Funk music is a type of American music that combines elements of soul music , rhythm and blues (R&B) , jazz , and psychedelic rock. Psychedelic rock , also called acid rock, attempted to re-create the mind-altering effects of LSD and other drugs through music. Funk music is characterized by repetitive, syncopated (irregularly accented) rhythms, with electric bass and drums taking prominence over guitars and keyboards .
The name funk has its origin in a slang term for a strong odor, and was meant to refer to the loose structure of the music. Unlike soul music or R&B, which rely on traditional song structures, funk music is built around a central rhythm and is often improvisational.
Funk music was pioneered in the 1960’s by the soul singer James Brown . The 1963 album Live at the Apollo by Brown and the vocal group the Famous Flames is considered to be the first funk music album. Other funk music pioneers include the Meters, who were influenced by brass parade traditions in New Orleans , Louisiana; Sly and the Family Stone, who incorporated elements of psychedelic rock; and George Clinton. Clinton founded the band Funkadelic in 1968. Funkadelic combined a wide variety of styles, including acid rock, gospel music , blues , country music , and R&B. The group’s first album, Funkadelic (1970), is today considered a classic of funk music. Clinton formed a second group, Parliament. Parliament featured many of the same musicians as Funkadelic, most notably bassist William “Bootsy” Collins, whose style influenced many later funk bassists. Parliament played a more upbeat, traditional style of funk, featuring keyboards and a horn section. Funkadelic explored more experimental sounds.
Other early funk bands included Tower of Power; Graham Central Station; Earth, Wind, and Fire; the Ohio Players; Average White Band from Scotland; and the Commodores. Such Motown acts as Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder drew heavily on the influence of funk on their early 1970’s albums, including Gaye’s What’s Going On (1971) and Wonder’s Talking Book (1972) and Innervisions (1973). Former Impressions singer Curtis Mayfield incorporated funk into his solo records, particularly on Super Fly (1972), the soundtrack album for the motion picture of the same name released that year.
Jazz musician Miles Davis combined elements of funk music in several controversial, but highly influential jazz albums, including Jack Johnson (1971) and On the Corner (1972). A number of female artists also released important funk recordings in the 1970’s, including Davis’s second wife, Betty Davis; Chaka Khan; Labelle; Klymaxx; and Teena Marie.
Funk music had a difficult time breaking through to a mainstream audience, due in part to its being primarily an African American style. However, funk’s influence could be heard in many kinds of music that became popular in the 1970’s, including disco , rap , hip-hop , electronic dance music (EDM) , new wave , and post- punk .
In the late 1970’s, funk’s influence could also be heard in pop music , especially in Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall (1979) and Thriller (1982) and Prince’s For You (1978) and Prince (1979).
In the 1980’s, Prince continued to incorporate funk on such hit albums as Controversy (1981), 1999 (1982), and Purple Rain (1984). Other successful funk artists of the early 1980’s included Rick James, whose album Street Songs (1981) included the hit “Super Freak,” and the group Zapp, who had hits with “More Bounce to the Ounce” (1980) and “Dance Floor” (1982).
Funk music’s popularity began to decline in the later part of the 1980’s, as the styles it influenced—hip-hop, rap, and EDM—began to dominate dance floors. Funk music continues to influence a wide variety of styles, and new varieties of funk music have developed, including funk rock, funk jazz, avant-funk, and g-funk. Avant-funk includes elements of progressive rock. Progressive rock combines rock with elements of classical music , jazz, and other forms of music. G-funk (or gangsta funk) incorporates elements of gangster rap (or gangsta rap), which emphasizes gunplay and other outlaw aspects of urban life.
