Trouble Funk

One of the first bands to release go-go music on a national level, Trouble Funk formed in 1978 in Washington, DC. The city had given birth to go-go music one decade earlier, when artists like Chuck Brown began combining R&B and funk into a rhythmic, syncopated sound. Trouble Funk added its own spin to the genre by borrowing heavily from early hip-hop music, which earned the band a devoted hometown audience as well as a contract from the pioneering hip-hop label Sugar Hill Records. Originally featuring drummer Emmet Nixon, guitarist Chester Davis, bassist Tony Fisher, keyboardist James Avery, percussionists Mack Carey and Timothius Davis, and the four-piece horn section of Gerald Reed, Robert Reed, Taylor Reed, and David Rudd, Trouble Funk made its studio debut with 1982's Drop The Bomb. "Pump Me Up" became the record's most influential track, with Public Enemy sampling it later that decade for the group's Grammy-nominated song "Fight The Power." As the 1980s progressed, Trouble Funk left Sugar Hill's roster, partnered with Island Records, and released albums like 1986's Say What and 1987's Trouble Over Here, the latter of which was produced by funk icon Bootsy Collins. None of those albums became commercially successful, but Trouble Funk's reputation as a must-see live act kept the band busy well into the 21st century, with the group continuing to tour nationally and fly the flag for go-go music. Trouble Funk also released 2015's The Complete Collection of Trouble Funk, a compilation that included underground dance classics like "Don't Touch That Stereo" and "Drop The Bomb."