Editing Go-go (section)

===1980s===
In the 1980s, some go-go bands such as Chuck Brown, Trouble Funk, EU, Rare Essence, Hot Cold Sweat, The Junk Yard Band, AM/FM, Redds and the Boys, Slug-Go achieved local success. Trouble Funk put out a few records on [[New Jersey]]–based label Jamtu before signing with one of the more powerful hip hop labels, [[Sugar Hill Records (hip hop label)|Sugar Hill]], where it released a six-track LP called ''[[Drop the Bomb]]'' in 1982, which included the hit "Pump Me Up" which had already been a regional hit years before. Maxx Kidd founded go-go label T.T.E.D. Records in 1982.

In 1984, [[Island Records]] founder [[Chris Blackwell]] heard Chuck Brown's "[[We Need Some Money]]" on the radio in New York, which ultimately led to him signing some of the brightest stars of the go-go scene.<ref>
{{cite book
  | last = Lornell
  | first = Kip
  | author2 = Charles C. Stephenson Jr.
  | title = The Beat: Go-Go's Fusion of Funk and Hip-Hop
  | publisher = [[Billboard Books|Billboard]]
  | year = 2001
  | pages = [https://archive.org/details/beatgogosfusion00lorn/page/210 210]
  | url = https://archive.org/details/beatgogosfusion00lorn/page/210
  | isbn = 0-8230-7727-6
  }}</ref> Trouble Funk and E.U. were both signed to Island, while Chuck Brown, Redds and the Boys and Hot, Cold, Sweat were signed through a distribution deal between Max Kidd's [[T.T.E.D.]] and Island subsidiary [[4th & B'way Records|4th & B'way]].

Along with the recording contracts Blackwell was handing out, he also wanted to make the go-go film and [[Good to Go (soundtrack)|soundtrack]]; a D.C.-based version of ''[[The Harder They Come]]''. The resultant film, ''[[Good to Go (film)|Good to Go]]'' (or ''Short Fuse'', as it was called on video) was plagued with problems: co-director [[Don Letts]] was let go halfway through production,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090208212017/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/222423 ''Good to Go''] on [[British Film Institute]] Web site, retrieved June 19, 2007</ref> the film became less about the music and more about drugs and violence, and despite the fact that most of the post-production was completed in the fall of 1985, the film was held for release until late-summer 1986. When it did poorly on release, it seemed that go-go had missed its best chance to break into the mainstream. "Good to Go" OST album was released in 1986 also.<ref>Trouble Funk, Redds & the Boys, Sly & Robbie, Ini Kamoze and other musicians performed.</ref> Soul/Funk groups used go-go beat in their songs. Examples of R&B were Club Nouveau "Lean on Me"(pop No. 1, yearend No. 10) Lebert "Casanova", and Midnight Star "Headlines".<ref>[https://www.allmusic.com/album/headlines-mw0000191030 Headlines] All music. Retrieved 28 March 2023</ref>

The [[Junk Yard Band]] started out in 1980 as a group of kids (as young as nine) from the [[Barry Farm|Barry Farm, Washington, D.C.]], projects. Unable to afford instruments for their band, they fashioned drums out of empty buckets and traffic cones, tin cans substituted for timbales, and, in place of a brass section, they used plastic toy horns. Adding real instruments to their gear a little at a time, by 1985 they had joined the ranks of D.C.'s finest; they were scooped up by [[Def Jam]], who released a [[Rick Rubin]]-produced single "The Word" in 1986. Not much happened with that record—at first. However, within a year or two of its release, the flipside, "Sardines", became (and remains to this day) the group's signature song. It was even performed in the 1988 film ''[[Tougher Than Leather (film)|Tougher Than Leather]]''.

Rare Essence signed with [[Mercury Records|Mercury]]/[[PolyGram Records]] but for one single for the label—"Flipside," released in 1986—was unremarkable.

E.U. got its big break in 1986 when it was booked to play a party celebrating the release of [[Spike Lee]]'s debut film, ''[[She's Gotta Have It]]''.<ref>
{{cite book
  | last = Lornell
  | first = Kip
  | author2 = Charles C. Stephenson Jr.
  | title = The Beat: Go-Go's Fusion of Funk and Hip-Hop
  | publisher = [[Billboard Books|Billboard]]
  | year = 2001
  | pages = [https://archive.org/details/beatgogosfusion00lorn/page/219 219]
  | url = https://archive.org/details/beatgogosfusion00lorn/page/219
  | isbn = 0-8230-7727-6
  }}</ref> Lee liked what he heard, and tapped the band to perform a song in his next movie, ''[[School Daze]]''. "[[Da Butt]]" (written for the film by [[Marcus Miller]] and E.U. keyboardist, Kent Wood) made it to number one on Billboard's R&B chart (No. 35 Pop) and scored the band a [[Grammy Award|Grammy]] nomination (they lost to "[[Love Overboard]]" by [[Gladys Knight & the Pips]]). Hoping to build on their success, in 1989 they released ''[[Livin' Large (1989 album)|Livin' Large]]'' on [[Virgin Records]]. Two singles from the album ("[[Buck Wild (song)|Buck Wild]]" and "[[Taste of Your Love]]") made respectable showings on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop singles chart but they failed to repeat the success of "[[Da Butt]]." (The album peaked at No. 22 on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart and No. 158 on the Top 200.) A second Virgin release, ''[[Cold Kickin' It]]'', came out the following year but failed to make much of an impression on the national charts. Experience Unlimited had a resurgence in the mid-1990s by partnering with the jazz and gospel singer [[Maiesha Rashad]], performing under the name "Maiesha and the Hip Huggers". Maiesha and the Hip Huggers have headlined events and concert venues such as [[B.B. King#B.B. King's Blues Club|B.B. King's Blues Club and Grill]], [[DAR Constitution Hall]], ''Black Family Reunion'' and D.C.'s ''Stone Soul Picnic'' and ''Unifest''. In 1988, R&B singer Jesse James and Fay Marshall released soul singles(T.T.E.D. Records).