Go Go Stays Local

As he laid down and closed his eyes to rest—he could still feel the ring in his ears. Memories of drums clacking and 808s thumping reverberated in his mind. 

He was exhausted from a night of Go-Go at the annual Back to School Boogie, where local bands like Rare Essence and Experience Unlimited battled to the beat. It was the late 70s—and the Go-Go craze had only begun.

"I was introduced to Go-Go music at these local places, these dance halls if you will," said WTOP and WHUR Radio Host Michael Burke, also known as ‘Doc Stone.' These dancehalls where they played Go-Go music were also called "the Go-Go" 

Go-Go music, with its never-ending band sets, is indigenous to the nation's capital. This sound spread like a virus over the decades—infecting generations of residents who got the bug for the live band and the groove.

In lieu of the hype, Washingtonians seem to be the only ones affected by this musical form. Go-Go Music is a style that seemed to have been quarantined within D.C.'s boarders—never making it past the Potomac.

Lacking a ‘song' aspect, national radio play, major label recognition, and popularity among D.C. transients, Go-Go is a musical style that never fit into the box already established by the music industry, and never found the permanent spot on national charts.  

Walking down historic Georgia Avenue toward Florida Avenue, approaching the corner, music is blasting. It is not the traditional Billboard Top 40, but  Go-Go. On that corner is Central Communications, a store that sells a variety of Go-Go mixtapes and has supported Go-Go Music for over 15 years.

"Go-Go is bold. It's in your face, it's urban, and the root of it really comes from African Rhythms," said Burke, a radio personality for over 30 years. "Why we wouldn't embrace that? I don't know?"

Go-go's first national chart action came when Black Heat,the first D.C. Go-Go band to be signed to a major label, released Billboard Magazine's Top 100 hit ‘No Time to Run.' Shortly after in 1978, Chuck Brown, who was signed to Island Records subsidiary T.T.E.D, released ‘Bustin Loose Pt. 1' which hit the #1 Spot on the Billboard R&B Chart.

"The main reason why go-go won't sell is because it's only important to DC," said D.C. native and Freelance Writer, Jay Jackson. "You can't market it anywhere but here."

In 1985 Island Records founder Chris Blackwell took strides to push Go-Go into the mainstream. After helping to launch the careers of U2 and Bob Marley, he was sure he could introduce the world to local legends Trouble Funk.

In 1986, Blackwell's company Island Pictures produced the film "Good to Go," a movie he hoped would give Go-Go shine in the same way "Harder They Come" did for reggae. But, it didn't.

In an 2010 interview with the Washington Post he said that upon first hearing Go-Go he was very excited, it was somewhere between Jamaica and Lagos. However, he understood why people outside of the District did not really ‘get it.'

"It wasn't song orientated," Blackwell told ‘The Post.' "The grooves are really why it's so great... James Brown had great grooves but he also had really strong sort of songs with hooks."

And Go-Go didn't.

Although the ‘Godfather of Go-Go,' Chuck Brown was a heavy-hitter in go-go he was not connected to any of the genres hitting national and international markets. Often regional music scenes only grow when there is a nationally known public figure backing the movement.

Lamar Smith, junior television production major remembers when the ‘Chicago Step,' like Go-Go, was just a local commodity—only known by residents of the area. 

"For years, stepping was something that was only done in Chicago, but when you get someone like R.Kelly to publicize it, it becomes a big deal," Smith said. "Go-Go needed someone who was already nationally recognized to take it to thatlevel, I think people would have been more open to the sound."

With D.C. being such a transient city, full of people from other places, Go-Go doesn't often get taken back to hometowns.