Can We Give the Drummer Some?

243. GO-GO'S, "We Got The Beat"
Produced by ; written by
IRS 9903 1982 Billboard: # 2

Of all the New Wave bands that get no respect from doctrinaire punkists, none are more unfairly vilified than the Go-Gos. When they proclaimed on a comeback single (that I'll post on eventually) "Punk rock isn't dead!" many casual listeners must have wondered what they were talking about.

But the Go-Gos did form on the Sunset Strip in the late 70s as a punk band, at a time when the definition of what punk meant was a lot more fluid than it would be after Classic Punk was over and therefore writ canonical. What the Go-Gos became and succeeded as, of course, was a retro pop band--but then again that was what Joey Ramone always wanted his band to be and could never quite pull off, especially with DeeDee in the mix.

With the Go-Gos, as with the Rolling Stones and so many other groups, the band is a lot more generic if you focus on the lead singer and (here I go again) the lyrics. Listen to the instrumentalists. In this case, listen especially to the drummer: Gina Schock. Like most drummers who aren't vocalists, I'm not sure she ever got the respect she deserves.

Listen to the drums on this song, and you can hear the roots in punk--which is to say, the roots in surf music, which is the musical DNA of all American punk, especially the rhythm section. In this case, given the nominal theme of the song, the beat tries hard to be as generic as possible. If you heard it in a club or at a party in someone's basement, "The Beat" is almost too easy to find. It's got a backbeat you can't lose it, etc.

But hark ye now the little lower layer. Put this on headphones, earbuds if you must, and crank it up. Play with your equalizer if you're oldschool enough to know how to do that. Listen to it closely and you'll hear it. That simple beat has microbeats inbetween. The drum stutters, and not in a predictable pattern. What sounds generic at first listen is actually subliminally idiosyncratic and quirky.

This single doesn't succeed because it's blatantly generic; it excels because it's covertly aberrant. And you know how I feel about boring from within.