ABSTRACT
She’s an eagle when she flies . . . (Written and sung by Dolly Parton)
Just $1.29 was all it took to make the Go-Go’s a household name in the United States. Like other girl bands that were successful in Europe in the late 1970s, the Los Angeles-based Go-Go’s found the American market difficult to access, so signing with cutting-edge label I. R. S. was a significant break. The second break was seemingly smaller, but had huge repercussions. When the band’s single, “Our Lips are Sealed,” was presented to I. R. S. executives, label bosses initially decided to price the song at $2.98, the label’s usual UK-based pricing structure for singles. Barbara Bolan had another idea, however. Newly hired by I. R. S. in 1981 as a sales manager, Bolan had listened to the Go-Go’s material repeatedly, and knew that this group could be “something big.” She convinced label executives to price and market the song at $1.69 instead, the going rate for singles in the United States. It was a good decision for the Go-Go’s, I. R. S., and Bolan.
