Music Monday: “Pieces of Me” by Rare Essence

In 2004 Ashlee Simpson released her single “Pieces of Me”, which had a lot of radio play all over the mainstream radio stations in the U.S., which provided an interesting catalyst for what happened next. Rare Essence is one of the most well known bands in the DMV (D.C., Maryland, and Virginia) region, and one of the driving forces of go-go music. Go-go, like Baltimore club has had relatively minimal commercial success outside of this region, partially due to it’s existence as a very interactive style of music that is best enjoyed live, and was poorly recorded early on. Nonetheless, many go-go hits take familiar elements from pop songs and add a heavy percussive swing to make it unique to the genre. Ashlee Simpson’s single was all over the airwaves, covered by Rare Essence, and quickly left behind. In fact, many locals have forgotten about the original because of the regional popularity of this crossover hit.