When most people think of music within DC, it may be sequestered to the Kennedy Center putting on orchestral productions, or maybe the legendary 9:30 Club, which houses intimate shows with a variety of well-known artists either on the rise or wanting to have that small club atmosphere.
But the history of Washington, DC music is much richer than simply being a hub for other artists to perform in. In the 1970s and 1980s, two genres emerged as dominant in the identity of Washington DC music: Hardcore punk music and a brand of funk music dubbed Go-go music, which completely originated in DC.
Both of these began to emerge in the mid to late 1970s, in an era where social injustice and economic disparity were issues for both groups, but dealt with it very differently. Hardcore punk music was fast and aggressive and angry, while Go-go music was easy going and more dance music, as funk had been in the past.
These bands helped to create a local scene of music for DC, reaching a frenzy for, at least the punk bands, in the mid 1980s know, as Revolution Summer. Bands would even work together to play punk-funk shows, in which both genres would share the stage with each other, really connecting the two local scenes together.
Some of the most prominent hardcore punk bands were Minor Threat, Bad Brains, SOA (State of Alert), and Scream. Bad Brains and Minor Threat, with songs like “Banned in DC” and “Guilty of Being White” respectively, encapsulated that really fast and aggressive sound that would come to define the genre and the scene as a whole.
Ian McKaye and Jeff Nelson, lead singer and drummer respectively of Minor Threat, would go on to start Dischord Records, a company that would record and release much of the music of the bands in the area.
The Go-go scene was led by Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers, Trouble Funk, EU (Experience Unlimited), and the Junk Yard Band.
The genre would be defined by the highly percussive and repetitive groove that all of the music had, often with multiple percussionists in addition to a drum kit. The music always had a party or dance feel, including call-and-respond between the band and the audience, and jamming on songs for several minutes instead of playing a simple verse-chorus-verse system that most funk music had used up until then.
In that way, the two genres were directly opposites. Most hardcore punk songs did not even reach three minutes, with a good number clocking in at or a little under sixty seconds like Minor Threat’s “Straight Edge”, while a Go-go song could jam for almost a half hour like Trouble Funk’s “Drop the Bomb”.
Chuck Brown, called the Godfather of Go-go, is generally credited as the, or one of the, first to create and perform Go-go music. After playing at the inauguration of DC Mayor Vince Gray in 2011, Chuck Brown passed away in 2012 at the age of seventy-five. A mural of Brown was painted on 3701 New Hampshire Avenue NW in DC, and a memorial park is been created as well.
Overall, the music of Washington, DC helped to rally its people together, especially young people of different backgrounds, and created a culture for a city that is enveloped in a myriad of debate and conflict on a daily basis.
The effects can still be seen today; the hardcore scene has evolved but is still very popular amongst the greater DC area. Bands like Minor Threat, Scream, Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers, and Trouble Funk were all featured in the Washington DC episode of the Foo Fighters’ Emmy Award winning series Sonic Highways.
In conclusion, the music of DC will always be a part of the culture of the city, as long people continue to remember the power that the music had and the people who created that music.
I’ve made a short playlist of some songs from both the hardcore punk scene and from the Go-go scene. Check them out here!
