History Main / Funk

* Music/{{Zapp}} (robot funksters famous for Roger Troutman's mastery of the talk box, also a major influence on electro and later G-funk)

* Music/{{DNCE}}

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]] (The Time, 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.

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]] (The Time, 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 hip-hop in the decade as well, with samples from funk songs being repeatedly used in hip-hop and even house music.

In Brazil, there's the subgenre [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funk_carioca funk carioca]], which is more rooted in electro, Miami bass 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.

* 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 Pomplamoose, based around Conte and his wife Nataly Dawn, with many of the same musicians but less of an explicit funk focus.

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 G-funk (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.

** Music/MichaelJackson (most obviously on his earlier albums, before he became a pop juggernaut. Quincy Jones' arrangements have strong funk influences.)

->''Funk used to be a bad word''
-->-- '''[[Music/GeorgeClinton Funkadelic]]''', Let's Take It to the Stage

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.

As [[DeaderThanDisco 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]] (The Time, 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 hip-hop in the decade as well, with samples from funk songs being repeatedly used in hip-hop and even house music.

It should be noted that while far from common, there ''are'' still (new) bands that play pure funk music. A pair of good examples would be Music/{{Vulfpeck}}, T-Bird and the Breaks, and The Apples.

** Music/MichaelJackson (on his early albums, anyways)

* Music/TimMaia (Afro-Brazilian singer)