They wrote their own songs and played their own instruments.

Belinda Carlisle

Jane Wiedlin

Charlotte Caffey

Gina Schock

Kathy Valentine

The Go-Go’s formed in Los Angeles. From their website:

From their halcyon days as America’s sweethearts to their current status as superstars who pioneered a genre, The Go-Go’s preside over an amazing three-decade reign as high pop priestesses. The internationally-loved pop hitmakers helped cement the foundation of the early 80’s pop-rock sound without the aid of outside composers, session players or, most importantly, creative compromise.

Their story truly is a punk version of the American Dream. They came, they saw and they conquered the charts, the airwaves and, with their kicky kitsch appeal, pop culture in general.

Sure, before the Go-Go’s debuted in May of ’78, there were other all-female bands, but to a man (ahem, or in this case, woman) there was usually a seedy, cigar-chompin’ guy lurking just behind the curtain, pulling strings, writing songs and shaping the image as his gals danced on his string. But The Go-Go’s didn’t need a doctor in their house. No Phil Spector, Kim Fowley or Sonny Bono plotted their moves. It was their baby right from the start and they nursed the bouncing infant on a diet of non-stop nocturnal nourishment in dank clubs all across the city.

Forty years after their debut the Go-Go’s have come to Broadway. The new musical “Head Over Heels” doesn’t include any of the  band members because that wouldn’t be appropriate. That’s because the Broadway producer came up the idea that had songs by the group as part of an Elizabethan-era story about a royal family and their potential doom. Clearly the Go-Go’s weren’t around in the 1580’s.

Four of the band’s members – Charlotte Caffey, Belinda Carlisle, Kathy Valentine and Jane Wiedlin – surprised a preview audience at the Hudson Theatre in New York by taking to the stage and bringing the curtain down with a rousing rendition of “Our Lips Are Sealed,” captured by CBS.

Earlier this month the Go-Go’s did three nights of concerts at a very famous venue.

For their encore during those shows the band did their biggest charting record.

Here they are doing it in 2016.