43 Years Ago These ‘80s Icons Posed in Their Underwear on a Magazine Cover: ‘We Were Really Bothered’ originally appeared on Parade.
In 1982, the Go-Go’s were living the dream.
The group’s debut album, Beauty and the Beat, topped the Billboard album chart on March 6, 1982 and stayed there for six weeks on the strength of the hit singles “Our Lips Are Sealed” and “We Got the Beat,” making the group the first (and still only) all-female band that played their own instruments to score a number one album.
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Given their success, it wasn’t a big surprise when Rolling Stone magazine came knocking, asking the band to appear on the cover of the iconic magazine. While the Go-Go’s were thrilled by the opportunity, it didn’t come out quite like the band was expecting.
The band appeared on the cover of Beauty and the Beat wearing towels on their heads and cold cream on their faces. Perhaps trying to play upon that image, legendary Rolling Stone photographer Annie Leibovitz asked the group’s members to change out of the outfits they’d chosen to wear for the photo shoot and put on some white Hanes underwear instead.
The band remembered the cover and the shoot in a post on their official Instagram account on Tuesday, Aug. 5.
“We were really bothered by the Rolling Stone cover,” Go-Go’s bassist Kathy Valentine told Yahoo’s Lyndsey Parker in a 2020 interview.
“All of a sudden we get to be on the cover of Rolling Stone, and we’re being shot by this legend,” Valentine recalled. “So, you kind of go with it. … We respected [Liebowitz] a lot and we were thrilled to be in a shoot for with her. It’s weird — you kind of do what you’re told sometimes. It just depends in the moment. And especially when there’s five people there, one person can still be grumbling and moaning and bitching about something, but they have to pipe down if everybody else is going along with the plan.”
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While the wardrobe choice for the cover shoot was questionable, it wasn’t the factor that the Go-Go’s objected to. It was the magazine’s choice of a cover headline that angered the band.
“[Liebowitz] is such a visionary and such an artist; I’m sure [she had] some creative statement. It could have been a spin on ‘They’re such wholesome girls!’” Valentine added. “But I think what rubs salt in that was the ‘Go-Go’s Put Out’ headline — almost a commentary like, ‘Oh, the wholesome girls, look at them, they’re not sexy-underwear-posing, it’s like they’re at a slumber party!’ That might’ve been the message, but when you say the Go-Go’s ‘put out,’ that was unmistakably a dig.”
Fans reacted to the post on Instagram with supportive comments.
“Even my 17-year old brain caught the dig, but I was thrilled to see my favorite band on the cover,” wrote one.
“Who said “The GoGos put out”? That’s f—-d up,” added another.
“Great back story @kathy.valentine this image is iconic!! I remember it so well. I thought these girls are so damn cool and it made me want to be just like them. ❤️🎶💥,” added another.
#tuesdaymotivation 43 YEARS AGO TODAYAUGUST 5, 1982 ….Our first Rolling Stone cover photographed by the fabulous Annie Leibovitz.
— GO-GO'S OFFICIAL (@gogosofficial.bsky.social) 2025-08-05T06:05:53.793Z
43 Years Ago These ‘80s Icons Posed in Their Underwear on a Magazine Cover: ‘We Were Really Bothered’ first appeared on Parade on Aug 5, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Aug 5, 2025, where it first appeared.
