Back in the days when cassettes were the most popular medium for listening to music on the go, and for taping / creating our own playlists, I made a cassette with the Go-Go’s on one side and The Motels on the other.
Not too long ago, a short story anthology came out, Murder-A-Go-Go’s edited by Holly West, (which includes a great story by Patti Abbott) and reading it I got to thinking about that cassette, and the more I thought, the more I wanted to hear it. Not being able to find it after an hour or so of searching through poorly labelled boxes, I gave it up and ordered a couple of CDs.
The Best ofThe Motels – The Motels
On listening, it’s obvious to me this isn’t the Motels album I recorded on that cassette, but that’s okay. There is, apparently, a longer 2-disc version, but again, this is adequate. Good if you want a dose of Motels, which is what I wanted.
Track Listing:
1. Suddenly Last Summer (link to YouTube with long ad and cheesy video)
2. Total Control
3. Danger
4. Celia
5. Only The Lonely
6. Shame
7. Take The L
8. Remember The Nights
9. Shock
10. Mission of Mercy
Greatest Go-Go’s – The Go-Go’s
Again, not the album I originally recorded, but again that’s fine. Between the two, in my opinion this is definitely the better band. Here’s the Track Listing:
1. Our Lips Are Sealed (link to video)
2. Cool Jerk
3. We Got The Beat
4. Head Over HeelsGo-Go’s
5. Get Up And Go
6. Vacation
7. Beatnik Beach
8. You Thought
9. I’m The Only One
10. This Town
11. Lust To Love
12. Mercenary
13. How Much More
14. Turn To You
Tip the Wink 
Oh, I remember some of this music! It makes me keenly aware of how old I am now… 😉
Margot, I played that cassette a lot, then forgot about it. These CDs will do. Yes, how old I am, too.
The Go-Go’s reunion to produce the album GOD BLESS THE GO-GO’S (2001) and the fine concert video IN CENTRAL PARK might well be worth your time, as was the collection RETURN TO THE VALLEY OF THE GO-GO’S, though I might enjoy their earliest punk recordings included on that CD album better than you might, in that survey of their career up through 1994.
from the 2001 album:
And trying embedding in comments:
and the 2001 Central Park concert:
As far as I know, the Motels didn’t have as clangorous a reunion and subsequent set of tours…though the Bangles did, and had a similarly impressive 2003 comeback album, and another after that…
So, clearly, embedding isn’t necessary in the comments fields, at least! Just linking will display the videos.
Still not sure how you did that one, but I’ll experiment.
From the Motels’ WIKI page: “At the end of 2012, The Motels opened for The Go-Go’s at the Hollywood Bowl, their first performance at this venue. Reviews were great.”
Thanks for all of those comments, Todd. I’ll digest at my leisure.
I remember listening to this music and enjoying it. But, no one is playing this music on the radio anymore.
The radio? They don’t do that much, except if you count services like Sirius or Pandora.
You want a real indication of the passage of time, it came with hearing tracks off the Go-Go’s and Bangles reunion albums on in-store Muzak a few years later…
Hey, thanks, Rick. I haven’t had much focus to read but I will try a few of these. (Holly had to tell me who the Go Gos were) I thought after marriage, I could only listen to classical and jazz. Consequently I missed a lot.
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Ah, Patti…the Go-Go’s were one of the bands of my generation (they are a handful of years older than I) that I fully embraced and which had a brief vogue of extreme popularity…and the media crush I had on Jane Wiedlin (the brunette guitarist) was strong and persistent.
And watching the first broadcast, possibly live, of the GG’s Central Park concert on DirecTV was a memorable late good time I had with my parents on a visit after I’d moved away, as my mother hadn’t ever paid attention to them previously, and found herself charmed…my father at first mostly surprised the band were in their early 40s rather than younger, but he wasn’t suffering, either, and seemed to be enjoying the music by concert’s end.