George Clinton “revolutionized R&B during the ‘70’s” by “twisting soul music into funk by adding influences from several late-’60s acid heroes: Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, and Sly Stone.” He also performed as “Parliament” and “Funkadelic.” The group were forerunners in black music during their time. All-in-all, they produced 40 singles and recorded three platinum albums.
George Clinton was born in Kannapolis, North Carolina, on July 22, 1941. He lived in New Jersey during the 1950’s and “became interested in doo-wop” while living there. His group “Funkadelic/Parliament” was based on Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers. Clinton formed Parliament in 1955. The group started out by “rehearsing in the back room of a Plainfield barbershop where he straightened hair.” The group released two singles throughout the next ten years. The group’s first hit was “(I Wanna) Testify” in 1967. The single was made for Revilot Records, which was based in Detroit.
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In 1968, the band took on the name Funkadelic because their label “ran into trouble and Clinton refused to record any new material.” Instead of waiting for a settlement, Clinton “decided to record the same band under a new name: Funkadelic.” After the label closed, the musicians on the label were signed over to Atlantic Records.
Clinton and Funkadelic pursued “psychedelic rock,” but Parliament “engaged in a funk free-for-all, blending influences from the godfathers” such as James Brown and Sly Stone, “with freaky costumes and themes inspired by ’60s acid culture and science fiction.”
Clinton dissolved Parliament in 1980. Clinton excelled not only in musicianship, but in “large-selling, effective album statements and the most dazzling, extravagant live show in the business.”
In the 1990’s, Clinton’s “visibility and presence became familiar to a wider audience thanks to appearances in movies “The Night Before”, “House Party”, “PCU”, and “Good Burger”, hosting the HBO original series “Cosmic Slop”, and doing commercials for Apple computers, Nike, and Rio Mp3 players.”
In the 90’s he also became more relevant with the upbringing of funk-inspired rap coming from artists like the Digital Underground, Dr. Dre, and Warren G. The uprising of “funk rock” such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Primus also helped “re-establish the status of Clinton & co.” Funkadelic’s music also became the “soundtrack for the rap movement, as artists from MC Hammer, to LL Cool J to Snoop Doggy Dogg depended heavily on the infectious groove of Clinton productions as the foundation of their recordings.”
George Clinton and Funkadelic’s, “(Not Just) Knee Deep” is from the album, “Uncle Jam Wants You” from 1979. The song is 15 minutes and 21 seconds long. The lead vocals are by George Clinton among a few others. There is also guitar, keyboard, drums, percussion, and background vocals from a fairly large cast of vocalists. The African-American aesthetic is very prevalent in this song. Blues was the “dominant musical genre of the "race" music industry of the 1920s, and the boogie-woogie piano style represented the commercialization of an instrumental form of blues.” The Chicago blues guitarists experimented with distortions and feedback sounds, “which laid the roots for the 1960s "psychedelic" rock scene. I think that this psychedelic rock scene definitely was inspiration for the psychedelic funk that Parliament and a lot of other groups represented.
Psychedelic funk, to me, is a mix of Psychedelic rock, soul music, rhythm and blues, and of course, funk. It contains basically all of the instruments that a musician can think of. The bass, drums, electric guitar, vocals, organ, horns, percussion, etc. The song opens with the keyboard. This keyboard is important throughout the song because it starts and carries the melody. The drums and percussion keep the beat throughout the song, which is quite difficult and important because the song is so long. The lyrics aren’t as important as one would think, since they’re very repetitive. Funk was meant to get you moving and dancing. It is a physical self-expression, which is what funk is about.
I chose this song because it has been one of my all-time favorite songs since I saw Good Burger when I was around 8 years old. The scene was so memorable and funny that I just couldn’t get enough. I asked my Mom what song it was, and she knew what it was and from that moment on, I loved the song. I also took a History of Rock and Roll class a couple semesters ago and when we learned about funk it changed my outlook on music since I was old enough to understand the impact funk has on not just music, but culture as well.
