Writer Michael A. Gonzales on the rise and fall of funk bands...

http://www.ebony.com/ente...z2ZyzYMw5X

[Edited 7/24/13 16:21pm]

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Kool, thanks for the headzup!!!

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one thing is apparent...

music is a spiritual element, and just as it can live, it can surely die

Funk, just as with real r&b, and the original intent of hip-hop, have all died

because culture has been tapped in and obliterated and exploited by commercial conglomerates for certifiable profit gain, but left in its wake a void is immeasurable, leaving a wake of damage that's almost impossible to correct

for where there is no culture there is no life

Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" proved that there is still room for a little funk in the charts. True, they had to get a legend (Nile Rodgers) to put the point across. Perhaps the younguns just need to get their asses along to the funky (old) school.

I'm surprised they did not even mention Mint Condition in that article.

Ain't nobody killed mah funk!!

The original Funk Movement was obviously a generational thang of the late '60 and early '70s, coming out of a certain way of looking at the world and one's inner, funky self, creeping overground from the black underground and carried along by freaks, superfreaks and cheerleaders. It was developed by James Brown and his band, taken to the ends of the cosmos and back by Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone and Miles Davis and came back just in time for the P-Funk madmen and EWF to truck it out to a whole new funkyverse, that's still being explored.

Some say hip hop and 'modern R n' B' raped the funk, stole its clothes and attitude and dumbed it down or commercialised it beyond meaning. But for me, the Funk is stronger than that, ain't a victim of nothin'. The Funk will never, ever die. There's FAR too much life in those grooves, both live and on record.

Listen to John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, that's pure old funk (way back over yonder funk, indeed). Funk, or the attitude and feel of funk has existed in the soul of black America since days of slavery - a need for escape, collective freedom, individuality, personal development, sexuality, just plain diggin' your bad self, no matter who might be lookin' on with disapproving eyes and ears.

If I really wanna feel alive with music, I just put on a classic James Brown jam or something cool and mad from Sly, P-Funk, our purple man here, or any of the other dozens of great golden age funk or funk-related artists who have in the past and who still do grace our stages, airwaves and music players.

If you're sick of all this weak, watered down, derivative ol' modern R n' B, rock and hip hop, just slam on some good, stanky funk.

Funk cannot just move, it can re-move. Ya'll dig?

.................................................................................

Thus ends this Funky Infomercial. Let normal service resume.

^ sho nuff

Miles said:

Ain't nobody killed mah funk!!

The original Funk Movement was obviously a generational thang of the late '60 and early '70s, coming out of a certain way of looking at the world and one's inner, funky self, creeping overground from the black underground and carried along by freaks, superfreaks and cheerleaders. It was developed by James Brown and his band, taken to the ends of the cosmos and back by Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone and Miles Davis and came back just in time for the P-Funk madmen and EWF to truck it out to a whole new funkyverse, that's still being explored.

Some say hip hop and 'modern R n' B' raped the funk, stole its clothes and attitude and dumbed it down or commercialised it beyond meaning. But for me, the Funk is stronger than that, ain't a victim of nothin'. The Funk will never, ever die. There's FAR too much life in those grooves, both live and on record.

Listen to John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, that's pure old funk (way back over yonder funk, indeed). Funk, or the attitude and feel of funk has existed in the soul of black America since days of slavery - a need for escape, collective freedom, individuality, personal development, sexuality, just plain diggin' your bad self, no matter who might be lookin' on with disapproving eyes and ears.

If I really wanna feel alive with music, I just put on a classic James Brown jam or something cool and mad from Sly, P-Funk, our purple man here, or any of the other dozens of great golden age funk or funk-related artists who have in the past and who still do grace our stages, airwaves and music players.

If you're sick of all this weak, watered down, derivative ol' modern R n' B, rock and hip hop, just slam on some good, stanky funk.

Funk cannot just move, it can re-move. Ya'll dig?

.................................................................................

Thus ends this Funky Infomercial. Let normal service resume.

very very VERY well said!!!

Miles said: