Late in 2016, I posted on Facebook about the contents of a mix tape I put together sometime in early 92. It’s the only sixty-minute tape of its kind in my collection. I’ll be re-upping modified versions of those sixteen posts over the coming weeks.
The Go-Go’s hit the scene during my senior year in high school. Their debut album Beauty and the Beat is an outstanding pop record, and I loved “Vacation,” the title track of the follow-up. They broke up in 85 but have had temporary reunions every once in a while since, including a farewell tour last year.
I don’t know what Kathy Valentine did musically after they split, but the other four did have varying degrees of success in their post-Go-Go worlds. Belinda Carlisle (several albums, four top 10s) and Jane Wiedlin (a few albums, one top 10) both pursued solo careers. Charlotte Caffey was part of a trio called the Graces (one album, a minor hit single). And Gina Schock formed her own group, House of Schock (Ellen DeGeneres’ brother Vance was in the band). They released one self-titled album in 1988 that went (maybe oddly fittingly?) nowhere, but it did contain this single, an absolute gem which caught my fancy a couple of years later.
The Music of My Life 