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You’re creating quite a buzz amongst my buddies in the local music community (“Dropping the Bomb,” 1/14).
Actually, it’s a controversy. You see, I’m a young native of D.C., and go-go music has been a major music for Washington since I was in junior high school. My mom wouldn’t let me attend many of the sets, but I know the groups, the major players, and the hot cuts from back in the day. And even now I keep an ear to the ground regarding the groups that are keeping it alive. But the controversy is about who started this whole sound…
Was it Chuck Brown or Maxx Kidd? I remember Redds and the Boys, Trouble, Junkyard, EU, Essence, all of them. One group says that Maxx Kidd created the sound and promoted some of the groups, that Chuck Brown came in on it as an artist with “Bustin’ Loose.” The other group says that go-go wasn’t respected until Chuck Brown came out with “Bustin’ Loose”—which makes him the one who made people recognize and give credibility to go-go music.
Either way, both sides agree that you can’t have an article about go-go music without giving props to Maxx Kidd.
Lincoln Park