Drop the Bomb

Trouble Funk

(Sequel)

Just about concurrent with the rise of hip-hop in New York, another urban style called go-go was holding court in the D.C. We all know which genre made the Big Move, but go-go still lives and deserves its due. Trouble Funk was one of the seminal go-go bands, and their debut album, Drop the Bomb, embodies the genre: rolling, medium-tempo funk beats heavy on percussion; call-and-response vocals and chanted vocals that can best be described as ensemble raps. The music seethes with a hotwired, celebratory intensity.

This article appears in Jul 25-31, 2007.

Eric Snider is the dean of Bay area music critics. He started in the early 1980s as one of the founding members of Music magazine, a free bi-monthly. He was the pop music critic for the then-St. Petersburg...