Lead singers have been going solo pretty much since the invention of the pop-rock band. In most cases, the singer wants to test their ability to do well outside the confines of the group. But Belinda Carlisle didn’t really have much choice when she did it.
Carlisle gave her band The Go-Go’s one last try, with “Mad About You”, one of the songs composed for the occasion. Instead, the song became the smash hit that ignited her highly successful solo career.
Go-Go’s Gone
The Go-Go’s made it through only three albums before things fell apart. Of course, they made quite the impact in that stretch. No female group playing a rocking brand of music crossed over to the pop charts with much sustained success until they came along. Belinda Carlisle’s vocals, sometimes ebullient, sometimes sly, played a big part in that.
The quintet knocked off a number-one album with their 1981 album Beauty And The Beat. Subsequent albums Vacation (1982) and Talk Show (1984) produced diminishing returns. But they still contained hit singles, and The Go-Go’s continued to hold a stable position in the pop music zeitgeist heading into the middle of the decade.
But internal strife was tearing at them. The first domino to fall came when Jane Wiedlin, upset with her standing within the band, left after the making of Talk Show. The Go-Go’s replaced her with Paula Jean Brown. Brown wasn’t around that long before the band collapsed. But she ended up making a huge contribution to Carlisle’s solo liftoff.
Going “Mad”
The Go-Go’s played a few shows without Wiedlin. At some point, the band’s writers started working up material for a possible fourth album. But they simply couldn’t get things back together, eventually deciding to disband. What would be done with the new songs they’d written?
Well, as it happened, Carlisle had an offer on the table to start her solo career at the same record company (IRS) that housed The Go-Go’s. She chose “Mad About You” for her first single. Paula Jean Brown penned it with James Whelan and Mitchell Evans, thinking it would be for her new band.
Carlisle secured the services of former Go-Go’s Charlotte Caffey and Jane Wiedlin to sing backing vocals. Andy Taylor of Duran Duran played lead guitar. “Mad About You” proved the perfect solo vehicle to get things rolling for Carlisle, reaching No. 3 on the pop charts in 1986 as the lead single from her album Belinda.
Behind the Lyrics of “Mad About You”
In “Mad About You”, Carlisle sings about being head-over-heels in passionate love. “Couple of fools run wild, aren’t we?” she knowingly asks her partner. “Pushing the day into the nighttime,” she confides. “Somewhere between the two, we start to see.”
There’s a connection there she hasn’t felt before. “Something about you right here beside me,” she sings. “Touches the touched part of me like I can’t believe.” “Mad about you,” she coos in the refrain. “Lost in your eyes/Mad about love/You and I.”
“Mad About You” established a new sound for Belinda Carlisle, one that moved into more of an adult contemporary pop lane. Even though it was supposed to be a Go-Go’s number, it helped define the artistic direction of her solo career.
(Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images)
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