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Fifty years in, Go-Go is still waiting for its full history to be told. DC Public Library is working to make sure it is. DC Decades, a collection of digital photographs documenting Go-Go shows and Washington street life, sourced largely from community donations, is now part of the Library's Go-Go Archive.
The announcement was made Monday at Roll Call Vol. 3: Live at The Howard Theatre, a free concert co-presented by DC Public Library, the Office of Cable Television, Film, Music and Entertainment, and the Department of Parks and Recreation marking 50 years of Go-Go and the sixth anniversary of the law designating the genre as the official music of Washington, D.C.
The DC Decades collection is part of a new Library initiative that will formally recognize four to five bands or cultural figures each year and help recipients to build and maintain their own collections. Future collections include the Backyard Band, whose 35th anniversary falls this year, and at least one additional honoree to be named later in 2026. Each collection is designed to grow through ongoing community donations, with an emphasis on digital materials.
The initiative expands an archive that has been building since 2012, when the Library established the Go-Go Archive in memory of Chuck Brown, the Godfather of Go-Go, to honor, preserve, teach and celebrate D.C.'s original music. The Archive documents well-known and lesser-known stories, drawing from organizations, record labels, venues, record shops and artists. Its holdings include photographs, books, magazines, records, cassettes, CDs and DVDs.
Go-Go is a style of funk born in Washington in the 1970s. Defined by heavy bass, driving percussion and call-and-response between performer and crowd, the genre has become the most distinctly Washington sound in the city's history.
DC Decades will be available on DigDC, the Library’s online archive for digitized and born-digital special collections.