ON THIS DAY IN 1980 - THE ALBUM'S GO-GO'S CAMEO SAT BESIDE A SECRET ROMANCE AND A FUTURE POP HIT

ON THIS DAY IN 1980 — THE ALBUM’S GO-GO’S CAMEO SAT BESIDE A SECRET ROMANCE AND A FUTURE POP HIT

When The Specials released More Specials on September 19, 1980, one of its most intriguing connections was tucked away in the album’s final moments. 🎙️

The closing reprise of “Enjoy Yourself” featured backing vocals from Belinda Carlisle, Charlotte Caffey and Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Go’s. At the time, the Los Angeles band was still rising from the punk scene, years before becoming one of America’s defining pop-rock groups.

Their British experience in 1980 was hardly an easy introduction. 🇬🇧 The Go-Go’s spent months opening tours for The Specials and Madness, encountering hostile audiences along the way. Wiedlin later recalled spit and beer bottles being aimed at the band.

But another story was unfolding during that touring connection. Wiedlin and Specials singer Terry Hall had what she later described as a brief tour romance. When she returned to California, they continued corresponding across the Atlantic. 💌

Hall sent her lyrics, including the beginnings of “Our Lips Are Sealed.” Wiedlin responded by writing the music and adding further words, turning their private correspondence into a joint composition. 🎶

The Go-Go’s recorded the song and released it as their debut single, while Hall later recorded a version with Fun Boy Three. Both interpretations helped give the collaboration a life far beyond the circumstances in which it was written.

None of that means the More Specials session caused the romance or the future song. The threads simply crossed during the same remarkable period: three Go-Go’s voices hidden in an album’s closing reprise, a transatlantic relationship and a pop classic still waiting to be heard. ✨

Sometimes the quietest cameo carries the longest echo.

#musicOnOff #TheSpecials #MoreSpecials #TheGoGos #OurLipsAreSealed #TwoTone #MusicHistory