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 R.I.P. Chuck Brown
Author: breno 
Date:   05-16-12 23:20

Godfather of Go-Go Music.

http://boingboing.net/2012/05/16/chuck-brown-godfather-of-go.html

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 Re: R.I.P. Chuck Brown
Author: Delvin 
Date:   05-17-12 10:59

Ohhh man, this makes me sad ... "Bustin' Loose" always was one of my go-to songs whenever I did the soul/funk/R&B show on KRCC. Gimme the bridge now!

Rest in peace, Chuck. Bring that sweet funky music to heaven.



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 Re: R.I.P. Chuck Brown
Author: Michael Toland 
Date:   05-17-12 11:14

I must confess that, though I've heard of Brown, I've never actually listened to him - or any go-go, for that matter. I'll make a point to check it all out now. Sad that I'm doing it only after its pioneer has passed away.

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 Re: R.I.P. Chuck Brown
Author: breno 
Date:   05-17-12 13:54

I work with a couple of people from Baltimore and they're pretty broken up about Brown's passing - he may have been one of the last regional superstars. Seems like he was a household name for people in the DC/Baltimore area but more of a cult artist in the rest of the country.

I'm not really all that familiar with go-go music, either. I have one Brown compilation from the late 80s and that's it. It's my understanding that go-go basically came up in DC around the same time hip-hop did in NYC and was based on the same sources - funk, soul, Jamaican toasting, etc. - but was always more live band based than hip-hop, which focused on MCs and DJs, all of which resulted in go-go getting steamrolled by hip-hop. It was a lot more manageable for poor urban kids to invest in a turntable, microphone and a stack of records than to recruit a shit-hot funk band.

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 Re: R.I.P. Chuck Brown
Author: MrFab 
Date:   05-17-12 14:41

I'm pretty sure you guys have heard "Da Butt" ("doin' the butt...Ow! pretty pretty") by E.U. - it was wedding-dj inescapeable for a while there. Still great, tho. The "Go Go Crankin" comp is a good overview. And try to find maybe my fave go-go tune ever, "The Word," by the Junkyard Band, on Def Jam, no less - they featured some little kids playing junk percussion and a singer who could be a 12-year-old Michael Jackson. Yep, I used to be quite the funk-aholic a decade or two ago when I got bored with rock.

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 Re: R.I.P. Chuck Brown
Author: Heff 
Date:   05-18-12 14:31

Brown's obit was center column, above the fold, front page of the Washington Post, so yeah, he was a big deal here. In terms of DC musicians, he would rank probably #3: Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye, Brown.

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 Re: R.I.P. Chuck Brown
Author: zwirnm 
Date:   05-18-12 19:50

I was out last night in a bar in H Street, with a bunch of dads talking about kids and watching the Pacers win (and Nats lose). Chuck Brown's "Bustin' Loose" came on the stereo, and everyone paused to offer a toast to Chuck.

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