What was the audince?


R&B listeners? I find it kind of hard to imagine people being mostly in2 soul music to dig the heavy drug guitars of Maggot Brain and Free Your Mind....

Hippie 60's generation listeners? - I can see that

Rock listeners - I can see that...

But they are mainly in teh r&b genre because of the last couple of hits they had, but mainly their music is rock am I right?

Who were the audience who bought their older records before r&b / soul listeners started to get in2 them? Or have they always?
What were the sales like?

I guess only the old schoolers can answer this on

I did.

"Hardcore Jollies" was the 1st Funkadelic joint I got hip to back then as a baby funkateer. A LOT of black folks I knew back loved Parliament but couldn't listen to Funkadelic. Too psychedlic, profane, acid rock like, and raw.

I always keep a "Parliament" mix CD in my car and everyone always asks; "Where's Knee Deep?" or "One Nation"? They think Parliament played those tunes.

SPYZFAN1 said:

I know..I was terribly confused until an orger here mailed me some old Funkadelic albums because i was too scared to buy them.



I WAS HOOKED!

The only one i dont own from them is "Clones..." sounds like a good one though.

paisleypark4 said:

paisleypark4 said:

Why were you too scared? Was it the covers of the albums?

My father was more a fan of the Parliament, but he bought Funkdaelic stuff, too.

Bought em I love Pedro Bell

I always think Parliament and Funkadelic were the best of both worlds. One was funk R&B-based and the other was funk-rock.

Who bought the ole Parliaments joints back in the 50s and 60s?

LittleBLUECorvette said:

I reckon not too many. They probably bought their '60s records besides from "(I Wanna) Testify" but George and 'em probably figured after Jimi Hendrix came through the door (and Sly Stone) that they had no choice but ditch the "process". But that's interesting you asked that question.

...

From my experience, it was the generation that was weaned on R&B, but also came of age during the late 60's/early 70's, and experienced the psychedelic culture. In my case, it would be my older cousin, and a young (at the time) uncle that introduced me to Hendrix and Funkadelic. They were into Curtis Mayfiled, Isaac Hayes, Barry White, Smokey Robinson, etc., but they were also into Betty Davis, Led Zeppelin, Santana, Frank Zappa--and Funkadelic.

I must admit, early Funkadelic did scare the hell outta me-- it wasn't the music so much as an album cover-- specifically the America Eats Its Young album cover...

I was 6 and to young to understand the concept behind it--so, it just scared the Hell outta me!!




according to some, concern that their image was too heavy was one reason that George got Pedro Bell to start doing covers after this--it kinda put a lighter feel on their concept....

what is true is that Funkadelic wasn't a lot of getting airplay, and Parliament was--even though it was the same musicians. Parliament emphasied the horns--Funkadelic emphasized the guitars--at least until One Nation Under A Groove, and Knee Deep, when the lines really started to dissolve....



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[Edited 5/16/09 13:11pm]

paligap said:

A drawing of Lady Liberty eating her young is light ?

I think the Pedro covers were even more provocative.

StarMon said:

No, that's my point, it was very dark---it was After this that Pedro started doing covers--America Eats its Young was 1972....Pedro didn't start until Cosmic Slop, in 1973....

and actually, it was probably the Process Church ramblings inside the early albums that were giving people the wrong idea about Funkadelic--the Church turned out to be an apocalyptic, almost Satanic cult-kinda organization, So George started having Pedro write the liner notes (as well as the artwork)....

George never took the church seriously, but grew concerned that that stuff was giving people the wrong idea about Funkadelic--the music was hard edged, but there was certainly nothing evil intended...so around 1973 they started creating their own mythology--still with deep, serious messages, but also with a humorous cartoonish side, as well....



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[Edited 5/16/09 13:40pm]

paligap said:

That makes their transition into space-age funk more understandable. I think George and the guys were trying to bring some serious topics into focus in the disguise of funk but no one really got the message until they did dance music with the messages being used as hidden.

Timmy84 said:

X'actly! 'Course,then some folks never got the message--some just thought George and the group were only wild and crazy, and cartoonish, and missed any messages in the lyrics completely....


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[Edited 5/16/09 13:57pm]

paligap said:

My bad paligap...."after", and Dark to Light

Like the farmer said to the tater "I'll plant ya' now and dig ya later.. "I dig ya' now".


I put the cart before the horse.
[Edited 5/16/09 13:54pm]

paligap said:

I think there's some folks who JUST realized what P-Funk was trying to say pre-Mothership Connection days. But there's still a lot who WON'T quite understand because they all wanted to dance.

Timmy84 said:

I know this is off on a tangent, but in a way, it reminds me of what Rod Serling went through before the Twilight Zone. He was known for his teleplays, but the more he tried to write about serious issues, the more he got censored.
At one point he wrote a teleplay on racism--it was based on the murder of Emmett Till--and by the time the censors finished hacking it up , it was compltely unrecognizable. Serling went away from TV for a while, and came back with the Twilight Zone TV series. He found out that under the guise of Science Fiction, and Fantasy, he could address themes like racism, intolerance, etc., and no one objected.....





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[Edited 5/16/09 13:59pm]

paligap said:

Wow, that's definitely telling. When you try to reveal something with just the case and not bring it up under a different subject, NO ONE wants to hear it but you put something around it and still address it, people are OK with it? Wow, thanks for that tidbit.

I was going to start a topic like this. I was wondering if some of the albums that charted on the R&B charts were just politically placed there. Although when you look through a lot of your typical rock vinyl collections from that time, you never see Free your mind etc..

I heard at the time some of the black audiences were considered weird if you like early Funkadelic, and that they were called "Ghetto Clown" and that folks in the hood got it because it was freaky and different. Damn why did I have to be born in '75'?

Meloh9 said:

The black community weren't warming to Funkadelic until AFTER Parliament although ironically it was BOTH groups so I guess George figured the only way to get his own audience into them was to go the cartoon route with the Starchild stuff. After "Up for the Down Stroke", they DID start to warm to them and they loved "Chocolate City" when it came out but they didn't become platinum until George adopted the Starchild and Sir Nose characters. I think the majority of their cult audience were white for some reason because they GOT it (why you think rock groups like Audioslave and the Red Hot Chili Peppers pay homage to their pre-"Mothership Connection" days?).
[Edited 5/16/09 14:36pm]

...

another interesting fact is,although Funkadelic weren't getting a whole lot of airplay,their music still got around the neighborhood. For example, all the kids my age (in grade school at the time) knew "Standing On The Verge of Gettin' it On".....





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paligap said:

Yeah, the title track especially.

WOW.

Im really getting educated on your answers. As someone who didnt really potentionally grow on Funkadelic or Parliament (and my parent didnt have any of their albums unfortunatley) I really dig the 'audience' history on the ealy Funkadelic. I think from my experience too is that the white public seem to apprecialte the hell out of that era. I used to have their cd's at work and the people who liked hard rock would always have praise for them. Funny how people who like r&b, even being in the same age as their peers disconnected with old school altogether. Always wondered why that is?

Anyway..I wantt o go look and see what the acual sales figures were in that time. Im not ready to get that new George Clinton yet.....I havent completely GOT all their albums. And you know what? As much and as many times as I siten..it seems like there is always something I forgot

I certainly did. I got hip to Funkadelic through my older cousin when I was 8 years old. I was already hip to the Parliament side of thangs cuz they played them on the radio all the time. They were mainstream. Also you have to realize that in 75, and definately in 76, Funkadelic was becoming more and more "black radio" friendly. When they signed with WB, black radio in So. Cali like 1580 KDAY was playing tracks like "Undisco Kid" from "Takes From Kidd Funkadelic" and "If You've Got Funk, You've Got Style" and "Comin' Round The Mountain" from "Hardcore Jollies". Then of course Funkadelic hit paydirt with "One Nation Under A Groove" and "(Not Just) Knee Deep". Many people today still don't even know that those last 2 joints are by Funkadelic perse. They assume it's Parliament. But as far as Westbound Funkadelic, since I was 8, I was straight buying all of their shit. At that time, I knew plenty of older bruthas, from teenagers to their 30's who were digging Funkadelic. And yes, I'm refering to Free Your Mind, Maggot Brain, Cosmic Slop, Standing, Let's Take It, etc. On the P-Funk Earth Tour, George and the mob mixed it up bigtime. "Take Your Dead Ass Home" & "Undisco Kidd" were crowd faves. As was "Maggot Brain". Blacks in the early 70's who dug the Isleys, Curtis, Sly, The Ohio Players, ALL dug Funkadelic. It was a natural progression. Blacks back then were MORE than hip to bruthas who played rock. It wasn't an issue. So don't attach today's limited and narrowed minded thinking as blacks who play rock equates aliens from Neptune. Black folks probably were MORE hip to Westbound Funkadelic than whites were in the 70's. White musicians were hip to Funkadelic cuz they were on the Hendrix tip so that ALWAYS kept their eyes glued to that scene.

blackguitaristz said:

George's thang, the concepts behind it, to young black people (teens to 30's) were very much like a cult following. I can't speak on anywhere else in the country BUT in So. Cal, this was VERY much the case. Again I gotta say from when I was 8 years old on up, my older cousin and his friends, who were in their teens, all bumped the fuck out of Westbound Funkadelic as much as Warner Brothers Funkadelic. Whenever I would go to my older cousin's house, who lived in a certain area of L.A. which was Crip area, this shit got as much play as Parliament and Bootsy did. Why, because it was ALL Funk Mob. People today and in the past years crack me up because many STILL DON'T associate early Funkadelic as black music. Like if you listened to it, you are some "special" brutha that nobody understands or can relate to. Maybe that's an experience for some in the 90's and shit. But again, out here in So. Cali, in the 70's, that was so NOT the case. Bruthas and Sistas PLAYED the funk Mob out here. George's thang...P-Funk, out here was as black as you can get. The hardest bruthas blasted this shit out of their garages while they were pumpin iron. House parties were NOT a jam if you didn't have Funkadelic. Understand me, NOT just Parliament, BUT Alice In My Fantasies Funkadelic.

Shit, I BLEED Funkadelic. Paligap & Spyzfan would attest to that.
[Edited 5/17/09 1:34am]

blackguitaristz said:

That's interesting. Guess it differs from where you rep, I guess. I can believe blacks in California GOT DOWN to Funkadelic... then again you're right that we definitely were more diverse back then than we are now.
[Edited 5/17/09 1:37am]

Timmy84 said:

As a race as a whole, most definately brah. THAT has to be changed.

blackguitaristz said:

Right. That's why I'm glad some here have more diverse choices of music like bboy87. I can't stand what it's called "black music" today.