Entry · catalog no. 3301
go-go
/ ˈɡoʊˌɡoʊ /GOH-goh
noun · Washington, D.C. / DMV · 1970s
✓ Verified
1.
A style of funk native to Black Washington, D.C., built on nonstop, syncopated percussion — congas, cowbells, timbales — and constant call-and-response between the band and the crowd; also the party, the scene, and the culture around that music.
“The band kept the pocket going for an hour straight — that's go-go, the beat never stops.”
Origin & Attribution
Born in Black Washington, D.C. in the mid-1970s, when Chuck Brown — the Godfather of Go-Go — and bands like the Soul Searchers, Trouble Funk, and Rare Essence stretched funk into an unbroken, crowd-driven groove. It is a distinctly local Black D.C. invention, not a national commercial genre, and the District named it its official music in 2020.
mid-1970s
Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers shape the go-go groove
1978
"Bustin' Loose" tops the R&B chart
2020
Named the official music of Washington, D.C.
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
Washington, D.C. / DMV · 1970s
Spoken by
Black Washingtonians
$GOGOThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady50 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
72/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1976
in the culture
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@auntiereg
Atlanta, GA
@deltasoul
Memphis, TN
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Citations & Sources
■
Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers, "Bustin' Loose" — single
1978
■
+ Cite a sourceGo-Go Official Music of the District of Columbia Designation Act — D.C. law
2020
See also