Jane Wiedlin was a member of the Go-Go's before striking out on her own in 1983. Her first chart appearance came that year as "Cool Places" reached #49, followed by "Blue Kiss" in 1985, which stopped at #77. In 1988, Wiedlin would find widespread success with her biggest hit, "Rush Hour," which zoomed to #9. The momentum could not be maintained though, and her follow-up, "Inside A Dream," stalled at #57. "Give!" is another 80s delight from her 1988 album "Fur." Puzzling why this one was not released as a single.
After the break-up of The Go-Go's, their drummer Gina Schock formed a band of her own with Vance DeGeneres, the older brother of Ellen. Stepping up to the mic, Gina proved she had what it takes to front a pop rock band. In 1988, House of Schock released their one and only record (self-titled). Schockingly, the record was a flop and generated no charting singles. Quite a shame, as there are several catchy tunes on here that seem perfect for 1980s radio. In addition to "Middle of Nowhere," check out "Never Be Enough" and "This Time." The Go-Go's got back together in 1990 and Gina has stayed with them ever since.
The Graces was an all-girl trio that released a single record in 1989 called "Perfect View." They had all the makings of a supergroup with Charlotte Caffey from the Go-Gos, Meredith Brooks, and Gia Ciambotti. Their lead single made a modest dent on the charts. "Lay Down Your Arms" climbed to #56 in the summer of 1989, but I was surprised it didn't do better. The trio had a terrific chemistry in harmony, its just a shame the songs were not as strong as they needed to be. Meredith Brooks would not complain, though. She went solo and, although she became a one-hit wonder, took her song "Bitch" to #2 in 1997. Ciambotti became a backing vocalist for Bruce Springsteen and released her own solo record in 2007.
After splitting from the Go-Go's in 1984, Belinda Carlisle embarked on what would prove to be a very successful solo career. Her sunny melodies and unmistakeable vibrato, which I can achieve if I sing while speeding down a cobblestone road, helped catapult many of her songs to the upper end of the charts. However, the wave of success began to ebb by the close of the decade. Her third solo album, "Runaway Horses", spawned her last top 40 hits: "Leave A Light On" (which features George Harrison on slide guitar) went to #11 and "Summer Rain" went to #30. "Runaway Horses" ran to #37 on the US album chart, but did much better in other countries. The same can be said for the excellent track, "(We Want) The Same Thing", which sounds like a lost ABBA song to me. "Runaway Horses" was doing so well in the UK, this song was released as the sixth (!) single and still reached #6 in the UK. I wonder how it would have done in the US...
