I've been on a major P-funk binge lately, and the more I hear, the more I realise how much Prince took from George Clinton back in the day. Even George's early Capitol solo records are dripping in the kind of electro-funk which Prince would ape later on with songs like Scarlet Pussy, DMSR, Lady Cab Driver etc.

Even as late as The Rainbow Children or songs like "F.U.N.K.", Prince was borrowing from that P-funk well!

Most of the Exodus album, especially the last track.

MattyJam said:

I've been on a major P-funk binge lately, and the more I hear, the more I realise how much Prince took from George Clinton back in the day. Even George's early Capitol solo records are dripping in the kind of electro-funk which Prince would ape later on with songs like Scarlet Pussy, DMSR, Lady Cab Driver etc.

Even as late as The Rainbow Children or songs like "F.U.N.K.", Prince was borrowing from that P-funk well!

Computer Games came out in November 1982. 1999 was released in October, therefore it would be impossible for DMSR and Lady Cab Driver to have been influenced by "George's early Capitol solo records".

[Edited 3/11/21 4:49am]

The overall influence of P-Funk (let it be Funkadelic or Parliament) on many musicians is heavily underrated by critics, musicfans and so on.

I seriously disagree with anyone saying that P-Funk is either underrated or underacknowledged. It's adored by critics and adventurous music fans. You could argue many a 70s funk band have fallen off the critical radar but definitely not P-Funk as a whole.

It is underrated overall though.

I think many young white fans (speaking for myself here) didn't really know Pfunk that well in the 80s. Early 90s hip hip really changed that though

hip hop got me into p funk, not prince.

IIRC george himself said he was surprised when he first got to know prince that he knew all the old p funk records as he didnt really hear it in the music

id say its there, but you have to look for it. its not obvious.

stuff like the sped up camille voice are kinda like sir nose. the voice at the start of dream factory is VERY sir nose.

obv prince playing funk and rock - parliament recorded who says a funk band cant play rock in 1978.

and then masterminding all the satellite projects, george did that too (but then so did james brown, and prince did it more like JB).

the parliament song you i misjudged you always made me think of under the cherry moon. anyone else hear that?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDtYK78jQyY

overall though id say p-funk was thicker in texture, while apart from on songs like dmsr, princes funk was generally more new wavey until the 90s, and even then, i cant think of any obviously p-funk sounding prince songs. which is no bad thing, i dont really like prince being derivative.

[Edited 3/11/21 22:58pm]

herb4 said:

It is underrated overall though.

I don't think so at all. It was never pop music so it was never selling in the millions but that's just how it works. Stuff that doesn't have a broad appeal doesn't sell broadly,.

MendesCity said:

I think many young white fans (speaking for myself here) didn't really know Pfunk that well in the 80s. Early 90s hip hip really changed that though

I think in Europe this was even more so the case. As a teenage kid in the 80's I was a huge fan of 80's funk music that I heard on the radio, stuff like MJ, Prince, Cameo, Kool & The Gang. But 70's funk was never played on Dutch radio and TV stations, except some EW&F hits.

Instinctively I always felt there must have been really good 70's funk, but at that time I didn't really knew any artist names and didn't know where and what to look for. I only heard about Parliament through some articles about Prince, where P-Funk was sometimes mentioned as an influence.

When I was 16 (in 1988) I finally accidently ran into a P-Funk album (Mothership Connection) when I was babysitting some kids and found a CD in their parents music collection. I remember sliding that Mothership Connection CD in the player and being blown away by what I heard: this funk was so deep and so authentic sounding ('uncut' as George used to call it), much better ever than most 80's funk!!! I was immediately sold on P-Funk and introduced their music to lots of my friends, who loved it as well. I am a huge fan of P-Funk until this very day.

roverlo said:

The overall influence of P-Funk (let it be Funkadelic or Parliament) on many musicians is heavily underrated by critics, musicfans and so on.

Yeah, musicians in general like P-Funk a lot, agreed. There were lots of great musicians in these two bands and George let them all loose to do their own thing.

jaawwnn said:

I seriously disagree with anyone saying that P-Funk is either underrated or underacknowledged. It's adored by critics and adventurous music fans. You could argue many a 70s funk band have fallen off the critical radar but definitely not P-Funk as a whole.

Anyone who enjoys high quality musicians, great songwriting, soulful singing and general quirkiness should love what P-Funk has to offer. They are unique and one of a kind!

"Billy Jack Bitch"..."Scarlet Pussy"...."Erotic City"..."We Can Funk" (obviously)....I've always heard the George Clinton/P-Funk influence in these songs.

funkaholic1972 said:

the influence was more than musical. from a business point of view P did many of the same things as george. george learned he could relase more music by using different names, parliament, funkadelic, parlet, brides of funkenstein. just as prince did with the time, vanity, appolonia....etc

savagedreams said:

also stuff george was doing in the 80s with songs like atomic dog, idk if thats p-funk per se, its electro funk, like cameo, and zapp, even if it was with georges own slant on it.

i consider p-funk to have ended with the last funkadelic album in the early 80s really.

jaawwnn said:

herb4 said:

It is underrated overall though.

I don't think so at all. It was never pop music so it was never selling in the millions but that's just how it works. Stuff that doesn't have a broad appeal doesn't sell broadly,.

Yeah, turns out you're right. I went and looked up Pairlament's sales figures and for some reason seem to remember them being higher. Maybe I was looking at the R&B charts.

I could make a a triple CD "Best of Prince Funk" mix that I think would honor p-funk well enough though.

Roughly 1/3 or 1/2 of Exodus is an homage to that sound and so is a bunch of The Black Album. DMSR seems worthy of consideration. That bottom end funk style is just one element of Prince's overall sound though. Prince had so much tremendous range that it's astonishing...

Pop, rock, funk, disco, new wave, punk, R&B...techno and house sometimes. Gospel. Jazz. It's the main thing I love about him since I enjoy so many different types of music and I've never heard someone that offered me such a full scope.

SPYZFAN1 said:

"Billy Jack Bitch"..."Scarlet Pussy"...."Erotic City"..."We Can Funk" (obviously)....I've always heard the George Clinton/P-Funk influence in these songs.

Good picks!

RJOrion said:

funkaholic1972 said:

Anyone who enjoys high quality musicians, great songwriting, soulful singing and general quirkiness should love what P-Funk has to offer. They are unique and one of a kind!

"Funkentelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome" is easily in my personal top 10 of LPs ive played the most in my life... the song "Funkentelechy" could be my personal theme music when i enter a room... that damn Bootsy Collins bassline...sheeeeeeit

I just watched a 70's live gig this afternoon, it opened with a stomping version of Funkentelechy. Indeed one of my favorite albums and songs too, incredibly funky!!

P-Funks influence on Prince I feel is subtle but it is consistent throughout.

Exodus is Prince's P-funk album, and my what an album. Better than either Musicology or 3121 to name couple of solo albums.

Better than the other two 'NPG' albums. Slightly better than underground funk album Newpower Soul. Way better than funky hiphop album Goldnigga.

fortuneandserendipity said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

the parliament song you i misjudged you always made me think of under the cherry moon. anyone else hear that?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDtYK78jQyY

I definitely hear some potential influence on Beautiful Strange here and there from this song. But it might just be common chord sequences .

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

Exodus was prince following the p fun revival that dr dre started in 92. Good honest funk and 70s soul album though too long and not always that inventive

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Still I enjoy that album.

And you're right a out that P-fun(k) revival.

George Clinton and P-funk sound was heavily sampled,

which created kind of a come back for George, iirc.

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Somehow I feel that funk in some form is about to return.

I barely listen to the top-40 or radio these days.

But when i had to listen to it, i could swear that some youngsters in the hit parade want to go back to some more serious and better pop structured music.

Not that prefabricated childish melodic pop tunes we've been bombed by the last years (filled with lame choreography, hair, nails and bling-bling lies and 45 different oufits and wigs in three minutes. Anyways...)

A while ago, when Daft Punk and Nile Rodgers brought back a glimpse of funk.

-

One I like a lot these days is :

Mauro Pwlowski's 'Spotlight'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydOEzsER3yQ

Such a great approach of laid back pure funk inspired pop music...

(forget the video at first, listen with your eyes closed)

-

On the P-Funk related note -- I wish Junie Morrison got more credit and attention in general.

One talented mug right there...

SantanaMaitreya said:

fortuneandserendipity said:

Exodus is Prince's P-funk album, and my what an album. Better than either Musicology or 3121 to name couple of solo albums.

Better than the other two 'NPG' albums. Slightly better than underground funk album Newpower Soul. Way better than funky hiphop album Goldnigga.

Yeah. Only one problem: it was 1995, not 1975. And at least George Clinton didn't waste 20 minutes of an album with segues.

I think you should listen to some of those records again.