PARLIAMENT-FUNKADELIC

:''The bands Parliament and Funkadelic are intrinsically linked and cannot be easily separated. This article provides an integrated history of both bands. For details on the individual bands, see the separate articles''
'Parliament-Funkadelic' is a Funk music collective headed by George Clinton, that specialized in the style of music known as P Funk and performed under the names Parliament and Funkadelic (two bands comprised of the same members, recording for different labels), but also in a score of offshoot groups and solo ventures. Recording under myriad names, this group had thirteen Top Ten hits in the U.S. R&B music charts between 1967 and 1983, including six number one hits in the R&B Charts. They were elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.
Collectively, the group has existed under various names since the 1960s and has been known for top-notch musicianship, politically-charged lyrics, outlandish concept albums, and memorable live performances.
Today the band tours as either ''George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars'' or ''George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic''.

Etymology of the term "P-Funk"

The etymology of the term ''P-Funk'' is subject to multiple interpretations. It has been identified alternately as an abbreviation of "Parliament-Funkadelic", "pure funk" or "Plainfield Funk", referring to Plainfield, New Jersey, the hometown of the band's original line-up. The liner notes of CD versions of the Motor Booty Affair album suggest that the "'P' stands for 'Pure.'" The breakout popularity of Parliament-Funkadelic elevated the status of ''P-Funk'' to describe what is now considered to be a genre of music in its own right. Fans of this genre of music often refer to it as "The P."

History of Parliament-Funkadelic

Early development

The P-Funk story began in 1956 in Plainfield, New Jersey, with a doo-wop group formed by fifteen-year-old George Clinton. This was The Parliaments, a name inspired by Parliament cigarettes. By the early 1960s, the group had solidified into the five-man lineup of Clinton, Ray "Stingray" Davis, Clarence "Fuzzy" Haskins, Calvin Simon and Grady Thomas.
In 1964 Clinton added a backing band made up of the young Plainfield musical talent that came into Clinton's barbershop, including Frankie Boyce, Richard Boyce and Langston Booth.

P-Funk goes to Detroit

The 1960s were a difficult decade for The Parliaments. In a recorded interview on one of his Family Series compilation albums, Clinton describes how he was so inspired by the success of Motown Records that he decided to move the band to Detroit and audition for the label.
The Parliaments did not meet with great success at this time, recording only a handful on singles for the relatively minor label Revilot Records. These included a hard-won hit in 1967 with 'I Wanna Testify', but the band struggled to achieve recognition. During this time George Clinton also wrote songs for several established Motown acts, including The Jackson 5 and the Supremes and band members such as Eddie Hazel and Billy Nelson occasionally worked as studio musicians.
Interestingly, the development of Detroit Techno has been linked to the Clinton influence. It must be stated, that the vast majority of the P-Funk albums were recorded in Detroit at United Sound Studios on Second Avenue. That Techno is likened to P-Funk therefore is no coincidence. Detroit has long felt, and been an integral part of the Funk.

Transition to Funkadelic

At the end of the 1960s, Revilot folded and took the ''Parliaments'' name with it. At this point George Clinton decided to have the backing band - ''The Funkadelics'' - come to the fore. By this point the Boyce brothers and Booth had been enlisted in the US Army and sent to Vietnam, and so a new band was assembled -- Billy Bass Nelson (bass), Eddie Hazel (lead guitarist), Tawl Ross (guitarist), Tiki Fulwood (drums), and Mickey Atkins (keyboards). They became Funkadelic, and the sound and look of the band became less clean-cut, showing strong influence from some of the band's contemporaries: Jimi Hendrix, James Brown and in particular Sly and the Family Stone. P Funk's connection to the Vietnam conflict grew as former band members and friends were affected by the war, resulting in two poignant songs: 'Come In Out The Rain' (Osmium, 1970) and 'March To The Witch's Castle' (Cosmic Slop), 1973).
The sound hardened into a blend of psychedelic rock/R&B, and a purified, raw Funk music essence. Through their experimentation with distortion and feedback and their obnoxious attitude toward live appearances, Funkadelic gathered a small but devoted cult following. They recorded the underground classic album ''Funkadelic'' (Westbound Records, 1970) but widespread commercial success eluded them for the time being.
Funkadelic recorded two more albums in the following year, ''Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow'' and ''Maggot Brain''. The same year, Funkadelic saw the arrival of master keyboardist Bernie Worrell, another Plainfield youngster and a classically trained musician, who opened up the band's sound into a whole new strange area of classically-oriented, avant garde funkiness.
Billy Nelson and Eddie Hazel temporarily left the group in 1972 due to financial disputes, and Tawl Ross left due to drug problems. William and Phelps Collins, two brothers who eventually became more widely known as Bootsy and Catfish, respectively, joined the band. Both brothers were influential in the development of the P-Funk sound, particularly bassist Bootsy, and the result was America Eats Its Young (1972), a bizarre, distorted and brilliant work.

The reemergence of Parliament

The arrival of the Collins brothers altered the character of the Funkadelic sound, which did not please other band members. Bootsy left briefly after that album, while Catfish was an on-and-off member who eventually wound up playing mostly for his brother's solo efforts.
By the time Bootsy came back in 1974, Clinton had decided to open up another front for The Funk. He had released a selection of the band's experimental songs under the name Parliament in 1970, as the album Osmium, and a number of singles followed on Holland-Dozier-Holland's Invictus record label. But the Parliament name languished for four years after that, until Clinton resurrected it in 1974 for Up For The Downstroke, which was basically recorded by Funkadelic, including Bootsy.
The following year, Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley (also from the JBs) joined Parliament, enhancing the horns and adding a new, jazzy dimension to the music. The same year, singer Glen Goins, a naturally talented singer rooted strongly in the gospel, joined Parliament-Funkadelic as well as drummer Jerome "Big Foot" Brailey. This was 1975, the year of Chocolate City, an album-length tribute to the group's loyal fanbase in Washington D.C..
In 1976, Parliament released the classic album Mothership Connection. "Tear the Roof Off the Sucker (Give Up The Funk)" became the second Top Ten single for the group, peaking at number five on the US R&B charts, and the album became Parliament's first LP to go gold and platinum.
Looking to capitalize on his group's recent successes and build an audience for future projects, George Clinton devised a stage show to tour stadiums usually frequented by the largest touring bands of the time. This tour was known as Parliament's "Earth Tour". The show comprised most of the elements of the P-Funk mythology. The central device was a space craft, The Mothership, which descended onto the stage. Out of this came Clinton in the guise his alter-ego, "Dr. Funkenstein."
Footage of this ground-breaking tour is scarce but available (try youtube.com). Before the band went on the tour, they filmed a dress rehearsal of the show in a unused airplane hangar. These rehearsals are known as the Newberg sessions, and have gone down in history as the 'holy grail' for P Funk fans.
The albums of the period had morphed into concept albums, with bizarre, space-age themes that carried elaborate and pointed political and sociological messages, and were usually linked between albums (see P-Funk mythology).
In 1978, Parliament achieved its first number one single with "Flashlight" from the album Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome. The album itself was another platinum success and one of the more influential albums of the later twentieth century. Many of the songs on the album continued to be performed by the band for decades. "Bop Gun" features the last lead vocal performance of vocalist Glenn Goins before he left the band in 1978. Bass guitarist Bootsy Collins comes into his own on four of the tracks, especially on the title cut "Funkentelechy". Original Funkadelic bass player Billy Bass Nelson provides a laid-back but forceful approach on "Placebo Syndrome". Keyboardist Bernard Worrell took center stage on almost the entire album, notably single-handedly revolutionizing dance music (and later new wave and rap) with his keyboard work (in particular, Minimoog bass synthesizer) on the signature hit "Flashlight"
Parliament continued with a series of successful albums: The Motor-Booty Affair (1978), Gloryhallastoopid (1979) and Trombipulation (1980). The band scored another No. 1 hit in 1979 with "Aqua Boogie", from the Motor Booty Affair album.

Funkadelic's Popularity Rises

During the time of Parliament's success, Funkadelic continued to release critically-acclaimed albums, notably Cosmic Slop (1973), Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On (1974), Let's Take It To The Stage (1975), and Tales of Kidd Funkadelic (1976), which saw the emergence of a young Michael Hampton who replaced Eddie Hazel as lead guitarist and became an exceptionally talented musician in his own right.
In 1976 Funkadelic moved from Westbound to Warner Brothers, releasing the albums Hardcore Jollies (1976), One Nation Under A Groove (1978), Uncle Jam Wants You (1979), and The Electric Spanking Of War Babies (1981). In this period they had two No. 1 hits: One Nation Under a Groove in 1978 and (Not Just) Knee Deep in 1979.

Bootsy's Rubber Band & Other Spinoffs

With help from Clinton, Bootsy Collins formed Bootsy's Rubber Band, a fiercely-funky, bass-driven group, along with Catfish Collins, Mudbone Cooper, Robert Johnson, Frank Waddy, and Joel Johnson.
Bootsy's Rubber Band was the beginning of a burgeoning P-Funk family, which multiplied in the late seventies, with the building swarm of musicians recording albums released under a multitude of names - including The Brides of Funkenstein, Parlet, The Horny Horns, The Sweat Band, Godmomma, Zapp, and The Sterling Silver Starship Band Bernie Worrell and Eddie Hazel also released excellent solo albums. Mutiny, Quazar, and Junie Morrison also released solo albums around this time, but they were not produced by George Clinton.

Modern Day P-Funk

George Clinton battled with financial problems and well publicized drug problems, while continuing to record during the 1980s. The remaining members of Parliament-Funkadelic recorded the 1982 hit album Computer Games, which included the much-sampled, No. 1 single, "Atomic Dog". The following year, he formed The P Funk All Stars, who went on to record Urban Dancefloor Guerillas in 1983.
Other P-Funk artists continued with their own projects, while Clinton produced a series of solo rap albums during this time, of mixed quality.
As the 1980s continued, P-Funk did not meet with great commercial success as the band continued to produce albums under the name of George Clinton as solo artist -- You Shouldn't Nuf Bit Fish(1983), Some of My Best Jokes Are Friends(1985), R&B Skeletons in the Closet(1986), and The Cinderella Theory(1989). However, at this time, Hip Hop music began to extensively sample P-Funk music, so remnants of the music were still heard regularly among fans of Hip Hop.
By 1993, most of the old Parliament and Funkadelic albums had been re-released. A new generation began to pick up on the power of The Funk. The same year saw the return of a reconstituted P-Funk All-Stars, with the re-release of Urban Dancefloor Guerillas as Hydraulic Funk, and a scandalous new hip hop influenced album Dope Dogs, including the excellent 'All Sons Of Bitches'. In 1994, the group toured with Lollapalooza.
P-Funk's fortunes seemed back on the rise when in 1996 they released T.A.P.O.A.F.O.M.(The Awesome Power of a Fully Operational Mothership), which served essentially as a reunion album featuring contributions from the band's most noteworthy songwriters from the earlier era (Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell, and Junie Morrison). But legal problems flared up again, and it would be another ten years before another album would be released. In the intervening time, successive tours would slowly restore some of the broken ties between the original band members, together with an accumulation of new talent.
In May of 1997, George Clinton and 14 other members of Parliament-Funkadelic were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
On July 23, 1999 George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, along with former bandmates Bootsy and Phelps Collins and Bernie Worrell, performed on stage at Woodstock '99.
In 2002, Bootsy released Play With Bootsy.
In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Parliament/Funkadelic #56 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.^[1]
And in 2005, Clinton released the latest P Funk All Stars album How Late Do You Have 2BB4UR Absent? at the time of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the original Parliaments.
A new P Funk group called Children Of Production, extracted from the current P Funk All Stars line up featuring 'Kendra Foster' and 'Shondra (Sativa Diva) Clinton' has released a self-titled album of funk and hip hop for 2006.
The band completed a tour of the United Kingdom on 'Monday 17 July 2006', having performed in Gateshead, Manchester, and Hammersmith in London.

Key figures in the development of the P-Funk sound

'George Clinton' (vocals, songwriter; born July 22, 1940)
George Clinton has been, since its inception, the driving force behind the development of the P-Funk sound. Though some may remember him more for his rainbow hair and outlandish costumes than his music, his influence on generations of musicians has been remarkable. Clinton's artistry encompassed more than mere entertainment. In an era of growing black awareness, political ferment, social protest and societal upheaval, Clinton, like scores of his contemporaries (Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions; the Temptations; Donny Hathaway; Marvin Gaye; Edwin Starr; Oscar Brown, Jr.; The Staples Singers/Swingers; The Voices of East Harlem; Nina Simone; etc.) took African-American popular music (long concerned with issues of social, political and economic justice) to new levels of political outspokenness, public visibility and artistic accomplishment, tackling such complex subjects as the Vietnam War and the War on Drugs with intelligence and awareness.
'William “Bootsy” Collins' (bass, vocals, drums, songwriter; born October 26, 1951)
Bootsy is a versatile bassist, capable of playing many styles. He is adventurous and original in his playing, and has become known as a legendary virtuoso of the
bass guitar. He also made a substantial impact as a songwriter and uncredited guitarist and drummer on several studio tracks. Like many of Clinton's bandmembers, he is also known for his outlandish stage wear, especially gaudy glasses. Bootsy also had a successful solo career, during which he often used the stage and production names "Bootzilla" and "Casper". Collins stopped performing with the band to focus on his solo efforts in the late seventies, though he continued to contribute on studio albums for many years.
'Eddie Hazel' (guitar, vocals, songwriter; born April 10, 1950, died 1992)
Eddie Hazel is considered one of the most influential guitarists in musical history. Though he was never as flashy as many others, his playing was always intense and unconventional. "Maggot Brain", a ten-minute solo, is widely cited as an emotional masterpiece of the guitar. He wrote many of the guitar riffs for the band, and did some singing as well. Along with childhood friend, Billy Bass Nelson, Hazel developed psychedelic funk rock, mixing blues, rock and roll, soul, Motown and pop music. Hazel died on December 23, 1992.
'Bernie Worrell' (keyboards, vocals, songwriter, arranger, born April 19, 1944)
Bernie Worrell, joined Funkadelic after the release of their first album. He deserves a special mention as an especially important influence in the early development of the P-Funk sound. Of particular importance is his pioneering use of deep, heavy Moog synthesizer sounds to reinforce the bassline, something that had not been done before and was introduced on the song ''Flashlight''. Even before officially joining the group, he helped out on many of the recording sessions. Eventually, he became responsible for many of the musical arrangements. Worrell left the band in 1981, though he continued to contribute on P-funk studio albums after that time and on occasion he appears live with Parliament-Funkadelic as a Special Guest.
'Walter “Junie” Morrison' (multi-instrumentalist, vocals, songwriter, arranger, producer)
Junie Morrison joined P-Funk in early 1978 as musical director after having success in the early Ohio Players and as a solo artist. Though primarily a keyboardist, Junie composed or co-wrote several of the band's hits at the height of their popularity (e.g. ''One Nation Under a Groove, Knee Deep, Let's Play House, Theme from the Black Hole''). He also served as a lead vocalist, producer, and arranger, and played several instruments on many of the band's songs. Morrison stopped touring with the band after 1981, but contributed on many subsequent albums. During his time with P-funk, much of his work was credited under the name J.S. Theracon.
'Gary "Star Child" Shider' (vocals, guitar; born July 24, 1953)
Shider is probably the most well-known vocalist of the group. He performed leads on many of their most famous songs ("Cosmic Slop" being particularly notable). Shider is generally considered the band's lead vocalist and is known for the diaper he wears on stage during live performances. Shider has also composed a number of the band's songs and is one of the many guitarists in the group. Shider continues to tour with the band.
'Michael Hampton' (guitar; born November 15, 1956)
Mike Hampton has been the lead guitarist for P-Funk since 1976. He is a renowned, technically brilliant guitarist who favors a heavy metal type sound. His innovative guitar work was featured very prominently in the late seventies Funkadelic albums, most notably One Nation Under a Grove. Hampton continues to tour with the band.
'Dewayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight (guitar, band director)
McKnight has played with P-Funk since the late seventies and is known for his flashy technique and versatile guitar style. Along with Hampton, McKnight is prominently featured in live shows as lead guitarist. He continues to tour with the band.
'Glenn Goins' (vocals, guitar; died 1978)
Born and raised in Plainfield, New Jersey in a family of talented musicians, this master vocalist with the strong, haunting gospel voice was perhaps best known for calling in the Mothership in the P Funk live shows. Goins was one of the first of many musicians to leave the group in reaction to what was perceived as Clinton's bad management and poor treatment of musicians. He formed Quazar in 1978 to be a renegade Funk outfit, which also featured his younger brother Kevin Goins, now performing with PTheory. Glen died from Hogkins Disease in the same year, aged only 24.
'Jerome “Bigfoot” Brailey' (drums; born August 20, 1950)
Brailey was one of several talented drummers associated with P-Funk. He co-authored Tear the Roof Off the Sucker and his distinctive style was evident on many Parliament-Funkadelic songs during the mid seventies.
'Tiki Fulwood' (drums, vocals; born May 23, 1944)
Original Funkadelic drummer Fulwood was featured on early-seventies albums and his style laid the foundation for much of what was to come in terms of P-Funk's rhythm sections.
'William “Billy Bass” Nelson Jr.' (bass, guitar; born January 28, 1951)
The original Funkadelic bassist, Nelson left the band in the mid-seventies, and returned for 10 years in the mid-nineties.
'Cordell “Boogie” Mossoon Jr.' (bass, guitar; born October 16, 1952)
Mossoon joined Funkadelic at the time of the America Eats Its Young sessions. Although he has been recorded playing bass almost exclusively, he has most frequently played rhythm guitar on stage since the late seventies. He continues to tour with the band to this day.
'Lige Curry' (bass, vocals; born February 7, 1953)
Cousin of Michael Hampton, Curry joined P-funk in the late seventies, has appeared on several albums, and continues to tour with the band to this day.
'Catfish Collins'
A strong rhythm guitarist, versatile like his brother, Catfish Collins's ability to lock onto a groove and keep it going through the epic live jamming the group is known for has made him one of the most influential rhythm guitarists in musical history. He was able to keep a stable rhythm, thereby allowing Worrell and others to go off on musical improvisatory excursions while keeping the music stable and grounded. The most shining example of his innovative rhythm guitar playing can be found on the 1978 R&B number one hit single "Flashlight".
'Clarence “Fuzzy” Haskins' (vocals; born June 8, 1941)
Original Parliament vocalist
'Raymond Davis' (vocals; born March 29, 1940, died July 2005)
Original Parliament vocalist. Known for his distinctive bass voice.
'Calvin “Thang” Simon' (vocals; born May 22, 1942)
Original Parliament vocalist
'Grady Thomas' (vocals; born January 5, 1941)
Original Parliament vocalist
See also: List of P-Funk members
See also: List of P-Funk projects

Notable songs

References in other media

★ Mentioned in The Mighty Boosh episode "The Legend of Old Gregg".

★ Plays a significant part in the feature film "PCU" towards the end of the film.

External links

★ George Clinton's Official Web Site

★ the Motherpage (includes an excellent FAQ)

★ P.Funk portal (with many interviews, discographies, photos, and links)

★ MoreThings The Mothership of P-Funk Photo Galleries

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