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Tell Me About Funk


Tenacious_Peaches

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Batman hinted liberally about the need for a funk thread, so here it is.

This is the Wikipedia info on funk music. James Brown is one of the founding fathers of contemporary funk. You haven't lived until you've gotten your groove on to a funky James Brown song. "Mother Popcorn" is one of my favorites. Heyyy!

I saw a great documentary on George Clinton with Parliament and Funkadelic. The music they created was amazingly inventive for its time. It's really a miracle that they were physically able to create any music at all with all the drugs they were taking, but they claimed the music spoke to them through the drugs. So I'd like to thank that acid tab that brought the world "Give Up The Funk (Tear the Roof of the Sucker)".

I was trying to think of some seminal funk songs, but I figured the easiest thing to do is just copy and paste the track listing from one of my favorite CDs, "Pure Funk".

1. Brick House - Commodores

2. Pick Up The Pieces - Average White Band

3. Shining Star - Earth Wind & Fire

4. Jungle Boogie - Kool & The Gang

5. Lady Marmalade - LaBelle

6. Mr. Big Stuff - Jean Knight

7. Kung Fu Fighting - Carl Douglas

8. Car Wash - Rose Royce

9. Tell Me Something Good - Rufus

10. Superfly - Curtis Mayfield

11. Shaft - Isaac Hayes

12. Fire - Ohio Players

13. Flashlight - Parliament

14. (Every Time I Turn Around) Back In Love Again - L.T.D.

15. Good Times - Chic

16. Forget Me Nots - Patrice Rushen

17. Word Up - Cameo

18. Early In The Morning - The Gap Band

19. Don't Stop The Music - Yarbrough & Peoples

20. Super Freak - Rick James

Questions, comments and observations are welcome. Tell me who I've missed and what the best funk songs are.

Keep it funky, y'all. :afro:

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MUSICAL INTERLUDE:

"Well you're too hot ta trot now baby

Well you're too hot ta stop whoo baby

Well you're too hot ta trot now baby

Well you're too hot ta stop whoo baby

The things that you do

The things that you say

That you love me baby in the strangest way

What you're doin to me girl

Is knockin' me down

I can see right now that you're the best thing around

Sweet pretty woman

I just want you to know that I love you

Oh I love you, love you baby

My head is spinnin'

With what you're doin to me

Girl I want you, girl I love you

Ooh I love what you're doin to me sweet thing

Oh I love you little sweet thing

Well you're too hot ta trot now baby

Well you're too hot ta stop whoo baby

Well you're too hot ta trot now baby

Well you're too hot ta stop whoo baby"

:afro: :afro: :afro: :rockon: :rockon: :rockon:

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I consider myself a Funk aficionado. Here is what I feel is the evolution of the genre, along with the defining track:

James Brown (Cold Sweat)

George Clinton (One Nation Under A Groove)

Prince (Pope)

Outkast (Bombs Over Baghdad)

I'm a low-end rhythm guy, so I can get as much feeling out of Atomic Dog as many of you get from American Pie. Funk comes from deep inside. It's a lot like the human body, with a constant heartbeat and a continuous controlled chaos. Funk doesn't need a reason and can happen anywhere.

My worldview can be summed up in one of George Clinton's lines: "Whatever the Funk calls for."

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Hooray! I love funk! My favorite funk group (more like a funk organization really) is P-Funk. If you're confused (I was when I first learned about them), P-Funk is a group of musicians who were popular in the 70's and 80's, and and they have 2 main bands, Parliament and Funkadelic. The members of P-Funk hop from band to band, helping other P-Funk members on various solo projects such as George Clinton, or my personal favorite of the P-Funk side projects, Bootsy's Rubber Band, led by the terrific bassist, Bootsy Collins, who once was the bassist in James Browns' band. P-Funk is my 6th favorite band at the moment. Maggot Brain is my favorite album from them, mainly because of the songs Super Stupid and Maggot Brain, which I believe to be their best, but other terrific albums include my 2nd favorite, America Eats It's Young, One Nation Under A Groove (which features "Who says a funk band can't play rock?" one of my favorite funk songs), Uncle Jam Wants You, and Hardcore Jollies. For new funk fans, I would either reccomend Maggot Brain or One Nation Under a Groove. ONUAG is probably better overall, but Maggot Brain is easier for rock fans to like, because it is more rock oriented, and the song Maggot Brain is one of the best guitar solos of all time. As far as Parliament, a lot of their stuff seems more classic funk based than rock, and they are terrific as well. My two favorite albums by them are "Clones of Dr. Funkenstein" and "The Mothership Connection."

My other two favorite funk artists are Stevie Wonder, and of course, Sly & The Family Stone.

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