werent musicians, they were still super-cool.
I think that definitely all went into our sound.
We were very harmony heavy.
Ive always loved harmony since I was a little kid.
Thats why being a background singer has been super-fun for me, because I love thinking up those parts.
I love singing with Belinda we create this one voice of sorts between us.
Some of them were super-poppy, I would say, especially the Ramones and the Buzzcocks.
We were very drawn to that idea.
We Got the Beat changed the trajectory of the band with its pop sound.
She was such a good writer, and her melodies and her chord progressions were so strong.
We were super-lucky to get her in.
That was a big step.
Richard had been a very successful songwriter in the 1960s.
He had produced Blondie.
So he really understood the whole 60s vibe, and he pulled out more of that from us.
He was definitely the one who said, You guys have got to slow down.
We thought he was crazy.
I dont even know how my arm played that.
But make no mistake, the songs are still really fast after we slowed them down.
I distinctly remember my head was a million miles away from clothing during all those shifts.
I was thinking about the band all the time, and I was writing lyrics on the actual patterns.
I remember doing that because you made these paper patterns and thats how they cut the fabric.
Like it was some kind of bizarre psychic connection.
We were very empathetic with our audience, and we didnt want to be seen as money-grubbers.
So I think that entered into it.
The fans are as important as the band.
We thought that continuing to release singles was sort of crass.
When did you stop giving a fuck?About a year ago.
Thats a huge accomplishment to get there.Itishuge.
Its something that has nothing to do with you.
A lot of us have not come around until were in our 40s or 50s or 60s.
I think This Town might be our best song.
After all these years the lyrics are still fantastic and resonant, as is Charlottes guitar line.
Its just a great song.
Besides that, I think Skidmarks on My Heart could have been a single, or possibly Fading Fast.
You all spent months in New York City recording the album.
That hotel was super-run down, but the rooms were huge.
All the rooms were like suites.
At the time it was pretty seedy, but it was close to everything.
Oh my god, the antics we got up to.
People would be like, What the fuck.
Charlotte and I shared a room, and at that time she was super into Godiva chocolate.
I remember us lying in bed and her eating Godiva.
Whats funny is that on the cover of the album, shes eating a Godiva chocolate.
Belinda, Kathy, and I were constantly in search of boys.
If somebody brought a boy home to their hotel room, we would drag a mattress into the hallway.
That was a signal not to come in.
There was also that dichotomy of listening to your recordings outside of a studio.
I felt like my voice sounded like Minnie Mouse.
Its pretty hard to deny that youre a hit when youre No.
1 on the charts.
Funny enough, wewere opening for the Police at the timewe hitthat milestone.
They were great gentlemen about it.
It was nice, because they couldve been buttheads or kicked us off the tour.
They were very nice about it.
But they were so popular that I dont think they had anything to worry about.
That is our huge legacy.
