Belinda Carlisle didn’t set out to leave The Go-Go’s and become a solo star. But when the band fell apart after three albums, a song written for its replacement lineup landed in Carlisle’s hands instead. She made it her first solo single, and “Mad About You” went all the way to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Go-Go’s had made an enormous impact in a short amount of time. Their 1981 debut, Beauty and the Beat, topped the Billboard 200 and helped establish the group as one of the most successful female rock bands of the era.
The band followed it with Vacation in 1982 and Talk Show in 1984. Neither album matched the success of the debut, but both produced hit singles, and The Go-Go’s remained a major pop presence into the mid-1980s.
Behind the scenes, however, the group was coming apart. Jane Wiedlin left The Go-Go’s after Talk Show, reportedly unhappy with her position in the band. The group brought in Paula Jean Brown as her replacement and played several shows with the new lineup.
There were even plans to keep the band going. The Go-Go’s began developing material for a possible fourth album, but they ultimately couldn’t put things back together and decided to disband.
That left the new songs they had been working on without a band to record them. The timing worked out especially well for Carlisle. She already had a solo deal waiting for her at IRS Records, the same label that had signed The Go-Go’s.
Among the songs Carlisle heard was “Mad About You,” written by Brown with James Whelan and Mitchell Evans. Brown had envisioned it for her new band, but the breakup of The Go-Go’s opened the door for Carlisle to take it in another direction.
Carlisle picked it as her first solo single, giving the song a second life outside the Go-Go’s. And she wasn’t recording it alone. Former Go-Go’s members Charlotte Caffey and Wiedlin added backing vocals, with Duran Duran’s Andy Taylor on lead guitar.
Released in 1986, “Mad About You” gave Carlisle a strong start outside The Go-Go’s. The song reached No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on Canada’s RPM 100 Singles chart.
It also became the lead single from Carlisle’s debut solo album, Belinda. The song pointed toward a more polished pop and adult contemporary sound than the rock-influenced music she had made with The Go-Go’s.
That distinction became important to Carlisle’s solo career. While she had already established herself as the voice of The Go-Go’s, “Mad About You” helped introduce listeners to a different side of her as a solo artist.
Years later, “Mad About You” found its way back to the Go-Go’s. It was included in Head Over Heels, the 2018 Broadway musical built around the band’s music and two of Carlisle’s solo songs.
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