This is some of the most deeply groove heavy music,but emotional and moody at the same time. The term "underground" is used here because even though a lot of songs got airplay on the radio,most of these songs didn't make it outside the walls of the urban clubs. This music started out in the late 70's and as synthesizers dominated the music market in the early 80's,this made the old school R'nB sound that was eventually heard everywhere you wanted to party! In the underground clubs like the Paradise Garage(the music was sometimes named "Garage" music after this club),Music Box,Zanzibar,Warehouse and probably every basement party in your neighborhood around that time...this sound was KING! Shows on New York's R'nB radio stations like WBLS and KISS was an excuse to stay home on a Saturday night. Sometimes called "Boogie",this music is has a distinct sound even different than It's older siblings from the previous decade:Funk and Disco. The vocal stylings and chord progressions in this music is very distinct,however,It's most noteable sound comes from the best basslines ever. Sometimes played on synths but mostly played on a hot thumpin' electric bass guitar. A lot of earlier Boogie was made with studio sessions musicians,so there would be a lot of traditional instruments like drums,guitar,orchestra,etc. The Polyphonic synthesizers like the Prophet 5 and Korg Polysix,samplers like the EMU Emulator II and the Fairlight CMI2 and Drum Machines like the Oberheim DMX and the LinnDrum came into the picture more and more. Mostly played as mid tempo,it sometimes got a little jazzy and/or slow,but sometimes speeding the tempo thus sounding like an aerobics workout. By the time 1987 rolled around,the sound kind of infused with the more faster tempo of Italo ,the club sound of northern Italy that sounds like today's electro-ish club sound that is also enjoying a rebirth from acts like I-F and Alden Tyrell,and created the more aggressive sound of the club like House and Techno. More popular groups are: Prince,SOS Band,Dazz Band,Cameo,Midnight Star. Underground artists are: Kashif,Curtis Harriston,Columbus Circle,Funk Deluxe,Jimmy Ross,B,B & Q,Larry Wu,etc. New artist are Tommy G,Bumper,Dam Funk,Max Beta and I-Radio stations like Dancegroove Radio.BTW,If you are an artist that does not want to have their song featured on this site,by all means I will take it off,no problem. The only goal of this site is to pay homage to the people that made this sound possible and to turn people on to this sound that has been overlooked for too long. Peace.
Sorry for the poor quality of some of the videos.This is a jam by Beggers and Co called "Somebody Help Me Out".
....Junior with his hit "Mama Used to Say"....
