The Go-Go’s Documentary Set For Summer Release
Alison Ellwood’s “The Go-Go’s” will air on Showtime beginning 1 August. The band, meanwhile, have cancelled their summer tour dates in light of COVID-19.
Alison Ellwood’s anticipated documentary around pioneering band The Go-Go’s will be released 1 August on Showtime. Through archival footage, interviews with band members, and plenty of music, The Go-Go’s, chronicles the all-female New Wave band’s rise to fame, their best-selling albums, and their lasting impact. In related news, meanwhile, The Go-Go’s announced today that their summer tour dates, originally scheduled to support the documentary, have been postponed until 2021, amid the pandemic.
“We lived it and we survived it”, said The Go-Go’s in a statement. “Now, looking back on our history through this film, we can appreciate our journey, laughter, triumphs and struggles as a band. We hope this documentary will show the world what pioneers we were, and how our experience paved the way for other musicians.”
The Go-Go’s met and formed in the burgeoning Los Angeles punk scene in the late 70s, and released their New Wave debut, Beauty And The Beat in 1981. The group – comprised of Charlotte Caffey (lead guitar, keyboards and vocals), Belinda Carlisle (lead vocals), Gina Schock (drums), Kathy Valentine (bass and vocals) and Jane Wiedlin (guitar & vocals) – quickly established themselves as one of the hottest new bands on the radio with infectious tracks like ‘We Got The Beat’, ‘This Town’ and ‘Our Lips Are Sealed’. Not only did the album hit No.1 on the Billboard 200, but it stood as the second best-selling album of the year, and one of the highest-selling debuts of all time.
The group would follow with 1982’s Vacation and 1984’s Talk Show before going their separate ways in 1985. From there, the band members would enjoy solo careers of their own, while numerous reunions followed, beginning in the 90s. Nevertheless, The Go-Go’s stand as the most successful female rock band of all time, and the first multi-platinum-selling, all-female band to play their own instruments, write their own songs and have a No.1 album.
Ellwood, who helmed the acclaimed 2013 documentary, History of The Eagles, said, “I’ve always been a huge Go-Go’s fan. When the band asked me to direct this film, I was thrilled. Like a lot of people, I thought of them as this wonderful, bubbly, all-girl pop band from LA. What I’ve discovered is a much more complex and deeper truth.”
She added, “The summer of 2020 will certainly be different for most of us. It’s fantastic that the Showtime audience will get a chance to see our film and experience the Go-Go’s in a new and meaningful way.”
Ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Go-Go’s premiered at Sundance in January, where it picked up wave early reviews, including from Variety, which called the film, “An ace documentary [that] nails the spirit of the game-changing, grinning-and-bopping, God-do-you-miss-the-’80s-or-what? all-female punk-pop band”.
Listen to the best of The Go-Go’s on Apple Music and Spotify.
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