Chuck Brown passed away today at age 75. The conventional press
coverage only captures the reflection of what Chuck was, and is: the
musical soul and heart of Washington, DC.
The go go beat came from "Mr. Magic," Grover Washington Jr's mid
1970s tour de force that was a huge hit in DC. But the sound of go go
came from Chuck's wide ranging musical taste and his love for
performing. He did it until he could do it no mo'.
When I was growing up in DC, too young to hang out at dive bars,
he played every weekend at Mr. Y's on Rhode Island Ave. NE, maybe
a half mile from my house. At that time he, and his audience, were
making the transition from blues and jazz covers to create DC's own
sound -- go go is party music, but party music with a seriousness that
comes from its musical roots.
And as go go evolved to create a space for bands that were being
crowded out by the rise of the DJ, who could fill a club for a much
lower cost than live musicians, go go in turn influenced DJs (including
me) - keeping dance floors going between songs in hours-long sets
long before most people ever heard DJs mixing tracks.
The sound never really caught on with the mass audience, There were
a few radio hits and an ill-fated attempt by Chris Blackwell of Island
Records to break go go out globally (and make a lot of money) the
way he did for reggae. All that is history now.
Go go is the sound of noontime concerts in DC's downtown squares
with throngs of office workers. It's the sound of hot summer evening
concerts at Carter Barron and a dozen other bandshells around the
region. It's a highlight at the 9:30 Club (the current one and the
original, at 930 F St). But most of all it's the sound of neighborhood
clubs on the east side of the city into the Maryland suburbs, "meet me
at the go go, about half past nine" and "party til dawn."
Chuck Brown didn't do it all on his own, but he truly was the godfather
of go go. And as he often said, his ability to connect to the audience
and to inspire other bands to follow the groove and the musicianship
were the most satisfying results of all.
The go go sound has been picked up on countless hits and influenced
many other genres (hip hip, house, techno...). It's a reminder that there
are two cities: Washington, the nation's capital and a world center,
and DC, a real city with a real history and a real presence.
The article by RIchard Harrington (my boss in the late 1970s at
the long-expired Unicorn Times, predecessor to the City Paper) in
the Washington Post in 2001 isn't readily available online, but here's
a good story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/25/AR2009092502858.html
The best interview:
http://www.nea.gov/av/avCMS/Brown-podcast-transcript.html
A documentary that captures go go at its apogee:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC7bzLib0GY
And Chuck and the band at their best: "That'll Work!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRn2EM9KepQ
-- fh
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/chuck-brown-dies-the-godfather-of-go-
go-was-75/2012/05/16/gIQAJAfPUU_print.html
Chuck Brown dies: The Godfather of Go-Go was 75
By Chris Richards, Wednesday, May 16, 1:43 PM
Chuck Brown, the gravelly voiced bandleader who capitalized on funks
percussive pulse to create go-go, the genre of music that has
soundtracked life in black Washington for more than three decades,
died May 16 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He was 75.
The death, from complications from sepsis, was confirmed by his
manager, Tom Goldfogle. Mr. Brown had been hospitalized for pneumonia.
Known as the Godfather of Go-Go, the performer, singer, guitarist
and songwriter developed his commanding brand of funk in the mid-1970s
to compete with the dominance of disco.
Like a DJ blending records, Mr. Brown used nonstop percussion to
stitch songs together and keep the crowd on the dance floor, resulting
in marathon performances that went deep into the night. Mr. Brown said
the style got its name because the music just goes and goes.
In addition to being go-gos principal architect, Mr. Brown remained
the genres most charismatic figure. On stage, his spirited call-and-
response routines became a hallmark of the music, reinforcing a sense
of community that allowed the scene to thrive. As go-go became a point
of pride for black Washingtonians, Mr. Brown became one of the citys
most recognizable figures.
No single type of music has been more identified with Washington than
go-go, and no one has loomed so large within it as Chuck Brown,
former Washington Post pop music critic Richard Harrington wrote in
2001.
Mr. Browns creation, however, failed to have the same impact outside
of the Beltway. The birth of go-go doubled as the high-water mark of
Mr. Browns national career. With his group the Soul Searchers, his
signature hit Bustin Loose not only minted the go-go sound, it
spent four weeks atop the R&B singles chart in 1978.
Bustin Loose
