“We Got The Beat” is an ode to the early 1960s.

It was originally released by The Go-Go’s as a single in the UK in May 1980. This version has more of a punk sound.

It was then re-recorded and released in the U.S. on January 16, 1982, as the second single from their debut album Beauty and the Beat. It charted at #2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and has since become one of the band’s signature tunes.

According to guitarist Charlotte Caffey, the song evolved from her love of the Motown classic “Going To A Go-Go”:

“I thought it would be very clever to do ‘Going To A Go-Go.’ I thought, Well, let’s try working this out as a cover song. Which is really funny when I think about it. I was listening to it a lot one day, and later that night, the song came to me within five minutes. I don’t even know if it has anything to do with listening to that song, but this whole idea came to me. It was one of those things that just went right through me and came out my hand; I wrote it down, recorded it a little bit, and then brought it into rehearsal a few days later.”

It was featured in the the teen film Fast Times at Ridgemont High in 1982.