When I first started this blog, I thought I'd stick to my public writer's persona. But slowly, my dear readers, you have been finding out about my obsessions with accordions, with lucha libre, with Kal Penn.
And now, another confession: before I was a punk, I was a preteen lover of new wave. Bow Wow Wow, Adam Ant, Depeche Mode. And no band did I love more than the Go Gos.
Listening to them recently, I was shocked at how good some of the songs in Beauty and the Beat are. I especially love "Lust to Love," "This Town" and the eternal teen heartbreak of "How Much More." God bless Jane Wieldin's guitar.
Though I didn't know it in 1982, the band had both punk and Latin roots. Under the name Dottie Danger, full-cheeked Belinda Carlisle sang for the Germs for a bit, and two of the original members of the band had suspiciously Chicano-sounding names: Margot Olaverra (bass) and Elissa Bello (drums). Any more details from your files on the Secret History of Latinos, Jim?
In the past few years, there's been more examination of the Latin role in the LA punk scene, in this book, this exhibit and this one. I've only seen the American Sabor exhibit and don't have Spitz's book. But I assure you this subject'll be part of my summer research.
So, for that punk-new wave link (and to see how nicely these gals' looks have held up), here's a recent live cover of the Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated." (Sorry, embedding was disabled.)
And below they perform "Has the Whole World Lost Its Head?" in Tops of the Pops in 1995. The song, which sounds like vintage Go-Gos (and that's a good thing) was one of three originals in the 1994 2-disc retrospective Return to the Valley of the Go-Go's.
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