The Go Go’s came up in the same late ’70s L.A. punk/power pop scene as the Motels, X, Plimsouls and Germs. They made a name for themselves on the Sunset Strip by mining the same urban surf music that the Ramones pioneered in New York. They also drew attention because they were an all-girl band that played and wrote all their own music.

Rock and roll is a young art form, but it’s been depressingly light on women-only bands. Though the Go Go’s weren’t the first in this statistical category–that honor goes to the Runaways, who brought you the unholy duo of Joan Jett and Lita Ford–they are certainly the most successful.

The Go Go’s broke big with their first major record deal Beauty and the Beat and had a meteoric career in the early 1980s, releasing three albums and touring like hell. By all accounts, they were a bunch of hard-living, hard-smoking, and hard-sexing babes on the road. But their short heyday collapsed in 1985, under the weight of expectations and over-partying.

Lead singer Belinda Carlisle embarked on a successful solo career based on her singing talent and good looks, but faded out due to her inability to find decent songs for her fine voice. Guitarist Jane Wiedlin had a moderately successful solo career that died out when she couldn’t produce a decent voice to sing her fine songs. The rest of the band flailed about until a reunion wasn’t just desirable, but necessary.

Their modest return as a working band during the 1990s didn’t really catch fire, so they settled on the creation of a reunion album, God Bless the Go Go’s, in 2001. Billy Joe Armstrong, the mercurial lead singer of Green Day, paid the entirely proper homage by appearing on that album. Bands like Green Day and Blink 182 are the heirs of the Go Go’s music, basically the Beach Boys pumped up and played fast.

When the band took the stage at ZooTunes at Woodland Park Zoo last night, they probably didn’t have much to prove. The sold out crowd of 3,800 plus was there out of love and probably hoped to recapture a little of their youthful spirit. So it was surprising when the girls came out blasting and laid down a hard rocking set that, frankly, was something the normally staid ZooTunes concerts sorely needed.

The Go Go’s came to play.

I’d seen the band on stage at the Whiskey in the 1970s, and in Boston in 1983, with A Flock of Seagulls (that’s a combo that nicely sums up a decade). But Sunday they conceded nothing to advancing years and energetically blazed through their catalog like the world depended on it.

Watching the band, I was reminded that their original success wasn’t a fluke or a result of their position as an all-girl band. The five Go Go’s are damn fine musicians. Guitarist/keyboardist Charlotte Caffey laid down licks that Dick Dale would heartily approve of. Wiedlin provided perfect harmony and slick guitar work. Kathy Valentine held the bottom together with her strong bass lines and Carlisle reminded the crowd that she can still put a song over like few others in rock.

But the band’s secret weapon is drummer Gina Schock, who peerlessly provided the pumped-up beats and surf rolls. She hit the drums hard and with purpose and the crowd, which normally sits respectively and reflectively at ZooTunes concerts, was on its feet after just five songs.

The band was in a giddy mood, probably because they just received a star on Hollywood Boulevard a week ago. And, in a nice nod to their fans, Carlisle grabbed a mike and belted out, “What a drag it is growing old!” before the band launched into “Mother’s Little Helper,” the Rolling Stones standard.

Returning to the stage for the encore, Schock was set to introduce the band, but the ladies were frantically throwing guitar picks and set lists out to the crowd. “I guess we’ll just wait for everyone to get back on stage,” mused Schock. Kathy Valentine replied, “Hey, we’re passing out picks to young girls and telling them to form bands.”

Moving into their mid-50s, the Go Go’s are standard bearers for women in rock. They didn’t ask for that mantle. In 1978, you would have thought women would move into rock music in a huge way. Well they did and they didn’t. Thirty years on, we have precious few all-girl groups out there. There are few women bassists and drummers and rock guitarists.  Lots of singers, it’s true, but few writers.

The Go Go’s know this. They know they are kings of a small field, but Sunday night they didn’t seem to care. They weren’t taking prisoners. Young girls take note.