Belindas Baby

SPOTLIGHT

blinda Carlisle has hod a heart-shaped career, pierced with a poison arrow or two. As lead singer of the Go-Go's, she conveyed chirpiness as a philosophy of life. With its candy chords and pastel harmonies, this all-girl L.A. band rode the backwash of the Beach Boys' eternal summer. Their songs rippled from the radio sounding both nostalgic and shiny-new, like sun-faded glossies. Her image hasn't escaped without scratches. A bootleg video surfaced on cable TV showing her and the Go-Go's trying to arouse a limp groupie. And despite her commitment to AIDS research and animal rights, her marriage to Republican hotshot Morgan Mason miffed the P.C. music press. Says Carlisle, "I was so fucked up I didn't know what a Republican was." Now she realizes they walk among us, as amazingly lifelike as you or me.

It might be said that Carlisle, expecting her first child with Mason in May, has gone from Go-Go's to "goo-goo." (Mass groan.) Although her pregnancy forced her to postpone a tour to promote her latest solo album, Live Your Life Be Free, she climbed a circular staircase for the video of "I Plead Insanity," leaving her pooped. "Now I can get fat and relax," she says of the downshift from stardom to momdom. But the fickle nature of the music biz keeps her from becoming too mellow. Faced with rock videos featuring fog machines and frenzied dancers, she wonders, "Am I passe?" Perish the thought. As long as pop music has a sweet tooth, there'll be a place for her on the car stereo. —JAMES WOLCOTT

JAMES WOLCOTT