Go go
Encyclopedia
Go-go is a subgenre associated with funk that originated in the Washington, D.C.
, area during the mid- 1960s to late-1970s. It remains primarily popular in the area as a uniquely regional music style. A great number of bands contributed to the early evolution of the genre, but The Young Senators, Black Heat, and notably singer-guitarist Chuck Brown
and The Soul Searchers are credited with having developed most of the hallmarks of the style.
Inspired by artists such as the groups formerly mentioned and Chuck Brown, Go-go is a blend of funk, rhythm and blues
, and early hip-hop, with a focus on lo-fi percussion instruments and funk-style jamming
in place of dance tracks, although some sampling
is used. As such, it is primarily a dance hall music with an emphasis on live audience call and response
. Go-go rhythms are also incorporated into street percussion.
In technical terms, "Go-go's essential beat is characterized by a syncopated, dotted rhythm that consists of a series of quarter and eighth notes (quarter, eighth, quarter, (space/held briefly), quarter, eighth, quarter)… which is underscored most dramatically by the bass drum
and snare drum
, and the hi-hat
… [and] is ornamented by the other percussion instruments, especially by the conga drums, timbales
, and hand-held cowbells."
Unique to Go-Go is an instrumentation with 3 standard Congas and 2 "Junior Congas", 8" and 9" wide and about half as tall as the standard Congas, a size rare outside of Go-Go. They were introduced to Rare Essence
by Tyrone Williams -aka- Jungle Boogie in the early days when they couldn't afford enough full sized Congas, and are ubiquitous ever since.
A swing rhythm is often implied (if not explicitly stated).
Another important attribute in go-go is call-and-response vocals
with the crowd in concert.
There is generally little familiarity with go-go music outside of the D.C. Metro area, which includes the District of Columbia and the city's outlying Maryland
and Northern Virginia
suburbs. Consequently, the relatively little commercial success (by industry standards) go-go bands have enjoyed has largely been a product of the genre's following in this geographic region. Nevertheless, the style continues to evolve.
In the mid-1960s, "go-go" was the word for a music club in the local African American community, as in the common phrase at the time "going to a go-go
" popularized by a million-selling hit of the same name
by The Miracles
. Dancers could expect to hear the latest top 40 hits, as many as 20 at time, performed by local funk
, rhythm and blues
bands, including Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers. Around this time, The Young Senators, later known as "The Emperors of Go-go", who were in fierce competition with Chuck Brown and Black Heat on the club circuit, became known for their 1965 hit "Jungle".
Chuck Brown was a fixture on the Washington and Maryland music scene with his band the "Los Lotinos" as far back as 1966. By the mid-1970s
he had developed a laid-back, rhythm-heavy style of funk (with new group name, "The Soul Searchers") performed with one song blending into the next (in order to keep people on the dance floor). The beat was based on one used in Grover Washington, Jr.
's song "Mr. Magic", though Brown has said in interviews that both he and Washington had adapted the beat from a gospel music beat found in black churches.
Another popular local cover band in the early 1970s, Aggression, would use rhythm breaks to keep fans dancing while they prepared for the next song, fixed guitar strings, etc. As Aggression gained popularity, they started holding dance contests during the rhythm breaks, which subsequently grew in length. The audiences began to look forward to these contests and the band's style evolved to where the beat would stop only occasionally during the course of a show.
In 1976, James Funk, a young DJ who spun at clubs in between Soul Searchers sets, was inspired (and encouraged by Brown himself) to start a band—called Rare Essence
(originally the Young Dynamos)—that played the same kind of music.
Experience Unlimited
(a.k.a. E.U.) was a band more influenced by rock (their name a nod to the Jimi Hendrix Experience
), that started out in 1970. After witnessing Rare Essence in the late-1970s, they modified their style to incorporate the go-go beat.
Trouble Funk
had its roots in an early 1970s Top-40 cover band called Trouble Band, then fronted by drummer, Emmett Nixon. With the inclusion of Robert 'Dyke' Reed (keyboards, guitar, vocals), Taylor Reed (trumpet, vocals), James Avery (keyboards, vocals), Teebone David (percussion), and Tony Fisher (bass, vocals), the band changed its name, and, in the late 1970s, after seeing the light at a gig they played with Chuck Brown, they, too, adopted the go-go beat. The band was signed to the Sugar Hill Records
label in 1982 and recorded with Kurtis Blow
. They are most notably known for their classic "Drop The Bomb".
Go-go's first national chart action came when Black Heat (the first D.C. go-go band to be signed by a major record label) released their Billboard top 100 hit "No Time To Burn" from their second album on Atlantic Records in 1974. They then toured with such national acts as Earth Wind & Fire, Parliament Funkadelic, Ohio Players, The Commodores and others. Later, Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers released their "Bustin' Loose (Part 1)
" single in late 1978; it reached the #1 spot on Billboard's R&B chart and held it for a month during February and March 1979 (peaking at #34 on the Pop chart).
, where it released a six-track EP called Drop the Bomb in 1982, which included the hit "Pump Me Up" which had already been a regional hit years before.
In 1984, Island Records
founder Chris Blackwell
heard Chuck Brown's "We Need Some Money" on the radio in New York, which ultimately led to him signing some of the brightest stars of the go-go scene. Trouble Funk and E.U. were both signed to Island, while Chuck Brown, Mass Extinction, Yuggie, Redds and the Boys and Hot, Cold, Sweat were signed through a distribution deal between T.T.E.D. and Island subsidiary 4th & B'way.
Along with the recording contracts Blackwell was handing out, he also wanted to make a go-go movie; a D.C.-based version of The Harder They Come
, perhaps. The resultant film, Good to Go
(or Short Fuse, as it was called on video) was plagued with problems: co-director Don Letts
was let go halfway through production, the film became less about the music and more about drugs and violence, and despite the fact that most of the post-production was completed in the fall of 1985, the film was held for release until late-summer 1986. When it did poorly on release, it seemed that go-go had missed its best chance to break into the mainstream.
The Junk Yard Band started out in 1980 as a group of kids (as young as nine) from the Barry Farms
projects. Unable to afford instruments for their band, they fashioned drums out of empty buckets and traffic cones, tin cans substituted for timbales, and, in place of a brass section, they used plastic toy horns. Adding real instruments to their gear a little at a time, by 1985 they had joined the ranks of D.C.'s finest; they were scooped up by Def Jam, who released a Rick Rubin
-produced single "The Word" in 1986. Not much happened with that record—at first. However, within a year or two of its release, the flipside, "Sardines," had become (and remains to this day) the group's signature song; it even performs it in the 1988
film Tougher Than Leather
.
Rare Essence signed with Mercury
/PolyGram Records but its one single for that label—"Flipside," released in 1986—was unremarkable.
E.U. got its big break in 1986 when it was booked to play a party celebrating the release of Spike Lee
's debut film, She's Gotta Have It
. Lee liked what he heard, and tapped the band to perform a song in his next movie, School Daze
. "Da Butt" (written for the film by Marcus Miller
and EU keyboardist, Kent Wood) made it all the way to #1 on Billboard's R&B chart (#35 Pop) and scored them a Grammy nomination (they lost out to Gladys Knight
). Hoping to build on their success, in 1989 they released Livin' Large
on Virgin Records
. Two singles from the album ("Buck Wild" and "Taste of Your Love") made respectable showings on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop singles chart but they failed to repeat the success of "Da Butt." (The album peaked at #22 on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart and #158 on the Top 200.) A second Virgin release, Cold Kickin' It, came out the following year but failed to make much of an impression on the national charts.
, whose 1996 indie release, "Let Me Clear My Throat"—based on a sample from DJ Mark the 45 King
’s “The 900 Number”—was picked up by American Recordings and in 1997 became go-go's last certifiable hit single (#4 on Billboard's Rap singles chart, #21 on the R&B/Hip-Hop singles chart, and #30 on the Hot 100). As the hip-hop content in go-go increased, the complexity of the musical arrangements decreased. Where bands once featured horn sections and multiple guitarists in addition to a phalanx of percussionists, many current go-go bands have stripped down to just keyboards and percussion. Another trend is to have a dedicated percussionist with plastic "wood blocks" performing much of what used to be handled by the Junior Congas.
There is, however, a retro movement going back to go-go's original style of marathon sessions covering currently popular R&B songs. Bands playing in that style include Suttle Thoughts, WHAT? band, and Familiar Faces. Many of these bands use the term "Grown ’n Sexy" to indicate a focus on appealing to audiences over 25. In 2006 and again in 2007, there was a Grown and Sexy Category at the WKYS
93.9 Go-Go Awards ceremony held at DAR Constitution Hall, which the Familiar Faces won in 2006, and L!ssen Da Grew^p won in 2007.
Some go-go artists have been able to transition into other areas of entertainment. Notably, Anwan "Big G" Glover
—a founding member of the Backyard Band—acts, playing Slim Charles on HBO's The Wire
.
D.C. band Mambo Sauce
also had a hit with "Welcome To D.C." which cracked the Billboard charts.
Kevin "Kato" Hammond, former lead guitarist for Little Benny and the Masters and former rapper for the band Proper Utensils, started the online magazine Take Me Out to the Go-Go in 1996. In addition to the magazine being a source of information on go-go shows, it serves as a community forum in which go-go fans routinely submit their own articles on issues unique to the genre. Take Me Out to the Go-Go has expanded to include a radio show on GoGoRadio.com, as well as a YouTube channel.
Additionally, musicians from other genres of music have incorporated elements of the go-go aesthetic into their compositions and stage acts. Jazz/rock musician Mike Dillon
, leads a band called Go-Go Jungle, often playing long, non-stop sets that incorporate go-go beats and raps interspersed with other sub-genres of funk, jazz, and rock. Another example is Bob Mintzer
's composition "Go Go" from the Yellowjackets
' 2003 release, Time Squared.
and UCB served as the house band for the MTV Video Music Awards show.
There is a go-go documentary called Drummers Beat in the works.
One well-publicized venue with trouble was Club U, located inside a District-owned building at the corner of 14th and U Street NW, where numerous incidents—including murder—occurred, leading to the revocation of its liquor license,
and eventual closing.
In March 2007, Jack B. Johnson
, County Executive in nearby Prince George's County, Maryland
, also cracked down on go-go music, announcing the indefinite closing of nine area clubs that had experienced a high frequency of police calls many for violent incidents in the past year. A court battle is ongoing over whether the closings were justified, with a court order temporarily stopping the closing of five of the clubs.
from existing go-go records or put out records with a go-go beat.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, area during the mid- 1960s to late-1970s. It remains primarily popular in the area as a uniquely regional music style. A great number of bands contributed to the early evolution of the genre, but The Young Senators, Black Heat, and notably singer-guitarist Chuck Brown
Chuck Brown
Chuck Brown is a guitarist and singer who is affectionately called "The Godfather of Go-go". Go-go is a subgenre of funk music developed in and around Washington, D.C. in the mid- and late 1970s...
and The Soul Searchers are credited with having developed most of the hallmarks of the style.
Inspired by artists such as the groups formerly mentioned and Chuck Brown, Go-go is a blend of funk, rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
, and early hip-hop, with a focus on lo-fi percussion instruments and funk-style jamming
Jam band
-Ambiguity:By the late 1990s use of the term jam band also became ambiguous. An editorial at jamband.com suggested that any band of which a primary band such as Phish has done a cover of be included as jam band. The example was including New York post-punk band Talking Heads after Phish performed...
in place of dance tracks, although some sampling
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
is used. As such, it is primarily a dance hall music with an emphasis on live audience call and response
Call and response
Call and response is a form of "spontaneous verbal and non-verbal interaction between speaker and listener in which all of the statements are punctuated by expressions from the listener."...
. Go-go rhythms are also incorporated into street percussion.
In technical terms, "Go-go's essential beat is characterized by a syncopated, dotted rhythm that consists of a series of quarter and eighth notes (quarter, eighth, quarter, (space/held briefly), quarter, eighth, quarter)… which is underscored most dramatically by the bass drum
Bass drum
Bass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...
and snare drum
Snare drum
The snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...
, and the hi-hat
Hi-hat
A hi-hat, or hihat, is a type of cymbal and stand used as a typical part of a drum kit by percussionists in R&B, hip-hop, disco, jazz, rock and roll, house, reggae and other forms of contemporary popular music.- Operation :...
… [and] is ornamented by the other percussion instruments, especially by the conga drums, timbales
Timbales
Timbales are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing, invented in Cuba. They are shallower in shape than single-headed tom-toms, and usually much higher tuned...
, and hand-held cowbells."
Unique to Go-Go is an instrumentation with 3 standard Congas and 2 "Junior Congas", 8" and 9" wide and about half as tall as the standard Congas, a size rare outside of Go-Go. They were introduced to Rare Essence
Rare Essence
Rare Essence, is an American go-go band, originally from Washington, D.C.-Career:The band developed from a relationship between four childhood friends: Quinten "Footz" Davidson, Andre "Whiteboy" Johnson, Michael "Funky Ned" Neal and John Jones...
by Tyrone Williams -aka- Jungle Boogie in the early days when they couldn't afford enough full sized Congas, and are ubiquitous ever since.
A swing rhythm is often implied (if not explicitly stated).
Another important attribute in go-go is call-and-response vocals
Call and response
Call and response is a form of "spontaneous verbal and non-verbal interaction between speaker and listener in which all of the statements are punctuated by expressions from the listener."...
with the crowd in concert.
There is generally little familiarity with go-go music outside of the D.C. Metro area, which includes the District of Columbia and the city's outlying Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
and Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia consists of several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in a widespread region generally radiating southerly and westward from Washington, D.C...
suburbs. Consequently, the relatively little commercial success (by industry standards) go-go bands have enjoyed has largely been a product of the genre's following in this geographic region. Nevertheless, the style continues to evolve.
Origins
Although Chuck Brown is known as "The Godfather of Go-go" and his tremendous influence in this music is unmatched, Go-go is a musical movement that cannot be traced back to any one person, as there were so many great bands that flourished during the beginning of this era, that they collectively created the sound that is considered Go-go of today. Groups such as The Young Senators, Black Heat, Aggression, Brute, And The Echos, Tommy Vann & The Professionals, The Mixed Breed, Scacy & The Sound Service, 95th Congress, 100 Years Time, Experience Unlimited (EU), Sound Extended, Spectrum, 2000 A.D., Lead Head, Symba, Distance, Ashante, Kalidescope, The NoWhere Men, Free Form Experience, The Jaguars, The Corvettes, The Epsilons, The New Breed, Lawrence & The Arabians, Sir Joe & The Free Souls, Ray Johnson's Esquires, Sons of Nature, and The Fathers Children, are just a few of the bands that played great music during the infancy of Go-go. oIn the mid-1960s, "go-go" was the word for a music club in the local African American community, as in the common phrase at the time "going to a go-go
Going to a Go-Go
Going to a Go-Go is a 1965 album by The Miracles', the first to bill the group as Smokey Robinson & the Miracles. It includes four of the Miracles' Top 20 hits: "Ooo Baby Baby", "The Tracks of My Tears", "Going to a Go-Go", and "My Girl Has Gone"...
" popularized by a million-selling hit of the same name
Going to a Go-Go (song)
"Going to a Go-Go" is a 1965 single recorded by The Miracles for Motown's Tamla label. Issued in December 1965, "Going to a Go-Go" peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States the following spring...
by The Miracles
The Miracles
The Miracles are an American rhythm and blues group from Detroit, Michigan, notable as the first successful group act for Berry Gordy's Motown Record Corporation . Their single "Shop Around" was Motown's first million-selling hit record, and the group went on to become one of Motown's signature...
. Dancers could expect to hear the latest top 40 hits, as many as 20 at time, performed by local funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
bands, including Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers. Around this time, The Young Senators, later known as "The Emperors of Go-go", who were in fierce competition with Chuck Brown and Black Heat on the club circuit, became known for their 1965 hit "Jungle".
Chuck Brown was a fixture on the Washington and Maryland music scene with his band the "Los Lotinos" as far back as 1966. By the mid-1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
he had developed a laid-back, rhythm-heavy style of funk (with new group name, "The Soul Searchers") performed with one song blending into the next (in order to keep people on the dance floor). The beat was based on one used in Grover Washington, Jr.
Grover Washington, Jr.
Grover Washington, Jr. was an American jazz-funk / soul-jazz saxophonist. Along with George Benson, John Klemmer, David Sanborn, Bob James, Chuck Mangione, Herb Alpert, and Spyro Gyra, he is considered by many to be one of the founders of the smooth jazz genre.He wrote some of his material and...
's song "Mr. Magic", though Brown has said in interviews that both he and Washington had adapted the beat from a gospel music beat found in black churches.
Another popular local cover band in the early 1970s, Aggression, would use rhythm breaks to keep fans dancing while they prepared for the next song, fixed guitar strings, etc. As Aggression gained popularity, they started holding dance contests during the rhythm breaks, which subsequently grew in length. The audiences began to look forward to these contests and the band's style evolved to where the beat would stop only occasionally during the course of a show.
In 1976, James Funk, a young DJ who spun at clubs in between Soul Searchers sets, was inspired (and encouraged by Brown himself) to start a band—called Rare Essence
Rare Essence
Rare Essence, is an American go-go band, originally from Washington, D.C.-Career:The band developed from a relationship between four childhood friends: Quinten "Footz" Davidson, Andre "Whiteboy" Johnson, Michael "Funky Ned" Neal and John Jones...
(originally the Young Dynamos)—that played the same kind of music.
Experience Unlimited
Experience Unlimited
Experience Unlimited is a Washington, D.C.-based go-go band that enjoyed its height of popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s. Fronted by lead singer/bassist Gregory "Sugarbear" Eliot, the group has had a fluctuating membership over the years, but they have maintained a fairly loyal following...
(a.k.a. E.U.) was a band more influenced by rock (their name a nod to the Jimi Hendrix Experience
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
The Jimi Hendrix Experience were an English-American psychedelic rock band that formed in London in October 1966. Comprising eponymous singer-songwriter and guitarist Jimi Hendrix, bassist and backing vocalist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell, the band was active until June 1969, in which...
), that started out in 1970. After witnessing Rare Essence in the late-1970s, they modified their style to incorporate the go-go beat.
Trouble Funk
Trouble Funk
Trouble Funk is an American R&B and funk band from Washington, DC. It helped to popularize that area's local funk subgenre known as go-go. Among the band's well-known songs are the go-go anthem "Hey, Fellas." They released several studio albums including Drop the Bomb, In Times of Trouble, Live,...
had its roots in an early 1970s Top-40 cover band called Trouble Band, then fronted by drummer, Emmett Nixon. With the inclusion of Robert 'Dyke' Reed (keyboards, guitar, vocals), Taylor Reed (trumpet, vocals), James Avery (keyboards, vocals), Teebone David (percussion), and Tony Fisher (bass, vocals), the band changed its name, and, in the late 1970s, after seeing the light at a gig they played with Chuck Brown, they, too, adopted the go-go beat. The band was signed to the Sugar Hill Records
Sugar Hill Records
Sugar Hill Records may refer to:*Sugar Hill Records , specializing in rap music*Sugar Hill Records , specializing in bluegrass and country music...
label in 1982 and recorded with Kurtis Blow
Kurtis Blow
Kurt Walker , better known by his stage name Kurtis Blow, is an American rapper and record producer. He is one of the first commercially successful rappers and the first to sign with a major record label...
. They are most notably known for their classic "Drop The Bomb".
Go-go's first national chart action came when Black Heat (the first D.C. go-go band to be signed by a major record label) released their Billboard top 100 hit "No Time To Burn" from their second album on Atlantic Records in 1974. They then toured with such national acts as Earth Wind & Fire, Parliament Funkadelic, Ohio Players, The Commodores and others. Later, Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers released their "Bustin' Loose (Part 1)
Bustin' Loose (Part 1)
"Bustin' Loose " was a hit song for Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers. Released from the LP of the same name, it spent four weeks at the top of the R&B singles chart in early 1979 and peaked at number thirty-four on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart....
" single in late 1978; it reached the #1 spot on Billboard's R&B chart and held it for a month during February and March 1979 (peaking at #34 on the Pop chart).
The 1980s
In the 1980s, some go-go bands achieved success, while others did not. Trouble Funk put out a few records on New Jersey-based label Jamtu before signing with one of the more powerful hip hop label, Sugar HillSugar Hill Records (rap)
Sugar Hill Records was the name of a rap music record label that was founded in 1979 by husband and wife Joe and Sylvia Robinson with Milton Malden and financial funding of Morris Levy, the owner of Roulette Records.-History:...
, where it released a six-track EP called Drop the Bomb in 1982, which included the hit "Pump Me Up" which had already been a regional hit years before.
In 1984, Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
founder Chris Blackwell
Chris Blackwell
Christopher Percy Gordon "Chris" Blackwell is a British record producer and businessman, who was the founder of Island Records, acknowledged as the most successful and groundbreaking independent record company in history. Blackwell has been a music industry mogul for over fifty years...
heard Chuck Brown's "We Need Some Money" on the radio in New York, which ultimately led to him signing some of the brightest stars of the go-go scene. Trouble Funk and E.U. were both signed to Island, while Chuck Brown, Mass Extinction, Yuggie, Redds and the Boys and Hot, Cold, Sweat were signed through a distribution deal between T.T.E.D. and Island subsidiary 4th & B'way.
Along with the recording contracts Blackwell was handing out, he also wanted to make a go-go movie; a D.C.-based version of The Harder They Come
The Harder They Come
The Harder They Come is a 1972 Jamaican crime film directed by Perry Henzell.The film stars reggae singer Jimmy Cliff, who plays Ivanhoe Martin, a character based on Rhyging, a real-life Jamaican criminal who achieved fame in the 1940s...
, perhaps. The resultant film, Good to Go
Good to Go (film)
Good to Go is a 1986 film directed by Blaine Novak, starring Art Garfunkel as a Washington, D.C. journalist who struggles to clear his name after being framed for rape and murder.-Soundtrack:...
(or Short Fuse, as it was called on video) was plagued with problems: co-director Don Letts
Don Letts
Don Letts is a British film director and musician. He is credited as the man who through his DJing at clubs like The Roxy brought together punk and reggae music.-Biography:...
was let go halfway through production, the film became less about the music and more about drugs and violence, and despite the fact that most of the post-production was completed in the fall of 1985, the film was held for release until late-summer 1986. When it did poorly on release, it seemed that go-go had missed its best chance to break into the mainstream.
The Junk Yard Band started out in 1980 as a group of kids (as young as nine) from the Barry Farms
Barry Farm, Washington, D.C.
Barry Farm is a small neighborhood in Southeast Washington, D.C., adjacent to St. Elizabeths Hospital. Possibly the oldest African American neighborhood in Washington, it is today almost entirely occupied by public housing projects and has a reputation for violent crime, poverty, and neglect...
projects. Unable to afford instruments for their band, they fashioned drums out of empty buckets and traffic cones, tin cans substituted for timbales, and, in place of a brass section, they used plastic toy horns. Adding real instruments to their gear a little at a time, by 1985 they had joined the ranks of D.C.'s finest; they were scooped up by Def Jam, who released a Rick Rubin
Rick Rubin
Frederick Jay "Rick" Rubin is an American record producer and the co-president of Columbia Records. Along with Russell Simmons, Rubin was the co-founder of Def Jam Records and also established American Recordings...
-produced single "The Word" in 1986. Not much happened with that record—at first. However, within a year or two of its release, the flipside, "Sardines," had become (and remains to this day) the group's signature song; it even performs it in the 1988
1988 in film
-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:* Act of Piracy* Action Jackson, starring Carl Weathers, Craig T. Nelson, Vanity, Sharon Stone* The Adventures of Baron Munchausen* Akira* Alice...
film Tougher Than Leather
Tougher Than Leather (film)
Tougher Than Leather is an American film released in 1988 and distributed by New Line Cinema. The film was directed by Rick Rubin and stars the hip-hop group Run–D.M.C. They created the movie to coincide with the release of their fourth studio album also titled Tougher Than Leather.-Plot:At the...
.
Rare Essence signed with Mercury
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
/PolyGram Records but its one single for that label—"Flipside," released in 1986—was unremarkable.
E.U. got its big break in 1986 when it was booked to play a party celebrating the release of Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
's debut film, She's Gotta Have It
She's Gotta Have It
She's Gotta Have It is a 1986 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Spike Lee. It was also Lee's first feature-length film. The film stars Tracy Camilla Johns, Tommy Redmond Hicks and John Canada Terrell. Also appearing are cinematographer Ernest Dickerson as a Brooklyn resident and...
. Lee liked what he heard, and tapped the band to perform a song in his next movie, School Daze
School Daze
School Daze is a 1988 American musical-drama film, written and directed by Spike Lee, and starring Laurence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, and Tisha Campbell-Martin...
. "Da Butt" (written for the film by Marcus Miller
Marcus Miller
Marcus Miller is an American jazz composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. Miller is best known as a bassist, working with trumpeter Miles Davis, singer Luther Vandross, and saxophonist David Sanborn, as well as maintaining a prolific solo career...
and EU keyboardist, Kent Wood) made it all the way to #1 on Billboard's R&B chart (#35 Pop) and scored them a Grammy nomination (they lost out to Gladys Knight
Gladys Knight
Gladys Maria Knight , known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, humanitarian, and author...
). Hoping to build on their success, in 1989 they released Livin' Large
Livin' Large
Livin' Large! is a 1991 comedy movie starring Terrence "T.C." Carlson, Lisa Arrindell Anderson, and Loretta Devine.- Plot :Carson portrays Dexter Jackson, a young, black deliveryman in Atlanta, Georgia who aspires to become a news reporter. Jackson gets what he considers his big break, when he...
on Virgin Records
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
. Two singles from the album ("Buck Wild" and "Taste of Your Love") made respectable showings on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop singles chart but they failed to repeat the success of "Da Butt." (The album peaked at #22 on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart and #158 on the Top 200.) A second Virgin release, Cold Kickin' It, came out the following year but failed to make much of an impression on the national charts.
1990s–2000s
As time passed, more and more of a hip-hop influence crept into go-go. Early MCs like D.C. Scorpio gave way to DJ KoolDJ Kool
John W. Bowman, Jr., better known by his stage name DJ Kool is a rapper who, in the late 1990s, produced several popular rap singles. Born in 1959 in Washington, D.C., his influence from his years of working the go-go and rap circuits became apparent in his music...
, whose 1996 indie release, "Let Me Clear My Throat"—based on a sample from DJ Mark the 45 King
DJ Mark the 45 King
DJ Mark the 45 King , also known as the 45 King, started DJing in New Jersey in the mid-1980s. The nickname "the 45 King" comes from his ability to make beats using obscure 45 RPM records.-Career:...
’s “The 900 Number”—was picked up by American Recordings and in 1997 became go-go's last certifiable hit single (#4 on Billboard's Rap singles chart, #21 on the R&B/Hip-Hop singles chart, and #30 on the Hot 100). As the hip-hop content in go-go increased, the complexity of the musical arrangements decreased. Where bands once featured horn sections and multiple guitarists in addition to a phalanx of percussionists, many current go-go bands have stripped down to just keyboards and percussion. Another trend is to have a dedicated percussionist with plastic "wood blocks" performing much of what used to be handled by the Junior Congas.
There is, however, a retro movement going back to go-go's original style of marathon sessions covering currently popular R&B songs. Bands playing in that style include Suttle Thoughts, WHAT? band, and Familiar Faces. Many of these bands use the term "Grown ’n Sexy" to indicate a focus on appealing to audiences over 25. In 2006 and again in 2007, there was a Grown and Sexy Category at the WKYS
WKYS
WKYS, the "Station for Interactive Hip Hop and R&B", is an American radio station broadcasting an Urban Contemporary radio format, that serves the greater Washington metropolitan area. Its transmitter is located on the same tower as WRC-TV. The station broadcasts from a class B signal with an...
93.9 Go-Go Awards ceremony held at DAR Constitution Hall, which the Familiar Faces won in 2006, and L!ssen Da Grew^p won in 2007.
Some go-go artists have been able to transition into other areas of entertainment. Notably, Anwan "Big G" Glover
Anwan Glover
Ralph Anwan Glover is an American actor and musician. He is one of the founding members of the Backyard Band, a go-go band, as well as appearing as gang member Slim Charles in the HBO series The Wire. He has also appeared in music videos, such as Boyz n da Hood's "Dem Boyz" among others, and has a...
—a founding member of the Backyard Band—acts, playing Slim Charles on HBO's The Wire
The WIRE
the WIRE is the student-run College radio station at the University of Oklahoma, broadcasting in a freeform format. The WIRE serves the University of Oklahoma and surrounding communities, and is staffed by student DJs. The WIRE broadcasts at 1710 kHz AM in Norman, Oklahoma...
.
D.C. band Mambo Sauce
Mambo Sauce (band)
Mambo Sauce is a go-go band in Washington, D.C., which came on the scene in 2007 with their songs "Miracles" and "Welcome to DC" getting play on WPGC-FM radio. "Welcome to DC" also cracked the Billboard charts for hip-hop in January 2008...
also had a hit with "Welcome To D.C." which cracked the Billboard charts.
Kevin "Kato" Hammond, former lead guitarist for Little Benny and the Masters and former rapper for the band Proper Utensils, started the online magazine Take Me Out to the Go-Go in 1996. In addition to the magazine being a source of information on go-go shows, it serves as a community forum in which go-go fans routinely submit their own articles on issues unique to the genre. Take Me Out to the Go-Go has expanded to include a radio show on GoGoRadio.com, as well as a YouTube channel.
Additionally, musicians from other genres of music have incorporated elements of the go-go aesthetic into their compositions and stage acts. Jazz/rock musician Mike Dillon
Mike Dillon (musician)
Mike Dillon is a percussionist, vibraphonist, bandleader, vocalist and songwriter born in San Antonio, Texas. He is a member of Critters Buggin, Les Claypool's Fancy Band and Garage A Trois...
, leads a band called Go-Go Jungle, often playing long, non-stop sets that incorporate go-go beats and raps interspersed with other sub-genres of funk, jazz, and rock. Another example is Bob Mintzer
Bob Mintzer
Bob Mintzer is a jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, and big band leader based in Los Angeles, California. Mintzer is a member of the jazz rock band the Yellowjackets.-With The Yellowjackets:*Greenhouse, 1991;*Live Wires, 1992;...
's composition "Go Go" from the Yellowjackets
Yellowjackets
Yellowjackets is an American jazz fusion/smooth jazz quartet.-History:The original group, called The Robben Ford Group, was formed in 1977, and consisted of Robben Ford, Russell Ferrante, Jimmy Haslip and Ricky Lawson, all top-notch L.A. session musicians...
' 2003 release, Time Squared.
Present day
In September 2009, WaleWale (rapper)
Wale Victor Folarin , better known by his stage name Wale , is an American rapper from Washington, D.C. Wale was born to Nigerian parents. He rose to prominence in 2006, when his song "Dig Dug " became popular in his hometown. Wale became locally recognized and continued recording music for the...
and UCB served as the house band for the MTV Video Music Awards show.
There is a go-go documentary called Drummers Beat in the works.
Violence
While go-go's international profile was on the rise in the 1980s, go-go clubs in D.C. were acquiring an unfortunate reputation for violence. In some areas of Washington—even today—clubs are not permitted to play go-go or have go-go bands appear. In 1988, an all-star go-go band dubbed the Go-Go Posse recorded "D.C. Don't Stand for Dodge City," conceived, written and produced by the "I Hear Ya Records" production team of Jonathan Smith, Mitch Bebbs and Derral Johnson a.k.a JJ&J. as an attempt to raise awareness and stop the violence.One well-publicized venue with trouble was Club U, located inside a District-owned building at the corner of 14th and U Street NW, where numerous incidents—including murder—occurred, leading to the revocation of its liquor license,
and eventual closing.
In March 2007, Jack B. Johnson
Jack B. Johnson
Jack Bruce Johnson is an American politician who served as the county executive of Prince George's County, Maryland from 2002 to 2010. On November 12, 2010, both Johnson and his wife were indicted on federal charges as part of a larger political corruption scandal in the county...
, County Executive in nearby Prince George's County, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, also cracked down on go-go music, announcing the indefinite closing of nine area clubs that had experienced a high frequency of police calls many for violent incidents in the past year. A court battle is ongoing over whether the closings were justified, with a court order temporarily stopping the closing of five of the clubs.
Go-go samples
There have been a number of artists who have sampledSampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
from existing go-go records or put out records with a go-go beat.
- Kurtis BlowKurtis BlowKurt Walker , better known by his stage name Kurtis Blow, is an American rapper and record producer. He is one of the first commercially successful rappers and the first to sign with a major record label...
had members of E.U. play on "Party Time" (1983, MercuryMercury RecordsMercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
). - Grace JonesGrace JonesGrace Jones is a Jamaican-American singer, model and actress.Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted in a string of dance-club hits. In the late 1970s, she adapted the emerging electronic music style and adopted a severe, androgynous look with square-cut hair and...
' "Slave to the Rhythm" (1985, ZTT) includes E.U.'s Ju Ju House on drums and percussion. - Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious FiveGrandmaster FlashJoseph Saddler better known as King Grandmaster Flash, is an American hip hop musician and DJ; one of the pioneers of hip-hop DJing, cutting, and mixing....
released a cover of Trouble Funk's "Pump Me Up" (1985, Sugar HillSugar Hill Records (rap)Sugar Hill Records was the name of a rap music record label that was founded in 1979 by husband and wife Joe and Sylvia Robinson with Milton Malden and financial funding of Morris Levy, the owner of Roulette Records.-History:...
). - LL Cool JLL Cool JJames Todd Smith , better known as LL Cool J , is an American rapper, entrepreneur, and actor...
's "Rock the Bells" (1985, Def Jam) samples Trouble Funk's "Double Trouble" - Doug E. FreshDoug E. FreshDouglas E. Davis , better known by the stage name Doug E. Fresh, is an American rapper, record producer, and beat boxer, also known as the Human Beat Box...
's "All the Way to Heaven" (1986, Reality) has a go-go beat, sampled rototom fills, and call-and-response vocals with a live audience. - The Beastie BoysBeastie BoysBeastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....
' "Hold It, Now Hit It" on Licensed to IllLicensed to IllIn 1998, the album was selected as one of The Sources 100 Best Rap Albums.It is still the only album by a white hip-hop act to receive the coveted 5 mics from The Source....
(1986, Def Jam) samples a drum fill from "Drop the Bomb" by Trouble Funk. - Run-D.M.C.Run-D.M.C.Run–D.M.C. was an American hip hop group from Hollis, in the Queens borough of New York City. Founded by Joseph "Run" Simmons, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels, and Jason "Jam-Master Jay" Mizell, the group is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential acts in the history of hip hop culture.Run–D.M.C...
's "Is It Live" on Raising Hell (1986, ProfileProfile RecordsProfile Records was a record label that specialized in many types of urban-oriented music, such as hip hop, active until 1996..- History :In 1980, at 23 years old, after working briefly for MCA, Cory Robbins was looking to start a record label. He invited his songwriter friend Steve Plotnicki to be...
) has a go-go rhythm track (approximated on a drum machineDrum machineA drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...
) and samples a go-go drum fill. - The Real RoxanneRoxanne WarsThe Roxanne Wars is a well-known series of hip hop rivalries during the mid-1980s, yielding perhaps the most answer records in history. It arose from a dispute over a failed appearance at a radio promotional show...
With Hitman Howie Tee's "(Bang Zoom) Let's Go Go!" (1986, SelectSelect RecordsSelect Records is an American record label. Among its most popular acts were Chubb Rock, AMG, The Jerky Boys, Kid 'n Play, UTFO, Whistle, and The Real Roxanne...
) has a stripped-down go-go beat. - Double Dee and SteinskiDouble Dee and SteinskiDouble Dee and Steinski was a duo of hip hop producers, composed of Doug "Double Dee" DiFranco and Steven "Steinski" Stein. They achieved notoriety in the early 1980s for a series of underground hip-hop sample-based collages known as the "Lessons"....
's "Jazz" samples Trouble Funk's "Pump Me Up". - Double Dee and SteinskiDouble Dee and SteinskiDouble Dee and Steinski was a duo of hip hop producers, composed of Doug "Double Dee" DiFranco and Steven "Steinski" Stein. They achieved notoriety in the early 1980s for a series of underground hip-hop sample-based collages known as the "Lessons"....
's "Voice Mail (The Sugar Hill Suite)" samples Trouble Funk's "Drop the Bomb". - Heavy D & the BoyzHeavy D & the BoyzDwight Arrington Myers , better known as Heavy D, was a Jamaican-born American actor, rapper, record producer, singer and former leader of Heavy D & the Boyz, a hip hop group which included G-Whiz , "Trouble" T. Roy , and Eddie F...
's "Mr. Big Stuff" (1986, MCAMCA RecordsMCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
) has a go-go beat. - The title track from Boogie Down ProductionsBoogie Down ProductionsBoogie Down Productions was a hip hop group that was originally composed of KRS-One, D-Nice, and DJ Scott La Rock. DJ Scott La Rock was murdered on August 27, 1987, months after the release of BDP's debut album, Criminal Minded. The name of the group, Boogie Down, derives from a nickname for the...
's Criminal MindedCriminal MindedCriminal Minded by Boogie Down Productions is a highly influential hip hop album. Production on the LP is credited to 'Blastmaster' KRS-One and DJ Scott La Rock , but in interviews it has been revealed that an uncredited Ced-Gee of The Ultramagnetic MCs had a key role in crafting the sound of the...
(1987, B-Boy) samples Trouble Funk's "Let's Get Small". - Sy SmithSy SmithSy Olivia Smith is an American Emmy nominated singer-songwriter. Born in New York, New York, Smith rose to fame in the late 1990s when she signed a recording contract with Hollywood Records. Smith released her first studio album Psykosoul in 2000, which spawned the singles "Gladly" and "Good N...
's "ConflictConflict (album)Conflict is the third studio album by American R&B/soul singer, Sy Smith. The album was officially released on April 1, 2008, in United States.-Recording:...
" and "The Syberspace SocialThe Syberspace SocialThe Syberspace Social is the independent debut of R&B/neo-soul singer/songwriter Sy Smith. The critically acclaimed album featured production by James Poyser and Victor Duplaix...
" album features several go-go influenced songs. - MARRSMARRSMARRS was a 1987 one-off recording act formed by the groups A.R. Kane and Colourbox which only released one commercial disc...
's "Pump Up the Volume" (1987, 4AD4AD4AD is a British independent record label that was started in 1979 by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent, funded by Beggars Banquet Records, and is still active today...
) includes a vocal sample from Trouble Funk's "Pump Me Up." - Salt-N-PepaSalt-N-PepaSalt-N-Pepa is an American hip hop trio from Queens and Brooklyn, New York, that was formed in 1985. The group, consisting of Cheryl "Salt" Renee James, Sandra "Pepa" Denton, and Deidra "DJ Spinderella" Roper, was one of the first all-female rap crews....
's "My Mic Sounds Nice" (1987, Next PlateauNext Plateau RecordsNext Plateau Entertainment is an American record label, which currently operates in association and under with Universal Republic Records.-Background:1980’s...
) has a go-go sample. - Salt-N-PepaSalt-N-PepaSalt-N-Pepa is an American hip hop trio from Queens and Brooklyn, New York, that was formed in 1985. The group, consisting of Cheryl "Salt" Renee James, Sandra "Pepa" Denton, and Deidra "DJ Spinderella" Roper, was one of the first all-female rap crews....
recorded "Shake Your Thing" (1988, Next Plateau) with E.U. - Kid n' Play's "Rollin' With Kid n' Play" (1989, Select) has a go-go sample.
- 2 Live Crew2 Live Crew2 Live Crew was a hip hop group from Miami, Florida. They caused considerable controversy with the sexual themes in their work, particularly on their 1989 album As Nasty As They Wanna Be.- Early career :...
recorded a version of "Drop the Bomb" with Trouble Funk called "The Bomb Has Dropped" (1989, Luke Skyywalker) - Doug E. Fresh had Rare Essence play on the remix of "I'm Getting Ready" on his "D.E.F.=Doug E. Fresh" 12-inch (1989, Reality)
- Salt-N-PepaSalt-N-PepaSalt-N-Pepa is an American hip hop trio from Queens and Brooklyn, New York, that was formed in 1985. The group, consisting of Cheryl "Salt" Renee James, Sandra "Pepa" Denton, and Deidra "DJ Spinderella" Roper, was one of the first all-female rap crews....
's "Expression" (1989, Next Plateau) has a go-go break (with samples) in the middle that includes the lyrics "At my door they're bum-rushin' / To hear the percussion / Sound of my go-go band." - Jesse Jaymes covered E.U.'s "Shake It Like a White Girl" (1991, Delicious VinylDelicious VinylDelicious Vinyl is an American independent record label founded by Matt Dike and Michael Ross in 1987 and based in Los Angeles. Throughout its history, the label has had distribution deals with [Island Records/[PolyGram]], Warner Music Group, EMI, Red Ant, Rhino and Universal Music Group.-Early...
). - Jay-ZJay-ZShawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
was sued by Rare Essence over the track "Do It Again (Put Ya Hands Up)" from Life and Times of S. Carter Vol.3 (1999, Roc-A-FellaRoc-A-Fella RecordsRoc-A-Fella Records is a record label founded by Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Damon "Dame" Dash, and Kareem "Biggs" Burke. Today it operates as a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, and is distributed by Island Def Jam Motown Music Group.-Formation and Early Years:...
), which apparently "borrowed" liberally from RE's "Overnight Scenario". - Jill ScottJill ScottJill Scott is an American soul and R&B singer-songwriter, poet, and actress. In 2007, Scott made her cinematic debut in the films Hounddog and in Tyler Perry's feature film, Why Did I Get Married? That year, her third studio album, The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3, was released on...
's "It's Love" on her album Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1 is the debut album by American R&B-soul singer–songwriter Jill Scott, released in the United States on July 18, 2000 by Hidden Beach Recordings to positive acclaim...
(2000, Hidden Beach/EpicEpic RecordsEpic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
) has a go-go beat. - In April 2002, LudacrisLudacrisChristopher Brian Bridges , better known by his stage name Ludacris, is an American rapper and actor. Along with his manager, Chaka Zulu, Ludacris is the co-founder of Disturbing tha Peace, an imprint distributed by Def Jam Recordings...
performed "Roll Out" on The Tonight ShowThe Tonight ShowThe Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
, backed by Rare Essence. - NellyNellyCornell Iral Haynes, Jr. , better known by his stage name Nelly, is an Grammy Award winning American rapper and actor. He has performed with the rap group St. Lunatics since 1993 and signed to Universal Records in 1999. Under Universal, Nelly began his solo career in 2000 with his debut album...
's "Hot in HerreHot in Herre"Hot in Herre" is a popular song and single performed by the hip-hop artist Nelly, and was released in 2002 as the first single on his album Nellyville. The song's producers were The Neptunes...
" (2002, UniversalUniversal RecordsUniversal Records was a record label owned by Universal Music Group, and it is now owned by Manny Patino and Michael Jackson, and operated as part of the Universal Motown Republic Group.-History:...
) is based on a sample from Chuck Brown's "Bustin' Loose (Part 1)Bustin' Loose (Part 1)"Bustin' Loose " was a hit song for Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers. Released from the LP of the same name, it spent four weeks at the top of the R&B singles chart in early 1979 and peaked at number thirty-four on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart....
." - Producer Rich HarrisonRich HarrisonRich Harrison is a Grammy Award-winning record producer and songwriter from Washington, D.C.. He is primarily an R&B/Hip-Hop producer...
(who hails from the D.C. area) has produced a number of hit songs—including Beyoncé KnowlesBeyoncé KnowlesBeyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...
' "Crazy in Love" (2003, ColumbiaColumbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
) and AmerieAmerieAmerie Mi Marie Rogers , known professionally as Amerie or Ameriie, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She debuted in 2002 with the album All I Have, primarily co-written and produced by Rich Harrison, and was well-received in the urban market...
’s "1 Thing1 Thing"1 Thing" is a song written by American R&B singer-songwriter Amerie and Rich Harrison for Amerie's second studio album, Touch . The song is influenced by go-go rhythms and features a prominent sample of The Meters' 1970 funk recording of "Oh, Calcutta!", written by Stanley Walden...
" (2005, Columbia)—that, while not explicitly go-go, have a definite go-go feel to them (strong, funky drums with added percussion). - Lil JonLil JonJonathan Mortimer Smith , better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper, music producer, entrepreneur, and occasional disc jockey who was a member of the group Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz. Lil Jon formed the group in 1997, and the group released several albums between then and 2004...
& the East Side Boyz's "Aww Skeet Skeet" with D.C.'s DJ Flexx, from the album Crunk JuiceCrunk Juice (album)Crunk Juice is the fifth studio album by American recording artists Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, released in November 16, 2004, on TVT/BME...
(2004, TVTTVT RecordsTVT Records was an independent US record label founded by Steve Gottlieb. Over the course of its 25 year history the label released some 25 Gold, Platinum and Multi-platinum releases. Its roster included Nine Inch Nails, Ja Rule, Lil Jon, Underworld, The KLF, Sevendust, Brian Jonestown Massacre and...
) has a go-go beat. - At the 2005 MTV Video Music AwardsMTV Video Music AwardsAn MTV Video Music Award , is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in music videos...
, Ludacris performed his song "Pimpin' All Over the WorldPimpin' All Over the World"Pimpin' All Over the World" is the fourth and final single by rapper Ludacris featuring singer Bobby V. It was taken from the album The Red Light District and was produced by Polow da Don and Donnie Scantz. The song eventually became the most successful single from The Red Light District...
" backed by Rare Essence. - At a 2006 show, Justin TimberlakeJustin TimberlakeJustin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
performed a go-go version of his song "SexyBackSexyBack"SexyBack" is a song by American recording artist Justin Timberlake from his second studio album, FutureSex/LoveSounds . It was released on July 7, 2006, by Jive Records as the lead single from the album...
". - In 2007, Jim JonesJim Jones (rapper)Joseph Guillermo Jones II , better known by his stage name Jim Jones, is an American rapper and original member of The Diplomats, also known as Dipset. He is Co-CEO of Diplomat Records...
performed "We Fly HighWe Fly High"We Fly High" is the lead single from Jim Jones' third album, Hustler's P.O.M.E. . The song is Jim Jones' highest-charting single to date charting at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. It is the only single by Jim Jones ever to not have any featured guests. It was produced by Zukhan-Bey who...
" with TCB. - Chris Brown mentions go-go in the spoken intro of his song "Throwed" from his album ExclusiveExclusive (album)Exclusive is the second studio album by American recording artist Chris Brown. The album was originally scheduled to be released August 28, 2007, but was pushed back to October 30, 2007, then pushed back even further to its final release date of November 6, 2007.The album was both critically and...
(2007, JiveJive RecordsJive Records was a record label based in New York City, operating under RCA Music Group. Jive was primarily known for a string of successes with hip hop artists in the 1980s, and in teen pop and boy bands in the late 1990s. The word "jive" was inspired by Township Jive, a form of South African...
). - The RootsThe RootsThe Roots is an American hip hop/neo soul band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are famed for beginning with a jazzy, eclectic approach to hip hop which still includes live instrumentals...
feat. Chrisette MicheleChrisette MicheleChrisette Michele Payne , known professionally as Chrisette Michele, is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter....
and WaleWaleA wale is a broad, thick plank around the outside of a wooden ship.The garboard is the wale next to the keel; the gunwale is the top such plank and covers the heads of the timbers between the main and fore drifts....
, "Rising Up" (2008, Def Jam) has a go-go break. - Gym Class HeroesGym Class HeroesGym Class Heroes is an American hip hop rock band from Geneva, New York. They have collaborated with Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump on numerous occasions, notably for providing backing vocals on the song "Cupid's Chokehold." Stump also produced the majority of their album The Quilt.The group formed...
' "Guilty as ChargedGuilty as Charged (song)"Guilty as Charged" is the third single from Gym Class Heroes' fourth full-length album, The Quilt.It was released for digital download release on December 1, 2008 in the UK, it features UK R&B singer Estelle singing the chorus and a go-go beat for backing.It was added to BBC Radio 1's C-List on...
" (2008, Decaydance) has go-go percussion throughout the song. - WaleWale (rapper)Wale Victor Folarin , better known by his stage name Wale , is an American rapper from Washington, D.C. Wale was born to Nigerian parents. He rose to prominence in 2006, when his song "Dig Dug " became popular in his hometown. Wale became locally recognized and continued recording music for the...
's "Pretty GirlsPretty Girls (Wale song)"Pretty Girls" is the third official single from Wale's debut album, Attention Deficit and is produced by The Best Kept Secret. It features Gucci Mane and Weensey from the legendary go-go band Backyard Band. It was released to iTunes and Rhapsody on October 6, 2009. The song samples Backyard Band's...
" from Attention Deficit (2009, AllidoAllido RecordsAllido Records is a record label and production company. The company was started by DJ and producer Mark Ronson, and Rich Kleiman, a television, internet and music businessman. The label got its name "Allido" from the Stevie Wonder song "All I Do". Rapper Saigon was the first artist signed to...
) samples Backyard Band. - AmerieAmerieAmerie Mi Marie Rogers , known professionally as Amerie or Ameriie, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She debuted in 2002 with the album All I Have, primarily co-written and produced by Rich Harrison, and was well-received in the urban market...
's single "1 Thing1 Thing"1 Thing" is a song written by American R&B singer-songwriter Amerie and Rich Harrison for Amerie's second studio album, Touch . The song is influenced by go-go rhythms and features a prominent sample of The Meters' 1970 funk recording of "Oh, Calcutta!", written by Stanley Walden...
" uses a sample of The MetersThe MetersThe Meters are an American funk band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Meters performed and recorded their own music from the late 1960s until 1977...
' song "Oh, Calcutta" and features a go-go band in the video.* - Waka Flocka FlameWaka Flocka FlameJuaquin Malphurs , better known by his stage name Waka Flocka Flame, is an American rapper signed to 1017 Brick Squad and Warner Bros. He is a Southern hip hop artist best known for his singles "O Let's Do It", "Hard in da Paint" & "No Hands", along with his debut album, Flockaveli...
Has made a song with Bounce Beat band TCB. The song named Ice Grill was Waka's First gogo Appearance.
See also
- Music of Washington, D.C.Music of Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. has been home to many prominent musicians and is particularly known for the musical genres of hardcore punk, bluegrass, and a local funk genre called "go-go". The first major musical figure from D.C. was John Phillip Sousa, a military brass band composer...
- Baltimore clubBaltimore ClubBaltimore club, also called "Bmore Club" or "Club Music" is a breakbeat genre. As blend with hip hop and chopped, staccato house music, it was created in Baltimore, Maryland, United States in the late 1980s by 2 Live Crew's Luther Campbell, Frank Ski, Big Tony , Scottie B...
, another subgenre native to the region - Chuck BrownChuck BrownChuck Brown is a guitarist and singer who is affectionately called "The Godfather of Go-go". Go-go is a subgenre of funk music developed in and around Washington, D.C. in the mid- and late 1970s...
- Anwan GloverAnwan GloverRalph Anwan Glover is an American actor and musician. He is one of the founding members of the Backyard Band, a go-go band, as well as appearing as gang member Slim Charles in the HBO series The Wire. He has also appeared in music videos, such as Boyz n da Hood's "Dem Boyz" among others, and has a...
- Kevin "Kato" Hammond
- Washington, D.C. hardcoreWashington, D.C. hardcoreWashington, D.C. has had one of the first and most influential hardcore punk scenes in the United States since the early 1980s.Among the earliest DC punk bands were the Bad Brains, Slickee Boys, Teen Idles, Minor Threat, S.O.A., Chalk Circle, Velvet Monkeys, Void, The Faith, DC Youth Brigade,...
, another subgenre associated with D.C. - Washington Go Go Sound Attack Volume 2Washington Go Go Sound Attack Volume 2Washington Go Go Sound Attack Volume 2, like Volume 1, is an early compilation of go go music published by Stop and Go Music and is available from BCM Records GMBH in Germany...
- Yé-yéYé-yéYé-yé was a style of pop music that emerged from France, Québec and Spain in the early 1960s. The term "yé-yé" derived from "yeah! yeah!" The style expanded worldwide, due to the success of figures such as the French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg....
, similarly named French musical style - Anthony HarleyAnthony HarleyAnthony Harley , better known by his stage name as Little Benny, was an American Trumpet player, who was a part of the go-go band Rare Essence. Harley also played with other Go-go artists such as Chuck Brown. He died on May 30, 2010 at his brother's home in Washington D.C.- References :...
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External links
- Take Me Out to the Go-Go - Online magazine (est. 1996), BBS.
- Strictly Go-Go - BBS GO-GO Fan Site for adults 18 to 35
- Go-Go Radio - 24 hour Internet Go-Go radio station.
- Go-Go Central - BBS serving up-and-coming bounce Go-Go.
- Gospel Go Go 411 - Central point for Gospel Go Go music.
- Go-Go Beat - Meta-Directory of Go-Go shows, bands, clubs, and other resources.
- TTED.NET- Released over 200 go-go titles and soul music and maintains the largest official catalogue of go-go music.
- DC Soul Recordings - Catalog of D.C. & Maryland soul, R&B and funk (including go-go) record labels from the 1960s through the 1980s.
- for a short podcast on go-go's influence. July 2008
- Go-Go Coalition - Preserves, protects and promotes the existence of Go-Go Music and its related culture.
- Go Music Go - Wildest platform - En çılgın video ve müzik paylaşım platformu