"Going to a Go-Go" by The Rolling Stones

Song#:  1071
Date:  06/12/1982
Debut:  66
Peak:  25
Weeks:  11
Genre:  Rock



Pop Bits:  While their album "Tattoo You" was riding high on the charts, the Stones embarked on a major US tour that was the top grossing of 1981. Along the way, several of the concerts were recorded and selected songs from those recordings were chosen to make up their live LP "Still Life (American Concert 1981)." In addition to the recordings, the concert film "Let's Spend the Night Together" (directed by Hal Ashby) came out of the tour. This first single helped to promote the LP, which reached #5 and went platinum.

ReduxReview:  The Stones are awesome, but this song (and actually LP too) was not one of their bright spots. It's a pretty lazy version of the song. I would expect the groovin' Stones to really make this as driving and exciting as the original (see below). It's kind of a letdown. Even the crowd response at the end was kind of tepid. Maybe it was better in-person. As I've said many times here, live recordings rarely do much for me.

ReduxRating:  4/10

Trivia:  This is a cover version of the 1965 original by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles. Robinson co-wrote the song which hit #11 on the pop chart and #2 at R&B. Thanks to this song and three other Top 20 hits including "The Tracks of My Tears" (#16), their album "Going to a Go-Go" became the group's only one to reach the pop Top 10 (#8) and their only to hit #1 on the R&B album chart.

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