the Go-Go's - Beauty and the Beat (35th anniversary)

Today (July 8th) marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of Beauty and the Beat, the debut album from the Go-Go's. This 1981 record spent seventy-two weeks on the US Billboard Album chart, including six at the number 1 spot.

For my full review of this classic debut, click here.

For even more from the Go-Go's, click here.

The Go-Go's - Talk Show

Today (March 16th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of Talk Show, the third studio album from the all-female American rock band the Go-Go's. The 1984 release, their final before a break-up, spent thirty-two weeks on the US Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 18. It also went to number 64 in Canada.

The Go-Go's - Vacation (30th anniversary)

Today, August 11th, also marks the 30th anniversary of the release of the Go-Go's second studio album Vacation.

For my review of this album, please click here.

To celebrate, I am going to cue up this album too and celebrate some 80's rocking girl power.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (soundtrack) (30th Anniversary)

This week, we are doing Matinee Monday.

Today (July 30th) marks the 30th anniversary of the release of the soundtrack album to the seminal 80's teen film Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

For my review of this album, please click here.

So, let's all put on our checkered Vans and chill out with Spicoli, Brad, Stacy, Damone, and Mr. Hand.

Happy Birthday, Kathy Valentine

Today, January 7th, is the fifty-third birthday of rock guitarist Kathy Valentine.

Valentine first began playing the guitar at age sixteen in Austin, Texas, where she grew up. In her teens, she played with bands like Girlschool (a British heavy metal band) and the Textones. She helped out the Go-Go's for a New Year's Eve show in 1980 and decided to stay with the band as their bassist on a more permanent basis. She has also played guitar in the World's Cutest Killers, the BlueBonnets, and the Delphines.

In 2005, Valentine released a solo album Light Years that she wrote, arranged, co-produced, as well as providing guitar and vocal tracks. She is married with one daughter and resides in her hometown of Austin. You can find her regular on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Kathy_Valentine.

Here are a few of the albums I have reviewed previously that feature Valentine and the Go-Go's:

- for the band's 1981 debut album Beauty and the Beat, click here

- the band also appeared on the 1981 soundtrack for the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High which I reviewed here

- for the band's 1982 second album Vacation, click here

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (soundtrack)

Welcome to another edition of Soundtrack Sunday.

In 1981, Rolling Stone magazine writer Cameron Crowe went undercover to a San Diego, California, high school to research a book. In 1982, that book was adapted into the coming-of-age teen comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The film, which opened in August of 1982, helped launch the careers of young actors Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Renhold, Robert Romanus, Phoebe Cates, Forest Whitaker, Eric Stoltz, Anthony Edwards and Nicolas Cage. At a cost of $4.5 million to make, the film earned more than $27 million at the box office and has since become a TV/cable and video favorite the world over. It even spun off a short-lived CBS sitcom in 1986 that starred young actors Courtney Thorne-Smith and Patrick Dempsey.

The double-disk soundtrack album, released on July 30th of 1982, did fairly well; it peaked at number 54 on the Billboard 200 and several of the songs were released as singles.

The Go-Go's - Vacation

Coming off a big debut record the year before, in 1982 the Go-Go’s needed to prove the first time around was no fluke. Their second studio album, however, did not perform nearly as well as Beauty and the Beat. It only went Gold in the US, after peaking at number 8 on the charts, and produced only one Top-40 hit out of three singles.

the Go-Go's - Beauty and the Beat

In the 60's, we had the Shirelles, the Supremes and the Ronnettes.

In the 70's, we had Patti LaBelle with her Bluebelles, and Joan Jett and Lita Ford in the Runaways.

As the 80's began, a new age of girl-groups came into vogue and leading the charge were the Go-Go's.