Quotes from 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've been married for 23 years to Jeff McDonald from Redd Kross.

In April of 1978 I was asked to join an all-girl band that was just taking shape, The Go-Go's. It was one of those moments in my life - and there were many - when I just blurted out 'Yes!'

I've lived kind of a sad-happy life. It's like, every time you take a breath, it's heavy, but on the outside you're like a clown family traveling along the universe.

I don't think we fully understood what the implications could be when we found out we were doing 'SNL.'

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

What's the essence of the Go-Go's? Great melodies, guitar hooks, driving drums. All of that.

The energy between all the girls - we were hysterical together. That energy could go really bad and it could be so hateful and horrible, and then it could go really good and we'd write really good songs.

In reality - and we've always said this - yes, we are girls, women, but, first and foremost, we're musicians and we're songwriters.

We are just the most twisted, sick, hilarious people that I know.

In the old days I never thought about money - but then, of course, the clothes were so ugly in the '80s there was nothing I wanted.

We all came to the conclusion that we have an undeniable chemistry musically, that we might not ever find again. The mix of friction and camaraderie channels good songs, performances and laughs.

We were naive in a lot of ways, but that was part of the charm. We were very young.

Legendary photographer Annie Leibowitz persuaded us to pose in our underwear. When the magazine hit the stands we were horrified to see the caption 'Go-Go's Put Out.' Regardless, I was extremely excited to see us at every newsstand on every corner, our faces on the cover of 'Rolling Stone!'

There was something about the chemistry of the band and we would feed off each other. It was a gang of girls unleashed.

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

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

I ran to get my cassette recorder and sang 'We Got the Beat' into the recorder to document it. I knew I had written something special. It took two minutes. I didn't labor on the lyrics. It's a simple song, which goes back to the '60s, when I had my ears glued to the radio for the Stones, the Beatles, and the Beach Boys.

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.

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

We were a bonded group of girls, and it was us against the world and us against the odds.

Look; being in this band, of course it would be great, yeah. But, I mean, I don't live and breathe every minute of every day thinking like, 'Oh, my God. We have to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.'

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 struggled for years before we got that record deal. It was tough because we were girls. People were slamming doors in our faces for years.