meet me at the go-go

The go-go era didn't last all that long, maybe a few years, with its cultural apex in the '64-'65 zone. Maybe (I'm not pretending to be Wikipedia here) it kicked off with those Johnny Rivers albums "recorded at" (or so they would have you believe) the Whisky a Go Go in LA, where he set the template for the go-go sound: a stripped-down, party-vibe brand of rock'n'roll with a beat suitable for doing the Monkey, the Jerk, the Frug, and the Shing-a-Ling.At any rate, it was go-go mania there for a while. Go-go was a style (go-go boots), a state of mind, a sensibility, a gathering place, a destination, an adjective, an all-purpose suffix. "Most every taxi that you flag is going to a go-go," Smokey sang. Dobie Gray's Northern Soul anthem "See You At The Go-Go" said it was "where the girls are" (big selling point). There was Gary Lewis & The Playboys' "Little Miss Go-Go," Hal Blaine's "Drums A Go-Go," Sam the Sham & the Pharoahs' "Pharoah A Go-Go." France Gall checked in with a ye-ye variation, "Jazz A Go Go." Charlie Rich, in a melancholy mood, offered a rather depressing alternative, "Tears A Go-Go," where the jukebox only plays brokenhearted songs and smiling is forbidden.Go-go has reappeared from time to time over the years (see: Wham!, Grarls Barkley's "Go-Go Gadget Gospel," Magnetic Fields' "Tokyo a Go Go," Black Eyed Peas...), but for the True Gospel According To Go-Go, smack in the middle of the '60s is where you wanna go.In a moment of cultural syncronicity, The Animals did their "Club A Go Go" in the "Hullaballoo A Go Go" segment of Hullaballoo, where archetypical go-go dancer Lada Edmunds Jr. kicked up her heels on a weekly basis.