FunkyDissCo said:

If you think Machine Gun was nasty check out Gimme My Mule.

My favorite from them is "I Feel Sanctified" from that same album.

My favorite Kool and The Gang of all time is their entire "Ladies Night" album. Of course, disco was my first love before I got into funk. But as a few years passed and they started doing shit like "Misled" and "Joanna", I was ready to gag.

See....I forgot another one.....Raydio.

Timmy84 said:

I know I will get crucified for this, and I mean no disrespect to JB and his band's amazing funk and influence on music in general. However, P-Funk always comes out on top for me. It's the combo of the music, the lyrics and the versatility that just seals the deal. They went places no one else dared to go musically, lyrically and visually. Their concept was, to me, so ahead of its time, especially for a black band. They were truly a funk nation.
[Edited 8/6/09 22:07pm]

vainandy said:

Never really cared for Misled but Tonight was my jam.

vainandy said:

I actually liked Misled but i know where you're coming from.
Don't forget to add Cherish and Stone Love to the list.

vainandy said:

YES!

Well I'm going to bring up something that most people on here will probably not consider to be in this category but what about the Stax house band that backed up Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Carla Thomas, etc. Some of this music is pretty funky. Booker T and the MGs "Green Onions" is funky.

I love "Tonight".

Those were horrible too.

I liked Street Kids by Kool & the Gang.

candy2277 said:

Don't know about that tune, Funk wasn't even regularly used back in 1962. You did have the Funk Brothers at Motown though. Bu do agree about that later Stax/Volt sound.

bellanoche said:

I see your point. P Funk created not only the music but most importantly defined the culture (language, dress, speech) of what people associate with funk. People tend to forget that JB was primarily a rhythmn and blues artist, which you can tell by how he dressed and his stage presentation.

candy2277 said:

The dress code can go back to Sly Stone and Hendrix in the mid to late 60s. And yeah, JB was R&B first but s was P-Funk (remember the Parliaments from the 50s and 60s.) But I see what you mean. P-Funk took Funk to different places. But JB is still king of Funk.

No, James Brown was funky before funk was established. Just because he and his band wore tailored suits by the late 1960s didn't mean they were strictly R&B. I can see why people will hail P-Funk as the greatest funk outfit but James' grooves were the start of it. Even listening to them now they're still ahead of its time as with any record from P-Funk.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

The Bar-Kays and the Mer-Keys were part of the Stax era so yeah they definitely get the same kudos I gave the Funk Brothers.

Timmy84 said:

Not to mention, you can't have P-Funk without JB (literally.)

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Yeah, Fred Wesley, Maceo, Bootsy and Catfish and some others can attest to that.

Timmy84 said:

James Brown started off as a rhytmn and blues artist in the mid 50s. In 1965, he revolutionized music with "Papa's Got a Brand new Bag". This was considered to be the first of what we identify today as funk. So, yes he started funk but he didn't start his career that way. I didn't say whether P Funk was better than JB but that I understood that poster's point in favoring P Funk if you do it by the culture. Funk like hip hop today was rooted in a culture. Many of youth in the 70s had a certain way of talking and dressing and P Funk was the model for that. JB was still rooted in the old school R&B culture (circa late 50s and 60s).

candy2277 said:

You do know hip-hop was sampling James Brown before they got to P-Funk, right?

candy2277 said:

You do releazie P-Funk started out as a doo-wop group the same yeasr JB released "Please, Please, Please" right. Also, they were doin' there Tempt thing by the mid 60's. It wasn't until the late 60s when they changed their style.

And P-Funk of the mid 70s, is JB from the whole 60s to the early 70s, influencing youth young around America.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Yep, 16-year-old George Clinton created the Parliaments in 1956. They become what they became famous for until around 1968, 1969, 1970 and this was after James, Sly and Jimi turned the music world upside down. George was influenced by those three. If it wasn't for the three who broke through in the 1960s, we wouldn't have heard of Parliament-Funkadelic.

Timmy84 said:

Absolutely.

For albums I'll take P-Funk. But James Brown is the King because he could easily put together a 4, 6, 8, 10-disc box set of the most thrilling songs imaginable (outside of maybe a few blessed people that would fit even less properly in this category).

It's kind of odd how James, Sly, George and Jimi all started playing rhythm and blues but all of them ended up becoming leaders of "progressive black music" by the end of the 1960s (well George after 1970).

Brendan said:

That entire In the Jungle Groove album is SICK!

Timmy84 said:

It is.

He's not short in the album department at all. He just excelled years before the album was even remotely what it is today. And he was putting them out as fast as most people put out singles.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

I know all about Clinton and his group. He also had a short stint at Motown. Every artist before 1965 was doing something other than funk because it wasn't developed yet. My point was about JB. Clinton changed his style (ie look). JB was still wearing suits and processed hair.This is not a diss becuase that is the culture JB came out of. I have uncles his age and they still process their hair LOL. Put it this way JB defined the music of funk whereas Clinton and Stone gave it the culture.

Brendan said:

Well he did put out 600 singles by the 1980s.
[Edited 8/6/09 23:26pm]

candy2277 said:

James was rocking the natural between 1968 and 1972.