BY MIKEY MIGO
In the 1960's "funk" was given to us by African American musicians when they took elements from soul, jazz, and R&B and made it into a danceable and "bouncy" expression. Unlike other forms of music from that time period, the bass and drum were brought to the forefront giving more of groove you could dance and bob your head to. Motown was where most of this was born and mastered. The "bass line" was made the center piece and the rest was history.
Obviously the "Godfather of Soul" James Brown is the root of all that is funk. The 1965 hit single "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" was the first funk song to hit it mainstream. This would only continue through out the sixties and early seventies with "Cold Sweat", "Mother Popcorn", and "Sex Machine". He did it with such grace and ease that in a 1990 interview he called himself out by saying "I changed the upbeat to the downbeat… Simple as that, really." As flamboyant as he was, he was humble about changing music as we know it.
Others would go on to follow his lead, but no one would touch his style and innovations. Not to say they didn't put out quality music, Sly Stone, Mothers Finest, The Isley Brothers, and others carried the funk torch proudly and respectively.
P-funk would then take the genre and give it a whole new dimension. George Clinton weaved a more jazz and psychedelic rock muse into funk and made it his own. Others from the seventies like Earth, Wind & Fire, Ohio Players, The Commodores, and Kool & The Gang all gave their own twists to funk and p-funk in general. These bands are timeless and are still as relevant and enjoyable today.
We can even give part of the blame to funk for Disco. They ripped off riffs and rhythms from funk and gave it a more electronic dance feel. Everything was usurped by electronic machines and synthesizers. Horn sections of saxophones and trumpets were replaced by synth keyboards, and the horns that remained were given simplified lines, and few horn solos. This is pretty much were Rick James came in. He took all of these elements with his 1981 album "Street Songs" and brought the funk to the rock world. Him being more of a "rockstar" pretty much paved the way for Queen, Prince, and others to dabble in funk, while sticking to their own rock roots. The rest is history. From there you'd hear funk elements in many different genres.
FUNK: THE PRESENT
While acts like Outkast, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, and Prince are all rocking the more "traditional" funk today, there's more there than we think about. As I covered "glam" over the past few weeks, the "funk" movement has spread so much that elements of the genre can be found in just about every mainstream music style out there today.
The "bass line" is a very essential part of hip hop as we all know. But it doesn't stop there. Many artists "sample" classic tracks. Obviously we gotta look at the pioneers like James Brown and George Clinton as they've been sampled probably more times than anyone in the history of hip hop. Not everyone samples these icons, but it would be a huge insult to say they didn't have a huge influence on the entire hip hop genre.
There's also a fair amount of influence on the rock side of music. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Prince, Incubus, Rage Against the Machine, John Mayer, and Maroon 5 are just a few bands that have been injected by the funk influence.
Here's where I could quite possible lose you all. I think "funk" has also influenced industrial and electro rock. Obviously you won't hear Ministry bust out a groove filled bass line, but there is some truth to what I say. The rhythm and drum pounding is very similar to what you'd hear in say a Nine Inch Nails album or a Tool album. The atmosphere might be a bit(a lot) more abrasive, but the bass and drums of it all is seemingly more-so in the fore front. And one could even argue that Tool's baselines reek of funk. I can't and won't argue, especially since I'm the one making the point. So what I'm saying is that these breed of "industrial" could just maybe be considered a tad "angry abrasive funk". Not sure how I feel about it, but it's an interesting thing to ponder.
Where else do you think "funk" has laid it's eggs? Do you think emo, country, or something I didn't (want to) mention has funk influence? Let me know. The beautiful thing about art is that no one is right and no one is wrong. So lets talk!
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