Go-Go's finally cross the finish line to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Bitchlinda looks like she's wearing a cancer wig in that photo.

It was so cool to see a real band made up entirely of women when I was young. They created some excellent music. Much deserved!

Fantastic. They put on phenomenal live shows - great music.

About time!

Why did I think LL Cool J was inducted a few years ago?

Good for them!

This is cool and they all look great but agree Belinda looks like she is wearing a wig and has prednisone face. I am reading Kathy Valentine’s autobiography All I Ever Wanted and loved how she described Belinda’s early performing style as something like “the most fun girl at the party”.

I'm happy for them with the documentary and now this.

My heart was kinda broken by the BS around Kathy being fired and the stuff that Bitchlinda pulled around that lawsuit. But if they are managing to get along, good for them.

Jane looks great there. It must eat Belinda up in side to know Jane had aged better.

At first glance I thought that was Shirley Jones.

Happy for them and they deserve it, but a lot of the shine has been taken off of them after learning a lot of the in-fighting and some of the shit they've pulled, like Bitchlinda and others who didn't write songs, wanting credit and royalties to "share" amongst the group, when it was actually Jane or Charlotte who wrote the song. I know this was a huge issue for Jane, and understandably so.

Their debut album was a smash hit, but you could pretty much watch their decline in real time after that.

Fantastic music

They should call themselves The Old Stewardesses.

And yet the Marvelettes aren't in...

Are the B-52s in?

No, r16. They did induct Martha and the Vandellas, though:

I can't believe Tina Turner is only being inducted now.

R18 Tina was inducted as part of Ike and Tina before.

I think there's a time frame of at least 25 years that need to go by before induction (but she would have cleared that solo a decade or more ago).

I love that Drew Barrymore is inducting them. Suck it Drew haters!! She loves the GoGo's and the GoGo's love her.

Drew Barrymore was like five years old when the GoGos were at their peak.

They had better acknowledge the Fun Boys Three. They owe them a lot. They better thank that geriatric heart medicine (question mark) commercial. They owe it a lot.

They look like members of the Partridge Family.

Still so beautiful - love their music

About fucking time.

If I were straight, I’d definitely crush on Jane and probably did back in the day. Pretty, stylish, artistic and plays guitar. What’s not to love.

Is Belinda still crazy?

R27 No.

R15 Who? Weren't they only together less than /or about 10 years?

I like them but I prefer their original sound.

Are Margo and the original drummer going to be apart of the festivities? Will the acknowledge the original manager who they kicked to the curb?

R11 Every single successful musical group experiences some in-fighting.

I will never forgive them for inserting that goddamn unneeded apostrophe; fucking dumb cunts.

Jane had a very weird jealousy of Belinda and then played goody goody about it.

Phenomenal

r32 maybe you should just die

It should have been Devo.

So freaking well deserved

Belinda Carlisle and Brandi Carlile finally met:

Loved them ! If Im not mistaken,wasnt Jane a dominatrix for a while?

[quote] Jane had a very weird jealousy of Belinda and then played goody goody about it.

Belinda was a controlling bitch who choked Jane's creativity. Nothing weird about the anger from Jane over overrated Bitchlinda.

Belinda was the star honey. That lollipop kid bitch couldn't handle it. Fuck her. The frontman and hottest star of the group is always gonna get all the attention. You know that going in.

They all actually showed up and stood next to each other again???

Not only that r42 - they HUGGED

They're fine with each other now. They even released a single last year.

That photo from OPs link is not current. Here they are from the ceremony.

Performing last night at their induction.

I'm R32's biggest fan! I've always wondered about why the apostrophe...

[quote] They're fine with each other now.

A few months ago they weren't sure everyone would attend the ceremony.

There's more drama with these five than in a lesbian bar at 2 am.

Great performance at the show

The band looked good but Belinda’s voice wasn’t anything special in the ‘80s and it’s only gone down hill. What is this induction prove anyway? That they were popular once a long time ago?

Also why did Christina Aguilera sing an Ike and Tina song (River Deep, Mountain High) when Tina was being inducted as a solo artist? She could have rocked Private Dancer or Better be Good to Me. At the ceremony she sounded more like she was imitating Celine Dion’s cover than Ike and Tina’s version.

OP- The woman in the middle looks like Shirley Partridge.

R50, Christina sang well, unlike this horror, who ( apparently) can't sing live.

Taylor, let me tell you about autotune

Jane always has to be the one who dresses completely over the top to outshine everyone else.

It still seems like she's bitter over Belinda's success.

Isn't the RRHF just an ass kiss fest for the guy from Rolling stone Magazine? What's his name, Hans?

And yet no Connie Francis, the first woman of Rock n Roll.

R35, maybe you should fuck off, eat glass, and die.

r57 go back to worrying about an incorrect apostrophe that's been bothering you for 40 years. Loser.

[quote] Is Belinda still crazy?

Belinda was crazy but then she started putting a magnet in her underwear and the crazy stopped.

[quote]I will never forgive them for inserting that goddamn unneeded apostrophe

[quote]I've always wondered about why the apostrophe...

R32 and R47, Jane explains the apostrophe in this short clip

Are the Bangles in yet? They should be, you know. I love the Go-Go's more than anyone (saw them live three times over the years), but the Bangles were the better band, no doubt about it.

R58, go back to the shit-hole high school from which you dropped out, and learn the meaning of the word 'sarcasm,' then fuck off, eat glass, and die, you stinking turd bucket of useless idiocy.

Girls! Girls! You're BOTH cunts!

Shouldn't that be, Girl's! Girl's?

CHER!!!!

When the hell will Cher ever be inducted into the R&R Hall of Fame? She should already be there! So should Sonny & Cher!

R65 = Margot Olivera

r62 is mad because someone called her out on her insane grammar bullshit that's so prevalent on DL.

I have a beat.

R67 is a stupid inbred illiterate cunt bucket who doesn't even understand the difference between an apostrophe and a semi-colon, and tries to make someone else look bad when actually she's a stupid illiterate cunt from such a shit-hole lowlife town that it isn't even on a map.

R67 completely fails to understand the ongoing running jokes on DataLounge, which include pointing out grammar mistakes, because stupid R67 is a dumb shit newbie whose juvenile idea of humor is telling someone to die, because stupid R67 is an illiterate cunt.

Listen, it's ME! **I** am the queen cunt of this thread and this band!

Don't try to out cunt me!

Wow r69! Don't fuck with the DL elders and their bizarre grammar obsessions!

R35 etc. is such a stupid cunt she will fail to grasp that the previous post at R69, and R70l, is a form of dark humor, and an excessive response as being a form of literally bitch-slapping the likes of R35 who, as stated before, is an illiterate cunt.

R35 etc should have her "Lips... Sealed" with stitches of fishing line.

R35 etc. should take a permanent "Vacation" from existence.

R35 R67, etc. is "Head Over Heels" with stupidity and is "Fading Fast."

If anyone wants base idiocy, R35, etc. we'll "Turn to You."

r72 apparently got into Belinda's coke stash.

Happy for the Go-Go's. Scratching my head at LL's induction though.

The Showtime doc on the Go-Go's is really good. They were a bunch of wild party girls who liked booze, coke and lots of dick. And they got plenty of all of that.

There was a funny story about their SNL appearance in '82 or thereabouts. They were told to get to the SNL studio in the late afternoon or early evening, and once they got there they had nothing to do and wondered why they were called so early. Bored, they started imbibing from the liquor cart that was backstage for the rest of the evening and by the time they went onstage to play at midnight - on live national television - all five of them were completely shitfaced drunk. Amazingly, they still played a good set and nobody seemed to notice how intoxicated they all were.

R56 Yes, Connie Francis should have been one of the first to be inducted, and so should have Tina Turner! It is ridiculous that Connie is not in and it has taken so long for Tina to get in. The Hall is unbelievable and and invalid overall.

Connie Francis was a big influence on Belinda Carlisle.

Everyone in the group but Jane seemed to know Belinda was the lead vocal. Jane seemed convinced in her own mind they should take turns or something. Even if you wrote the song you are still in a band with a lead singer in place. People who listened to the Go Go's expected to hear Belinda to sing the songs. That's just how it is in a band.

Jane went to my high school. I knew her brother. Very cute. Big penis.

The Go-Go's had one or two hits while together maybe three years . Cher has had 60 years of hits, goddammit!

[quote]Everyone in the group but Jane seemed to know Belinda was the lead vocal. Jane seemed convinced in her own mind they should take turns or something. Even if you wrote the song you are still in a band with a lead singer in place. People who listened to the Go Go's expected to hear Belinda to sing the songs. That's just how it is in a band.

If Belinda hadn't taken the lead, what would she have done? Sat on a chair and wiggled a tambourine?

They were kind of stuck with her as the lead singer because there was nothing else she could do.

"Isn't the RRHF just an ass kiss fest for the guy from Rolling stone Magazine? What's his name, Hans?"

Jann Wenner is no longer in charge. Greg Harris is.

[quote] Everyone in the group but Jane seemed to know Belinda was the lead vocal. Jane seemed convinced in her own mind they should take turns or something. Even if you wrote the song you are still in a band with a lead singer in place. People who listened to the Go Go's expected to hear Belinda to sing the songs. That's just how it is in a band.

Jane did not want to arbitrarily take turns on all songs. She wanted to sing the lead on a song that was meaningful to her and that she wrote, and when the other band members got wiggy about it, it devastated her. Jane's leaving was the first crack in the foundation of the Go-Go's. (Well, that and the fact that they never split their songwriting 5 ways, which is the real issue.)

They could have had Jane sing a song a record and it would have been just fucking fine. Other bands have done that and lived. Belinda was a massive control freak and a huge cunt who still cunts to this very day.

Belinda looks embalmed

They deserve to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Fun fact: Belinda Carlisle was born one day after Madonna.

Prince was born in April, Michael Jackson in June, Madonna and Belinda in August. All in 1958.

And so sad that Belinda is the only one still alive.

I was shocked to read recently that Belinda only stopped doing coke in 2005! Crazy that she went that long.

How did she have a husband and a semi functional kid after doing coke for that long?

I have no idea r88. It's pretty surprising. And her son adores her and they're close.

Beautiful - and still a fun group

I’m sick of hearing about those coked-out old whores.

R91 So you bump the thread yet again? Smart move

Michael Jackson was born in August not June. He died in June.

I watched The Go-Go's get their star on Hollywood Blvd

Who else on here was there?

Belinda had a "coke apartment" in Marina Del Rey she kept into the early 2000s

Belinda has some coke licks during her interview segments on this Cinemax Album Flash

Drew Barrymore gives induction speech.

Loved the Drew Barrymore intro

[quote] And yet no Connie Francis, the first woman of Rock n Roll.

Correct, R56.

Good for them! Now for The Bangles! I'm with [R 61] here. Wonder if Pat Benatar will ever get inducted?

The Go-Go’s actually put on one hell of a show and are a lot of fun. They are a dysfunctional family. Their fans are equally dysfunctional. Just follow some of the FB groups to see a parade of nut jobs.

You were so close R100. If you'd just deleted the space between the R and the number, you'd have landed it.

[quote] The Go-Go’s actually put on one hell of a show and are a lot of fun

That they are. And they wouldn't be the first band, male or female, to have infighting.

But if even a portion of what Kathy V said in her lawsuit is true, it's just fucking sad and heartbreaking.

What did Kathy say in her lawsuit?

When Kathy was pushed out of the band, Belinda had pushed for the money the Go-Go's made in their corporation to be reallocated, and instead of 20 percent for everyone, Kathy's allocation would drop to 2 percent, and the rest would be divided among the remaining four.

The lawsuit said Belinda had essentially spent the last years before Kathy left trying to pick a fight with the various Go-Go's - she'd had her eye on doing this for a while and just succeeded with Kathy.

While Kathy's book doesn't go into anything much later than 1990 (and thus not the lawsuit), it does explain one of the issues the Go-Go's have had and continue to have - they kept their own songwriting money. Charlotte and Jane were the strongest songwriters in the band, but Kathy wrote a solid share too, including "Vacation." Belinda and Gina saw significantly less money from songwriting profits. Kathy said a few years back that she makes about $60K a year on songwriting royalties for Vacation alone. So it isn't peanuts.

I wish the lawsuit was still online somewhere. I don't mean to be overly MARY! about it, and I wish them well, but it really killed the Go-Go's for me as a band.

R104 Primarily that there had always been one that the others were pissed at, and ganging up on. Then that fight would blow over, and someone else would be on the receiving end of it, cycling through each. Some mean emails were unearthed "I'm not getting on stage with her again." Then a peacemaker would calm them down, they go on the road, have fun, and forgive again. Seems to have finally died down now that they're in their 60s.

[quote] Seems to have finally died down now that they're in their 60s.

A recent news article said that as recently as April someone was not going to participate in the RRHOF concert lest they be on stage with another again. (They didn't specify who.)

I think old habits never die LOL.

Our lips are sealed.

Have a group of women ever gotten along?

After this many years, they are family, whether they like it or not. Families fight. Hell, this weekend my boyfriend swore we were cutting all ties with part of his family over something bitchy his sister said, and the next day all was forgiven.

They did great set at the ceremony, they sound exactly the same

Full set at the induction from a fancam.

I just want to know who Pat Benatar turned down for sex because there's no way she shouldn't be in the RRHoF.

I don't get the Drew Barrymore connection? Lame.

R113 Allegedly it's because of the husband - complete asshole.

Whoever did Belinda’s hair and makeup really did her right. She didn’t look as harsh and taut as she has the last few years.

The RRHOF is just some lame bs the guy from RollingStone came up with. Everyone in the hall are people he likes. That is it.

They wouldn’t induct Pat Benatar AND Neil Geraldo, it would just be Pat’s name on the ballot and Neil’s fragile masculinity wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Belinda looks pretty good for someone who spent most of her life on drugs. She should really look like total shit. Imagine how amazing she’d look if she hadn’t been such a junkie.

I saw Pat Benatar in concert a few years ago and it really was more like a Neil Geraldo concert with Pat as a guest singer. The poster at the venue had both of their faces on it. It really turned me off. NO ONE gives a shit about him.

R120 Same - saw Pat at a big county fair. HE spoke first to the crowd, then said - seriously - "I think most of you know the wonderful, fabulous beautiful "wife of mine" - Pat Benatar! Of course everyone screamed FOR HER - yet he was so weird and smug on stage.

I bet it was Gina who didn’t want to be on stage with Charlotte.

Bitchy and/or cuckoo as Belinda may or may not be, you’d think after 40 plus years the others would have accepted that she is the STAR. They all are more talented musicians, and most of them probably have more money than Belinda, thanks to songwriting royalties, but they would have never been as big without Belinda.

"Fun fact: Belinda Carlisle was born one day after Madonna."

Yeah; that's a real hoot, r85. I'm gonna have a Belinda Carlisle was born one day after Madonna-themed New Year's party.

What are you going to do to celebrate r124?

Lou Reed is considered one of the biggest assholes in rock and yet he's been elected twice. I think it goes deeper for Benatar than her husband's a jerk.

I love the Go-Go's but I hate the fact that musicians like CHIC never made it in. THEY changed the sound of music and defined an era that still is heard today. The Foo Fighters got in sooner than they should. Dave ass kissed his way in again. Dave changed the sound of music with his first band. FF just retreaded it. Meh.

Chic definitely should be in. They were hugely influential and their music is still very popular today.

I don't get Jay-Z's induction either.

Jay Z deserved it. He's been hugely influential and his body of work is worthy.

They deserve to be there IMO. Their "claim to fame" of being the best-selling all-female group who wrote/performed their own material is historically relevant, and they had a number of major pop hits. I also don't get all the hatred for Belinda. She was a pudgy kid from a poor, abusive household in the valley—a classic underdog. The fact that she made it as far as she did is something of a miracle, especially because, as others have noted, she was never much of a singer. She's always been okay, but nothing to write home about. What I like though is the fact that she herself is aware of this. I've heard her say in many interviews that she didn't have a great voice, but it was unique enough to work for the type of music they made. She doesn't seem like someone who has airs about herself. These days, she seems more interested in Buddhism and living in foreign countries than anything else.

Jay Z BOUGHT his way in. Bey will do the same! He deserves to be there but NOT NOW! Just like the Foo Fighters. NOT NOW!

Kurtis Blow, Whodini, Big Daddy Kane, Salt-N-Pepa, Eric B. & Rakim, Slick Rick all deserve it BEFORE Jay and Bey. And in private I'm sure Jay knows it. I'll say Eazy-E, Ice Cube and Ice T too.

[Quote] Belinda. She was a pudgy kid from a poor, abusive household in the valley

She mostly live in Burbank and Thousand Oaks. T O was nice back then and still is. I grew up in the shittiest part of the West Valley. B spent a hot minute in the next city east of me in Reseda. She was lucky and rich, imo.

Belinda was the oldest of seven kids and her father left when she was very young. Her mother struggled a lot. She had a shit childhood.

Point being she spent her pre teen and teens years in T O. NOT a bad place to grow up.

Belinda was a cheerleader at Newbury Park High School FFS! She was a regular kids. She was not poor. Sheeeeesh!

I agree R132. It's not that Jay Z is undeserving. It's just his induction is premature. There are more veteran acts who deserve to get in before him and LL Cool J.

Someone mentioned upthread that Belinda is the "poorest" member of the band because she doesn't collect songwriting royalties, but isn't she married to some rich producer dude?

Belinda grew up poor.

Belinda didn't grow up poor.

R139 are you kidding? She was one of seven children whose dad worked at a gas station. She certainly did not grow up with a lot of financial means.

R137 she's not married to a producer—her husband is Morgan Mason, a politician and son of actor James Mason. I'm sure Morgan inherited a lot of money. He and Belinda live comfortably I'm sure.

r140, freak! She moved to Burbank from when she was 7 and then at 11 she moved to T O. I never said she was rich BUT she wasn't poor as your made up bs states. She was a regular girl from pre teens to adulthood. I'll bet you live in a fly over state and have no idea what it's like in T O then and now.

Fyi, Simi Valley wasn't a bad place to start but you wouldn't know that.

"Freak!"? I know DL can be juvenile, but really? I am simply basing this on what Belinda herself has said, which is that her family did not have a lot of money. Even in the '60s, a gas station worker wasn't making a killing, especially when he had seven kids to feed. The Carlisles would have been lower-class. Granted, I don't know what Belinda's stepdad did for a living; perhaps they were more financially stable after her mother remarried. And for the record, no, I'm not from a flyover state—I was raised in the Pacific Northwest, and my dad was actually born in raised in—you'll never guess—Los Angeles!

Born and raised in LA. Jane and her brothers went to my high school. My brother was friends with them. Never said she was rich but she wasn't poor from 7yo on. She didn't live in the shit areas at that time. Not one. Poor people don't live in T O. Even back then.

Your Dad has nothing to do with what you clearly don't know.

Okay, so Belinda was *possibly* poor until age 7. Fine.

Belinda was obviously a star. Which is why she could have a solo career that even Jane has said multiple times was hard on her. Your friend succeeds and it's hard on you? Really? You're a nutmag. I rather like when my friends do well. Jane self created a rivalry with Belinda that Belinda was never aware of until all the backstabbing. Those happen. These crazy bitches have been fighting for more than a decade I can't even keep up anymore. Every year they're all pissed at someone new.

[Quote] Okay, so Belinda was *possibly* poor until age 7. Fine.

See. I did that for you since you're so exhausting about poverty stricken B was your storyline. Don't say I didn't do anything for you. You're welcome.

[quote]And so sad that Belinda is the only one still alive.

Madonna is dead?

her soul is; body? never.

R147 I was waiting for someone to catch on LOL

R28 So? The Sex Pistols were together for less than two years. Nirvana was together for a couple of years as well. What does that has to do with anything?

There are existing fault lines in the band that will probably always lead them to argue and fight.

The money situation, since Gina and Belinda don't share in songwriting money.

The Jane/Belinda dynamic - they have been best of friends and also worst of enemies. I believe Jane was actually in love with Belinda, which complicated things.

Kathy was, I think, still sort of an outsider, which sounds crazy, but based on what I read in Kathy's book, I think Belinda, Jane and Charlotte were a bit of the "queen bees" and original band members, and Kathy was almost like Cady in Mean Girls, picked to be included. Which makes sense that Kathy would have been the one Belinda successfully pushed out.

There's just Belinda period, who has tried to fire everyone from the band and, despite being the ostensible star of the Go-Go's and having a huge solo career, is still hugely insecure.

There's Charlotte, who I think is a serious stealth bitch who stirs shit up. She may not be an addict any longer, but once an addict, always a manipulator, and based on what I've seen of her, I think she is That Bitch.

Can you imagine how difficult it would be to get along with people you travel with, party with, work with for years? There are a lot of personalities mixed in there. Then there is the addiction, artistic differences and money issues. I doubt there are too many bands, if any, that don't have drama.

Rock'n'roll Hall of Fame is the most un-rock'n'roll thing ever. Foo Fightyer, the most generic, lame, Budweiser commercial music band, got in and Sonic Youth still aren't in.

Because, like the Grammys and AMA's, the RRHOF is a corporate fuckery

What the fuck is a T.O.?

[quote] I'm gonna have a Belinda Carlisle was born one day after Madonna-themed New Year's party.

It could be called "Beauty and the Beast".

R155 Based on other posts above I am guessing Thousand Oaks.

[quote] I believe Jane was actually in love with Belinda, which complicated things.

Jane has always been open about her love of pussy, and Belinda was a cute little snack in the 80s. Belinda, alas, has always been strictly dickly and I'm sure that frustrated Jane.

r152 I think you're right. Imagine being with a group of people literally 24/7 for long periods of time. And add to that the insane schedule that a band has with recording, concerts, PR things and other assorted events. I don't think anybody could be in that environment without getting an little mental. Most bands have had terrible problems with infighting because they're always together and there's so much pressure coming from various sources.

Jane and Charlotte got rich off the Go-Gos. Belinda got nothing extra though she was the star.

Pretty much any band goes through infighting and drama over the years…some operate by majority rule, some require unanimous decisions and others are ruled by one member…Jon Bon Jovi is a prime example. I think the Go-Go’s were one of those bands that were 3 vs 2 in various combinations many times over the years except for when Kathy was kicked out and it was 4 vs 1. I would expect the Go-Go’s probably know that they are experiencing their final wave of high visibility and will spend the next year or two cashing in while they are the focus of some media attention.

[quote] Jane has always been open about her love of pussy, and Belinda was a cute little snack in the 80s. Belinda, alas, has always been strictly dickly and I'm sure that frustrated Jane.

I'm not even super sure if it was a sexual thing, but I think after watching Jane interact with Belinda early on, and her nickname for Belinda (Babe) that it was a love/crush thing. Jane was short and exotic (part Lebanese) and Belinda aka "Babe" was the blond surfer chick, the ideal California girl. Probably all the things Jane wanted to be and was not. So that was part of the attract/repel/attract cycle, too.

Saw them in concert at Madison Square Garden with A Flock Of Seagulls opening. A fan but c'mon The Go-Go's inducted before Pat Benatar? Ridiculous.

Isn't Belinda also openly bi, just like Jane?

Belinda has always been strictly dickly.

The Go-Go's are just one of many, many artists who would be cut in this writer's purge.

[quote]Belinda has always been strictly dickly.

Belinda would tongue a thousand clits if she knew there was cocaine at the end.