Episode 16: Seventies Funk: Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow
SHOW NOTES
(Thanks to Funkadelic for the title of this month’s episode. “Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow” is the name of their 1970 album.)
00:45 Dr. Funkenstein himself, George Clinton, said that defining funk is impossible, although he did compare it to a delicious candy bar. Vaughn Palmer, writing for the Vancouver Sun in 1977 offered what may be the best description of any genre of music ever: “If Bruce Springsteen’s music can be called the sound of a ‘56 Chevy fueled by ground up Crystals records, then Parliament’s records must surely be the result of James Brown and Isaac Hayes records mixed in a high-speed Waring blender in the backseat of a leopardskin Cadillac pimpmobile.”
03:15 James Brown was not only the Father of Funk, he was an important spokesman for the African American community following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. Here is a video clip of James Brown in Boston, 24 hours after MLK was killed.
06:25 There is no doubt James Brown made himself the Father of Funk. “Cold Sweat,” released in 1967 is not only early funk, but it gives us a glimpse of the future: hip hop.
07:47 Sly and the Family Stone built on what James Brown created and applied it to his entire band. It is not insignificant that there were men and women, white and black musicians in this band. Woodstock made the band famous, despite the fact they played at 3 a.m. This is when their music was uplifting and reflected the “free love” vibes of San Francisco in the late Sixties.
09:10 Larry Graham invented the slap bass, which is an essential part of funk.
10:15 The Black Panthers had some influence on Sly in the early Seventies. Amy gives a mini-history lesson on why the Panthers got a reputation for being militant. It was around this time that Sly Stone mostly made “There’s a Riot Goin’ On” by himself, doing a lot of overdubbing. It was a much darker album and very different that anything they had done before. Their #1 hit on that album, “Family Affair,” is also the band’s last.
15:15 Parliament/Funkadelic took funk to a whole new level. George Clinton was a bit of a crazy genius in the Seventies. Amy compares the album “Chocolate City” to the work that came out of the Harlem Renaissance. There is NO comparison for “Mothership Connection,” which was inspired by Clinton and Bootsy Collins reportedly seeing a spaceship when they were out driving near Detroit.
21:40 America got funky in many ways in the Seventies. The theme to the TV show, “SWAT,” was very funky, as was Isaac Hayes’ Oscar-winning, “Theme from Shaft.” With such cool TV theme songs, it is no wonder that Gen Xers watched so much TV in the 70s.
26:00 Chaka Khan is the Queen of Funk. Amy proved it by playing “Tell Me Something Good,” written by Stevie Wonder for Chaka Khan in 1974. It didn’t take long before Rufus became Rufus featuring Chaka Khan because she is just that good.
29:23 If you thought P-Funk was too scary or out there, then you probably liked Earth Wind and Fire a lot more. They sold millions of records and also had an elaborate stage show. When disco began to rule the radio, EWF joined the party. “Boogie Wonderland” is a great funk/disco hybrid.
31:20 Even as disco was bulldozing every other musical genre, Prince was staying true to his funky roots. “I Wanna Be Your Lover,” released in 1979, is a good example of that. Funk never died. It became hip hop. Check out Episode 6 of For the Record: The 70s for more on hip hop.
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PLAYLIST
“Cold Sweat” — James Brown (1968)
“Family Affair” — Sly and the Family Stone (1971)
“Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)” — Parliament (1975)
“Theme from SWAT” — Rhythm Nation (1975)
“Theme from SHAFT” — Isaac Hayes (1971)
“Tell Me Something Good” — Rufus featuring Chaka Khan (1974)
“Boogie Wonderland” — Earth Wind and Fire (1979)
“I Wanna Be Your Lover” — Prince (1979)
SOURCES
Gonzalez, Michael. “Rise of the Funky Divas.” Ebony. August 12. 2013. https://www.ebony.com/entertainment/rise-of-the-funky-diva-999/
Greenman, Ben. “Mothership Connection — Parliament (1975)”. Library of Congress. http://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/MothershipConnection.pdf
McCormick, Scott. “James Brown and the Invention of Funk Music.” Discmakers. October 19, 2018. https://blog.discmakers.com/2018/10/james-brown-and-the-invention-of-funk-music/
McNamee, David. “Hey, What’s That Sound: Slap Bass.” The Guardian. June 1, 2009. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/jun/01/whats-that-sound-slap-bass
Novak, Ralph. “The Decline and Fall of Sly Stone.” People. June 17, 1996. https://people.com/archive/the-decline-and-fall-of-sly-stone-vol-45-no-24/
NPR Staff. “You’re What I Wanted: Assembling the Family Stone.” NPR. August 22, 2013. https://www.npr.org/2013/08/22/213834472/youre-what-i-wanted-assembling-the-family-ston
Tony Aguirre. “BBC-The History of Funk”. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI5anltI2eA Feb. 27, 2017.
Palmer, Vaughn. “Uptempo. The Vancouver Sun. August 26, 1977.
West, Hollie. “Soul Singer James Brown Helps Keep Down the Violence.” Florida Today (Cocoa, Florida). April 8, 1968.
Younge, Gary. “Chaka Gets Her Groove Back.” The Guardian. January 19, 2008. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/jan/19/urban.theatre
The Mothership, courtesy of P-Funk. It is now on display at The Smithsonian in “Chocolate City.”
1978 promo poster for Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan.