Funkadelic
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| Funkadelic | |
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 On tour, Liverpool, May 1971.
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| Background information | |
| Origin | U.S. |
| Genre(s) | Funk, soul, psychedelic soul, psychedelic rock |
| Years active | 1970 - 1981 |
| Label(s) | Westbound |
| Associated acts | Parliament The Brides of Funkenstein |
| Former members | |
| Bernie Worrell Eddie Hazel Glen Goins Maceo Parker Walter "Junie" Morrison Bootsy Collins Jerome Brailey George Clinton Catfish Collins Rodney Curtis Ray Davis Mallia Franklin Lawrence Fratangelo Ramon Tiki Fulwood Michael Hampton Clarence "Fuzzy" Haskins Tyrone Lampkin Lynn Mabry Cordell Mosson Tawl Ross Garry Shider Dawn Silva Calvin Simon Grady Thomas Frankie "Kash" Waddy Fred Wesley Billy "Bass" Nelson Mickey Atkins Ron Bykowski DeWayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight David Spradley Ron Ford |
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- The bands Parliament and Funkadelic cannot be easily separated. For more information, see Parliament-Funkadelic.
Funkadelic was a famous African American music band most prominent during the 1970s. It and Parliament, also led by George Clinton, began the funk music culture of that decade.
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[edit] History
Funkadelic consisted of mostly the same members as the originally doo wop group, The Parliaments. Because of a dispute with the record company that owned the name Parliament, George Clinton and the rest of the group began playing under the name Funkadelic. The band was added in 1964, primarily for tours, and consisted of Frankie Boyce, Richard Boyce and Langston Booth. They enlisted in the army in 1966, and George Clinton (the leader of The Parliaments) recruited Billy Bass Nelson and Eddie Hazel in 1967, then also adding Tawl Ross and Tiki Fulwood. They would later go on to add members of the famous James Brown backing band "The JB's" to the Funkadelic lineup, with the addition of brothers Bootsy & Catfish Collins.
Due to legal difficulties between Clinton and Revilot, The Parliaments' label, the name was abandoned in favor of Funkadelic, which consisted of the same group of people (that is, both the former Parliaments and their back-up band, now both combined in the name "Funkadelic"). The group signed to Westbound in 1968. Around this time, the group's music evolved from soul and doo wop into a harder guitar-driven mix of psychedelic rock, soul and funk, much influenced by the popular musical (and political) movements of the time, especially those around Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone. This style later evolved into a tighter guitar-based funk (circa 1971-75), which subsequently, during the height of Parliament-Funkadelic success (circa 1976-81), added elements of disco and electronic music.
The group's self-titled debut album, Funkadelic, was released in 1970. The credits listed organist Mickey Atkins plus Clinton, Fulwood, Hazel, Nelson and Ross, though the actual recording also included several uncredited sessionmen then employed by Motown, as well as Ray Monette (of Rare Earth) and Bernie Worrell.
Bernie Worrell was officially credited starting with Funkadelic's second album, 1970's Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow, thus beginning a long collaboration between Worrell and Clinton (who had been friends for quite a while). Worrell would go on to produce many Parliament and Funkadelic albums, as well as play keyboard on albums by other members of P Funk.
Both albums displayed strong psychedelic influences (not least in terms of production) and limited commercial potential, despite containing many songs with memorable guitar riffs and melodies that stayed in the band's setlist for several years.
After the release of Maggot Brain in 1971, Bootsy and Catfish Collins joined the group. The group would go on to become major contributors to the P-Funk sound. In 1972, this new line-up released America Eats Its Young, but dynamics within the group and personal issues led to the loss of many group members. Eddie Hazel spent a year in jail for drug possession and assault, Tawl Ross was unavailable after experiencing either a bad LSD trip and/or a speed overdose, while Billy Bass quit due to financial concerns. Michael Hampton, a seventeen-year-old guitar prodigy, replaced Hazel.
1975 brought Funkadelic to Warner Brothers, and saw the release of Hardcore Jollies in 1976. The same year, Westbound released a compilation of archived tracks titled Tales of Kidd Funkadelic, which did commercially significantly better than Hardcore Jollies and included "Undisco Kidd", an R&B Top 30 single. In 1977, Westbound capitalized on the success of Tales of Kidd Funkadelic by releasing The Best of the Early Years. Funkadelic recorded and released its magnum opus, One Nation Under a Groove in 1978. The titular track spent six weeks at #1 on the R&B charts, while Parliament was enjoying success with "Flash Light" and "Aqua Boogie." Uncle Jam Wants You continued Funkadelic's new more electronic sound production. The album contains fifteen minutes long version of chart-topping "(Not Just) Knee Deep". The last album, The Electric Spanking of War Babies, was released in 1981, and has a very good reputation among the funk music listeners despite the fact that it yielded no hit singles.
Also the album Who's a Funkadelic (also known as Connections & Disconnections) was released under the name Funkadelic in 1981. The album was made by former band members (most from Parliament) that did not like George Clinton's way of running things. The album was praised by Rolling Stone, while other critics bashed it. Also another rebellious former band member, drummer Jerome Brailey, released the album Mutiny on Mamaship, leading his new band called Mutiny. Even Clinton himself found this record to be good despite containing lyrics that mocked him.
As the 1980s wore on, with legal difficulties arising from the multiple names used by multiple groups, as well as a shakeup among Parliament's record label, Parliament and Funkadelic disintegrated. George Clinton recorded several solo albums (sometimes under the name George Clinton & the P.Funk All-Stars). In 1984, the last Funkadelic album "By Way Of The Drum" was recorded. Dismissed from MCA records, it was temporarily scrapped.
Trailing into the 90's any remaining P-Funk members took turns on the future P Funk releases. The sound of "Funkadelic" has diminished, as Clinton has moved towards more of an R&B and Hip Hop sound. Funkadelic is now a part of P-Funk, which also includes many younger generations of the P Funk families.
Filmmaker Yvonne Smith of New York City-based Brazen Hussy productions , produced Parliament-Funkadelic: One Nation Under a Groove, a full-length documentary about the groundbreaking group, which aired on PBS in 2005.[1]
In 2007, the album "By Way Of The Drum" was finally released on CD through the Universal Music Group's Hip-O-Select label. It features a cover of "Sunshine Of Your Love". It did not receive any publicity, but still received favorable reviews.
[edit] Discography
[edit] External links
- History of Parliament/Funkadelic (at the P-Funk portal NewFunkTimes.com)
- The Motherpage
