CHARLOTTE CAFFEY

It's amazing, seeing people of all different ages singing lyrics to songs we wrote when we were so young and thought we knew everything.

I think we get a lot of recognition and it's great.

Personally speaking, I think the Beatles were our biggest influence.

Here's the thing about The Go-Go's: Onstage, any moment could be a total train wreck.

I had written or cowritten eight of the ten songs on 'Beauty and the Beat,' and I had written our biggest hit, 'We Got the Beat.' How was I going to top all of that?

We were the first all-girl band that wrote and played our own stuff. You know, the odds were really against us because rock has traditionally been dominated by men.

No one has done what we've done. We're the first female band to have a No. 1 record.

There's definitely sadness happening in this band. I get melancholy every day about things.

To all musicians - forget gender - to all musicians, it's about - do what makes you happy. Just go for it, you know?

If we would have had clear brains to take a break, instead of breaking up, we would have left room for balance in our lives.

People at the record labels were like, 'We don't want to sign you, you're girls' - sexist, ridiculous nonsense.

No one told us what to wear, what to write, what to play. When they tried to, we shot 'em down easily.

The worst thing about the music business is the business part of it. Business has nothing whatever to do with writing, playing and performing.

I don't want to be part of a band unless it's fun.

While we were touring for 'Vacation,' we weren't aware that the record wasn't doing well. It was a good tour, but the album didn't go over with critics.

We're more of a rock band and we have a punk influence and a pop influence.

The odds were against us being an all-female garage band from California.

I've never been a great lead guitar player.

I didn't know how to play lead guitar. There was a freedom in not knowing how to do it.

I still love playing live, and I love doing records, but writing songs is my main thing.

Going to rehearsals was too depressing, and missing rehearsals was also depressing, so it was like a vicious circle.

It wasn't much fun being Charlotte Go-Go. I like being Charlotte Caffey better.

We were anything but 'America's sweethearts.' On the inside we were total sassy rebels.

I was fortunate enough to be living in Hollywood, CA, when the underground punk rock music scene started. It was a small group of artists, misfits and weirdos, where everyone was welcomed and encouraged to express themselves.

I mean, when we put out our first album, it was 'Gosh, we really hope it sells 100,000 copies. That was the innocence.