If there was one song that was the literal and figurative anthem of my senior year of high school, it's without question the Go-Go's, "Our Lips Are Sealed". Released in June of 1981, it peaked at only 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart but, remarkably, remained on the chart through March of 1982, basically, my entire senior year at Oceanside High School back on Long Island. Written by Go-Go's rhythm-guitarist Jane Wiedlan and Terry Hall, lead singer of Fun Boy Three and the Specials, lead-singer Belinda Carlisle sings the majority of the innocent and infectious song with Wiedlan singing the bridge.
Why did "Lips" stay on the chart as long as it did and is the staple of many if not all '80's-music based radio stations and playlists today?
Because of the 1960 Buick LeSabre convertible featured in the video for it, that's why. Really? Well, in the grand scheme of things probably not but this is a car blog so I had to bring this soliloquy back around to four-wheels. If anything, the "Titan Red Poly" 1960 LeSabre drop top helped make the video memorable. Bit of a stretch to say the video helped make the song what it became although, it's well within reason to say the car helped make the video.
Knowing so much goes into set design and, when it's called for, car-casting, I've been fascinated by the use of this car in this video since I first saw it in the fall of 1981 on a fledgling MTV that had few videos of the cinematic quality of "Lips"; hence, MTV played it over and over and over. And over. Some say the band wanted an older style convertible for the shoot and found the car at a "Rent-A-Wreck"; others say they were ambivalent or even reluctant to do a video for the song in the first place.
Donning my "film-guy" hate, I took a year of film study in college, I'd hypothesize the director called for an old, large, stylish, brightly colored convertible that would stand out in traffic and the Los Angeles cityscape when being filmed. Yes, it was filmed, quite the expense for a new act even on a major label like the the late, great, I.R.S. Records; most videos were literally shot on far less expensive video tape back then. There's scuttle butt that the production was bankrolled with left over funds from the video for the Police's seminal, 1981 hit, "Don't Stand So Close To Me." Although The Police were on A&M, both labels were housed under Universal Music Group. Think Buick and Pontiac - divisions within a parent company.
What was probably happenstantial car casting turned out to be all but clandestine; can you imagine this video featuring anything other than this car? Despite its overt styling, it subtly becomes a backdrop that fits the retro-tinged, '60's-esque sound of the song meanwhile being progressive, as the Go-Go's were, at the same time. Had they used a red '57 Chevrolet or '59 Cadillac convertible it would have taken over the shoot - the song not being a "car song", those far more iconic automobiles would have literally taken over the video and been a distraction. The "Lips LeSabre", then, is a perfect set piece; you don't even see it while it's simultaneously visually interesting. Even if you could care less about what it is. This being a car blog, I most certainly do care.
General Motors first use of the "LeSabre" moniker was on a 1951 concept car. Foremost a design exercise, the "General Motors LeSabre" featured aircraft inspired design elements like tail fins and a wraparound windshield; design elements or themes that, for better or worse, would become commonplace on almost all domestic cars offered for sale by the end of the 1950's.
According to Detroit mythology, the design impetus for the "Lip's LeSabre" occurred when GM suits saw Chrysler's new-for-1957 designs, above is a 1957 Plymouth Fury, which were no doubt inspired by the General Motors LeSabre. Although it was too late to do anything about their planned 1958 models, GM scrapped their planned 1959 models drawing up some of the most memorable automobiles in history.
To illustrate just how different the '59's were from what was planned originally, above is a 1958 Buick "Special" convertible; the LeSabre replaced the Special in Buick's line for 1959. If anything, it's pure, chrome-drenched "1950's" and underscores how many, erroneously, think that sky-high" tailfins epitomized 1950's automobile decoration. If anything, chrome did. Tailfins? In reality, not so much.
For '59, above, the bridles were off, GM swinging mightily for the fences. Their 1959 designs were some of their last that were purely form over function; those menacing tail fins look as though they could impale you. A child could be decapitated. No wonder Ralph Nadar had a field day back then. Compared to a Cadillac or the "bat wing" Chevrolet's, though. the Buick LeSabre's tail fins were demur. Can't say that about that front end. That grill is all metal too.
Obviously, some cooler head or heads thought better of the '59's front end design and rebooted it for 1960. Well, to some degree. The headlights are positioned more conventionally, the grill simpler, the hood more concave. The bumper, oddly, is actually more complex.
The rear end was the same save for badging - B-U-I-C-K is spelled out on the trunk lid whereas it was in script above the passenger side bumperette on 1959's. Note said passenger side rear bumperette is askew on the "Lips LeSabre" - this car was no garage or trailer queen, and its "driver" quality only adds to its sense of authenticity and cool. That bent bumper does lay some credence that this car was rented from Rent-A-Wreck.
While "Our Lips Are Sealed" sold well, as did the album it's featured on, "Beauty and the Beat", sales of Buick's total model line do-over for 1959 went over with a proverbial thud, things got worse for 1960 with Buick dropping to ninth place, one of it's poorest showings since automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick incorporated his namesake company in 1899. Buick saw sales rise appreciably with far more conservative, conventional designs throughout the '60's.
In 2000, Rolling Stone put the "Go-Go's" version of "Our Lips Are Sealed" (there have been several) at number-57 on a list of the 100 Great Pop Songs of all time. The Go-Go's, the most successful all-female band of all time, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.
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