I think this might be interesting, a music rankings. Everyone always does sports rankings on forums, but what about music, so I started of with Funk.

Alright, here is what we came up with.


Top Tier

The BEST of the BEST, who everyone looks up to for the funk

James Brown (and the JB's, Famous Flames ect.)
Parliament-Funkadelic (George Clinton, Bootsy's Rubber Band ect)
Jimi Hendrix
Sly and the Family Stone

Second Best

These guys could FUNK with the best of them

Earth, Wind and Fire
Ohio Players
Kool and the Gang
Herbie Hancock/Headhunters
Meters
Shuggie Otis
Roy Ayers
Slave
Zapp/Roger/Human Body
Curtis Mayfield
Rick James
The Barkays
The Isley Brothers
Heatwave
George Duke

Middle Section

BETTER then the WORST, but WORSE then the BEST

Average White Band
Cameo
The Time
Fatback Band
Prince
Stevie Wonder
Grahm Central Station
Rufus/Chaka Khan
Blackbyrds
Mandrill
The Jacksons
Gap Band
Charles Wright and 103 Watts Band
War
Lakeside
Con-Funk-Shun
Brick
Midnight Star
Bill Summers and Summers Heat
The Dazz Band
Shalamar
Commodores
Brothers Johnson
B.T. Express
Jesse Johnson
Chic
Mass Production
Dyke and the Blazers
Raydio/Ray Parker, Jr
Rose Royce
Wild Cherry
Brass Construction

Down Here

Tried, but only had a good decent jam every NOW and THEN / Or didn't FUNK as hard as the others and weren't mainly a FUNK artist

Morris Day
Bohannon
Sun
Guy
Ebonee Webb
Deele
Skyy
Dynasty
"Junie" Morrison
Invisible Man's Band
Andre Cymone
K.C. and the Sunshine Band
One Way
D-Train
System
Foxy
Patrice Rushen
Whispers
[Edited 12/30/05 23:33pm]

Top Tier
James Brown, Sly, P-Funk ,
Second Best

meters, Earth, Wind and Fire, Ohio Players, Kool and the Gang,shuggie otis,herbie hancock

Middle Section
Prince,stevie wonder,rufus,slave,roy ayers,blackbyrds,mandrill

Down Here
Everything after 1978
[Edited 12/26/05 16:29pm]

More rankings

Second Best
The Time, Zapp, Curtis Mayfield

Middle Section
The Jacksons, Cameo, Gap Band

Down Here
Sun, Guy

prettymansson said:

Looks good except Shuggie should be Middle Section
[Edited 12/26/05 21:38pm]

LittleBLUECorvette said:

u need to hear the stuff he was doing with his dads band (johnny otis) in the early 70's

prettymansson said:

I have Inspiration Information.

More

Second Best
Rick James, Average White Band

Middle Section
Charles Wright and 103 Watts Band, War

Down Here
Ebony Web, Deele,

LittleBLUECorvette said:[quote]

prettymansson said:

I have Inspiration Information.

More

Second Best
Rick James, Average White Band

Middle Section
Charles Wright and 103 Watts Band, War

Down Here
Ebony Web, Deele,[/quote]


Two Prince & Time clones....

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Add Jimi in the top tier.....

Top Tier

Prince
Rick James
The Barkays
Cameo
Lakeside
Con-Funk-Shun
The Isley Brothers
Brick
Slave

These groups have tons of hard funk and also adapted well from the transition of the 1970s to 1980s.

Second Best

Roger & Zapp
Midnight Star
The Time
Skyy
Ebonee Webb
Fatback
Bill Summers and Summers Heat
The Gap Band
The Dazz Band
Dynasty
Shalamar

Groups like these kept the early 1980s jamming.


Middle Section

James Brown
Parliament
The Ohio Players
Earth, Wind, and Fire
Sly and the Family Stone

Since I first got into music during the disco era, these groups are great, but they didn't really hold up too well when the 1980s rolled around. Also, compared to the later funk, their music sounds a little primitive to my ears. Kind of like funk in it's early stages. Some of them have more of a jazz influence and I liked funk better when it started getting further from jazz. These are great groups but I like the later groups much better.

Down Here

Any of the funk groups that continued on after 1985 such as.....

Cameo
Roger and Zapp
The Barkays
Midnight Star

They had a great hard jam every now and then during the later years but they become much more mellower and started having less and less hardcore jams.

Prince and Rick James fell off during this time also. Prince started going backwards into time and Rick James started getting more modern, which didn't work well with him.

First Tier

James Brown and the JB's (or any other unit of his), Sly and the Family Stone, and P-Funk: All lead by the three godfathers of funk and the pure, organic cream of the crop.

Second Tier

The next best things: Rick James, EWF, Ohio Players, pre-JT Kool and the Gang, Herbie Hancock.. I know I'm forgetting a few names because I'm not familiar with their music.

Middle and Last Tiers

Most of those late '70s-mid-'80s acts whose sound I find to have dated badly and whose lyrics I find to be corny much of the time (like many of the ones vainandy listed-- sorry, man.. personal taste, I guess ).


And as for the Jacksons and Prince? I can't bring myself to categorize them as funk as much as I can the other names I listed but when it comes to the funky material they DID record, I'd place them in the second tier.

Second Tier
Commodores
Heatwave

Middle Section
Brothers Johnson
B.T. Express
Jesse Johnson
D-Train

Down Here
"Junie" Morrison
Invisible Man's Band
Andre Cymone

Top Tier

James Brown
The Funk Mob
Rick James
Sly and the Family Stone
EWF

This Top Tier has the complete body of work




Second Tier

Ohio Players
Slave / Hall Of Fame
Bar-Kays
Lakeside
Confunkshun
Cameo
Roger & Zapp



Third Tier

Chic - I forgot them
Brick
Gap Band
Fatback
Mass Production - Very underrated band IMO! Those first five albums are pure FUNK!!!
Commodores
BT Express
[Edited 12/27/05 15:45pm]
[Edited 12/27/05 23:06pm]

Top Tier
Jimi Hendrix

Second Best
Isley Brothers
Tower Of Power

Middle Section
G.Q.
Jimmy Castor Bunch
Maze featuring Frankie Beverly

Down Here
SOS Band
[Edited 12/27/05 20:13pm]

Top tier
James Brown& the J.Bs, Sly&the Family Stone,Funkadelic-Parliment, Isley Brothers


Second

Kool& the Gang,War,Ohio Players & Earth & Wind & Fire,

Middle section
Fatback band,Zapp,Maze feat Beverly & ConFunkShun

Down here
Midknight star,S.O.S Band, Commodores & Sun

Cameo would have to go to the middle section.

That's true. I have never understood the word "dated" but I guess something that isn't dated would be something that would still get a lot of airplay today. A lot of the groups you listed at the top, I listed at the bottom. The reason is because I hear them seven or eight times a day on the oldies R&B stations till I get sick of hearing them. Radio stations have absolutely worn them out. A lot of my favorites get hardly any airplay today. I'm glad I kept all my old records.
.
.
[Edited 12/28/05 8:55am]

LittleBLUECorvette said:

There's no way in hell The Time or Zapp comes before Cameo!!!

AsianConnection said:

Okay, maybe not the Time, but Zapp could FUNK better then Cameo.


Second Best
George Duke


Middle Section
Morris Day
Dazz
Dyke and the Blazers
Raydio/Ray Parker, Jr
Rose Royce
Wild Cherry
Whispers

Down Here
K.C. and the Sunshine Band
One Way
D-Train
Brass Construction
[Edited 12/29/05 10:30am]

Second Best

Middle Section
Joe Tex

Down Here
Kleer

vainandy said:

Shalamar over Sly? Roger & Zapp over James Brown? Serious?

Stax said:

For real...

James Brown is the beginning of it all.....