Line #21 Main/Funk


1	[floatboxright:
2	Primary Stylistic Influences:
3	+ {{Soul}}, RAndB, {{Jazz}}
4	]
5	[floatboxright:
6	Secondary Stylistic Influences:
7	+ {{Blues}}, PsychedelicRock, sometimes HardRock
8	]
9
10	->''Funk used to be a bad word.''
11	-->-- '''[[Music/GeorgeClinton Funkadelic]]''', “Let's Take It to the Stage”
12
13	A genre of music which evolved from {{Soul}}, R&B and {{Jazz}} starting in the [[TheSixties mid-sixties]]. The most easily identifiable trait of funk is its focus on rhythm and groove above all else.
14
15	As the song quote above illustrates, the word "funk" first appeared somewhere in the 1920s or so, meaning "the smell of sexual intercourse". In music, the word was used to describe songs with insistent, syncopated rhythms that was highly danceable, though in that case, it was derived from the R&B musicians in night clubs who would perform for so long and so intensely that the venue would smell of their perspiration.
16
17	While Music/LittleRichard is credited as the first man to introduce funk rhythms into rock 'n roll in TheFifties, some sources suggest two drummers who worked with Little Richard, Earl Palmer and Chuck Connors, funk music was for all intents and purposes [[TropeCodifier codified]] by Music/JamesBrown, who in TheSixties developed a signature style relying on grooves that emphasised the downbeat (the first beat of every measure) and extensive vamps and improvisations with hits such as "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag", "Cold Sweat" and "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine". Funk quickly evolved throughout the decade and became popular through artists such as Music/JimiHendrix (the inventor of funk-rock), Music/SlyAndTheFamilyStone, The Isley Brothers and The Meters, but the genre reached its peak popularity in TheSeventies, thanks to Music/GeorgeClinton and his Parliament-Funkadelic collective (whose own subgenre fused psychedelic rock and funk, nicknamed "P-Funk"), Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown, the Isleys, Earth, Wind & Fire, and others. Jazz-funk also appeared thanks to Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock, and various {{Soul}} musicians dabbled heavily in funk, such as Music/MarvinGaye, Music/CurtisMayfield, Music/TheTemptations, The O'Jays, Music/StevieWonder and Wilson Pickett, while Southern soul itself was a particularly major influence on the genre.
18
19	Funk started to flounder in the late Seventies as {{Disco}} overtook it in popularity. Disco was massively influenced and quite similar to funk, but while funk had a "rhythm über alles" approach (real funksters wouldn't think twice about jamming over a single chord if it was funky enough), disco placed a much bigger emphasis on melodies. Disco also had much more conventional, hedonistic lyrics, and took a more flamboyant, campy approach to production. Aside from the typical funk lineup of guitar-bass-drums-keyboards-horn section, string sections were included, and the overall sound was much more poppy, with way simplified beats and grooves. Funk fans started a backlash against the genre similar to the one rock fans experienced, claiming it was soulless and overindulgent, an opinion memorably summarised by Funkadelic on their ''Uncle Jam Wants You'' album, which claimed to "rescue dance music from the blahs".
20
21	As disco died an ugly death at the start of TheEighties, funk evolved in a new direction as a reaction to the excess of disco and the increasing difficulty of keeping together large bands like in TheSeventies. The new sound was stripped-down, less syncopated and more reliant on electronics, with synthesisers and drum machines overtaking the previous hallmarks of funk such as "funky drummers", slap bass and Hammond organ/Rhodes piano. The first musician to take advantage of this style (nicknamed "punk-funk", not to be confused with actual post-punk bands influenced by funk such as Music/GangOfFour and Music/TalkingHeads) was Rick James, who scored hits in 1981 with "Give It to Me Baby" and "Super Freak", but Music/{{Prince}}, with his backing band The Revolution and [[Music/PrincesAssociates his associates]] (Music/TheTime, Vanity and Apollonia 6, Sheila E., Wendy and Lisa, Jill Jones, Mazarati, The Family, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and so on) were the most successful throughout TheEighties, thanks to his effective combination of eroticism, skillful use of technology, catchy riffs and [[GenreBusting fusion of various genres]], including funk, pop, rock/hard rock/heavy metal and New Wave, with the resulting style being nicknamed [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minneapolis_sound "the Minneapolis Sound"]] (due to the fact that most practitioners were from Minnesota). Others followed Prince's lead to varying degrees of success, such as Cameo, Zapp, the Gap Band and the Dazz Band, while other subgenres appeared in the period, such as Afrika Bambaataa and electro-funk/electro. Funk proved to be a large influence on HipHop in the decade as well, with samples from funk songs being repeatedly used in hip-hop and even house music.
22
23	While pure funk pretty much disappeared after TheEighties thanks to hip-hop, resurgent R&B and its offshoot NewJackSwing, TheNineties saw a boom in FunkRock and FunkMetal bands, such as the Music/RedHotChiliPeppers, Music/RageAgainstTheMachine, Music/LivingColour, Music/JanesAddiction, Music/{{Primus}}, Music/FaithNoMore and Infectious Grooves. Another subgenre of hip-hop called GFunk (Music/DrDre, Music/SnoopDogg, Music/ThaDoggPound), which was based on copying and updating the old "P-Funk" sound, also became popular in the early nineties, but pretty much wore out its welcome and died by 1996, and its Bay Area-based offshoot "Mobb Music" (characterized by a raw, stripped-down approach with few to no P-Funk samples, heavy synthesizer usage, and a bassy production style, all of which was usually tracked live in the studio) had some minor success courtesy of Too $hort (the UrExample and TropeCodifier), E-40, Spice 1, and Celly Cel, but it otherwise never really became more than a regional scene. The new crop of Southern hip-hop artists (led by [=OutKast=], Goodie Mob, and UGK), on the other hand, managed to sustain their success with their own blend of hip-hop with funk, blues, and gospel, and singlehandedly put the South on the map.
24
25	In the nineties in the United Kingdom, the acid jazz emerged, with artists such as {{Music/Jamiroquai}}, Incognito, Brand New Heavies and Us3, promoting a mix of jazz, funk and disco.
26
27	In Brazil, there's the subgenre [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funk_carioca funk carioca]], which is more rooted in electro, MiamiBass and latin freestyle than funk; its origins can be pinpointed to Brazilian [=DJs=] who flew to Florida to pick up new records in the 1980s and brought back a lot of Miami bass. It's divided in [[IntercourseWithYou songs about sex]], and the "probidão", glamourizing the criminal lifestyle. It also provided us with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvUBRN7ws4s this meme]], showing just how far the apple has fallen from the tree.
28
29	It should be noted that while far from common, there ''are'' still new bands that play pure funk music, like Music/{{Vulfpeck}}, T-Bird and the Breaks, and The Apples.
30
31	Important funk bands and artists:
32	[[index]]
33	* Music/Apollonia6
34	* Music/AshtonGardnerAndDyke
35	* Music/AverageWhiteBand (a bunch of white guys playing funk, as the name indicates)
36	* [[Music/BarKays Bar-Kays]]
37	* Music/BootsyCollins
38	* The Brothers Johnson
39	* Music/JamesBrown
40	** ''Music/LiveAtTheApollo'' (1963)
41	** ''Music/StarTime'' (1991)
42	* Music/{{Cameo}}
43	* Music/{{Can}}: Both white and ''German'' and generally considered a {{krautrock}} band, but funky as all get out while they had Japanese busker Damo Suzuki as their frontman.
44	* Music/{{Chic}}: [[TropeCodifier The codifiers]] of {{Disco}}, and probably the point at which the genre was closest to its roots in funk.
45	* Music/GeorgeClinton (with Parliament-Funkadelic and solo)
46	** ''Music/MaggotBrain'' (1971) (with Funkadelic)
47	** ''Music/MothershipConnection'' (1975) (with Parliament)
48	** ''Music/OneNationUnderAGroove'' (1978) (with Funkadelic)
49	* Music/{{Commodores}} (Music/LionelRichie's band before he went MOR)
50	* Con Funk Shun
51	* Music/{{DeBarge}}
52	* Music/{{DNCE}} -- a pop band with heavy funk influences.
53	* Music/SheilaE
54	* Music/EarthWindAndFire (so-called "sophisticated funk", as opposed to the "hardcore funk" of Brown and Clinton)
55	* The Fatback Band
56	* Music/MothersFinest
57	* Music/TheGapBand
58	* Music/TheGoodies (the majority of the music Bill recorded for the TV series)
59	* Music/IsaacHayes (when he's not doing smooth {{Soul}} ballads, he's doing this)
60	* Heatwave
61	* Music/TheIsleyBrothers
62	* Music/TheJacksonFive
63	** Music/MichaelJackson (most obviously on his earlier albums, before he became a pop juggernaut. Quincy Jones' and Teddy Riley's arrangements have strong funk influences.)
64	* Music/{{Jamiroquai}}
65	* Music/{{JorgeBenJor}}
66	* Music/RickJames
67	* Music/FelaKuti ({{Afrobeat}} creator)
68	* Music/KoolAndTheGang
69	* Music/{{Labelle}}
70	* Music/TimMaia (Afro-Brazilian singer)
71	* Music/BrunoMars
72	* Music/CurtisMayfield (post-Impressions)
73	* Music/MaceoParker (saxophonist who started out in James Brown's band in TheSixties, then played with Clinton in TheSeventies and Prince since The Oughts and currently serves as a major exponent of jazz-funk)
74	* Mandrill
75	* Music/TheMeters
76	* Music/TheOhioPlayers
77	* Music/{{Prince}} and The Revolution, plus the whole Minneapolis sound
78	** ''[[Music/PrinceAlbum Prince]]'' (1979)
79	** ''Music/DirtyMind'' (1980)
80	** ''[[Music/NineteenNinetyNineAlbum 1999]]'' (1982)
81	** ''Music/{{Purple Rain\|Album}}'' (1984)
82	** ''Music/AroundTheWorldInADay'' (1985)
83	** ''Music/{{Parade\|Album}}'' (1986)
84	** ''Music/SignOTheTimes'' (1987)
85	** ''Music/Batman1989'' (1989)
86	* Scary Pockets: A loose collective based around Jack Conte and Ryan Lerman, mostly covering non-Funk songs in a funk style. Has the associated act Music/{{Pomplamoose}}, based around Conte and his wife Nataly Dawn, with many of the same musicians but more of an eclectic IndiePop focus.
87	* Slave
88	* Music/SlyAndTheFamilyStone (whose bassist Larry Graham invented slap bass)
89	** ''Music/{{Stand}}'' (1969)
90	** ''Music/TheresARiotGoinOn'' (1971)
91	** SpinOff band Graham Central Station also count.
92	* Music/{{Thundercat}}
93	* Music/TheTime: One of Prince's many associates, and perhaps the most famous act from his camp to utilize his Minneapolis sound, next to the man himself.
94	* Music/JamesBloodUlmer
95	* Music/{{Vulfpeck}}
96	* Music/WarBand
97	* Music/WendyAndLisa: Former members of Prince's band The Revolution, who struck out on their own not long after Prince dismantled the band.
98	* Music/PharrellWilliams (and, by extent, his band N.E.R.D)
99	* Music/StevieWonder ("Superstition" is largely responsible for the popularity of the Clavinet in funk music)
100	** ''Music/TalkingBook'' (1972)
101	** ''Music/{{Innervisions}}'' (1973)
102	** ''Music/SongsInTheKeyOfLife'' (1976)
103	* Music/ZappAndRoger (robot funksters famous for Roger Troutman's mastery of the talk box, also a major influence on electro and later G-funk)
104	* One of many genres tackled by Music/FrankZappa, particularly on ''Music/OverNiteSensation'' and ''Music/RoxyAndElsewhere''.
105	[[/index]]

Context Main / Funk