This may be old news to a lot of you but new to me. This is about one of my favorite songs of all time "More Bounce" By Zapp

The groove on this song has always amazed me. I never knew what the heck they did to make that incredible "B-B-Bomp CLAP-Bomp-Bomp" sound. To me these things are magic. Golden nuggets of genius. I couldn't even comprehend or even imagine how someone could dream up something so incredibly funky. Even the word "funky" sounds like a quaint understatement when talking about this song

As much as I love the song, and much respect to Zapp, I have never been a huge Zapp fan. I could never get into their other work as it seemed on a totally different level than "More Bounce"

The genius and one-off-ness of this song for Zapp always baffled me. To me they never even came close to recapturing it's genius again.

Now I know why.

I always knew that my musical heroes George Clinton, Bootsy and the P-Funk crew played some part in the making of the song, I just never knew how pivotal George's input was.

As George has been ill, I think it is important we give credit where credit is due. To one one the greatest musicians/artists of our time.

Like I said, this may be old news to a lot of you, but here is a snip from an article from last year. The entire article is a must read, but here is a snip regarding this song in particular and a link to the full article from Shock G of the Digital Underground.

Shock G drops knowledge o...mp; P-Funk

http://www.rimemagazine.c...mp;_p-funk

By Ani Yapundzhyan

.....

Okay, and while we're at it, one more juicy little-known gem about the man: He's responsible for the rhythm arrangement of "More Bounce to the Ounce" by Zapp(!!) Yes, George Clinton, in a little bit of a fluke, a little studio savvy, and a bit of luck, actually gave Roger that sound, that formula that Roger went on to use on his next 3 follow-up singles; "I Can Make You Dance", "So Ruff, So Tuff", and "Dance Floor", That chunky stutter bass against the thick handclap? Zapp & Roger's signature sound and main money maker? It was a George Clinton creation. (Doh!)

Very true. That sound is the result of George cutting a 2-foot long piece out of the 2-inch multi tape, flipping it around backwards, looping it to itself, and then slowing it down to the current speed of "More Bounce". Apparently, Roger's original groove was faster and a lot busier. They said it was in a vein like his "Heard it through the Grapevine" song: fast and choppy with a busy chord progression, and the bass was all over the place, an elaborate melody.

George, who was producing Roger's first album for his new Uncle Jam label that year (which is another fascinating story: how the crazy older brother Larry Troutman sneak signed the group to Warner Bros. behind George's back while he and Bootsy left the studio to get food. Yes, the same crazy brother who shot Roger dead 10 years later.)

Anywayz, earlier that day, while Zapp was still set to be the first new act on George's label, George got concerned that Roger didn't have anything they could use as a single yet, and that he needed something simpler then what he had heard so far, and that's when he performed the tape trick.

The new slower piece in reverse created the rhythm and melody that became the infamous "More Bounce" kick-drum and synth-bass "B-B-Bomp CLAP-Bomp-Bomp" arrangement. With a smile George said "That's all ya need right there. Just build the song around that", and the rest became that beast of a record. If you listen closely, you can still hear the backwards bass & drums underneath; that was the first thing they started with, and then began overdubbing more tracks on a second 2-inch machine.

They told me that Roger also had about 10-times the lyric content he wound up using and that George convinced him to eliminate most of it and just keep repeating "mooore boooounce" they way he did. I was told this first hand by Boogie the bass player and Gary Shider, who were both also there that day.

And speaking of George's Zen-like integrity; get this:
-after he had a verbal agreement from Roger and had been grooming him for months to be the first release on the new Uncle Jam label, and also after producing a good portion of his album so far, (including literally creating "More Bounce" for him), after all that, when George returned and learned that a Warner rep had showed up, went in the back room with Larry and Roger, talked him out of signing with George's label in 5 minutes they said, and signed him directly to Warner--


They said George looked at them with disappointed eyes that said "Really?" looked down at the ground for a second, shook his head no, shrugged and said "Well, so much for that", and turned around and walked out the studio.

The remaining P-Funk cats walked out after George, and I think they said Bootsy was the only one who stayed behind to help finish producing it, which is why Bootsy's name appeared in the credit.

But yeah, George gave that classic song it's essence as well as named the group "Zapp." He never sued or spoke about it again, he just let it go, but I heard he was sad and heartbroken by it, as he had a friendship building with Roger prior to that incident.

Okay, 'nuff said.
George is THE dude basically.
He's the genuine article, and has well-earned all recognition he's ever received and beyond..
He is a rare and true artist of artists.

Peace, love, & humptiness 4eva,
and thanx for allowing me to introduce you to Dr. Funkenstien.
-Shock-G
(of 2Pac, digital underground, Luniz, Saafir, Murs)

[Edited 6/21/11 16:53pm]

I had searched the org to see if this had been posted here before and found this post from 2004.

I dont know much a bout the poster or the facts, but seems to fit with the Shock G story.

Thumparello said:

Here is the answer to this stupid thread.

George Clinton-----Life Time Acheivement Award by the NAACP, Life Time Acheivement Award by the BlackMusic Association and the American Music Association also inducted into the Rockand Roll Hall of Fame. Next to James Brown the most sampled artist on the planet. Or he may be the most sampled artist due the sampling in the late 80's and 90's some entire lps worth of his music.

In the 70's damn near every artist imitated his band look and sound. He also started the synth stacked bass sound (thanks to Bernie) that every funk artist and rap act (G-Funk) has used. Flashlight was the door opener. The record was revolutionary and ahead of it's time when it came out.

Something you don't know. More Bounce To the Ounce was written by George Clinton. He gave that song to Roger Troutman and Zapp. The talkbox and concept was solely his idea. George owns that song till this day. The tune was originally a the intro to a Parliament track called Funkin' Out of Bounce that was never released.

He is the King and Funk Master. George been funkin's since 1955.

RICK WAS A GREAT "FUNK" ARTIST BUT THE KING OR MASTER, NOPE.

[Edited 6/20/11 19:23pm]

^^^I don't know about the talkbox thing. Roger used it on the Human Body album from 1976 and also a song by Sun called Wanna Make Love.

I was sad that it was never mentioned that George (and Bootsy) had a lot to do with "More Bounce" as Roger and Co. did... of course Unsung kinda overlooked that...

Timmy84 said:

I was sad that it was never mentioned that George (and Bootsy) had a lot to do with "More Bounce" as Roger and Co. did... of course Unsung kinda overlooked that...

I saw a clip somewhere (maybe here) that all them were on the same bill as James Brown, and JB punked all of em' hard backstage, lol.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Timmy84 said:

I was sad that it was never mentioned that George (and Bootsy) had a lot to do with "More Bounce" as Roger and Co. did... of course Unsung kinda overlooked that...

I saw a clip somewhere (maybe here) that all them were on the same bill as James Brown, and JB punked all of em' hard backstage, lol.

Yeah I saw that clip.

Timmy84 said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

I saw a clip somewhere (maybe here) that all them were on the same bill as James Brown, and JB punked all of em' hard backstage, lol.

Yeah I saw that clip.

HE made Rog cry didn't he?

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Timmy84 said:

Yeah I saw that clip.

HE made Rog cry didn't he?

I gotta find that clip again. Bootsy doing James is CLASSIC!

Timmy84 said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

HE made Rog cry didn't he?

I gotta find that clip again. Bootsy doing James is CLASSIC!

Oh I NEED to see this!

http://prince.org/msg/8/344289

Shango said:

http://prince.org/msg/8/344289

I forgot I posted this!

Timmy84 said:

Shango said:

http://prince.org/msg/8/344289

I forgot I posted this!

Interesting...........

V10LETBLUES said:

Timmy84 said:

I forgot I posted this!

I know it's been a while.

At least George topped himself with Atomic Dog!

TonyVanDam said:

At least George topped himself with Atomic Dog!

Timmy84 said:

TonyVanDam said:

At least George topped himself with Atomic Dog!