The DC Indie Rock

How far back does the DC scene stretch? We rep John Phillip Sousa and Francis Scott Key, to say nothing of Bad Brains and Minor Threat. In a town saturated with politics, the music scene infuses entertainment with politics, creating a unique allowance of multi-faceted creative expression.

The 1920s rise of theaters and nightclubs in DC's U Street Corridor brought the best musical acts and provided homes for DC natives and jazz pioneers like Duke Ellington, Charlie Rouse, Leo Parker, and future legends like Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, James Brown and Marvin Gaye. Turkish immigrant Ahmet Ertegun arrived in DC at age 12 and went on to found Atlantic Records, recording such greats as Ray Charles, Charlie Mingus, John Coltrane, and Led Zeppelin. The '60s folk boom saw a bustling folk scene in DC that produced John Fahey, Tim Buckley, and two founding members of the Mamas and Papas.

DC's first truly original music genre emerged in the mid '70s: Go Go. A fusion of early hip-hop and funk, Go Go combined simple call and response forms with percussive instrumentation, and funk rhythms which some credit as a precursor to rap. Driven by local music legend Chuck Brown, Go Go is still heard today on U Street.

The 1980s saw the rise of the storied DC Hardcore scene. Evolving from early punk, DC Hardcore came hard and fast, emotionally and politically intense. Ian MacKaye, singer for Minor Threat and later post-punk pioneers Fugazi and The Evens, founded Dischord Records. Dischord promoted an anti-corporate, DIY philosophy, releasing albums by Bad Brains, Rites of Spring, and Government Issue. Henry Rollins hailed from the DC Hardcore scene, joining Black Flag before his a solo career.