1 00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:12,440 Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. This is a 2 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:17,840 Speaker 1: story about the darkness and the light, about serial killers 3 00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:23,040 Speaker 1: and seriously killer pop hits. It's about high heels and 4 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:26,920 Speaker 1: trash bags and leather jackets and sex tapes before we 5 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:30,520 Speaker 1: had a name for them. It's about the greatest girl 6 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:33,320 Speaker 1: group to ever hit the charts, one of the greatest 7 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:38,839 Speaker 1: groups ever. Actually, it is about the Go Gos. And 8 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:42,160 Speaker 1: you know what the Go Gos did. They made great music, 9 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:45,000 Speaker 1: Unlike that music I played for you at the top 10 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:48,920 Speaker 1: of the show. That wasn't great music. That was a 11 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:52,560 Speaker 1: preset loop from my melotron called Jerry Lee did it first? 12 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:57,920 Speaker 1: Not you MK one? I played you that loop because 13 00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:00,840 Speaker 1: I can't afford the rights to Centerfold by the Jay 14 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:05,280 Speaker 1: Giles Band. Why would I play that specific slice of 15 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 1: woffle goofa Cheese? Could I afford it? Because that was 16 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,440 Speaker 1: the number one song in America on March sixth, nineteen 17 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:16,320 Speaker 1: eighty two, And that was the day that the Go 18 00:01:16,319 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 1: Gos album Beauty and the Beat also went to number one, 19 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:23,039 Speaker 1: marking the first time in the history of pop music 20 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:25,679 Speaker 1: that an album written by a group of all women 21 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:30,039 Speaker 1: had gone to number one on the charts. On this 22 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:34,800 Speaker 1: episode Girls on Top serial Killers a sex tape in 23 00:01:34,880 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 1: the Go Gos. I'm Jake Brennan and this is Disgraceland. 24 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:09,000 Speaker 1: Young women have been turning up dead in the hills 25 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 1: outside Hollywood for the past two years, and when they 26 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:15,960 Speaker 1: finally caught the psychopath who was responsible, it turned out 27 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:19,440 Speaker 1: that there were actually two men doing the killing. The 28 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:22,239 Speaker 1: serial killer Capital of the World got a little darker 29 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 1: that day. Welcome to Los Angeles, nineteen seventy eight. The 30 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 1: Hillside Strangler or Stranglers rather kidnapped, raped, tortured, and murdered 31 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:38,360 Speaker 1: ten women and held the city, especially its women, in 32 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:41,800 Speaker 1: the grip of fear for close to a year. For 33 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:45,239 Speaker 1: Angelino's at the time, this somehow did not seem out 34 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:49,680 Speaker 1: of the ordinary. In the late nineteen seventies, fear blanketed 35 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:52,800 Speaker 1: the city with an oppression as familiar as its notorious smog. 36 00:02:54,000 --> 00:03:00,360 Speaker 1: La was dark figuratively and literally. The Hillside strangled were 37 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:04,800 Speaker 1: not alone. There was the Freeway Killer, the skid Row Stabber. 38 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:08,680 Speaker 1: Violent Chicano gangs controlled the streets on the East Side. 39 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:12,040 Speaker 1: Quick to kill bloods and crips were transforming South Central 40 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:15,480 Speaker 1: into a war zone. Down on the wrong side a sunset. 41 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:18,680 Speaker 1: Long haired freaky people convinced kids to run away from 42 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: their parents and get religion. Charlie's girls shaved their heads 43 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:26,840 Speaker 1: and kept the canyons. Culty doune buggy assassins ran drugs 44 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:29,519 Speaker 1: out of death Valley bikers and what was left of 45 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:33,200 Speaker 1: the Black Panthers kept the squares. Freaked out greasers ripped 46 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:36,720 Speaker 1: the strip and killing machine muscle cars and the scientologists 47 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:42,400 Speaker 1: were just getting started down off Hollywood Boulevard on Cherokee. 48 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 1: Outside the Canterbury apartments, Paramedics were wheeling out the dead 49 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:49,960 Speaker 1: body on a gurney, and no one knew how long 50 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:53,600 Speaker 1: this resident of the Canterbury had been dead. No one cared. 51 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 1: She was a washed up starlet from a long ago 52 00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:00,640 Speaker 1: Hollywood era. Certainly her retirement plan did not include this. 53 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:06,000 Speaker 1: A run down apartment building inhabited by debased delinquents, debauchery, 54 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 1: an open air drug market, vice, grime and squalor, filth 55 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:15,040 Speaker 1: and fury American style young men and women engaged in 56 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:18,840 Speaker 1: all manner of revolt. Their natural post pubescent rebellion turned 57 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:22,120 Speaker 1: to nihilism by the extreme violence reflecting down on them 58 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:26,000 Speaker 1: under the big black sun that blanketed LA. Good Morning, 59 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 1: Midnight America. Do you know where your lost children live? 60 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:36,960 Speaker 1: They live here, runaways, suburban castos, spoiled rich kids on 61 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:40,000 Speaker 1: the other side of their expiration dates, and all of 62 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:42,880 Speaker 1: them moving to the sound of souped up classic cars, 63 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:47,920 Speaker 1: surf guitars, and subversion punk rock. West Coast style was 64 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:50,520 Speaker 1: amalgamating on its own and in its own way, three 65 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:53,280 Speaker 1: thousand miles from New York City, down in the dingy 66 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:58,160 Speaker 1: basement of LA's Canterbury apartments, where a new band was rehearsing, 67 00:04:58,839 --> 00:05:03,560 Speaker 1: The Go Gos. Their guitar player, Canterbury resident Jane Wyland, 68 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:07,480 Speaker 1: led their sound with an irrepressible energy that belied her 69 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:13,000 Speaker 1: city's gloom. Similarly, the signature outfit of Gogos singer Belinda Carlyle, 70 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:17,040 Speaker 1: literal trash bag clinched with a thrift store belt, could 71 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 1: not suppress her natural beauty. The Go Gos were young, raw, 72 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:25,679 Speaker 1: and fresh off their first show at LA's The Mask, 73 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:30,720 Speaker 1: the West Coast answer to CBGB's, a tiny subterranean punk 74 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:33,760 Speaker 1: rock club beneath the skin Flick House where early LA 75 00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:37,240 Speaker 1: punk bands X, the Bags and the Germs got their start. 76 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:41,039 Speaker 1: Blinda Carlyle sat behind the drum kit for the Germs 77 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:44,280 Speaker 1: back in the day before graduating to become front woman 78 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:48,840 Speaker 1: for the Go Gos. One of Belinda's Germs bandmates was 79 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:51,920 Speaker 1: Pat Smear, who would go on to join Nirvana and 80 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:56,640 Speaker 1: then the Foo Fighters. Darby Crash fronted the Germs. Darby 81 00:05:56,640 --> 00:05:59,600 Speaker 1: would go on to become a punk rock casualty worse 82 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:03,800 Speaker 1: rock and roll cliche, dead of a heroin overdose at 83 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:08,159 Speaker 1: just twenty two years old. The Go Gos formed with 84 00:06:08,279 --> 00:06:11,479 Speaker 1: Jane Wiland and Belinda Carlisle, as well as the excellent 85 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:16,920 Speaker 1: musician and songwriter Charlotte Caffey, bassist Margot Olavaria and Elisabello 86 00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:20,839 Speaker 1: on drums in nineteen seventy eight. They were just beginning 87 00:06:20,839 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 1: their journey to not become punk rock casualties, or worse, 88 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:30,680 Speaker 1: to become rock and roll cliches. Like most punk rock 89 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:34,440 Speaker 1: bands worth of dam the Go Goes aimed for authenticity. 90 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:38,680 Speaker 1: For them, that meant balancing the darkness of LA and 91 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:43,000 Speaker 1: of LA's punk scene with the natural, bouncy, idealized vision 92 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:45,159 Speaker 1: of the West Coast that the band members had grown 93 00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:50,200 Speaker 1: up in. Frankie Annette, Jan Dean and the Brothers Wilson 94 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:52,960 Speaker 1: before Manson taught them out and never learn not to love. 95 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:58,960 Speaker 1: Being authentic meant drawing on your own influences, not some 96 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:02,719 Speaker 1: prescribedunk rock dictum stating what a young punk band could 97 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:07,520 Speaker 1: and couldn't sound like. Guitarist Jane Wiland's taste spanned beyond 98 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:10,640 Speaker 1: the obvious impact of the Ramones and the Buzzcocks to 99 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:15,400 Speaker 1: sixties girl groups. Singer Belinda Carlisle was California to her 100 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:20,440 Speaker 1: core surf music, the Grassroots, and guitarist Charlotte Caffey grew 101 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:24,920 Speaker 1: up obsessed with all kinds of music. The Beatles, Stones Genesis, 102 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:29,320 Speaker 1: Patti Smith and Moore. A new drummer Gina Shack, who 103 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:31,920 Speaker 1: joined in nineteen seventy nine after coming up through the 104 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:34,800 Speaker 1: ranks of the Baltimore trash scene behind the kit for 105 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:37,920 Speaker 1: the John Waters star Edith Massey and her Edie Lee 106 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:41,520 Speaker 1: Eggs group. Gina was a throwback to another generation of 107 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:45,360 Speaker 1: workhorse drummers, steeped in the sounds of John Bonham and 108 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:49,400 Speaker 1: Keith Moon. The Go Gos were not simply a group 109 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:52,000 Speaker 1: of girls trying punk rock on for size. As the 110 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:55,960 Speaker 1: latest successory content to grapple with the obvious influences of 111 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:59,160 Speaker 1: the all girl group The Runaways or New York's female 112 00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:03,040 Speaker 1: front a Blondie No The Go Gos from their inception 113 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:07,040 Speaker 1: were as serious minded musically as the serial killers, who 114 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:12,560 Speaker 1: proud their shared streets were murderous on stage. The Go 115 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:19,480 Speaker 1: Gos killed off stage. They nearly killed their career because 116 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:22,360 Speaker 1: the Go Gos were hell bent on staying true to themselves, 117 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:27,080 Speaker 1: on being authentic, on not becoming rock and roll cliches. 118 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:30,880 Speaker 1: And to do that, they needed to do the one 119 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:36,120 Speaker 1: thing every adult, every professional, every male record executive told 120 00:08:36,160 --> 00:09:02,640 Speaker 1: them they shouldn't do, write their own songs. It sounds 121 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:06,240 Speaker 1: ridiculous now, but back in the early nineteen eighties, the 122 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:08,640 Speaker 1: idea that a group of women could write their own 123 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:12,760 Speaker 1: hit songs was radical, And maybe radical is the wrong word. 124 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:16,880 Speaker 1: Heretical is more like it. It was heresy in the 125 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:20,360 Speaker 1: late seventies early eighties music industry to believe a group 126 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:24,120 Speaker 1: of girls could write hit songs. The Runaways had a 127 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:28,559 Speaker 1: male Svengali Kim Foley behind them, and Blondie's Debbie Harry 128 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:31,800 Speaker 1: had a bunch of dudes in her band, The Supremes. 129 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:36,040 Speaker 1: The Pointer Sisters LaBelle their hits were all written by others. 130 00:09:36,840 --> 00:09:39,560 Speaker 1: Same goes for all those Phil Spector produced girl groups 131 00:09:39,559 --> 00:09:43,040 Speaker 1: of the sixties that the Go Gos love. There simply 132 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:46,439 Speaker 1: was no model for a group of women writing their 133 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:50,760 Speaker 1: own hit songs. And you know what that's like when 134 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:53,720 Speaker 1: something hasn't been done before, No matter how simple or 135 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:57,239 Speaker 1: obvious the task. For the majority of people in the world, 136 00:09:57,360 --> 00:10:01,880 Speaker 1: that something seems impossible. People who are governed solely by reason, 137 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:05,480 Speaker 1: who need to witness physical or historical evidence before they 138 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:09,040 Speaker 1: can put their faith into something, generally speaking, are averse 139 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:13,760 Speaker 1: to risk. By contrast, the Go Gos because they insisted 140 00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:16,760 Speaker 1: on writing their own songs. Well. The Go Gos, therefore, 141 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:21,320 Speaker 1: in the record industry's eyes, were a risk themselves, and 142 00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:24,040 Speaker 1: they couldn't get a record deal no matter how many 143 00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:26,080 Speaker 1: times they packed the whiskey of Go Go on the 144 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:29,920 Speaker 1: Sunset Strip, which was exactly what the Go Gos were 145 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:38,160 Speaker 1: about to do, except they needed a bass player. Kathy 146 00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:40,920 Speaker 1: Valentine was holed up in her friend's la dark room 147 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:45,640 Speaker 1: as her friend developed photos. Kathy contemplated the cocaine he 148 00:10:45,679 --> 00:10:49,719 Speaker 1: was selling, and her friend contemplated, Kathy, should he get 149 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:53,120 Speaker 1: high with this girl? She was young, just twenty one, 150 00:10:53,559 --> 00:10:57,400 Speaker 1: and from out of town, Texas and now here in LA. 151 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:01,800 Speaker 1: He wanted a freebase, though was she hardcore enough for that? 152 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:05,800 Speaker 1: Was she ready? She was a musician, she claimed so, 153 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:10,920 Speaker 1: perhaps yes, And the smell of chemical fumes overpowered Kathy. 154 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:14,080 Speaker 1: That was nothing compared to what was about to happen 155 00:11:15,160 --> 00:11:18,160 Speaker 1: on the radio in the dark room. The news came 156 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:24,680 Speaker 1: through with zero passion. John Lennon was dead, murdered outside 157 00:11:24,679 --> 00:11:29,040 Speaker 1: his apartment in New York City, and Manhattan wasn't about 158 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:32,360 Speaker 1: to be outdone by LA's darkness. New York City had 159 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:35,680 Speaker 1: its own creeps too there at the end of nineteen eighty, 160 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:38,880 Speaker 1: and one of them had just gunned down the coolest beetle. 161 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:43,680 Speaker 1: Kathy couldn't help but cry. She didn't care what her friend, 162 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:47,760 Speaker 1: slash drug dealer thought about that, and her friend no 163 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:51,360 Speaker 1: longer cared whether Kathy could handle freebasing. If there was 164 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:55,280 Speaker 1: ever a time to freebase, it was now. So that's 165 00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:59,560 Speaker 1: what they did. And then Kathy Valentine took her cocaine 166 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:02,400 Speaker 1: back to her apartment and proceeded to smoke her rock 167 00:12:02,440 --> 00:12:04,800 Speaker 1: and roll grief away until a couple of days later, 168 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:08,520 Speaker 1: pulling herself together and heading out to the Whiskey to 169 00:12:08,559 --> 00:12:13,760 Speaker 1: see X play on Christmas Eve. It was there in 170 00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:17,160 Speaker 1: the Dingy Rock Club's bathroom where Kathy met the rest 171 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: of her life, Charlotte Kathy, the Go Gos guitarist. Charlotte 172 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:25,400 Speaker 1: knew Kathy could play, and Charlotte needed a bass player 173 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:28,000 Speaker 1: to fill in for Margo during the Go gos upcoming 174 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:32,040 Speaker 1: fortnight headlining stint at the Whiskey. Charlotte asked Kathy if 175 00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:34,280 Speaker 1: she'd be interested in the gig as the fill in 176 00:12:34,320 --> 00:12:38,720 Speaker 1: for the Gogs bassist. Kathy said yes on the spot, 177 00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:42,840 Speaker 1: and there was only one problem. Kathy couldn't play bass. 178 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:47,920 Speaker 1: Kathy was a guitarist, but that didn't stop her. Kathy 179 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:50,680 Speaker 1: didn't reason her way out of her destiny. She had 180 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:53,760 Speaker 1: faith in herself as a musician, so she spent the 181 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:57,160 Speaker 1: next forty eight hours hold up in her apartment, snorting 182 00:12:57,200 --> 00:12:59,400 Speaker 1: lines of cocaine and learning how to play the Go 183 00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:03,440 Speaker 1: Gos set on the bass guitar. When it came time 184 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:06,480 Speaker 1: for the shows eight shows and four days, two shows 185 00:13:06,480 --> 00:13:09,680 Speaker 1: per day, Kathy was ready and she killed it, and 186 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:12,440 Speaker 1: by the time the shows were over, the gig was 187 00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:18,040 Speaker 1: permanently hers. Kathy Valentine at Outshine Margo Olaveria and the 188 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:20,240 Speaker 1: Go Gos knew a perfect fit when they saw one. 189 00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:24,319 Speaker 1: Kathy was asked to join the band, and of course 190 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:28,160 Speaker 1: she did, with the Whiskey shows triumphantly in the rear view. 191 00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:31,080 Speaker 1: Now the Go Gos could focus on writing hits for 192 00:13:31,120 --> 00:13:35,160 Speaker 1: their debut album, but the problem was no record label 193 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:37,760 Speaker 1: would sign them due to the Go Go's insistence that 194 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:42,960 Speaker 1: they write their own songs. And that was exactly what 195 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:46,200 Speaker 1: Charlotte Caffey was busying herself with. On New Year's Day, 196 00:13:46,960 --> 00:13:50,319 Speaker 1: squirreled away up in her La apartment, word of that 197 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:55,160 Speaker 1: murdered girl Jane King being broadcast from the local news. 198 00:13:55,679 --> 00:13:57,880 Speaker 1: Jane was hanging out at the Mask when the Go 199 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:00,880 Speaker 1: Gos played their first show. That it is Jane hung 200 00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:03,600 Speaker 1: out at the Mask before the Hillside stranglers got their 201 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:07,440 Speaker 1: hands on her. Charlotte ignored the news and cut up 202 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:11,360 Speaker 1: some cocaine. She had a job to do. Writing songs 203 00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:15,960 Speaker 1: was work like anything else. The drugs, though, were not helping, 204 00:14:16,679 --> 00:14:20,560 Speaker 1: and neither was the television. Charlotte did another line anyway, 205 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:27,720 Speaker 1: and then she changed the channel. Yes, exactly what she needed. 206 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:32,840 Speaker 1: The annual New Year's Day Twilight Zone television marathon. Charlotte 207 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:36,840 Speaker 1: let herself get sucked in on the TV The Black 208 00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:43,800 Speaker 1: Leather Jackets Episode three, aliens disguised as greasers, pompadours, motorcycles, 209 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:49,520 Speaker 1: black leather denim, beyond cool walking down the street with 210 00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:55,640 Speaker 1: an eerie but irrepressible beat. Charlotte stared into the black 211 00:14:55,640 --> 00:14:58,520 Speaker 1: and white haze of the television and eventually passed out. 212 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:04,240 Speaker 1: When she woke up, she had it the beat, just 213 00:15:04,360 --> 00:15:06,760 Speaker 1: like the dudes and the Black Leather Jackets from back 214 00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:09,760 Speaker 1: in the day. Back then they did the pony, they 215 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:12,200 Speaker 1: did the watusi. It put them all on a trance. 216 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:15,200 Speaker 1: Charlotte was looking for a beat bassed song and here 217 00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:19,040 Speaker 1: it was, courtesy of cocaine and Rod Serling. See the 218 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:22,440 Speaker 1: people walking down the street, fall in line, just watching 219 00:15:22,520 --> 00:15:25,040 Speaker 1: all their feet. They don't know where they want to go, 220 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:29,920 Speaker 1: but they're walking in time. They got the beat. Charlotte 221 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:32,400 Speaker 1: pulled from her deep well of musical influences and brought 222 00:15:32,400 --> 00:15:35,800 Speaker 1: some light to the darkness surrounding her. The darkness from 223 00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:39,320 Speaker 1: her growing drug addiction, from the eerie television show, from 224 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:42,520 Speaker 1: the local news, from the danger on the streets outside 225 00:15:42,560 --> 00:15:46,240 Speaker 1: her apartment. Charlotte laid down a perfect West Coast guitar 226 00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:49,800 Speaker 1: riff over an imagined heavy tom beat. It wasn't punk, 227 00:15:50,040 --> 00:15:53,600 Speaker 1: but it wasn't pink either. It was nasty link rain 228 00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:56,720 Speaker 1: notes hammered over her sexually charged Dennis Wilson day at 229 00:15:56,760 --> 00:15:59,880 Speaker 1: the beach. It was LA's dark streets waking up the 230 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:04,320 Speaker 1: light of another perfect day. It was We Got the Beat, 231 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:12,080 Speaker 1: a perfect pop song. We Got the Beat was emblematic 232 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:14,520 Speaker 1: of who the Go Gos were and where they had 233 00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:17,440 Speaker 1: the potential to go as a group, as was the 234 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:21,080 Speaker 1: romantic bop Jane Wiling created with her tune Our Lips 235 00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:24,280 Speaker 1: Are Sealed. These were not the songs of a modest 236 00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:27,560 Speaker 1: punk rock band, because the Go Gos were not a 237 00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:31,400 Speaker 1: modest punk rock band. To pretend so would be inauthentic 238 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:35,320 Speaker 1: at the expense of their La punk rock credibility. The 239 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:38,680 Speaker 1: Go Gos did what came naturally to them. They wrote 240 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:42,600 Speaker 1: the only songs they knew how, songs that were potentially 241 00:16:42,880 --> 00:16:47,480 Speaker 1: giant smash pop hits born of punk rock, but far 242 00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:53,120 Speaker 1: from being punk rock. Nobody had seen, though, saw that potential. 243 00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:56,880 Speaker 1: Nobody believed that five women could write their own hits, 244 00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:00,160 Speaker 1: even when those hits were blaring back into their face. 245 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:04,160 Speaker 1: Nobody in America would believe it. That is, but across 246 00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:08,720 Speaker 1: the pond Miles Copeland, brother of the Police's drummer Stuart Copeland, 247 00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:12,200 Speaker 1: manager of his brother's band and head of IRS Records, 248 00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:16,200 Speaker 1: he did see the potential and the Go Gos from 249 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:18,200 Speaker 1: the strength that we got the beat and our lips 250 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:21,920 Speaker 1: are sealed. That potential should have been obvious to anyone 251 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:25,120 Speaker 1: with ears about to mention the fact that the Go 252 00:17:25,119 --> 00:17:28,159 Speaker 1: Goes look great on stage. They had a style that 253 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:31,359 Speaker 1: was totally their own, a mix of thrist store chic 254 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:35,119 Speaker 1: punk rock, nihilism and old Hollywood glam and I mean, 255 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:38,240 Speaker 1: come on. Belinda Carlisle was their front woman. She was 256 00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:41,439 Speaker 1: an incredibly charismatic singer who was impossible to take your 257 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:44,960 Speaker 1: eyes off of. No wonder, Miles Copeland signed them to 258 00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:48,520 Speaker 1: his record label. He knew that Go Gos couldn't miss. 259 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:52,040 Speaker 1: All they had to do now was put their incredible 260 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:55,080 Speaker 1: songs on tape and make a record. But doing that 261 00:17:55,400 --> 00:17:57,919 Speaker 1: meant that the Go Gos would have to leave LA's 262 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:07,000 Speaker 1: darkness behind and eventually moved past their own darkness. We'll 263 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:16,480 Speaker 1: be right back after this. We're We're we're destroying a 264 00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:18,760 Speaker 1: hotel room for a rock and roll band is a 265 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:21,800 Speaker 1: rite of passage. Doesn't matter if that man is a 266 00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:25,040 Speaker 1: bunch of dudes or the Go Gos. The difference with 267 00:18:25,080 --> 00:18:27,959 Speaker 1: the Go Gos was that after they destroyed their hotel room, 268 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:31,200 Speaker 1: they clean it up. It wasn't because there were women 269 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:34,960 Speaker 1: and inherently nicer than their male counterparts. No, I think 270 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:36,560 Speaker 1: it had more to do with the fact that they were, 271 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:40,880 Speaker 1: at their core punk rock kids and punks. A lot 272 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:45,040 Speaker 1: of them anyway, despite their nihilistic tendencies, actually have a 273 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:49,639 Speaker 1: conscientious side to them. But I'm betting the deep down Jane, Belinda, Kathy, 274 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:52,240 Speaker 1: Charlotte and Gina, I'm betting they couldn't help but think 275 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:54,639 Speaker 1: about the poor minimum wage worker whose job it was 276 00:18:54,680 --> 00:18:57,240 Speaker 1: to clean up after their rock and roll circus left out. 277 00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:03,360 Speaker 1: And that's why they cleaned up them to themselves. By 278 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:06,439 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one, the Go Gos were entitled to their 279 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:11,320 Speaker 1: rock and roll trappings. Their debut album, the excellently titled 280 00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:13,800 Speaker 1: Beauty in the Beat, was racing up the charts. On 281 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:16,920 Speaker 1: the backs of the group's two masterful singles We Got 282 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:20,280 Speaker 1: the Beat and Our Lips Are Sealed. The Go Gos 283 00:19:20,320 --> 00:19:23,240 Speaker 1: were on tours supporting the Police, who at the time 284 00:19:23,359 --> 00:19:26,560 Speaker 1: were a much bigger band. This was a stadium tour. 285 00:19:27,160 --> 00:19:30,320 Speaker 1: The Police were capable of packing stadiums with or without 286 00:19:30,359 --> 00:19:33,160 Speaker 1: the Go Gos supporting them. The gig for the Go 287 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:36,280 Speaker 1: Gos was about promoting their record, and it was working. 288 00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:39,840 Speaker 1: One night in Atlanta, while the girls and the Go 289 00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:43,560 Speaker 1: Gos picked at a Deli tray backstage, Sting burst into 290 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:46,120 Speaker 1: their dressing room with two bottles of champagne to celebrate 291 00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:48,600 Speaker 1: the fact that the Go Gos had just passed the 292 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:52,240 Speaker 1: Police on the charts. Things were about to change for 293 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:55,560 Speaker 1: the little punk rock band from Los Angeles. It wasn't 294 00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:57,560 Speaker 1: just a shine. The Go Gos took off the Police 295 00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:00,480 Speaker 1: by opening for them every night. The Go Go like 296 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:03,840 Speaker 1: the Police, and like Duran, Duran and Blondie, were being 297 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:08,240 Speaker 1: played on MTV constantly. The Go Gos, despite their disdain 298 00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:12,159 Speaker 1: for the inauthentic video making process, were naturals on camera. 299 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:15,280 Speaker 1: That modern West Coast vision of a tough but hot 300 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:18,360 Speaker 1: thrist store girl group was novel. Kids on the other 301 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:21,480 Speaker 1: side of the television set ate it up. I know, 302 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:24,520 Speaker 1: because I was one of them. All of a sudden, 303 00:20:24,920 --> 00:20:28,199 Speaker 1: the Go Gos were to early eighties mall culture what 304 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:31,399 Speaker 1: the Beach Boys had been to sixties surf culture. The 305 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:35,080 Speaker 1: Go Gos had transcended punk, transcended even rock and roll, 306 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:39,240 Speaker 1: and they were now something bigger. The Go Gos represented 307 00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:42,439 Speaker 1: a modern take on what the Blasters Dave Alvin called 308 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:47,520 Speaker 1: American music. The Go Gos projected something different, a new 309 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:55,200 Speaker 1: neon eighties Americana. Back in Los Angeles, in those dingy 310 00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:58,000 Speaker 1: clubs that the Blasters were filling alongside the Go Gos, 311 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:01,600 Speaker 1: other contemporaries the make of Beauty and the Beat were 312 00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:04,520 Speaker 1: falling out of favor as their fame cemented itself into 313 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:08,360 Speaker 1: national prominence. It didn't matter that the Go Gos had 314 00:21:08,359 --> 00:21:11,240 Speaker 1: helped build the La Punk scene. It didn't matter that 315 00:21:11,359 --> 00:21:13,520 Speaker 1: Jane and Belinda were such a core part of La 316 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:17,119 Speaker 1: Punk that they literally played and lived alongside members of 317 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:20,080 Speaker 1: the Germs and the Bags, and both the notorious Canterbury 318 00:21:20,119 --> 00:21:25,200 Speaker 1: Apartments and the infamous flophouse known as Disgraceland. Hold up, 319 00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:28,400 Speaker 1: It's time to address the tiny elephant in the room. 320 00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:33,080 Speaker 1: Disgraceland the name of the flophouse Belinda Carlisle once lived 321 00:21:33,119 --> 00:21:36,280 Speaker 1: in in Los Angeles, a dingy dive on Los Palmas, 322 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:39,520 Speaker 1: where reportedly everyone who was anyone in the LA punk 323 00:21:39,560 --> 00:21:42,360 Speaker 1: scene lived or partied at one point in the early eighties, including, 324 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:45,800 Speaker 1: of course the Go Gos front woman. Now did I 325 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:48,600 Speaker 1: know about the LA punk scenes Disgraceland when I named 326 00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:52,359 Speaker 1: this podcast? Yes? I did. Did I get shitited from 327 00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:55,000 Speaker 1: angry punk rockers from that scene when they heard about 328 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:59,119 Speaker 1: my podcast? Yes? I did. Did I care or do 329 00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:02,600 Speaker 1: I now? No? I do not. These same LA punks 330 00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:05,719 Speaker 1: stole the name Disgraceland from Jerry Lee Lewis just like 331 00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:08,879 Speaker 1: I did. Should I have given the La Disgraceland punk's 332 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:10,680 Speaker 1: credit when I took the name, as some of them 333 00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:15,600 Speaker 1: have suggested and angry Facebook messages also No. In all 334 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:18,320 Speaker 1: my research of the LA punk scene, I've never once 335 00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:22,159 Speaker 1: heard or read anyone mentioned the original Disgraceland, which was 336 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:26,360 Speaker 1: Jerry Lee Lewis's home in Nesbit, Mississippi. I've been clear 337 00:22:26,359 --> 00:22:28,640 Speaker 1: about where I got that name from the very beginning. 338 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:31,000 Speaker 1: Go back and listen to episode one to disgrace Land 339 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:33,960 Speaker 1: and you'll hear what I'm talking about. Am I concerned 340 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:36,080 Speaker 1: what old school LA punks will think of the name 341 00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:39,760 Speaker 1: thing when they listen to this particular episode I am 342 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:42,919 Speaker 1: a little I love some of those bands, X, the 343 00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:45,480 Speaker 1: Blasters and of course the Go Gos, and I have 344 00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:47,960 Speaker 1: nothing but respect for the scene and its contribution to 345 00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:52,520 Speaker 1: music history. So with that said, back to our story. 346 00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:56,639 Speaker 1: Falling out of favor with hometown scensters was the cost 347 00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:59,000 Speaker 1: of doing business for the Gogs in the early eighties, 348 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:02,959 Speaker 1: signed to a record label and change their sound. They 349 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,000 Speaker 1: signed a record deal, an independent record deal mind You 350 00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:10,000 Speaker 1: with IRS Records, and recorded with Blondie's producer Richard Gotter, 351 00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:12,760 Speaker 1: and proceeded to put down on tape the same sound 352 00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:15,280 Speaker 1: they've been tooling together since their early days in the 353 00:23:15,280 --> 00:23:19,720 Speaker 1: basement of the Canterbury apartments. Their sound had evolved, which 354 00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:22,280 Speaker 1: is what happens when any group of great musicians and 355 00:23:22,320 --> 00:23:25,919 Speaker 1: songwriters continue to apply their trade. It's just that the 356 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:28,040 Speaker 1: Go Gos were so damn good at their trade that 357 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:32,560 Speaker 1: their sound evolved into massive pop hits. To create anything 358 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:35,800 Speaker 1: different would have been inauthentic, which is the one thing 359 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:39,639 Speaker 1: in punk rock that you absolutely cannot be. So the 360 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:43,399 Speaker 1: Go Gos, in staying true to themselves, in staying punk, 361 00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:49,240 Speaker 1: alienated the punks. They also garnered a Grammy nomination in 362 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:53,159 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty two for Best New Artists, and words spread 363 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:56,800 Speaker 1: quick the Go Gos had sold out. They were all 364 00:23:56,920 --> 00:24:01,200 Speaker 1: Grammys and glitz, which, of course was total bullshit. Along 365 00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:03,639 Speaker 1: with the Thrist store addresses and self styled hair and 366 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:05,679 Speaker 1: make up the girls brought to the Grammys for an 367 00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:09,440 Speaker 1: award they ultimately lost to Sheena Easton. The Go Gos 368 00:24:09,480 --> 00:24:13,240 Speaker 1: brought along their demons as well. For Charlotte this meant 369 00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:15,960 Speaker 1: masking in an intense heroin habit that threatened to break 370 00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:19,880 Speaker 1: up the band. For Jane, Belinda, Kathy and Gina, they 371 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:22,159 Speaker 1: had their own drug and alcoholic demons to deal with, 372 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:25,560 Speaker 1: But for the entire band, there was nothing to threaten 373 00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:27,760 Speaker 1: their current status at the top of the pop mountain 374 00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:34,520 Speaker 1: as much as the rumor. Were the Go Gos kind 375 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:40,280 Speaker 1: of bubblegummy yes? Were they beautiful? Yes? Were they super happy, 376 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:43,760 Speaker 1: fun time West Coast vibes kind of music? Yes? Were 377 00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:49,240 Speaker 1: they also dark, depraved sexual deviance? Perhaps this is what 378 00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:54,040 Speaker 1: made the rumor so delicious. The contrast that same dichotomy 379 00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:55,359 Speaker 1: that had been at the heart of the Go Goos 380 00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:59,119 Speaker 1: since their inception. Like Los Angeles, they appeared to be 381 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:01,719 Speaker 1: one thing, and they were that thing, But they were 382 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:06,840 Speaker 1: also the opposite. By day, Los Angeles shined bright Forever 383 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:10,800 Speaker 1: seventy two and sunny at night, serial killers proud the 384 00:25:10,840 --> 00:25:14,240 Speaker 1: streets and left bodies up in the hills. During the day, 385 00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:17,200 Speaker 1: the Go gos sunny vision of West Coast teen culture 386 00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:21,240 Speaker 1: blanketed the airwaves. At night, the go Goos conducted drug 387 00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:23,679 Speaker 1: fueled orgies with male groupies that would have made led 388 00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:29,600 Speaker 1: Zeppelin blush or so when the rumor. At first, you 389 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:33,280 Speaker 1: hear whispers in the hallway at school. You're seventeen. You've 390 00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:36,440 Speaker 1: heard some shit before. After all, you've got a job 391 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:40,520 Speaker 1: at Bergerson's Burgers, and not just a job, you're a manager, 392 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:44,879 Speaker 1: a single successful guy. If you're lucky, mar McAuliffe will 393 00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:46,600 Speaker 1: let you get under her shirt this fall when you 394 00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:49,359 Speaker 1: take her out to the spot in your cruising vessel. 395 00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:52,840 Speaker 1: But back to the whispers. At first, they're just a 396 00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:56,040 Speaker 1: random collection of words dancing with the sounds of slamming 397 00:25:56,080 --> 00:26:01,320 Speaker 1: lockers and sneakers squeaking on the high school linoleum floors. Blowjob, 398 00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:04,959 Speaker 1: Spanish fly. You've heard all these words before, of course, 399 00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:08,520 Speaker 1: and they're no surprise. But the frequency you're hearing them 400 00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:11,679 Speaker 1: now is a little more intense, and now there are 401 00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:18,240 Speaker 1: more words. Party tape, sex tape, and then Belinda Carlisle. Yeah, man, 402 00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:23,359 Speaker 1: jacking off? Wait what from the Go Gos? There's a 403 00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:26,600 Speaker 1: sex tape? A sex tape of the Go Gos? What 404 00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:30,199 Speaker 1: it's all over school. It's all anyone in your eleventh 405 00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:32,800 Speaker 1: grade class can talk about, and not just the dudes, 406 00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:36,200 Speaker 1: the girls too. And you thought Pat bennettar was the freak. 407 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:40,040 Speaker 1: Turns out it's Belinda and the fucking Go Gos. What 408 00:26:40,119 --> 00:26:42,560 Speaker 1: are they actually doing on what is quickly becoming known 409 00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:45,760 Speaker 1: as the Go Gos skin flick or the party tape? 410 00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:49,720 Speaker 1: Is it the entire band having sex together? No, there's 411 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:54,919 Speaker 1: male roadies involved. That's the word. Okay, okay, okay. What else? Well, 412 00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:59,000 Speaker 1: it's not the whole band, it's just Belinda and Kathy. Okay, 413 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:02,680 Speaker 1: Belinda and no Jane. That sucks, but you can take it. 414 00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:05,359 Speaker 1: Blinda Carlisle is likely the hottest singer you've ever seen, 415 00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:07,879 Speaker 1: and Kathy Valentine looks like she'll hurt you, but in 416 00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:10,560 Speaker 1: a seriously sexy way. So you're all in on the 417 00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:13,679 Speaker 1: party tape. You have to know more, and the rumors 418 00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:16,480 Speaker 1: won't quit. They're all over the halls and the cafeteria 419 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:19,720 Speaker 1: in the locker room that day. You're not actually convinced though, 420 00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:22,840 Speaker 1: that anyone you're talking to has actually seen this tape 421 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:26,320 Speaker 1: where it is some senior named Harry has an older 422 00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:28,920 Speaker 1: brother in college whose friend's girlfriend works at a cutting 423 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:31,200 Speaker 1: house over in Burbank, and that the owner's ex boss 424 00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:32,800 Speaker 1: as a kid whose girlfriend is friends with the dude 425 00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:34,679 Speaker 1: over in the valley, whose cousin writes for a horror 426 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:37,439 Speaker 1: movie magazine, and that guy supposedly saw a copy at 427 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:39,800 Speaker 1: a party that some publicist from West Hollywood threw over 428 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:43,280 Speaker 1: the weekend. But wait, are Belinda and Kathy from the 429 00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:48,639 Speaker 1: Go Gos actually having sex on tape with their roadies. Worse, 430 00:27:49,119 --> 00:27:54,600 Speaker 1: they're supposedly forcing them to have sex. Really, no, not really. 431 00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:57,280 Speaker 1: When this news gets back to you by the end 432 00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:01,280 Speaker 1: of the day, your perviass is bummed, but not totally bummed, 433 00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:03,720 Speaker 1: because the party tape might not be a full on 434 00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:07,600 Speaker 1: Go Goos orgy, but it is Kathy and Belinda coercing 435 00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:13,280 Speaker 1: some dude into masturbation, and they're wasted pills supposedly, and 436 00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:16,280 Speaker 1: Kathy wants to make an art film and Belinda seems 437 00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:18,080 Speaker 1: to just want the roadie dude to get hard and 438 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:21,640 Speaker 1: get off, and Belinda Carlile wanting that and voicing her 439 00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:24,159 Speaker 1: desire nearly makes your head pop off your shoulders and 440 00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:28,040 Speaker 1: roll down the hall into sixth periods study hall. If 441 00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:31,480 Speaker 1: you can't get sex, and the purpose thing for you 442 00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:36,080 Speaker 1: to do is to jack o jack jack. There was 443 00:28:36,119 --> 00:28:39,600 Speaker 1: no sex tape, just some grainy footage of Belinda Carlile 444 00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:42,880 Speaker 1: and Kathy Valentine wasted on pills and booze trying to 445 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:45,240 Speaker 1: talk some dude who was too high on ludes and 446 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:49,120 Speaker 1: jerking off into a heart on. It didn't work, but 447 00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:53,080 Speaker 1: the rumor was the rumor, and to say it was 448 00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:55,680 Speaker 1: an embarrassment for the girls and the go Gos would 449 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:59,400 Speaker 1: have been an understatement. They'd done what all the experts 450 00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:03,320 Speaker 1: said could not be done. They'd succeeded as women who 451 00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:05,560 Speaker 1: wrote their own songs, and now they had the number 452 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:09,000 Speaker 1: one record in America. That's right, Beauty and the Beat 453 00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:12,240 Speaker 1: had gone to number one and had stayed at number 454 00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:15,440 Speaker 1: one for six weeks. It was the first number one 455 00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:17,680 Speaker 1: record by a group of girls who wrote their own 456 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:21,800 Speaker 1: material ever, and it still is. And this was a 457 00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:25,680 Speaker 1: remarkable achievement. And there the go Gos were in their 458 00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:29,400 Speaker 1: moment of shining glory, with all their darkness on full 459 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:32,920 Speaker 1: display for the rest of the world to see. Little 460 00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:36,040 Speaker 1: did anyone know that the darkness on that so called 461 00:29:36,120 --> 00:30:01,360 Speaker 1: party tape was just the tip of the iceberg. Opium 462 00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:06,040 Speaker 1: is a dark, sticky substance. Picture a tar like wad 463 00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:11,120 Speaker 1: of gum that smells floury but pungent. It's highly addictive. 464 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:15,080 Speaker 1: It's the main addictive substance in heroin, in oxy you know, 465 00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:21,040 Speaker 1: in the bad drugs that destroy lives and bands. And 466 00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:24,520 Speaker 1: it was this dark, sticky substance that the girls and 467 00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:27,160 Speaker 1: the Go Gos were currently shoving up their asses in 468 00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:32,080 Speaker 1: the backyard of some fans house in Washington State. Imagine 469 00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:35,680 Speaker 1: that you're eighteen nineteen years old. You score tickets to 470 00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:38,520 Speaker 1: see the Go Gos at your local colisseum or whatever. 471 00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:40,520 Speaker 1: They got the number one record in the country at 472 00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:43,760 Speaker 1: the moment. Somehow, you and your handsome friends get the 473 00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:45,800 Speaker 1: Go Gos to come back to your place for a 474 00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:48,720 Speaker 1: party afterward. And now Jane, Kathy and the rest of 475 00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:52,040 Speaker 1: the girls are in your backyards squatting alongside you and 476 00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:55,320 Speaker 1: your friends with their pants around their ankles, shoving sticky 477 00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:59,480 Speaker 1: opium up their buttholes to get high with you. Life 478 00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:03,680 Speaker 1: is weird, but this behavior wasn't all that weird. For 479 00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:06,320 Speaker 1: the Gogos. Drugs had been a part of the band 480 00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:08,800 Speaker 1: since before they had written the songs for their hit record, 481 00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:11,320 Speaker 1: and all of them dabbled in the hard stuff. But 482 00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:15,160 Speaker 1: Charlotte had a serious heroin addiction, one that had been 483 00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:17,960 Speaker 1: growing in secret since back before The Go Gos recorded 484 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:22,040 Speaker 1: Beauty and the Beat. As the band embarked on recording 485 00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:25,880 Speaker 1: and touring and supported their follow up album, Vacation, Charlotte's 486 00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:30,760 Speaker 1: heroin addiction had become almost all consuming Personally. This was, 487 00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:35,320 Speaker 1: of course disastrous professionally. This was the type of addiction 488 00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:37,880 Speaker 1: that could kill a band, given that Charlotte was the 489 00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:42,880 Speaker 1: group's main songwriter. Yet this band would not die. The 490 00:31:42,960 --> 00:31:46,240 Speaker 1: band members pushed on through their demons. Their second album 491 00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:48,400 Speaker 1: was not quite the follow up smash that a monster 492 00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:51,040 Speaker 1: hit like Beauty and the Beat demanded, but it did 493 00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:54,320 Speaker 1: well enough, largely on the strength of the Kathy Valentine 494 00:31:54,400 --> 00:31:58,440 Speaker 1: penn title track Vacation, which Jane and Charlotte contributed to 495 00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:02,240 Speaker 1: the time time the Go Go's third album, Talk Show, 496 00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:06,440 Speaker 1: hit the shelves, the wheels were coming off. Gina had 497 00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:09,240 Speaker 1: developed a hole in her heart that required surgery, and 498 00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:11,600 Speaker 1: the band sent Gina off with a drug binge and 499 00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:14,520 Speaker 1: palm springs. The five of them hold up in a 500 00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:17,320 Speaker 1: hotel room like vampires, doing every drug that could get 501 00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:20,160 Speaker 1: their hands on, but keeping the cocaine away from Gina's 502 00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:23,200 Speaker 1: ailing heart, of course, And when they weren't high, they 503 00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:26,959 Speaker 1: were paranoid and jealous. Money. What to do with all 504 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:29,600 Speaker 1: of it? Who got how much? For writing which songs 505 00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:33,320 Speaker 1: and which parts? Money was a constant source of tension 506 00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:37,360 Speaker 1: in the band. Charlotte was the main songwriter, but Jane 507 00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:40,920 Speaker 1: Widland and Kathy Valentine contributed nearly as much to those songs, 508 00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:44,440 Speaker 1: and Melinda Carlisle and Gina Shock lent considerable style and 509 00:32:44,520 --> 00:32:48,120 Speaker 1: attitude to the music, so the question of authorship was 510 00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:51,400 Speaker 1: no easy matter to settle, especially under the haze of 511 00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:55,840 Speaker 1: drugs and the fears fight over songwriting, credits and royalties 512 00:32:56,200 --> 00:32:58,720 Speaker 1: caused Jane to quit while on tour in support of 513 00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:04,760 Speaker 1: their third album, Drugs Excess. Squabbling over their largesse, the 514 00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:07,200 Speaker 1: Go Gos had become the one thing their punk rock 515 00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:11,600 Speaker 1: instincts had driven them not to become cliches. The only 516 00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:16,160 Speaker 1: thing left for them to do was to overdose and die. 517 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:20,600 Speaker 1: And in Rio Dejaneiro at the Rock and Rio Festival 518 00:33:20,640 --> 00:33:24,120 Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty five, Charlotte Caffey was doing her best 519 00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:27,000 Speaker 1: to make that happen. On the bill with the go 520 00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:31,960 Speaker 1: Gos were ACDC, Ozzy Osbourne, Rod Stewart, Queen, the B 521 00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:35,480 Speaker 1: fifty two's, and other major acts. The show drew a 522 00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:38,240 Speaker 1: crowd that was estimated at nearly half a million people. 523 00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:41,200 Speaker 1: And back at the hotel where the artists were staying, 524 00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:48,080 Speaker 1: the party was on. Rock stars, roadies, groupies, dealers, hangers 525 00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:50,400 Speaker 1: on all pool side and in and out of hotel 526 00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:56,000 Speaker 1: rooms getting high. Cocaine was everywhere. The girl from Ipanima 527 00:33:56,080 --> 00:34:00,560 Speaker 1: blasted on repeat beautiful bronze bikini clad women in droves. 528 00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:05,320 Speaker 1: Charlotte bounced between Rod Stewart's and Ozzy Osbourne's hotel rooms. 529 00:34:06,120 --> 00:34:08,239 Speaker 1: Rod was pissed off at her for some reason she 530 00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:11,120 Speaker 1: couldn't figure out, and the B fifty two's were avoiding 531 00:34:11,160 --> 00:34:14,359 Speaker 1: eye contact with her. Ozzy Osbourne was in no mind 532 00:34:14,360 --> 00:34:16,680 Speaker 1: to deal with her, and her own band was nowhere 533 00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:21,000 Speaker 1: to be found. Charlotte drank more. Charlotte did more drugs. 534 00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:23,880 Speaker 1: Charlotte's manager thought that now was a good time to 535 00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:28,719 Speaker 1: bring up rehab. Charlotte blocked out her manager, smoked more, 536 00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:34,080 Speaker 1: snorted more, shot more heroin, shot more tequila, shot after 537 00:34:34,160 --> 00:34:38,040 Speaker 1: shot after shot on stage in front of the biggest 538 00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:41,400 Speaker 1: assemblage of people she'd ever seen. Charlotte sweated through the 539 00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:45,359 Speaker 1: motions after the set, back to the hotel for more 540 00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:50,400 Speaker 1: drugs and more drink. To this day, no one knows 541 00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:54,120 Speaker 1: what exactly happened, but whatever Charlotte did that night resulted 542 00:34:54,160 --> 00:34:57,319 Speaker 1: in none other than Ozzy Osborne kicking her out of 543 00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:00,880 Speaker 1: his hotel room. How fuck do you have to be 544 00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:03,560 Speaker 1: to have Ozzy Osborne think you're too fucked up to 545 00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:06,920 Speaker 1: hang out with? Really fucked up is the correct answer. 546 00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:12,960 Speaker 1: It was one of many last straws for the Go Gos. 547 00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:16,000 Speaker 1: Charlotte wasn't going to be a rock and roll casualty. 548 00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:19,960 Speaker 1: She wasn't going to be a punk rock cliche. Charlotte 549 00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:23,560 Speaker 1: Caffey checked herself into rehab, and soon after she followed 550 00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:27,279 Speaker 1: Jane WiLAN and quit the Go Gos. Sobriety in a 551 00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:30,080 Speaker 1: rock and roll band is a hard road, and frankly 552 00:35:30,560 --> 00:35:33,880 Speaker 1: not one that Charlotte needed to travel. Why live in 553 00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:37,920 Speaker 1: the dark when there's so much light? The Go Gos 554 00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:41,200 Speaker 1: did what they said couldn't be done. They succeeded at 555 00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:43,640 Speaker 1: the highest levels of the music industry as women who 556 00:35:43,640 --> 00:35:47,960 Speaker 1: wrote their own songs. In twenty twenty one, they were 557 00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:51,240 Speaker 1: inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Getting 558 00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:55,360 Speaker 1: there and surviving their excesses nearly killed them, But in 559 00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:59,000 Speaker 1: the end the band avoided becoming a rock and roll cliche, 560 00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:06,600 Speaker 1: and in doing so, avoided disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan. This 561 00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:25,560 Speaker 1: is Disgraceland, all right. Thanks for hanging with me and 562 00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:28,279 Speaker 1: the Go Gos in this episode. Apple Podcast listeners, make 563 00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:30,719 Speaker 1: sure you have auto downloads turned on so you never 564 00:36:30,760 --> 00:36:33,560 Speaker 1: miss any episodes. Guys, this week's question of the week 565 00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:37,400 Speaker 1: is which girl group is the greatest girl group? And why? 566 00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:39,879 Speaker 1: Is it? The Go Gos? Is it the Runaways? Is it? 567 00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:41,440 Speaker 1: I don't know. You tell me I've been doing too 568 00:36:41,480 --> 00:36:43,839 Speaker 1: much talking. Six one seven nine oh six six sixty 569 00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:45,799 Speaker 1: three eight. Leave me a voicemail, send me a text 570 00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:47,920 Speaker 1: with your answer, and you might hear yourself on the 571 00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:51,040 Speaker 1: after Party Bonus episode coming up right after this. Leave 572 00:36:51,080 --> 00:36:53,920 Speaker 1: a review for Disgraceland on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and 573 00:36:53,920 --> 00:36:56,280 Speaker 1: win some free merch All right, I gotta return some videotapes. 574 00:36:56,320 --> 00:37:00,680 Speaker 1: Here come some credits. Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly 575 00:37:00,680 --> 00:37:03,880 Speaker 1: and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for 576 00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:06,240 Speaker 1: this episode can be found on the show notes page 577 00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:10,120 Speaker 1: at disgracelampod dot com. If you're listening as a Disgraceland 578 00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:12,960 Speaker 1: All Access member, thank you for supporting the show. We 579 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:15,640 Speaker 1: really appreciate it. And if not, you can become a 580 00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:20,120 Speaker 1: member right now by going to disgracelampod dot com Slash Membership. 581 00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:24,160 Speaker 1: Members can listen to every episode of disgracelam Ad free, 582 00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:28,040 Speaker 1: plus you'll get one brand new exclusive episode every month, 583 00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:32,560 Speaker 1: weekly unscripted bonus episodes, special audio collections, in early access 584 00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:37,560 Speaker 1: to merchandise and events. Visit disgracelampod dot com Slash Membership 585 00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:40,200 Speaker 1: for details, rate and review the show, and follow us 586 00:37:40,239 --> 00:37:44,200 Speaker 1: on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook at disgracelampod and on 587 00:37:44,239 --> 00:37:49,080 Speaker 1: YouTube at YouTube dot com slash at disgracelampod. Rock a 588 00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:49,439 Speaker 1: rolla