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"We Got the Beat" is a song by the American rock band the Go-Go's, written by the group's lead guitarist and keyboardist Charlotte Caffey. The band first recorded the song in 1980 for a single on UK-based Stiff Records, and later rerecorded it for their debut album Beauty and the Beat on I.R.S. Records. The initial single release brought the Go-Go's underground credibility during their first UK tour and in the band's hometown of Los Angeles. The first version reached No. 35 on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart due to its popularity in clubs as an import, and the second version was a top 10 hit in both the United States and Canada. It is considered a new wave classic hit, as well as being the Go-Go's' signature song. The song was named one of "The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll".
"We Got the Beat" evolved from the group covering the Smokey Robinson song that served as the group's namesake: the Miracles' "Going to a Go-Go". Taking inspiration from that, and from the opening theme of The Twilight Zone, lead guitarist Charlotte Caffey wrote "We Got the Beat" and offered it to the band with hesitation, afraid that it would not be punk enough for the other members' tastes. When the rest of the Go-Go's heard the song, they loved it, and its incorporation into their set marked a stylistic change for the group as they moved away from punk rock and toward a more pop sensibility that would put the Go-Go's in with what was being termed "new wave". Go-Go's manager Ginger Canzoneri secured a deal with British indie label Stiff Records to release "We Got the Beat" as a single to support the band's UK tour with Madness and The Specials. Stiff Records had also wanted to secure publishing rights for "We Got the Beat" and its B-side, "How Much More", but Canzoneri declined, thinking it was important for the band to hold the publishing rights to their own songs.
After returning from a tumultuous UK tour, the Go-Go's returned to large crowds at clubs in Los Angeles, due to the single's popularity, leading them to a deal with newly established I.R.S. Records. The band headed to New York's Pennylane Studio to record their debut album where producer Richard Gottehrer advised the group to slow their songs down. "We Got the Beat" remained an exception to this advice, though the band lengthened it slightly by adding a few instrumental bars at the song's start.
"We Got the Beat" led off the second side of the Go-Go's debut album, Beauty and the Beat, released in July 1981, and served as the album's second single in January 1982, now with another album track, "Can't Stop The World", as its B-side. Clocking in at 2+1⁄2 minutes, the second studio version song is recognizable by its drumming intro. The lyrics mention various early 1960s dances such as the Pony, the Watusi, and Go-Go dancing.
The song's music video, filmed at a live performance at Palos Verdes High School in Los Angeles on December 4, 1981, received heavy airplay on MTV. It gained further exposure when it was used in the opening sequence of the Amy Heckerling-directed film Fast Times at Ridgemont High, released in August 1982.
The Go-Go's performed the song, along with "Vacation" and "Our Lips Are Sealed", during the 2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.
Cash Box said "The Grammy Awards-nominated Go-Go's continue on their winning ways with this new recording of the cut that started it all for the girls in 1980 as an English single on stiff, punchy, to-the-point power-pop." Billboard called it a "catchy rocker" that has "the same endearing charm" as "Our Lips Are Sealed."
"We Got the Beat" became the Go-Go's biggest hit, spending three weeks at No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, behind Joan Jett & the Blackhearts' "I Love Rock 'n Roll". It was during the song's time in the U.S. Top 10 that Beauty and the Beat topped the U.S. Billboard 200.
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