As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested. So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. (If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube.)

Thursday, October 9, 2014

#19 Bustin' Loose -- Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers (1979)



While “Bustin’ Loose” is certainly one of the best-known examples of Washington’s go-go music, for me it’s a great piece of music regardless of genre. I was only vaguely aware of it when it first came out – it only reached #34 on the Hot 100, although it topped the R&B chart for four weeks – but it grew on me the more time I spent in the DC area, especially after seeing Chuck live a few times.

Prior to moving into their new stadium for the 2008 season, the Washington Nationals had fans vote on ballpark music – home run song, seventh-inning stretch song, and victory song. When I saw that “Bustin’ Loose” was one of the nominees for the song to be played every time a Nats player hits a home run, I did a little gentle lobbying with all the baseball fans I knew to urge them to vote for the song. I’m not sure how many of them went along, but in the end justice triumphed, and to this day it’s played whenever a National hits one out of the park.

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