With hits like “Our Lips Are Sealed” and “Vacation,” the Go-Gos were one of the most popular female pop-rock bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s, with vocalist Belinda Carlisle at the helm. But the band’s volatile core lineup and friction between bandmates ultimately led to their official disbanding in 1985. Later reunions were shadowed by legal battles and more interpersonal conflict, but they did occur.

Carlisle had a frank explanation for why the Go-Gos never made it out of the ‘80s as their original form in AMS Pictures’ documentary, Karen Carpenter: Starving for Perfection. When people so often deflect the blame onto others, Carlisle was more than willing to call herself out for her role in the band’s breakup.

Belinda Carlisle On What Caused “Resentment” In The Go-Gos

As is the case in so many tight-knit punk scenes, the original lineup of the Go-Gos were all multi-instrumentalists who had played in different bands before the group behind hits like “We Got the Beat.” Belinda Carlisle was on vocals solely because she wanted to play the bass but that role was filled and she didn’t want to play the drums. Charlotte Caffey and Jane Wiedlin were on guitar, Margot Olavarria played bass, and Elissa Bello was on drums.

Carlisle’s role made her the frontwoman, which inevitably made her the “face” of the Go-Gos. “I was kind of a ham, you know,” she recalled in the Karen Carpenter documentary. “I wouldn’t consider myself much of a ham now. But back then, it was no problem for me to get on stage. And I thought that I had a great voice. I had a lot of work to do. But it wasn’t hard for me to be the focus of attention because I had a security blanket of four other people.”

“People have a tendency to focus on the person who sings,” she continued. “In the beginning, that was really not a problem. But when the Go-Gos became super popular, most of the focus was on me, and it did cause problems within the band. I had my own personal issues I was dealing with that made me kind of…I wasn’t present, really. I wasn’t doing a lot of the work that I should have been doing. So, there was that resentment, too. I was getting all the glory and not doing a lot of the work.”

The Former Frontwoman Branched Out As A Solo Performer

Although 1985 would usher in the end of the Go-Gos, it was hardly the end of the road for frontwoman Belinda Carlisle. Speaking in the Karen Carpenter documentary, Carlisle said she “knew I always had the opportunity for a solo career. It was really a wake-up call after I finished my album. I was like, ‘Oh my God, what do I do now?’ You know. I have to go out and promote it. And I got out on stage for the first time without the band, and that was really, really, really hard. It took a long time for me to be comfortable in my own skin onstage as a solo performer.”

Fortunately for Carlisle, she had several successful boosts to her solo career following the Go-Gos’ split. Her solo debut, Belinda, had a chart-topping single in Canada and a No. 3 hit in the U.S., “Mad About You.” Carlisle’s follow-up record, Heaven on Earth, gave the former Go-Gos frontwoman her first and only No. 1 hit in the States with the near-title track, “Heaven is a Place on Earth.” She has continued to work in the decades since as both a solo performer and on reunion performances by the Go-Gos. Her ninth solo studio album, Once Upon a Time in California, is out in late August 2025.

Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns