You know, I keep on coming here seeing others complain about how there's no funk bands today, but it's the truth, folks. I'm one of the few under 25 that's trying to keep the spirit alive and bring it back to the masses. I haven't quite reached my goal yet, but I'm still striving for it. And the thing is, there are MANY other people complaining about the fact that there's no good music or upbeat, funky ass jams anymore. You know what I say to that? I just go by the Punk ethos of DIY. That's right! I started playing music when I got into Punk Rock back in High School. And the Punks didn't sit around and bitch and moan about how miserable their lives were and how miserable the state of affairs in music was. They went out and did it themselves. That's why I love The Clash. The Ramones made a noise, and the Sex Pistols wanted to destroy, but it was The Clash that wanted to start a revolution. And this is something that the young generation of funksters need to pick up on, if there are any out there besides me. Just pick up and instrument and learn it, and still keep that attitude and fire project it outwards.

Seriously, if you're sick of how bad things are with music, just go out and create some music yourself. Maybe you have talent, maybe not. You can always learn and grow if you're serious about it. The punks didn't have much talent either. They did, however, have the passion. Then as they got older, they got better and became serious artists. So this is something that you Funk enthusiasts should pick up on. Go on out there and bring the funk back!

NWF, I'd have to live the rest of my life, die and come back again to even begin thinking about trying to play the kind of funk I appreciate.

However, I'm all for coaching the next generation of funkateers! When I babysit my nieces and nephews, all they hear over Auntie Danni's is Funk nothing but the Funk!!

That's why there is the Artist forum here on the org..for people like me who can CREATE music that we want to hear..if not for anyone else, but for our own self sanity. Who else if gonna bring back the synth-pop-funk if I dont do it...


Anyway music today is better than in 1993-1995 to me...one of the worst periods that i don't reallywant to re-vive. Everyone was starting to come off New jack Swing and go in2 the Jodeci / Shai bland ass slow jam re-looped New Jack beat bullshit...ugh..Alternative wasnt really as exciting as it is now (I cant imagine Maroon 5's "Makes Me Wonder" or even Prince's "The One U Wanna C" coming out in that era...)

The hip hiop scene is in chaos...bullshit like Soulja Boy's Superman dat hoe whack shit to Laffy Taffy crap taken over the airwaves...yet paved the way for more grown lyrical people to grow like Nas, Common and Kanye. Without the South Coast's "club" bullshit there wouldnt be alot of positive rappers that actually can be commercial in the same sense.

There is SO SO many recources to music now more than ever..u just have to be willing to broaden your horizons and turn off the top 10 radio.

I hate when good musicians get bashed with the generic "they suck", "he sucks", she sucks". Not liking a certain type of music/artist because it's just not your cup of tea, but that is totally different from discrediting good musicianship.

NWF said:

There are funk bands around, but I hate the way these modern bands sound. Also, most of the contemporary 'funk' I've heard is really uninspired.

NWF said:

Keep-N-The-Fonk-Alive!

FuNkeNsteiN said:

You and me both, buddy. You and me both.

NWF -
While they're not as well known, the punk bands that embody the DIY spirit to me are the American ones from the late 70s/ early 80s commonly called hardcore - Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Dead Kennedys etc.

The Clash, Pistols & Ramones were awesome no doubt, but they were on corporate labels. Once those three had tanked commercially, no new punk bands were getting sitgned. So in 1979 you start to see these bands putting out their own records. Ian MacKaye talked about the guys in his first band making the cover to their first single by cutting open a 7-inch sleeve, tracing it on a sheet of paper, pasting their artwork into the traced outline, making 5000 copies, cutting them out with scissors and pasting them with Elmer's glue. Hard work, but possible to do. Then Black Flag got the idea of piling in a van & taking it nationwide, a built a network that other bands could tap into. And it grew from there.

Most of the best albums from the 80s in my opinion were made this way, no approval from Columbia Records, MTV or KISS-FM required.

Now that punk is in the mall and on the radio it's different. There's nothing revolutionary about selling t-shirts. But that method of gaining complete independence can be used by anybody, and in fact, there's plenty of techno labels that operate the same way. It's about keeping costs down & expectations reasonable, and getting away from the idea that you need a million dollars and a room at the 4 Seasons every nioght in order to be creative.

Check out the documentary "American Hardcore" (now on DVD) if you haven't yet.

I'm sick of all these hip-hop threads. It's a dying genre.

MikeMatronik said:

I be sick of lookin at thread about artists I dont know too well but I dont go and post on them and talk about bullshit...I hate when orgers do that (HINT MY POST) posts about not liking them is not going to affect me none

paisleypark4 said:

Hip-Hop is not music. It's a fact.

Hip-Hop just propagates the stereotypes that the black race desires not to be catalogued by. Now that's a double edged sword.
[Edited 9/12/07 18:11pm]

MikeMatronik said:

Yeah but not all of it is just that as u say. That's like me sayin all hard rock music is making white race act a damn fool. But I do agree that the MAIN IMAGE of hip hop is negative..but that's also the record companies who refuse to put out more positive artists and throw away million dollar contracts to people like Soulja Boy who deserves to be sitting home on the internet.

NWF said:

FuNkeNsteiN said:

Exactomundo. My own view would be that people are especially way too often enamoured by the "possibilities" the new batch of digital synthesizers can offer and feel like they have to use every effect in their arsenal. I'd like musicians to ask themselves the following, "OK, so I got originally into funk because I thought it was cool - now that I am making it myself does my own music really sound cool in the same way or does it just have elements that sort of remind of it?"