The Go-Go's Beauty and the Beat (33 1/3)

The Go-Go’s were the first all-girl group that wrote their own music and played their own instruments to have a number one album. Their debut album Beauty and the Beat spent six weeks in the number one spot and is one of the best-selling debut albums of all time.Beauty and the Beat is a ground-breaking album, but the Go-Go’s are often overlooked when we talk about influential female musicians. The Go-Go’s were a feminist band and Beauty and the Beat a call to arms that inspired generations of women. Girls making music on their own terms didn’t start with Courtney Love or Beyonce or Billie Eilish, it started with the Go-Go’s. It started with Beauty and the Beat.While they may have controlled their music, the Go-Go’s couldn’t control the misogyny of the music industry, media and fans. The sexist and tired stereotypes the Go-Go’s experienced 40 years ago still exist today. The legacy of Beauty and the Beat is both a celebration of how the record inspired countless girls to make art and music on their own terms, but also a painful reminder of how little has changed in how female musicians are marketed, manipulated, and discarded.