[Western Music] Tracing the Roots of Funk: Essential Albums Beginners Should Hear at Least Once
This may be sudden, but are you familiar with the music genre called “funk”? Even if you aren’t, you’ve probably heard the word “funky” in everyday life.
As a music genre, funk took shape in the 1960s and reached its peak from the 1970s onward, when many popular bands released hit funk tracks.
Funk music has had a major influence on later generations—modern hip-hop artists still love sampling songs from that era.
In this article, especially for beginners, we’ll introduce must-listen classic funk albums to get you started!
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[Western Music] Tracing the Roots of Funk: Essential Albums You Should Hear at Least Once [Beginners] (41–50)
Knee DeepFunkadelic
This track by Funkadelic, which established the P-Funk genre and fused funk with psychedelia, is famous as the original song sampled in De La Soul’s 1989 hit “Me Myself and I.” The sampled track is great, but the original really is the best!
Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get EnoughMichael Jackson
A song produced by Michael Jackson and co-produced with Quincy Jones.
It held the No.
1 spot on the Billboard Soul chart for six weeks.
With this song, he won his first solo Grammy Award and American Music Award.
It was the first track to showcase his talent as a singer-songwriter and has been covered by many musicians.
Super FreakRick James
One of Rick James’s signature songs, released in 1981.
The slang “freak” in the song is used to refer to a wild, unruly girl.
It’s also well known for being sampled later in MC Hammer’s 1990 hit “U Can’t Touch This.”
Flash LightParliament
Parliament, one of the two leading bands representing P-Funk.
It’s hard to believe these tracks are from the ’70s! Needless to say, this song has had a tremendous influence on countless artists across various genres.
Especially for hip-hop fans, you can’t speak on the culture without knowing P-Funk!
Watermelon ManBernie Worrell
Bernie Worrell is a keyboardist who was a core member of George Clinton’s P-Funk and supported the funk scene for decades starting in the 1970s.
After P-Funk’s activities wound down in the 1980s, he broadened his scope by collaborating with bands and artists across genres.
His 2011 release, “STANDARDS,” is a collection of jazz standards that could be called orthodox.
Dialing back P-Funk’s innovative sound, the album incorporates acoustic piano and horn sections to express his affection for his musical roots.
