1. The Go-Go’s 1981 debut hit “Our Lips are Sealed” was initially titled “Our Dips Have Congealed.” The band wrote the song at a dinner party thrown by lead singer Belinda Carlisle. Towards the end of the evening, Belinda surveyed some of her hors d’oeuvres and noted that some of dips were so gelatinous as to be inedible.
2. Specifically, Belinda was looking at her Cajun Shrimp Mold when she said “our dips have congealed.”
3. Go-Go’s guitarist Jane Wiedlin thought it had a nice ring to it, attached a melody she had been playing around with in her head, and started singing “Our dips have congealed.”
4. Drummer Gina Schock’s favorite dip is a spiced beet dip with goat cheese and pine nuts. Belinda had this at this same dinner party and it too had congealed.
5. Belinda’s smoky chipotle and bacon guacamole had also congealed.
6. All the dips had congealed.
7. Charlotte Caffey, the Go-Go’s bass player, loved the creamy pistachio dip, even when it congealed.
8. Guitarist Kathy Valentine was a huge fan of Belinda Carlisle’s Thai chili dipping sauce.
9. In fact, the band’s second single, “We Got the Beat” was originally titled “She Brought the Heat” and was about Belinda Carlisle’s Thai chili dipping sauce.
10. Some of the band’s infamous skirmishes can be attributed to creative differences; most were disagreements about whether or not the Thai chili dipping sauce should be classified as a dip or a sauce.
11. Most of the Go-Go’s songs were originally about Belinda Carlisle’s appetizers.
12. “Vacation” was originally called “Caramelization” and was inspired by Belinda’s Caramelized Five-Onion Dip.
13. You are probably thinking “Five onions? What the actual fuck?”
14. Yeah. It’s no joke. This Caramelized Five-Onion Dip is not for the faint of heart nor should the onion-averse go anywhere near it.
15. The song originally went like this:
Can't seem to get these onions to stew
Though I just sliced this vidalia in two
I’ll add some more shallots
To please some more palates
Just need something robust to dip these endives in
When I saw mayonnaise I should have run
But I know we all like onion
I’ll add some scallion
For my battalion
I should have known all along that this would smell
One fresh green onion
In this skillet
Six more red onions and they still haven't even browned a bit yet
Caramelization, all I ever wanted
Caramelization, have to be that way
Caramelization, we can’t eat crackers alone
16. No one is quite sure when the songs evolved into more universal themes. The 1980s was a very funny decade.
17. One of the Go-Go’s last singles, “Head Over Heels” was inspired by the time Belinda Carlisle hosted a seder and after too much Manischewitz, everyone sang “Fresh Kosher Meals” impromptu.
18. Of all Belinda’s dips that congealed that night, the Brandade de Morue au gratin was the most congealed of all. The Provençal dish is a great example of how to elevate ingredients like salt cod and potatoes – in this case by whipping them with milk, olive oil, and garlic until luxuriously silky. This dish was silky for a while. But au gratins do not do well being left out under a tent for long periods of time.
19. That shit was messed up.
20. One song, inspired by a Belinda Carlisle hors d’oeuvre, merely underwent a partial transformation. The song “Cool Jerk” from their album “Beauty and the Beat.” It began as and remains a song about Belinda’s Cool Ranch Jamaican Jerk Chicken dip.
21. Did I mention that Belinda’s dinner party was an outdoor dinner party?
22. It was. It was in the summer time too. In Los Angeles.
23. So their dips congealed.
24. And the band flourished.