Podcast Summary: Tony Mantor’s Almost Live… Nashville

Episode: Interview with Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Go’s
Host: Tony Mantor
Guest: Jane Wiedlin
Date: January 7, 2026

Episode Overview

Tony Mantor sits down with Jane Wiedlin, founding member of the trailblazing all-female band, The Go-Go’s. In a lively, candid conversation, Jane shares the early days in LA’s punk scene, the challenges and triumphs of breaking industry barriers, her evolving perspective on music and songwriting, and thoughtful advice for artists navigating today’s music business. Listeners are treated to personal anecdotes, reflections on the Go-Go’s impact, and discussions on the shifting landscape for women in music.

1. Early Days in LA Punk Scene

• Small, Close-Knit Community
  • Jane recounts discovering the punk scene in late 1976, a time when “there were so few people that when there were shows, there’d be the band playing on stage and then the band jumping into the crowd when they were dancing. And it was very much a community and a family.” (03:00)
• Diversity and Inclusion
  • The scene embraced “women and people of color and LGBTQ people and tons of people that went to art school. It was very different scene than what most people imagine. And that was at the beginning anyways. But later it changed.” (03:15)
• Misunderstandings About The Go-Go’s
  • Jane on people questioning their punk roots: “People don’t believe we were part of the punk scene. … Like, hate to tell you this, guy, things happen before you were born.” (03:51)

2. Songwriting Growth & Partnerships

• Origins in Lyric Writing
  • Jane began writing poetry: “I had written, like, a lot of poetry that wasn’t very good. But, yeah, I just started writing lyrics is how it started.” (04:47)
• Early Themes & Collaborations
  • Early songs were “pretty political and a lot of it was about being outcasts of society.”
  • The collaboration with Charlotte Caffey was a breakthrough: “She was a really, really great music composer and I was pretty good at lyrics. … I still consider her one of the top three writers I’ve ever written with, for sure.” (05:17)

3. From Punk to Mainstream: The Role of MTV

• Rise with Music Videos
  • Discussing “Our Lips Are Sealed” and low-budget video: “We just kind of ran around town being silly and not really taking it very seriously and stuff, which I guess is part of the punk rock ethos.” (06:20)
• Genre Labels and Evolution
  • “We became considered more and more commercial, mostly because after punk rock, something called new wave became a label, and that’s what people were calling us.” (06:38)
• Musical Influences
  • “Buzzcocks and Ramones. Listen to either of those bands. They’re really pop songs, just done really fast.” (07:05)

4. Breaking Gender Barriers in Music

• Industry Resistance

  • Facing misogyny: “All the record companies just said no, flat out. … They even said it to our faces like, there never has been [a successful girl band], there never will be. It was like misogynism was so rampant that no one even knew what it was.” (07:50)

• Go-Go’s as Trailblazers

  • Signing with IRS Records: “We were their first hit act. We kind of started the ball rolling for them, having a lot of successful acts.” (08:23)

• Being Role Models

  • “Loads and loads of letters and fans coming up to us at shows. … What we represented to them was opportunity. Not just in the music business, but opportunity to excel in any business.” (09:50)

• Memorable Quote:

  • Jane (on being role models): “What we had in common was vagina.” (09:33)

5. Lasting Impact and Challenges for Female Musicians

• Cultural Influence
  • “You gave women and girls hope, that must have felt good to you?”
    • Jane: “Of course it felt good. I mean, how else would it feel?” (10:19)
• The Industry’s Slow Progress
  • “I'm still hoping for that day to come. … There are almost no successful female rock bands, especially ones that did what we did, which was play our own instruments, write our own songs and go to [number one]. No one has done that since we did.” (10:34)
• Freshness of Simplicity
  • “I feel like the Go Go's were kind of fresh and raw.” (12:26)
  • Tony: “That simple four, five piece sound with great hooks, great harmonies and just simple riffs is some of the best music still out there.” (12:41)
  • Jane: “The more simple and fresh it is, maybe the closer to the heart it gets.” (12:49)

6. Revisiting Songs & Shifts in Meaning

• “Our Lips Are Sealed” – Then and Now
  • On co-writing with Terry Hall: “It was basically about our short and secret romance that we had and, you know, paying no mind to the gossip. But what ended up becoming of it was it became kind of a strong girl anthem … I think that’s a much more powerful message than, you know, just another love song.” (13:26)

7. Advice for Upcoming Artists

• Don’t Sell Your Publishing
  • “You'll be very tempted to do it when you're poor. But if you have any success at all, you're going to really regret it because that is a big stream of income." (14:27)
• Be Your Own Advocate
  • “You're going to have big periods of your life where you have no advocates whatsoever and nobody believes in you.” (14:45)
  • Example: Her parents encouraged a “real job,” but the Go-Go’s succeeded because they didn’t give up. (15:00)

8. Today’s Music Industry & Streaming

• LA Scene vs. Today
  • “There are not as many clubs. … I think that the whole advent of streaming is kind of destroying the music business. … By depriving artists of income, you’re gonna prevent artists from existing.” (15:45)
• Struggles for Songwriters
  • Tony on Nashville: “It’s very tough when you get fractions of pennies for streaming and songs that you have written.” (17:00)
  • Jane: “I don’t know how young artists are doing it, to be honest.” (16:21)
• Current Strategies
  • “A lot of artists these days are just going with tiny labels or their own label because … at least if you're controlling your own career, you're controlling your own career, which is always a positive.” (18:06)
  • “A lot of those musicians tour all the time and that's how they make their income.” (18:21)

9. Life on Tour & Dealing with Fame

• Touring Memories
  • “Touring was both fun and exhausting. … Just spending all that time making each other laugh. … We called ourselves a five headed monster. We were just so out of control.” (18:48)
• On Fame
  • “The thing about fame is I don’t think anyone’s ever prepared for it. … For us it just kind of killed everything, to be honest. … I really just felt like a regular person who had been thrust into this really weird, crazy world.” (20:00)

10. Current & Future Projects

• Music & Charity
  • “The Go Go's did a bunch of festivals, which we'd really never done before, and that was exciting. I also do a lot of charity work, a lot of concerts for free, just to raise money for different causes.” (20:44)
• Side Projects and Collaborations
  • Side project on hiatus: “People would be surprised how little people are interested in musicians from a big band if it's not the actual big band that they're looking at.” (21:09)
  • No current manager or label: “I'm pretty suspicious of business people in the record business.” (21:22)
• Upcoming Event – Joy Song
  • “I'm actually kind of wildly excited because I get to see a lot of people that I haven’t seen in years. And from what I hear, everyone just loves playing this event, that it’s just really fun for both the people on stage and the people in the audience.” (22:16)

11. Social Media & Activism

• Connecting with Fans
  • “Mostly through social media. … DMs are a great way to connect with people." (24:54)
  • For updates: “It’s just Jane Wiedlin. As long as you spell Wiedlin right, you’re in like Flynn.” (24:59)
  • Prefers Instagram and routes posts to Facebook and Threads (25:13)
• Jane on Self-Promotion and Politics
  • “I almost never post selfies. Almost all my stuff is political content. … There was a time not too many months ago where celebrities were absolutely afraid to speak out and I was like, what do I have to lose? … A lot of people … feel like they found a home.” (25:59)
  • “I don’t have a huge following, I have a really, really active following. … That’s something to be happy about.” (26:45)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You can’t really know true history if you weren’t there.” — Jane Wiedlin (04:30)
• “What we had in common was vagina.” — Jane Wiedlin (09:36)
• “If you’re a good songwriter, you’re never going to get what the songs are actually worth.” — Jane Wiedlin (14:30)
• “The more simple and fresh it is, maybe the closer to the heart it gets.” — Jane Wiedlin (12:49)
• “For us, [fame] just kind of killed everything, to be honest. It just got hard.” — Jane Wiedlin (20:00)

Key Timestamps

• 02:44 — Jane enters; reflects on 1970s LA punk scene
• 03:47 — Discussion on Go-Go’s punk credentials and misconceptions
• 04:47 — Songwriting development and partnership with Charlotte Caffey
• 06:01 — MTV’s role in Go-Go’s mainstream breakthrough
• 07:45 — Early industry misogyny, breaking through barriers
• 09:36 — On the comparisons with other female bands (“What we had in common…”)
• 10:34 — The impact (or lack thereof) on the industry for women rock bands
• 13:26 — “Our Lips Are Sealed” meaning then and now
• 14:21 — Advice for young musicians (“Don’t sell your publishing”)
• 15:45 — Changing music landscape: fewer clubs, streaming’s impact
• 18:31 — Memories: touring, backstage antics
• 20:00 — Reflections on coping with fame
• 20:44 — Ongoing music and charity engagement
• 24:59 — Social media handles and connecting with fans
• 25:59 — Jane’s activism and approach to her online community

In summary: This episode is a heartfelt, illuminating journey through Jane Wiedlin’s groundbreaking career, from the LA punk underground to pop stardom, and her ongoing advocacy for authenticity, equity, and compassion—on stage and off.