GO-GO’S - HEAD OVER HEELS

Released: February 21, 1984

Charts:  US: #11 

In 1984, The Go-Go’s released “Head Over Heels,” a sparkling burst of pop perfection that would become one of their defining songs—and their last major hit before the band imploded. Written by Charlotte Caffey and Kathy Valentine and produced by Martin Rushent (best known for his work with The Human League), the track served as the lead single from their third studio album, “Talk Show”. It reached No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Caffey and Valentine crafted “Head Over Heels” during a period of mounting tension within the band. Their first album, “Beauty and the Beat”, had made history as the first LP by an all-female band to top the US charts. The follow-up, “Vacation” fared respectably but hinted at creative strain. By “Talk Show”, those pressures—fame, exhaustion, money disputes, and artistic friction—were bubbling to the surface.

Yet from that turmoil came one of their most finely tuned songs. The effervescent melody, powered by Caffey’s newly introduced piano hook, belied lyrics that were deeply introspective. “This is one where I had a lot of phrases I’d written down,” Valentine recalled. “They started connecting—things like ‘One hand is reaching out, and one’s just hanging on.’ It was about self-reflection and realizing that certain areas of life were getting out of control.”

Caffey remembered the song’s creation as a moment of musical exploration. “I played piano and had never really used it in The Go-Go’s,” she said. “I thought, maybe it’d be cool to try something with a different tonality. I came up with the hooky part in the beginning and asked Kathy to help me finish it.”

The result was a polished, emotionally complex pop gem that felt both joyous and weary—an unintentional reflection of the band’s own state. Lead singer Belinda Carlisle later told The New York Times that “Head Over Heels” symbolized the end of an era: “That was the beginning of the end, that album. We were run ragged and didn’t know how to say no. The song has an upbeat melody, but lyrically it really captures the darker side of fame and fortune.”

The accompanying music video, featuring the band performing amid surreal cutaway shots—including Wiedlin reading a book and a USair Boeing 727 taxiing in the background—played in heavy rotation on MTV, capturing the group’s signature mix of cheeky humor and unshakable cool.

Years later, “Head Over Heels” would find new life as the title of a Broadway jukebox musical inspired by The Go-Go’s catalog. Director Michael Mayer described the song as “the perfect expression of love turning you upside down,” echoing the same dizzy emotional rush that made it a pop treasure in the first place.