When Did You First Fall In Love With Go-Go?

Okay… so we took this question to our family and friends on Facebook (because that’s where you can basically find everybody).  And these are some of the answers that we received:

When do you first fall in love with Go-Go?

Dj-noise Crank’N-Berry:
I DONT KNOW THE YEAR BUT IT WAS IN THE 80’s RARE ESSENCE!!!!
I CANT LEAVE Tidy BAND ” MASTER PEACE ”
& CLASS BAND!!! YEAH TIDY I CANT LEAVE OUT MASTER PEACE, THE HUT DOWN IN PARADISE! IF ANYBODY HAS A MASTER PEACE TAPE PLEASE LET ME KNOW!
REAL GO-GO HISTORY!!!!!

Kevin Jones:
Seeing JY play outside in the Farms. And stealing a Chuck tape from the night before from a big time drug dealer in my neighborhood. Matter of fact, I still have that tape.

Sean Hawkins:
When Chuck Brown dedicated “don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing” to me and my best friend in college. True story. That’s me Sean. Best friend Vincent Ernest Siders. Or Vinnie. ‘ Vinnie and Sean up Howard university. Vinnie and Sean known to party til dawn’. True story. Give you the details later. Just let me know how much Chuck Brown was about the people. That go go was not bigger than life. It was lufe5.

Adrienne DreDre Burkley:
I recall hearing Bustin Loose in the very late 70s and loved it, but never even knew it was a part of a genre dubbed GoGo. The first time I actually fell in love with it was when Trouble Funk dropped their double LP (with Drop the Bomb). Purchased it, wore it out, and became obssesed with this thing they called “GoGo”. EU was my next purchase. P.S. – I have never looked back and it will forever be a part of my life. Period.

Regina Rising Lee:
I fell in love with Go-Go when my baby sitters took me with them to east gate to JY and we lived in simple city… I was 8-9. She told me to sit on this crate next to the trash can and watch this band. It was JY, I fell in love.

Lori Fridie Rojas:
In the late 70s, seeing Rare Essence at the Maverick Room on a Wednesday night, I became hooked. Ms. Mack at the door, Benny and Funk calling my name… good times.

Ess Cee El:
I fell in love with Go-Go when I heard What you wash your Body with, Camay all over. #tellingmyage

Joe Mike Mike Lee:
It was late 70’s for me. I heard Chuck, R.E and Trouble. I was always asking for copies.that beat and socket got me hooked. I was always trying to record from one tape deck to the other. It worked until people started talking.

Deena Hebron Myles:
The year was 1985 at Coolidge HS. Reds & the Boys were in one room and Junkyard in another room. The smell of Polo Cologne was in the air … Lol!

Denise Pendergast:
I was 9 chuck, rare essence, eu, reds and the boys, trouble funk, lil benny and the masters, petworth band, and junk yard. Celebrity Hall Uptown kicking it!! Please don’t get me started ..

Marlon Williams:
1980. My older brother was an EU fanatic and we used to share a bedroom. He would play EU tapes early in the morning when we’d get ready for school and EU tapes at night when I was trying to go to sleep. LOL!! So naturally I was hooked on early EU. I even stole some iron on letters out of this fabric store in Forestville Mall when I was around 13 and I ironed “E U” on the front of my gym shirt and my name on the back when I was in FSK middle school. LOL!!!!

Tonya L. Hubbard:
Omg it’s was back in the days of Columbia park rec and Essence used to dress in red and white (little booty shorts) hunnti and Benny was on the front line and they used to hit maniac maniac hey hey ha ha ..and the front line (horn) section would hit that dance omg!!! Or big Tony would hit trouble funk express I could go on and on ..like wen class used to hit inspector gadget …class band and show show show (echoing) or wen eu used to practice in seabrook and the whole neighborhood thought we were stars cuz they played with Grace jones and hit Slave to the rhythm ..Gogo for life

Maiah Coles:
It was mid 80’s when I heard/watched my uncle play the drums for Class band

MsBrique IsBlessed:
When E.U. came out with “Rock Your Butt” and “Knock ‘Em Out Sugar Ray”. S.E. Finest!

Ethan Madison:
That first night I heard JJ Star play “Body Moves”

Johney Myles Gates:
My first gogo show was at the Coliseum. It was around 82 or 83 when Lil Benny was saying. (WE WORKING UP A SWEAT AND YOU ANT SEE NOTHING YET…. ITS FUNKY ITS HOT AND GIRL YOU GOT ALOT……….WHEN YOU WHERE THEM JEANS UP ON YOUR ASS I CAN TELL YOU GOT CLASS….Lol miss the Ole days.

Regina Hogan:
Wow good question. Hmmm imma say I fell in love with Go Go when I first heard Chuck at the Panarama Room in the 80s then Ayre Rayde and Trouble at Rosecroft and then Benny at the Howard and Mr G taking pics!

SimplyChante Smith:
Pic Center. Circa sometime in the early 80s lol. Snuck in with Aaron Bowe and the Pure Elegance Band.

Jay Small:
The year was 1985 and both my grandparents lived down the Farms. So, everyday, after school, I was tended to by my grandparents while my folks were at work. Well, my grandmother, Ms. Bunker, former president of the resident council, used to help run the Scout House, where the young JYB practiced. We lived just 3 doors down from Derrick McCrae, former manager of JYB, so our families knew each other. I was 9 at the time.
I was in 4th grade, just picking up the trumpet and my mother said why don’t you go play your horn with them. They were playing on plastic horns at that time, Big Willie’s toms were 5 gallon buckets and his bass drum was a trash can. Buggs was Buggs. Pratt lived around the way. I would sit on the steps inside and watch them work. Derrick had them youngins working hard at their craft.
I remember coming home late from school one day and couldn’t get in the Scout House to see them practice. I had to stand outside and boost myself up to look through the barred windows. They were practicing Freak-a-deek Zone! At that moment, hearing the keyboards and that lil red piano synthesizer they used to have, I was hooked!!! It was my first time hearing a hit on the radio played gogo style, plus it was my introduction to some youngins around my age who were crankin hard! From that day, it was JYB FOREVER!!!!

Daye Luck Luciano:
Stinky dink get rigidy raw, stinky dink get rigidy raw. Like 1990. I was 13.

Scott Dean:
“Can we Drop the Bomb on the whole d*** house, y’all?!”
Also: ‘You Are The One’ – AM/FM (Brunswick, 1981)

Marc Lowery:
Standing outside the Howard Theatre and hearing the Crankage going on inside in 1980!

Kamaal-Allah Williams:
Seeing Funk, Benny Dave and Jungle Boogie on stage. I lost my mind. I believe it was 1981. I am still shaking just thinking about it!!

Lisa Lomax:
In 88 when I was in job corps

Larencie Moore:
I fell n love wit gogo when I went 2 the Club LaBaron 2 c Trouble Funk and they hit “Trans-Europe Express” that was it I was n love.. Then later they would hit “let’s get small” I was n gogo heaven.

Jason Alan Easley:
I always heard it but feel in love in 94 when I went to see BYB at bumpers…hearing it live was much more powerful and influential for me.

Thesoundsof Innercountycrank:
First time i heard busting loose and the freak freak a deak part came on. That Congo breakdown i was hooked

Derek Dp Junior:
Since 93… I remember I may have been around 3 or 4 watching Rare Essence live @ Rhythms on VHS. I was a fan of the sound. I grew up around RE wit Donnell, my dad, BJ, Godfava, Blue, BoJack, Mickey, WhiteBoy, Shorty and Darrin X

Carl TheFunkanaut Hawthorne Jr:
RE’s Body moves ….about 80 or 81….that pocket beat is hypnotic..

Hall Of-Fame Dink:
When I first heard Run Joe when it first came out! My brother name is Joe and it fit him lol

BigFinejuicee Juice:
When go go hour was actually a hour in like 90-91 my bff and I would tune in every night and i heard Jy it was a wrap been a GoGo head every since!

Dabeats Be-Sick:
Since the age of 8 back in the early 80’s my dad had a band in they use to practice in my house.

Wayne Lew:
My sistas Chuck Brown tape…when they hit the Laddi Daddi…..I knew that show from the beginning to the end….#1988

Percy Bates:
Playing with “greats” like yourself being on the same page when it came to showtime.

Eric ‘Nephew’ Floyd Sr:
I first fell in love when I first seen it love at the Cap Cntr. I was a trouble funk fan but after RE finished there set (they came on right before TF) I was good. Didn’t even stay for Trouble.

Ke-Maurelle Callme-Princess:
I fell in love with GoGo TWICE! The first time was when I was younger and UCB came out with Im a Ho. The drive was outstanding and their transitions were amazing! I remember I used to have to sneak and listen to it because my mother didn’t allow me to listen to GoGo due to its sexually orientated lyrics.
The 2nd time was when I joined a GoGo band for the first time! The crowd’s energy was mind-blowing and captivating! It was a feeling I had never felt before and I could never imagine letting it go.

Nikki Musiqizmylyfe Clark:
Imma country girl, born and raised in NC so I didn’t know anything about Gogo! My older cousins would come down from DC and visit us during the summer so of course they would bring their CDs for us to listen to them and low and behold they put in a Chuck Brown and I couldn’t stop dancing! That socket was something serious. I would always have then send me CDs until I eventually moved here to the DMV area. I wanna fall in love with it again; the way I did when I was 13.

Richard Kyle:
1980

D.j. Widebody:
When my pops came home one night with the go go live vhs… me and my brother’s would watch that joint every morning before school….

Sakina Blaze Plummer:
1984 @ crystal skates with chuck brown

Oliver Henderson:
Ever since I moved in with my cousin around 92 and all he did was pump jy cd’s Ma dukes would pop me in the mouth after I would recite Immidymiddydamittty moe I’m rubbin and fukinup all da hoes rubbin the back bone butt cheeks nipples n toes ha ha would scream it all thrue the house.

Delvin Onmylevel Poole:
GoGo Live Capital Center.. Didn’t take playing drums serious til I heard Lil Pooh from Obsession at 1995 Unifest. Youngest dude on stage getting it in.

DK BodyofEvidence:
I fell in Love wit Gogo in 1997 at The Gospel go-go on Friday nights at 5840 Kirby rd at Victory Christian Ministries with Xodus Band while in my own New Band called New Creation Band. THEN I got into my craft as a lead talker and started researching who I could learn from. Learned from Chi Ali, Chief Rocka, Lil bit of D Floyd, and rest was history.

Clyde Rowell:
Early 90’s when I heard (I see the lights/ I see the party lights)

Pike King:
Been a GoGo fan since 84. But when I first heard JYB and they were kids on buckets. That was the first…. All the kids wanted to go looking for paint buckets.

Julano Congoj Myers:
1st TIME I SEEN GOGO LIVE IN 88 I WAS IN LOVE…
..I LITERALLY TOLD MY MOM I NEED SOME BONGOS CAUSE YOUR YOUR DINING ROOM TABLE IS TOO PRETTY TO KEEP BEATIN ON…#11YRSOLD..# .#TRUSTORY

Terrence Sorrell:
When i lived in King George Va and JYB came 2 the King George Lodge. Wasn’t old enough 2 get in,so we sat outside of my homeboy house and listened..Cause he lived right next door 2 the lodge!!Believe it was like “92” or “93”

Carl C-Man Anderson:
In 85 after hearing Junkyard being played in my neighborhood!!

Liza Figueroa Kravinsky:
When I heard it live for the first time in a club somewhere in the Waldorf chitlin circuit. Don’t remember the band or the club, but I remember the beat! 1985

Theodore Priscilla:
late 76, early 77, got off at midnite and went to see Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers………. Saw Sugar Bear and Chuck over the next cpl of years, and then came TROUBLE!!!!! After that Go-Go was ingrained in me because it was so funky, so different. By me being older and raising a family at the time Go Go was taking over the city, I didn’t get to see the bands much at all in the 80’s and 90’s or even now, to tell the truth, but I got to enjoy the crank at cabaret’s, street festivals, my kids, and I’ve been in love with the city’s music for almost 40 yrs now….. and still love it just as much now as I did then; In addition I’m getting a chance to actually play and perform in front of people with the Go Go Symphony ensemble at the tender age of 64 after having NEVER been on a stage before in my life, so Hell Yeah I love Go Go and would do just about anything to make sure that this music gets it’s just due just like I know all other lovers of the genre is gonna do. There are some who say GoGo is Dying…..I think, no……. I know it’s not dying. AND I just learned that I just may get to perform in the pocket with the great drummer Ju Ju on stage. Only the Almighty can stop this Go Go train. Let’s party.

Stanley Cooper:
Kiddy Cabaret’s in elementary schools (when they’d have live bands) in SE, DC. Summer In The Parks/Summer Hut (sponsored by the Anacostia Museum)/Showmobile, and DC Police Boys/Girls Club events. DC Recreation Dept. events, and from all the DMV based bands, great and small, in the late 70’s/early 80’s.

Tino Jackson:
I fell in love when I received love back from other musicians in D.M.V. and abroad

Michael Anthony Taylor:
The very first time I heard the “One on One” still in high school. Funky Ned and I would practice together all the time.

Mark Te’ago Ward:
1980 wit the EU freeze ! Everybody froze lol

Lisa Oftheworld Henry:
I cant remember been so long love boat love boat mess my memory up, but im thinking when I went to the Howard or the Coliseum.

Jeff Hitz Thornton:
When I heard a trouble funk tape around 1980 – Big Tony said….:”Shirl is here in her red n white….she came to boogie all night all night::””” and I was hooked….. Now I have recently fell OUT of love with gogo but listening to these old RE joints from 1981,2,3,4 is makin me fall back in love again lol

Malcolm Luther Wiseman III:
I grew up in Takoma park MD a block off eastern Ave and you could hear Mass Playing at Lamond Playground on Saturdays…. we would walk over there and get our boogie on! This was late 70s early 80s

Jeff Mcclelland:
1982 When I heard a Rare Essence Tape

Paul A. Gross II:
When I went to my first Coliseum show in 79 with my uncle Turhan Gross DJ Capricorn at the time. He went to HS with Tricky Rick.

J Rocn Ron:
Getting my first go go tape which was a 81 Maverick Room Essence that I found out was eventually the famous Sugar tape. Funk had so much passion in his voice talking about New York and DC that I immediate felt that go go was the pride of DC.

Emmett Nixon:
When I was drumming for TF, I knew we had something special. It was funky, original, turned out to be iconic in this genre of music, and appreciated globally. Do you know that they play Trouble Funk in Serbia? I’m so glad to have been a part of it’s evolution.

Jordan Rich:
1996

GSwagg Complete:
Outside PG College, the first time I saw Rare Essence in person 1979-80. Funk had the spotlight, energy, showmanship and the crank was unreal!

Eugene Randall:
I FIRST FELL IN LOVE WITH GOGO, WHEN WE WERE GOING TO HYATTSVILLE JR HIGH SCHOOL. WHEN WE USE TO SING ON THE BUS GOING HOME.

Melody Graves McKinley:
When my cousin Johnny wright who was a the road manager of new edition at the time from cape cod Massachusetts played a tape of chuck brown in the early 80’s I have been hooked ever since. I went on to audition for an all female gogo band with no experience and was on the front line playing the cowbell and singing. I met kids dad at Vince’s studio and ended up learning how to play 6 instruments.  It catapulted me into the music business and eventually to television where I work today at tv one.

Ron Duckett:
1979 Trouble funk club lebaron

Changing Phaces Band Dre:
JYB – that is all

Victoria Cookie Mayo:
It was at Cherys in 1983 – I used to work there E’ry Saturday night …. RIP-Moe

Schooner Theman:
78 down Anacostia Park. Essence was playing for free under the skating rink part. Back then Anacostia Park and Haines Point were the main hangout spots for damn near everybody. Been in love wit it ever since.

Don Wilson:
The first time I heard the GO GO Rump Shaker on the radio… listened to go go for years before, but that rendition put it over the top for me.

Janey Baebe:
Watching my older sister and her friends yelling BOOODAAH STICK EM HA HA HA STICK EM!!! I was like what is this?!

Champ Boogie:
First it was RUN JO… Then it was W-OR- & a D… Then I seen JY on CRUSH GROOVE…Then it was “JAMMIN JEFFFF… HIT IT……….” Then it was “….WTF Is They YEllin’….WE IN THE MF’n DOPE JAM!!!”…. Been hooked since Run Jo tho…

Michael Fennell Sr.:
79 when RE came to Ft. Totten Park

B Walton:
I was 5 or 6 years old and the first band I heard was Northeast Groovers! Just could not stop bobbing my head! Oh man. The crank never stops! There’s nothing like GoGo!!

Hennessy Jones:
I was about 8 and I was at the community center on Bolling AFB. This kid named Snapper had a tape with Chuck’s “Run Joe” and Junk’s “Sardines & The Word.” Those, of course, are all classics today. I still get cised every time they let the rocket go on Sardines! Haha!

Ronald Primrose:
The 80s of course no doubt first trouble funk e.u. then re 4life

Marcus Lynch:
When I heard heap big fun it was over for regular music

Charita Smith:
Hearing young JYB crank on buckets downtown near Woodies and in ’88 when Back Yard cranked at LaPeña on 16th & Irving Sts.

Dennis Rado:
I grew up in the same neighborhood as Mass extinction, and they used to pack an 18 wheeler with sound and instruments. We would watch them pull off as they left to go on tour.

Aubrey J Anderson:
D.Floyds basement at 13 years old and when I got with Nature Boys shortly after.
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— Photo property Grover Massenburg