The Go-Go‘s performing at the Whisky A Go Go in 1980. From left to right: Charlotte Caffey, Gina Schock, Belinda Carlisle, Jane Wiedlin and Margot Olavarria © Donna Santisi/Redferns
At first, it might seem a stretch to draw a link between Los Angeles’ underground hardcore punk scene emerging out of the sweaty clubs in the late 70s and the glossy commercial pop that topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic in the mid-80s. But, in fact, it can be achieved rather neatly via the stor y of just one individual: Dottie Danger, a rebellious teen who briefly played drums for cult heroes Germs – a band that once called themselves Sophistifuck And The Revlon Spam Queens. You will no doubt know her bet ter as Belinda Carlisle. Indeed, if it wasn’t for another germ – a severe case of glandular fever, in fact, which put Dottie out of action for Germs’ first gig – history might have taken a different path.
The clubs of Los Angeles and California’s other big cities were a rich melting pot at the turn of the 80s, producing both underground heroes and unlikely chart toppers, often from the same group. It’s a story worthy of the Hollywood treatment, one that encompasses the birth of new wave, the rise of all-girl groups and gloss rock, and the very essence of the American Dream itself.