What do you need to make something funky? Well, that'd be the beat, the base, and the booty. When James Brown released "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" (1965), he ditched conventional verse and chorus structure, chord progression, and rhythm in... [more]

What do you need to make something funky? Well, that'd be the beat, the base, and the booty. When James Brown released "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" (1965), he ditched conventional verse and chorus structure, chord progression, and rhythm in favor of a thumping, relentless beat that eclipsed everything but his shouts. Funk combined traditional forms of black music -- namely, blues, gospel, and soul -- but slapped it with a strong backbeat. The rhythm on the title track hit the first beat hardest, creating the first funky rhythm. Besides making those bumping beats famous, Brown helped the evolution of funk in other ways -- in 1969, he took a pair of brothers under his wing. He enlisted William "Bootsy" Collins to bring the bottom in his new band, with Phelps "Catfish" Collins on lead guitar. The brothers Collins left to pursue other careers less than a year later, but Brown continued to reign supreme, cutting "Say it Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud" after their departure and crowning himself "Minister of New New Super Heavy Funk." The man who wooed the young up-and-funksters away from Brown was Uncle Jam, a.k.a. George Clinton. Since 1955, Clinton has headed a continually morphing band of musicians called, at various times, The Mothership Connection, Parliament, Funkadelic, and later, the P-Funk All-Stars. All Clinton's collectives lay down booty-shaking beats and have produced the ultimate party songs "Flashlight" and the chronically sampled "Atomic Dog." Other funk all-stars include Booker T and the MGs, the Bar-Kays, Sly and the Family Stone, the Ohio Players, Con Funk Shun, the super-freaky Rick James, Isaac Hayes, and Earth, Wind, and Fire. The infectious beat, sexy lyrics, and pure party sounds of funk make it impossible not to move and groove. Generations continue to rediscover funk, and many of the original bands continue to shake audiences. Throughout the decades, disco, punk, hard rock, and folk have all waxed and waned in popularity, but funk continues to bring people to their feet. [show less]