The Go-Gos -- Our Lips Are Sealed

 

One of the first ROY articles that I had done in 2019 was even before I officially came up with Reminiscings of Youth as a KKP Label. Basically, I did some retrofitting with The Go-Gos' "Vacation" which had been just something that I really wanted to write about as also a fan of the 80s music in my neck of the woods. It wasn't the first ROY though; I think that honour goes to Captain & Tennille's "Love Will Keep Us Together".

Anyways, I felt that it was time to bring back The Go-Gos after nearly four years and I'm feeling a little sheepish right now since this California band was a group that was one of my first attractions getting into pop music in earnest and perhaps I should have brought it up a whole lot earlier. I'm unsure whether it was the official music video above or one of their performances on shows like "Solid Gold" or passing by the local department store's record section where I first heard "Our Lips Are Sealed" which was the 2nd single by the band and their first single from their debut album "Beauty and the Beat" from July 1981. Its cover of the ladies wearing just bath towels and face packs was quite daunting at the time and I was tempted to buy it but I was wondering how I was going to explain that to my parents.

Hearing it again for the first time in a while, "Our Lips Are Sealed", which was released in June, has had me swooning once more for the heady days of musical discovery. It was all about Belinda Carlisle's slightly Valley Girl delivery, the jangly guitars and Jane Wiedlin's soft and adorable vocals in the bridge. All that nostalgic goodness crammed into less than three minutes. "Our Lips Are Sealed" went all the way up to No. 3 on Canada's RPM while in the United States, it reached No. 20 on Billboard.

So, according to Oricon, what was hitting the top three ranks for June 1981?

1. Seiko Matsuda -- Natsu no Tobira （夏の扉）

2. The Chanels -- Hurricane （ハリケーン）

3. Akira Terao -- Ruby no Yubiwa (ルビーの指輪)