Sunday, January 29, 2006
James Brown defined the genre's basic tenets.
By JOHN BENSON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
If you look up funk in your dictionary, you'll see a definition related to stench but also fear. It's the latter definition that initially allowed funk music to gain steam more than 40 years ago.
For many, funk begins and ends with George Clinton, the grandfather of funk who continues to tour with his influential outfits Parliament and Funkadelic. While Clinton's influence over the mainstream is valid, there's a forefather that musicologists and music lovers believe can't be overlooked.
"It's hard to say because everybody did evolve and have their own sense of expression, even if it wound up branching off in various art movements," said musician/producer Nile Rodgers. "Everybody sort of had their important voice but we all default to the Godfather. We all default to James Brown. It's not just the convenient answer, it's the truthful answer."
From "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" to & quot;Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine," Brown defined the genre's basic tenets of a heavy groove, loose melodies, heavy drums and, if not provocative then, enticing themes.
Had it all
"Think about it, James had it all," Rodgers said. "He had the flair, he had the lyrics, he had the moves, he had the band and he had the poetry."
As for the arrival of funk, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Vice President of Education Warren Zanes believes the singer-songwriter movement of the late '60s and early '70s created a void for the theatrical mothership to land with George Clinton leading the way.
From there, disco splintered into the beginnings of hip-hop and even rock with Prince taking the groove to the mainstream.
Today, rap is king but also acts such as Outkast are keeping the funk spirit alive with a chameleonic approach that pulls equally from the past and the present to create something new for tomorrow.
"When hip-hop came about, the music that was the bedrock of hip-hop was the funkier music from the movement that had just preceded it, which was disco," Rodgers said. "That's why you hear James Brown's "Funky Drummer," especially at the beginning of hip-hop, and Chic's 'Good Times.' Those two musical statements sort of dominated the early hip-hop movement and are still influential today. The thread and legacy and connection are there for all time, and it's only the future that is going to see how funk develops in the next incarnation with the next generation."