We've enjoyed a good part of the 70's with good wholesome music. Different forms and artists took the 70's by storm. Some were artists from the previous decade like Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and Diana Ross just to name a few. We also enjoyed new artist as well like Kiss, Donna Summer, Elton John, Chic, Queen, and Cameo. But there was one group who hit both the R&B and Pop charts by storm and they were K.C. & The Sunshine Band. His unique brand of music was refreshing and new at the same time. But one question though. Were they a funk band or a disco band? Hmmmm? Well some of their tunes could easily been funky but also probably a bit too soft for funk. So more thought of them as disco oriented. But I don't think they're straight disco either. Maybe he's a little of both. What do you think? Can you answer that?

um, disco

Disco, although Boogie Man has a bit funk in dere.

How bout disco/pop/funk-lite?

In the late 70s,it was often hard to decide if something was "disco","funk" or "R&B".I have disco compilations that feature songs that I wouldn't necessarily label as disco ("Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry..."Ladies Night" by Kool and The Gang,for example).It's confusing

I would say that KC and the Sunshine Band were a funk/disco band.....mainly funk.

BOTH!!!!!

LoDog said:

Sunshine Band

LoDog said:

Stupid question

woogiebear said:

Yeah!!!!!

luv4u said:

Disco, baby, disco.

Shapeshifter said:

1st LP- "Ain't Nothin' Wrong" & "I Get Lifted" are as FUNKY as u can get!!!!!
And I'm well aware of all the disco stuff.....that's why I say BOTH!!!!!

A Funky Band in the Disco era...

their 1974 song "Sound Your Funky Horn" is pure funk....nothing "disco" about it.

It's funk because disco itself is nothing more than a more polished, speeded up version of funk.

vainandy said:

It's also simplified, the music is less intricate

vainandy said:

Pfff... What a joke...

Some people have no clue what Funk music is all about...

So it doesn't suprise me that some of you think KC is Funk...

Just Sickening

disco with a funky twist

Disco.

I like them but c'mon.

krayzie said:

Oh please enlighten us, Sensei!

I would call K.C. and The Sunshine Band a disco act not only by sound but by association. Disco is basically a genre of dance-oriented pop music and their music fit most of the other qualities associated with it: soaring, often reverberated vocals over a steady beat, syncopated electric bass line and a lush background sound.

If you want a definition of funk, you need to look at acts like The Ohio Players, James Brown, Tower of Power, Parliament/Funkadelic, etc. Those acts had a more rhythmic cadence, a harder edge to their sound.
[Edited 2/24/08 6:30am]

[quote]

krayzie said:

And you do? And just who would you consider funk other than folks like James Brown, Parliament, The Ohio Players, and other groups that the media has continuously talked about over and over and over and over throughout the years.

Yeah, disco is a speeded up, more polished version of funk which did away with a lot of jazz elements of funk. Even after disco supposedly "died", it had a lasting influence on funk of the early 1980s after it's death. Funk jams like The Dazz Band's "Let It Whip" or even Midnight Star's "Electricity" would never have come about if it hadn't been for the previous influence of disco which had speeded things up and gotten rid of the jazz. There are lots more kinds of funk than just the early pioneers.



KC and the Sunshine Band is disco, which is nothing more than speeded up funk. Yeah, I love disco and always have. I would be a dull ass person if I didn't like disco.

I say BOTH! Jeez, what a great band!


[Edited 2/25/08 13:22pm]

krayzie said:

Go on,krayzie...tell us the real reason why you don't like KC We all know what you're thinking.

I think I'm more swayed to say disco, but, what I know for sure is that they were funkier than hell on stage! Especially them horn players!!

Give it Up.....baby give it up!

Thats funk!

vainandy said:

Oh yes I do, and you don't...

vainandy said:

Pff... Biggest ignorant statement ever... (But Am I surprised ?)

Funk ain't Disco... Period

Whoever claims that Funk is Disco knows nothing about black culture and black music...

Funk is Soul music in the first place... Funk is nothing but a rythmic oriented version of Soul music... based on BLACK rhythmic ...

In fact, funk artists are soul artists in the first place... They all switch back and forth from soul to funk...

None of your garbage Disco groups can't make decent soul music to save their life... Because Disco groups are produced by white folks...

White folks can't make soul music... In Fact, there's no soul in Disco... And that's the point...

Disco is a music genre created by white folks who tried to make the black music more marketable and appealing to the white audience...



Make no mistake, KC is by any mean a Funk group, just because they have black members make them a Funk band...

vainandy said:

Doesn't suprise me that you like Disco... But Dico ain't no speeded up funk... Disco has nothing to do with Funk... Disco is white music, not black music...
[Edited 2/27/08 12:44pm]

krayzie said:

I've got a question for you... What kind of band do you consider Heatwave to be??? Funk, Soul, or Disco?
[Edited 2/27/08 21:33pm]

[quote]

krayzie said:

Yeah right. There's no need for me to explain anything to you because my history right here at the org proves what I'm into. Can you say the same about your history here?

There have been numerous funk threads ranging from Rick James, The Barkays, Con-Funk-Shun, Cameo, Zapp, Lakeside, Midnight Star, Sun, Brick, etc. and you have not made one single post on any of those threads. There have even been generic funk threads such as "List your favorite funk" and you haven't made one single post. When "Soul Train" was running old episodes every week, there was thread about it every week and your face was not seen in the place not even once.

The only threads I have ever seen you in are threads about solo female artists, Michael Jackson threads, or one of the artists that came onto the scene in the 1990s. Yeah, sounds real funky to me.





Coming from someone who thinks Beyonce isn't shit hop because white folks listen to her music. I've got news for you, the majority of the shit hop consumers are white so if you want to talk about a genre of black music that has catered to white people, shit hop would be on the top of that list. White people have loved it so much, they have kept it in style for more than 15 years.

As for funk being based on black rhythmic music, that's exactly right and rhythm is exactly what white older people didn't want to see happen in the 1950s when the rock and roll era was beginning because they considered that rhythm to be "black" and their ignorant asses thought that black was evil. Shit hop is totally rhythmless and is it's highest consumers are white. Now, which genre would be the "whiter" form of music, disco with it's rhythm, or shit hop with no rhythm, which is exactly what the old folks of the 1950s tried to keep out of music. Yet, you seem to think that the "blackest" form of music is shit hop. I'm guessing that you are in your 20s and judging from your statements, I am probably right.

I doubt you were even born during the disco era or even the funk era that followed it in which disco's influence was still very much present. All you know is what you've read. I lived through that era and as for disco being for white people, it wasn't black people that blew up those disco records in that baseball field in 1979. It was black people that continued that faster rhythmic disco pace, not white people, and carried it over into the funk of the early 1980s. It was because of disco's death that I even got into funk in the first place because it was the closest sounding thing after disco's death. I don't let things that I love go easily without a fight. White folks didn't know any of those funk groups. They had never even heard of them. And as for disco being produced by white people and for white people during it's heyday, Rick James' very first hit "You and I" was disco. The Barkays had "Move Your Boogie Body". The Isley Brothers had "It's A Disco Night". Con-Funk-Shun had "Chase Me". Chic had a string of disco hits also. I don't see no white producers behind that disco. Disco was a much more wider spectrum than just "I Will Survive".




Doesn't the old stereotype say....."all black folks have rhythm"? Disco is rhythm. I think you've got it confused with shit hop. And you, yourself, definately prove that old stereotype to be wrong.
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[Edited 2/29/08 14:48pm]