Ten Best Instances of the Go-Go's in Movies and TV

For decades there have been threats and allegations of a movie about the Go-Go's, the Southern California, early '80s all female, New Wave band. There are all the elements of an interesting movie: photogenic underdogs beating the odds to become superstars, lots of sex, drugs, and of course great rock and roll. A couple years ago Gwyneth Paltrow was attached to produce a flick, but that fell through, and it probably didn't help that a movie about another all girl group, the Runaways, didn't pack the fannies in the theaters.

But fans of the Go-Go's need not settle for merely seeing them this Sunday at Hard Rock Live, there are plenty of instances where you can hear their sunny infectious beats from the comfort of your own screen. Here are the ten top instances where the Go-Gos were represented on film and TV.

10. What We Do Is Secret

Before Belinda Carlisle formed the Go-Go's she was almost a member of LA punk legends the Germs. Mononucleosis felled her before she could take the stage under the alias Dottie Danger. In this 2007 bio-pic of Germs dead front man Darby Crash, Carlisle is played by actress Lauren German for a few scenes.

9. Head Over Heels

I'm by no means endorsing this terrible 2001 Freddy Prinze Jr. romantic comedy from the director of Mean Girls, but it is the only movie that seemed to be named after a Go-Go's song, that of course being "Head over Heels."

8. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

Guitarist and singer Jane Wiedlin took advantage of the band's break-up to act in several classic '80s movies. She had one line in Star Trek 4, was a singing telegram girl in Clue and most notably was Joan of Arc in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure where she invents punk rock aerobics.

7. Rules of Attraction

As Jessica Biel snorts coke and talks shit in this 2002 coming of age movie, the song in the background is the fast paced "Lust to Love."

6. Solid Gold

Nothing quite oozed the '80s like this weekly show that counted down the hits. It featured appearances by the Go-Go's several times, but their 1982 performance of "Our Lips Are Sealed" stands out as so ridiculously frenetic you can almost feel the cocaine in your septum. The show's hosts interrupt mid-song to tell you to expect songs by Billy Joel and Neil Sedaka, but they get off the screen in time to hear Jane Wiedlin hark like a fallen angel, "Hush my darling, don't you cry."

5. Fahrenheit 9/11

"Vacation" is the most used of any of the Go-Go's songs as it is shorthand for showing characters from The Simpsons to The Rugrats getting a little r&r, but documentarian got all political using the song to show how George W. Bush lived the life of leisure spending 43% of his presidency before 9/11 on vacation.

4. Clueless (The Television Show)

In the late '90s every Friday night if you turned on ABC you could hear the lyrical wit of the Go-Go's guitarist Charlotte Caffey. She wrote the theme song for the show Clueless.

3. Lick the Star

This 16 millimeter black and white short is the first film Sophia Coppola ever directed. Short on plot and intrigue, Coppola at this point already knew to feature her good taste in music by including the Go-Go's "This Town."

2. Totally Go-Go's

This 1982 concert film that originally came out straight to VHS has the band playing all their hits in a high school auditorium in drugged out bliss.

1. Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Nothing makes the 1980s seem as glorious as the opening credits sequence of this high school comedy classic. You see teenage mall life to the sounds of the fantastic "We Got the Beat."

The Go-Go's with Martha Davis and the Motels perform as part of Replay America, the Ultimate '80s Festival, along with Naked Eyes and Patty Smyth of Scandal at 4 p.m. on Sunday, July 6 at Hard Rock Live, 1 Seminole Way, Hollywood. Tickets cost $44 to $64 plus fees. Visit hardrocklivehollywoodfl.com.

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