Go Go - Gone Gone?

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What happened to GoGo? It was briefly fashonable in the mid 80's. I think that it was based pretty much from Washington. It never made much impact in the charts and ironically (as it was prized for it's 'sweaty authenticity') the best GoGo record was Grace Jones magisterial Slave to the Rythm.

― Billy Dods, Thursday, 7 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

My lonely thread on this is here. I want to go see some go go cause I refuse to believe that the 3,000 year+ tradition of the "dance band" has vanished without anyone noticing. For instance, Prince, whose birthday is today, started out in dance clubs. But where would he play now (if not famous)?

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 7 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Go go is not dead. In fact, it's all over DC.

― Dan Perry, Thursday, 7 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Ooh, silly me...I thought this was going to be about THE Go-Go'S (i.e. chirpy all-girl new wave band from the 80's). Alas.

Regarding Go-Go, I'd wager the live album by Trouble Funk is all you really need.

― alex in nyc, Thursday, 7 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I refuse to believe that the 3,000 year+ tradition of the "dance band" has vanished without anyone noticing. For instance, Prince, whose birthday is today, started out in dance clubs. But where would he play now (if not famous)?

I wonder about that too. Madonna started out singing - somehow - in dance clubs. (Not that I mean she's a bad singer, I just don't get how it would have worked exactly.) Someone just told me she played drums! Maybe she was a one man band, I don't know. But actually . . . I guess Missy Elliot played in clubs . . .

― Maryann, Friday, 8 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

(Disclaimer: I work at the washingtonpost.com Entertainment Guide; among my responsibilities are local music listings.) If this Washington Post article is to be believed, at least as a performing tradition it's alive and well. The perception that it has died out is probably based on the fact that no go-go bands that I know of are putting out recordings on labels with any sort of reach outside the Washington area.

Another factor is probably D.C.'s persistent racial divisions, and the echoes of this in the local entertainment media--they (and I) tend to focus a lot more on local white indie rock/pop.

― J-Lu, Friday, 8 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

J-Lu:

Ever catch a Poem-Cees show? They aren't go go, but they're damn good. (I remember catching an Opus Akoben show in '98 where they did a number that mutated into a full-out go go jam... that was swee-eeeeet.)

Man, I'd like to move to DC. It's a much cooler town than Boston (even if the traffic is worse).

― Dan Perry, Friday, 8 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I kind of suspected that it was still around in some form or another. I'm a little amazed that it hasn't been sampled to any great extent, probably because it's a little too frenetic compared to say P funk samples, or (good god) the song which samples Mr Misters broken wings. Makes me wonder what other local/regional scenes are happening unknown to the rest of the world.

― Billy Dods, Friday, 8 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

J-Lu:
Ever catch a Poem-Cees show? They aren't go go, but they're damn good. (I remember catching an Opus Akoben show in '98 where they did a number that mutated into a full-out go go jam... that was swee-eeeeet.) I work with the Poem-Cees' DJ, and saw them just a couple of weeks ago. Don't recall them going into any truly extended jams, but they'd certainly be fiiiine at that.
In the meantime, anyone who's interested can check out some contemporary go-go MP3s at the washingtonpost.com MP3 pages.
― J-Lu, Monday, 11 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Great link J-Lu. Cheers!.

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 11 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

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