Overpowered By Funk Music

Funk is an odd word. It can have two completely different meanings depending on the context.

In everyday life, "funk" can mean cowering in fear, a bad mood, or a strong smell. People say things like, "I've been in a funk all week" and "Get away, my feet are funky."

In music, funk is a good thing. It's both a quality and a genre of music. Musicians say things like "that groove is funky" and "we're a funk band."

Funk music originated in the United States in 1960's although the term dates back to 1907 (Buddy Bolden’s song “Funky Butt”). Long before funk existed as a genre, musicians would often tell one another to put some "stank on it!" This was a term of encouragement. "Stank" is the past tense of "stink" and another word for "stink" is "funk." Thus, a positive definition for the word "funk" was born.

As for the genre, funk is a kind of dance music that puts the emphasis on a powerful and recognizable rhythm. There are little to no chord progressions in a funk song, instead musicians focus on playing the same riff or chord over and over again to create a groove (a musical technique known as vamping). The main instruments of funk music are the bass guitar and the drums. The electric guitar is often played as a percussion instrument while a horn section is generally regulated to playing rhythmic "hits."

The funk genre mixes elements of soul music, rhythm and blues, jazz, and psychedelic rock. Throughout its history, funk has been co-opted by artists from the worlds of disco, pop, rock, rap, and heavy metal.

The godfather of funk is also the godfather of soul, James Brown. He credits Little Richard's road band for combining what we now call funk with rock and roll. Browne released several funk hits in the 1960's including "Cold Sweat," "Mother Popcorn," and "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine."

Read our top 5 funk artsts list here.

In the 1970's, funk was dominated by George Clinton and his bands Parliament and Funkadelic. In fact, Clinton's funk was so good it received its own name, "P-Funk." Thanks to Clinton, and acts like Sly and the Family Stone, the Isley Brothers, Rufus & Chaka Khan, and Confunkshun, funk became mainstream and commercially viable (Sly had two number one hits to begin the decade). As the 70's waned, funk's status decreased as its rhythms were appropriated, and its popularity usurped, by disco.

Meanwhile in Africa, Nigerian musician Fela Kuti took funk and mixed it with indigenous music to form Afrobeat. His story is currently being told on Broadway in the Tony nominated musical, Fela!

In the 1980's, a new streamlined funk began incorporating synthesizers and drum machines. The first big funk album of the decade was Rick James' "Super Freak." He was followed by Prince who combined the Funk genre with R&B, rock, pop, new wave and overt sexual themes to become one of the decade's biggest stars.

In the 1990's and beyond, funk would go on to influence a wide range of artists and genres. There were the funk rock/metal bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fishbone, Primus, and Rage Against the Machine. Even the great jam band Phish has incorporated elements of funk into its music.

In the R&B and hip-hop realm, artists like Outkast, Gnarls Barkley, Usher, Brand New Heavies, Jamiroquai, and Me'Shell Nedegeocello found success with funk-inspired albums and tracks. Dr. Dre gives credit to Clinton and his P-funk for influencing his classic 1992 album, The Chronic.

Even in music, funk is an interesting concept. A song can be funky and yet not be funk. For instance, someone might say that a rock song is "funky" just as someone else might comment that a new R&B track "rocks."

The word takes on a myriad of other meanings as artists that are nowhere near the genre of funk, have recorded songs with the word in the title: Elton John's "Grow Some Funk Of Your Own," The Clash's "Overpowered by Funk," Harry Connick, Jr.'s "Funky Dunky," XTC's "Funk Pop a Roll," Paul Weller's "Bring Back The Funk," and ZZ Top's "Nasty Dogs And Funky Kings" just to name a few.

But that is what makes funk music so interesting to the mind. It means a lot of things to a lot of people yet the rhythmic grooves that have come to define the genre are unmistakable.

Copyright 2011 mind-funk-music.com