The Go-Go's - Head Over Heels

What this video is

Released in early 1984, 'Head Over Heels' arrived at the apex of The Go-Go's commercial trajectory and at the precipice of their dissolution. The band had broken ground as the first all-female group to write their own songs and play their own instruments while hitting #1 with their debut album, Beauty and the Beat (1981). By Talk Show, internal tensions over finances and songwriting credits were fracturing the…

Why it matters

As a flagship artifact of 1980s all-female new wave pop-rock, this video is historically significant as evidence of the genre's visual grammar: bright studio lighting, performance-forward editing, and an emphasis on individual band-member personality. The Go-Go's were a rare case of an all-female…

The director

Douglas Brian Martin is an American director and actor. His directorial credits include the music video for The Go-Go's 'Head Over Heels' (1984) and Sparks' 'I Predict' (Music Video). He is also known as an actor, with roles in The Addams Family (1991) and…