George Clinton Perspectives
If James Brown is the godfather of soul, then George
Clinton is undoubtedly the godfather of funk.
Always colorful and offbeat, Clinton fused rock
and R&B in the '60s, set the dance floor on
fire with disco classics in the '70s, ushered in
computer-based new wave in the '80s and literally
built a hip-hop empire in the '90s.
By the late '70s, Clinton was leading and producing
a slew of dynamic funk groups including Parliament,
Funkadelic, Bootsy's Rubber Band, the Brides Of
Dr. Funkenstein, the Pariets and the Horney Horns,
as well as solo albums by P-Funkers Bernie Worrell,
Fuzzy Haskins and Eddie Hazel.
Throughout his career Clinton has remained a true
original, combining humorous, eccentric lyrics and
space-age concepts with top-level musicianship and
untouchable grooves. No one knows how to funk like
George Clinton.
Born in 1940, Clinton began his career as a barber
in Plainfield, N.J. before forming the doo-wop group
the Parliaments in 1955. They were a regional success
for more than a decade before breaking big with
their top 20 hit "(I Just Wanna) Testify."
Soon after, the band became caught up in a contract
dispute that prevented Clinton from using the band's
name.
Clinton left the group and moved to Detroit, where
he was quickly introduced to the psychedelic acid-rock
scene lead by Jimi Hendrix. Clinton formed Funkadelic
as an antidote to the dress-alike, sound-alike Motown-inspired
R&B scene at the time; Funkadelic dressed outrageously,
played long improvisational jams, and featured 12-plus
players.
With sprawling, tripped-out albums like Cosmic
Slop, Free Your Mind, Maggot Brain and America Eats
Its Young, Funkadelic ended the '60s and rang in
the '70s by mixing rock and soul into one ever-boiling,
always-hot melting pot. When the Parliaments' lawsuit
was settled in 1974, Clinton formed a more R&B/dance-oriented
group called Parliament and adopted a more theatrical
science fiction style.
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