2008 Woodie Awards
Music's got a brand new bag...
One writer's quest to dive into the bowels and discover the music we know as "Funk"
Ashley Johnson
Issue date: 4/8/08 Section: Arts & Entertainment
If music is what brings people together, then Funk music is what happens after all those people have been hanging around at a party. I was introduced to Funk music at an early age by way of family reunions and cookouts that lasted much longer than expected. To me, Funk was some sort of forced perspective thrown on me by adults who, after way too many drinks, flashed back to their better days and horrible outfits-taking me with them against my will. It wasn't until later when I realized the 1970s and 1980s were on to something phenomenal. I don't know much about the history of Funk music. In all honesty, whenever I listen to a funk song, I don't really know what it's supposed to be about. But, I do know how I'm supposed to feel when I listen to a funk song.
Funk got its start in the mid to late 1960s when jazz, R&B, funky backbeats and a healthy helping of soul all decided to marry one another. The Meters started it off with "Cissy Strut" in 1969, then it took off completely in the 1970s. You know the stereotype: afros, florescent lights, discos and the like. Other than that, there was no one person that officially kicked off the Funk movement. There were, however, several artists that highlighted the era. Artists such as Cool and the Gang, Slave, War, Donna Summer, Rose Royce, The O-Jays, Sly & The Family Stone, Herbie Hancock, The Commodores, Rick James, Earth, Wind & Fire, Prince, The Time and one of my favorites, Parliament-Funkadelic or P-Funk. Parliament and Funkadelic were two groups that were both headed by the same front man, George Clinton, while recording and releasing albums under separate group names and separate labels.
Funk music boils down to two things: the bass line and danceability. No matter where you're from, Funk music invokes all types of involuntary responses in a person's hip and shoulder region. It's just something you can't sit down on. I'm not saying this because it's a foundational belief of mine, I'm just taking it from George Clinton's "One Nation Under A Groove": "This is our chance to dance our way/ out of our constrictions/ going to be freaking up and down/ the hangout alley-way". What is the "hang-out alley way"? Does it really matter? Positive Force had something to say about Funk's danceability as well in "We Got The Funk": "We gotta funk that/you can dance to/ we don't mind if you chose not to/ all we ask is/ that you get down/ we feel better/ having have you around/ come party!" There's simply no way to argue with that.
Funk got its start in the mid to late 1960s when jazz, R&B, funky backbeats and a healthy helping of soul all decided to marry one another. The Meters started it off with "Cissy Strut" in 1969, then it took off completely in the 1970s. You know the stereotype: afros, florescent lights, discos and the like. Other than that, there was no one person that officially kicked off the Funk movement. There were, however, several artists that highlighted the era. Artists such as Cool and the Gang, Slave, War, Donna Summer, Rose Royce, The O-Jays, Sly & The Family Stone, Herbie Hancock, The Commodores, Rick James, Earth, Wind & Fire, Prince, The Time and one of my favorites, Parliament-Funkadelic or P-Funk. Parliament and Funkadelic were two groups that were both headed by the same front man, George Clinton, while recording and releasing albums under separate group names and separate labels.
Funk music boils down to two things: the bass line and danceability. No matter where you're from, Funk music invokes all types of involuntary responses in a person's hip and shoulder region. It's just something you can't sit down on. I'm not saying this because it's a foundational belief of mine, I'm just taking it from George Clinton's "One Nation Under A Groove": "This is our chance to dance our way/ out of our constrictions/ going to be freaking up and down/ the hangout alley-way". What is the "hang-out alley way"? Does it really matter? Positive Force had something to say about Funk's danceability as well in "We Got The Funk": "We gotta funk that/you can dance to/ we don't mind if you chose not to/ all we ask is/ that you get down/ we feel better/ having have you around/ come party!" There's simply no way to argue with that.
Be the first to comment on this story