What the F is "go go" and who the hell is Chuck Brown?

[Anonymous]

Op here --- thanks to the helpful pp with the youtube embeds. I recognize Da Butt.....and now it's stuck in my head.

As to the critics of the title of the thread --- it got your attention, didn't it?

I know I'm not alone in asking the question, and it is clearly possible to live in an area and not know about, in this case, Go Go. Pretty sure I had never heard of Chuck Brown until he died. Go Go I have heard vague references here and there, but never cared to look it up. And, frankly, you don't get much of a sense of what it *means* to an area through Google, and I have a better idea from these responses. So, thanks for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea what go-go is or who Chuck Brown was either. I've read the headlines on WaPo website but haven't delved into the body of the articles to learn more.

PS And I grew up here.

go find a new place to live.

you cannot have grown up here and not have heard of chuck brown.

i get not knowing his songs in depth but there is no way in hell that someone who grew up in the area is completely ignorant to the fact of who he is.

its impossible

I grew up here as well and did not know who Chuck Brown was until his passing. I did/do know what Go-Go is. I just did not know he was "The Godfather of Go-Go". I just never really got into it enough to know.

[Anonymous]

I think it's very possible to have grown up here and not know who Chuck Brown is. But only if you're white (or more accurately, not black) and were never around local black people growing up. And you didn't listen to any of the black music stations. And you hardly ever went into the more "urban" parts of the city (sorry, cleveland park doesn't count).

[Anonymous]

I have been here since the 90s when I can for college and law school and I was a regular at the taste of dc and other outdoor festivals downtown and he nearly always played on the stage at these events.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been here since the 90s when I can for college and law school and I was a regular at the taste of dc and other outdoor festivals downtown and he nearly always played on the stage at these events.

Oh he also often performed at halftime at Wizards bball games. I say that to say, he was all over the place performing to very diverse crowds. Not sure how you could miss him or at least his influence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lol, it's a DC music genre thing. Google it.

Funny story...when I moved here from another state I thought Go Go meant pole dancers at strip clubs. That's what we call "Go Go" where I'm originally from (think Bada Bing Club and the Sopranos)!

op again -- yes! This is what I think of too! I moved here from PA about 10 years ago.

You are an idiot. Your post is disrespectful. Go go is to Dc what Jazz is to the US. I hope you live in Va or MD.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shame on you. People complain about DC but then don't know any of the cool things about it. Inform yourself. Get a clue.

What if we just don't find it cool?

I'm glad Chuck Brown brought joy to a lot of people and am sure he will be missed by people who knew him and are interested in this "GoGo" thing. It was extremely important for the popular culture of this city for several decades in the 20th century, but tastes change as cities change.

Regardless of whether you find it cool, I think you should appreciate that at least one non-homogenized regional music genre still survives. People complain all the time about the power of the music corporations and the lack of creativity in popular music. We are fortunate to have a local example that has bucked that trend.

This, and I really appreciate that the genre is always about the live band and not folks singing to tracks. There are some really great local musicians In gogo bands.

[Anonymous]

I used to go to go-go's....a pretty crazy place for this white girl.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's very possible to have grown up here and not know who Chuck Brown is. But only if you're white (or more accurately, not black) and were never around local black people growing up. And you didn't listen to any of the black music stations. And you hardly ever went into the more "urban" parts of the city (sorry, cleveland park doesn't count).

Bs my white buddy grew up in FFX and loves chuck and is saddened. Op is a transplant.

[Anonymous]

OK, so have you ever heard of Fugazi?

[Anonymous]

OK, so have you ever heard of Fugazi?

Love you, PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's very possible to have grown up here and not know who Chuck Brown is. But only if you're white (or more accurately, not black) and were never around local black people growing up. And you didn't listen to any of the black music stations. And you hardly ever went into the more "urban" parts of the city (sorry, cleveland park doesn't count).

True, growing up in Bethesda or CCDC you wouldnt have met many Chuck Brown fans, or black people either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, so I can Google. And it isn't too kind to the genre. But the local news is all over it so maybe I'm missing something, so I thought I'd ask here. Wiki says that Go Go is a genre that wasn't popular enough to expand beyond the DMV, and only remains popular in the area essentially because it's the only musical genre to start here so therefore it is revered here. So I am back to my original question. What is the draw to Go Go beyond the fact that it originated here? The Op Ed that someone linked to earlier basically made reference that Go Go is a lasting remnant of the Chocolate City - which doesn't seem like something to revere if we're looking for a post-racial kind of harmony. So again...my question stands.

Like Miami bass and west coast rap? Whats your point? You live don't like don't listen.


And f u we like Chocolate City- smooches rich black chic
With alot of rich black friends (your neighbors and colleagues).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

OK, so have you ever heard of Fugazi?

Love you, PP.

LOL thanks gotta give a shout out to them... DH grew up with Joe Lally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's very possible to have grown up here and not know who Chuck Brown is. But only if you're white (or more accurately, not black) and were never around local black people growing up. And you didn't listen to any of the black music stations. And you hardly ever went into the more "urban" parts of the city (sorry, cleveland park doesn't count).

I'm white and went to Holton and we had go-gos as some of our dances. Other privates did too so it's not like you had to drive to Anacostia to hear it.