I'd keep the bay windows open, and neighbors would walk by and say, 'Oh, that's Gina playing music.' They were fascinated.
We always thought if 'Beauty and the Beat' sold even 100,000 copies, we'd be real happy and a successful group, so when it reached a million... Hey, we just laughed about it.
I went to see the Go-Go's on a Saturday night in '78 and had the best time. I was so serious about the way I played but they were having a blast. They weren't quite ready, but man there was something special. The girls just needed someone to push 'em a little and I eventually pushed.
When I was much younger I tried to play guitar and bass first. Drums were just the easiest thing for me to play. I picked it up really quickly.
The fun image is what we project onstage, because our music is dance music. But it's not what the group is about We're very serious about our music and the band and producing good quality songs.
In The Go-Go's, my philosophy is that I contribute whatever the song requires. I never think, 'What can I put in here to show off the latest trick that I just picked up?' What I think is, 'What's required from me as a drummer to make this a better song?'
I wish that we all would have slowed down and savored the moment, loved what was happening and then appreciate it. It was going by so fast. Whatever the record told us to do, we'd do. We were just constantly touring, and then MTV happened and that kicked things up a notch for everybody.
I always thought: 'Oh my God, we are going to be famous, we're going to be huge.' We were 21, 22 years old.
I can't see us getting into, like, long solos.
Everybody was apprehensive about a documentary. When we're all dead and gone, we don't want to leave something that is not going to be representing the band in a true and honest way that shows everything that's important.
We were so poor. Every item of clothing came from a thrift store.
We've been lucky with our music; people have liked it.
The only problem is, that the musicians, the guys, their careers can go from the time they're 18 'till they're 50 years old and when they get wrinkles, they're 'character lines.' But when girls get 'em, they're wrinkles!
We definitely were a punk band. When we got in with our producer, Richard Gottehrer, he slowed everything down so that you could actually hear what Belinda was singing.
Every time I see a story about the Go-Go's, it sounds like a gossip column about our health or our love life.
Sometimes the recognition gets weird.
Commercial success certainly helps pay the bills.
Mick Jagger visited us backstage and told us how much he liked our show. Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts came back too, and they wanted to get their pictures taken with us. Bill Wyman knew our chart positions. I couldn't believe it.
In the beginning, we'd walk off stage and burst into tears, 'cause we were getting bottles thrown at us, and boys were spitting all over us.
We were constantly together. Anybody who had a boyfriend had to go through the Go-Go's first. It was a little too close for comfort after a while.
