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00:08In the 60s, black music was enjoying its greatest commercial success, from the gospel-inspired soul of Aretha Franklin, to
00:16the pop-flavored romance of Motown.
00:25But there was a revolution brewing.
00:30It was a revolution in rhythm, and its leader was James Brown.
00:42This new music was called funk.
00:46Funk is rhythm and blues without rules.
00:50Funk is music that makes your neck and your hips move in ways you can't practice.
01:01In the 70s, funk signaled a new era of expressive freedom in black music, from the biting social protest of
01:09Stevie Wonder and Sly Stone, to the outrageous escapist fantasy of George Clinton.
01:36W-A-V-O.
01:40New York.
01:42New York.
01:44New York.
01:53New York.
01:54New York.
01:54New York.
02:11Getting down at the biggest fantasy show in New York town.
02:32The undisputed father of funk is James Brown.
02:36Raised in Georgia, he had a style rooted in the gospel tradition.
02:42Brown harnessed the theatrics and raw emotional energy of the sanctified church and transformed it into performance art.
02:53The first time I saw James Brown at the Apollo Theater, I had never seen anybody like him ever before.
03:04I had never seen a black artist put on a theatrical show and entertain an audience the way James Brown
03:13had.
03:13Every movement was choreographed and had an accent from the drum of the band.
03:20His beats and licks were real and funky and got to you in a place you didn't even know would
03:26get to you.
03:36Brown's whole approach to music was influenced by his ability to dance.
03:42James Brown brought a new energy to the music.
03:45He was stronger.
03:47He was more, he was bolder.
03:49He had more nerve.
03:51He took more chances.
03:53He had the gall to do things that had never been done before.
04:08Reporting from the streets of black America, James Brown didn't mince words or soften his message for white audiences.
04:31Brown fed the hunger in the African American community for images of pride and self-determination.
04:38Mr. Brown is number one sober of the United States.
04:43Get your James Brown program.
04:45He's black and he's proud.
04:47Get your James Brown program.
04:50He brings out the good in me.
04:52Hear him, Mr. Please, please, please himself.
04:59James Brown.
05:11Brown funneled the millions he earned into businesses in black neighborhoods.
05:16He became a hero for achieving success without compromising his black identity.
05:22He was a leader on a lot of levels.
05:24I mean, his acquisition of these radio stations is very symbolic of black control and power.
05:28The fact that when the riot happened and Dr. King's death, his broadcast, and his show was broadcast live from
05:34the Boston Garden as a way to keep people calm during that time.
05:38I mean, he was perceived in a way, in terms of his political, social impact, that very few artists have
05:47ever had that kind of cloud.
05:48Very few black artists, certainly.
05:50James Brown came right from the root and he spoke to every brother on the corner.
05:58Brown's musical impact was just as strong.
06:01In 1967, he revolutionized the rhythmic foundation of soul music with cold sweat.
06:09Brown took instruments that traditionally were used for melody and now used them to accent the beat.
06:15This was the basis for funk.
06:19All these parts jumped around on each other and maybe that's why it made you dance because these parts were
06:27bouncing off each other.
06:28It was just one of those things that all fit together perfectly and the horn line flowed across to it.
06:51To me, his horns were his backup singers.
06:53He had the horn singing Cold Sweat.
06:56They were singing as they were playing Cold Sweat.
06:59You know, for example, you know, I don't care, cold sweat, about your past, cold sweat.
07:07You got, which is like a syncopated, you still got your pulse going through, but you got,
07:22and right away, your attitude is better, your attitude is lightened,
07:25and you get the, you know, happy, I want to dance feeling, your neck, you get the movement.
07:31And then when you get that,
07:36and then with that in mind, you go,
07:48you know,
08:05you know,
08:08James took the concept of groove and intensified so that every instrument on a James Brown recording
08:15augmented this idea of groove. Everything was very polyrhythmic going on. James Brown really
08:21reinvented the idea of rhythm in American popular music.
08:29Brown had a reputation for having the tightest band in show business, and he kept it that way.
08:36James had a thing about, he'll find people, too, you know. Oh, yeah, he'll find you if you miss, if
08:43you miss the number, too.
08:46As we look at the old tapes of James that we see now, and we see all these movements, a
08:51lot of them were code,
08:52and they were code for the drummers, and a certain hand signal, a certain move of the foot.
08:57Every move of the foot demanded a rim shot or a kick.
09:01And there were certain moves with the hands that signaled, I want to hit here, or we're going to break
09:06this down.
09:07Yeah, everything he did had a reason.
09:09And there's a point on that tape that is absolutely fascinating.
09:14James is singing, and in the middle of the lyrics, in rhythm, in perfect time with the band, he goes,
09:21You know, I gotcha.
09:25When I saw the tape, I fell on the floor laughing because it was very, he'd just find him, he
09:29caught him.
09:31It's what it was all about. It's like, you missed something, and I busted you, brother.
09:35Now, did he take money after the show, or did he just catch him and he's making fun of him,
09:40or whatever?
09:40But it's like, it's right there in the tape. And this went on every night on the road.
09:56The rhythmic innovations that Brown shaped with such rigorous precision revolutionized black music.
10:07But Brown wasn't the only one setting new standards for soul.
10:20On the West Coast, another sound was exploding, breaking down barriers between black and white music,
10:27while building on the rhythmic foundation of James Brown.
10:37Let me sing for a sing.
10:58A motley crew of musicians brought a fresh attitude to funk, led by Bay Area DJ Sly Stone.
11:04Yahoo!
11:18One of the things he opened up his show with was, uh, listen to all you cats and kitties
11:24sitting out there whipping up and wailing and jumping up and down and sopping up all
11:28that good juice and talking about who the greatest cat in the world is.
11:32Well, I want to put a cat on you that was the coolest, swinginest, grooviest cat that ever
11:39stumped this sweet, swingin' sphere.
11:41And they called this Yeah Cat, and then there was this thing that said, Sly Stone!
11:48There's no secret how strong my love is for you.
11:56There's no secret.
11:59At that time, the Bay Area's psychedelic music scene was erupting.
12:05Sly was anxious to blend these new sounds with the flavors of gospel and R&B.
12:10In late 1966, he formed Sly and the Family Stone and soon after had his first hit, Dance
12:18to the music.
12:27I'm gonna head to the guitar and make it easy to move your feet.
12:42I'm gonna head to the guitar and make it easy to move your feet.
12:56I'm gonna head to the guitar and make it easy to move your feet.
13:14I'm gonna head to the guitar and make it easy to move your feet.
13:16He certainly didn't present himself in the traditional R&B sense of matching uniforms
13:22and the Apollo Theater kind of vaudeville-inspired presentation that was traditional rhythm and blues on a stage.
13:32So he heard and saw the world in a different way as James Brown.
13:36He was as much a perfectionist musically as James Brown, but much more in a more open, freeform...
13:42not freeform's not the word, more open to new ideas.
13:46It was Rock's first truly integrated band, with a sound that had never been heard before.
13:52A 60's love and peace aesthetic, wrapped in a rhythm and blues beat, featuring a new approach to the bass.
14:16You add to thumping and plucking with a drum, you know, you go...
14:22Dance to the music, dance to the music...
14:28You know, get the first cut thing.
14:32You know, like that.
14:37I'm gonna add some bottom, so that the dancers just won't hide.
14:42My first tone came well.
14:44See, my first tone is a little box you step on.
14:47It's a distortion box, you know?
14:49And you step on it and go...
14:52I don't have it here, but it's kind of like that, you know what I'm saying?
14:56So that featured my thumping.
14:58He actually started popping and playing accents while he was playing melodically.
15:03the low end on the bass, and that's how he developed that.
15:06That was the beginning of his left bass.
15:08That's how he developed that.
15:09Bass had traditionally been the afterthought.
15:12I mean, it's like you had to have a bass player to give you the bottom.
15:15And he was always this anonymous guy who kind of like stood like a wooden whatever in the background,
15:21just playing the changes.
15:23And of course, with Sly and the Family Stone, Larry Graham,
15:26and a handful of other people in less important bands,
15:30the bass guitar had begun to move to the forefront.
15:34Everybody kind of started trying to take the credit,
15:37but no, it was Larry Graham.
15:39It was definitely Larry Graham.
15:42He was doing with the bass what, at that particular time,
15:45what nobody else was even thinking about.
16:02Unlike James Brown, Sly Stone had a huge white following.
16:07His songs set the younger generation's search for identity and meaning to a danceable beat,
16:12driving them to number one on the pop charts.
16:17Sly incorporated R&B, blues, jazz, funk with pop and rock.
16:26And when he put that all together, it was something that crossed all the lines.
16:32Sly Stone is like the bark of rhythm.
16:35I mean, the things that goes on in his head,
16:39what he hears in his head, and he was able to execute that on stage.
16:54As a product of the 60s, Sly was less interested in crossing racial and musical lines
16:59than in demolishing them.
17:01He had a multiracial band, a multigender band, had women musicians.
17:08It was a very open, optimistic view of what America could be.
17:13And his music said that, and his band said that.
17:15And that's what Sly tapped into, and that's why he was so important to so many people.
17:19He could express and get across to you that you were somebody.
17:27And you felt that, and no matter what walk of life you were in,
17:31you heard that loud and clear without knocking, you know,
17:35the opposite party, but just letting you know that you have control,
17:41and you don't have to let people keep you down.
17:43I've been right, and I could be wrong.
17:47My own beliefs are in my song.
17:51The culture, the painter, the drummer, and then
17:55makes no difference what you found in.
18:01I've done everything before.
18:28He was a guy who took into a certain kind of new energy that had been unleashed after 68.
18:34It was a multiracial thing.
18:36It was much like, if you want to reflect it,
18:37much like the merging of the peace movement with the sort of civil rights movement.
18:41He was part of that thing, and he epitomized it.
18:44Sly was there first.
18:54As America entered the 70s, the promise of the civil rights struggle had yet to be fulfilled.
19:01African American artists expressed their frustrations in their music.
19:05But at Motown, America's largest black-owned record company, the caution lights were flashing.
19:12Motown was very conscious of how we were perceived through our artists.
19:20When Marvin Gaye wanted to do a protest album, I was petrified.
19:26Because he wanted to do something talking about police brutality, the Vietnam War,
19:35all the things that were bad in our society.
19:42And I was just very scared that he was going to ruin his image.
19:48He was going to ruin his image.
19:59I'm just...
20:02Oh, just...
20:05Spend it on...
20:07The half-nots...
20:10Money...
20:12We make it...
20:15Before we see it...
20:30He convinced me by telling me that he wanted to awaken the minds of mankind.
20:36And it was very important to him, perhaps the most important thing in his life.
20:49Brother, brother, brother, there's far too many of you to die.
20:56You know we've got to find a way to bring some love here today.
21:07Father, father, we don't need to escalate.
21:17Oh, it's not the answer for only love that comes ahead.
21:23There was so much going on that he captured everything that was going on at that time.
21:29I mean, there was like, there was this war, the Vietnam War.
21:33I mean, and we were struggling and trying to come out of, or trying to get identity,
21:39trying to make a transition into the 70s.
22:07Black artists expose the harsh realities of urban life.
22:11Throwing a spotlight on the despair in inner cities, plagued by drugs, poverty, and unemployment.
22:20You had major riots in almost every major American city with a black population.
22:25You had the first major influx of heroin coming into the black community in a way it never had before.
22:34I mean, there's mass marketing everywhere.
22:37Junkies sprang up on all of the corners.
22:39Everybody's misused him, ripped him off and abused him.
22:44Another junkie planned, pushing dope for the man.
22:49A terrible blow, but that's how it goes.
22:53Freddy's on the corner now, if you wanna be a junkie, wow.
22:58It said to the 70s what Say It Loud had said to the 60s, that to be a singer alone
23:05is not enough for Marvin Gaye, or Stevie Wonder, or whoever else was gonna separate the men from the boys.
23:17James Brown took the rage from the streets and converted that feeling into a new sound, full of raw, aggressive
23:24power.
23:37Brown increased the intensity of the music by putting the accent on the first beat, creating a propulsive groove, which
23:44he dubbed, The One.
23:47Dance is always on top.
23:49So that's what I equated the, on the one to mean.
23:53But then again, you hear the one, two.
23:55You know, like if you say, one, two, three, four.
24:02All that is top.
24:04That, that first beat is right on time, right on top.
24:07Like they say, after one, two, three, four, it comes one again, and you're right on top of it.
24:13The audacious energy of Brown's top-notch players set fire to his driving beat.
24:24But this electrifying sound was put in jeopardy when the band threatened to mutiny.
24:29Near the end of 1969, there was a growing dissension between the band and James Brown.
24:41And then finally, it got really, really serious.
24:43And the guys gave him an ultimatum and said, basically, if you don't agree to ABC, we won't go on
24:51stage tomorrow night.
24:57Brown wasn't about to be held hostage by his band members.
25:00He'd already arranged for replacements.
25:02The Pacemakers, a Cincinnati band featuring the young bass player, Bootsy Collins.
25:09We seen the band in there, uh, Maceo Kush, you know.
25:13You know, they didn't actually have James up in the air like this.
25:16But they would have loved, you know.
25:17They were talking, you know, James was looking up at him, was talking, you know.
25:21Like, I dug it, I dug it, I dug it.
25:23You know.
25:23And we looking at each other like, what have we walked in?
25:26Because these were our heroes.
25:27That's when Bootsy came.
25:29Wow, boy.
25:32That was a bass player.
25:33I mean, not that nobody else was not playing bass.
25:36That was a new idea.
25:37They had a new way of doing everything James did.
25:41That was the turnaround for them.
25:42Come on!
25:45Bootsy!
25:48Bootsy!
25:51Bootsy!
25:53Bootsy!
25:53Bootsy!
25:54Bootsy!
25:54And all of a sudden, here's this young bass player who's barely out of high school,
25:58and James is bringing him to the forefront, and he's got the whole crowd going,
26:01Say Bootsy!
26:02Say Bootsy!
26:03Bootsy!
26:05Bootsy!
26:05Bootsy!
26:06Come on!
26:06Hit it!
26:07Bootsy!
26:09Bootsy!
26:12Bootsy!
26:12Bootsy!
26:13Bootsy!
26:14Bootsy!
26:14Bootsy!
26:15Bootsy!
26:15Bootsy!
26:18Bootsy!
26:20Bootsy!
26:21Bootsy!
26:22Bootsy!
26:24Bootsy!
26:26Bootsy!
26:27Bootsy!
26:29Bootsy!
26:31Bootsy!
26:32Bootsy!
26:32Bootsy!
26:33Bootsy!
26:34Bootsy!
26:35Bootsy!
26:35Bootsy!
26:37Bootsy!
26:38Bootsy!
26:39Bootsy!
26:39Bootsy!
26:40Bootsy!
26:41Bootsy!
26:42Bootsy!
26:49Boosie had a way of infecting everybody around him, as James did too, but with the energy
26:54of James and Boosie together, you just got more and more energy, and more and more attitude.
27:25The new band focused almost entirely on rhythm, and that
27:29was the magic of the James Brown Show, is that's what got people out of their seats, and screaming,
27:34and dancing, and getting arrested in the aisles.
27:37There was a new energy in the community, and it was a whole other kind of aggressive black
27:42thing was happening, and that music was right there on the point of it, because he had a
27:46new band, he had young guys who had this new energy that was different from what happened
27:50before.
28:08However innovative it was, this collaboration lasted only a year.
28:13Boosie wanted to stretch the funk further than Brown would allow.
28:17After we had left James, you know, we really didn't know what the heck we were doing, what
28:21we were going to do, because like after two weeks, you know, we ran out of money, and was
28:25like, okay, all right, Mr. Boosie, since you're on it and everything, what we're going to do
28:29now, you know, so we were looking pretty crazy, and then we start doing gigs, and, you know,
28:35going to different towns, telling them, you know, we the house guests, formerly James
28:40Brown Band.
28:42While touring with the JBs, Boosie had been inspired by the flamboyant English mod scene.
28:48Back in America, he put his own spin on it, thinking he had cornered the market on
28:53outrageousness, but he hadn't.
28:56We kept hearing this thing about, man, y'all should see Funkadelic, you know, because y'all
29:01look like Funkadelic.
29:03Y'all should play on the same stage with Funkadelic.
29:05Then they kept saying that to us, and it's like, yeah, okay, where is Funkadelic?
29:09We want to get, you know, we want to get on the stage with them, but yeah, who is Funkadelic?
29:12So we kept hearing this, you know, everywhere we play, y'all just missed Funkadelic.
29:16They was here last week.
29:35Funkadelic was the brainchild of producer George Clinton, and it was a world apart from
29:39James Brown.
29:43Clinton's mix of acid rock guitars, outrageous costumes, and general silliness appealed to
29:48a younger generation of blacks.
29:59Eventually, Boosie and George crossed paths.
30:04As soon as I seen him, it was like love at first bite, right?
30:07It was like, yeah, I know, I mean, yeah, we were definitely home.
30:11It was like, I know I can do what I want to do, and he'd seen it too.
30:30Boosie was a big, silly dude that could play a gang of bass, who had so much magnetism that,
30:37you know what I mean, the spotlight could be on everybody else on the stage, and none
30:43on him, but people would still be looking over trying to see who that is, you know, and
30:46when he was there, we knew that right from the beginning, and he had that rhythm and that
30:51vibe of James Brown that we were able to take and do what we knew from Motown.
31:07They come to Detroit, you know, trying to be like the Temptations, and we were singing
31:12the doo-wop group, and we thought it was cool and everything.
31:16We came out here, then we found out they had about ten cool groups in a line waiting, even
31:21before us, if we ever got there.
31:25At the same time, Sly and the Family Stone were changing the rules.
31:36Now, to be a singer alone was not enough.
31:39The slap popped up, and it was the proof then that it was about a band, and the musicians,
31:44as opposed to just the singers, about the guitar player, keyboard, the drummer.
31:48We learned that from being on the road.
31:50It was always with some pop, you know, psychedelic band or rock and roll band.
32:01We knew the main thing about that music was the amplifiers, and we went and bought all the
32:07marshals in the world.
32:09You know, you know some of the black bands with marshals.
32:11We go to a show with marshals, and they have shore PAs, the little silver columns, and I'm
32:16an ampers louder than the whole PA system.
32:19So we were pantomimed, and we still wouldn't turn down.
32:23We'd still be pretty loud as hell.
32:35This loud, amplified music was a new approach for a black band.
32:40Clinton seized upon a look and concept that drew heavily on his offbeat, often cartoonish,
32:45sense of humor.
32:49And then we realized that we didn't have no competition.
32:53We went out and got those some robes, and it was a good way to get rid of the suits,
32:57because we couldn't keep them clean, ties couldn't keep them clean.
33:00So we started being funky.
33:02P-Funk, number one, was fun.
33:04I mean, when I say fun, I mean cartoon names, very elaborate stage show.
33:09It was sci-fi.
33:11I mean, there were no real black cartoons.
33:13There were no real black sci-fi movies.
33:15And in a lot of ways, P-Funk represented all of that.
33:17And it definitely was the avant-garde move to be down with Funkadelic.
33:22Y'all ready to give up the funk?
33:26Well, all right.
33:28Well, I just want you to join in and sing.
33:31Peace.
33:32Oh, yeah.
33:32Ah, don't play.
33:34Y'all sing it, baby.
33:37Sing it loud until we think immediately.
33:38Sing!
33:42Swing!
33:45Swing!
33:46Swing!
33:48Bootsy brought the missing ingredient for Clinton's funk stew.
33:53He taught me that rhythm, you know, that, that, that, the one.
33:57He came with all the James Brown theories, and I crammed them, and I kept them, too.
34:03On the one.
34:04Now, let's haul off in one.
34:05Rip!
34:08Hey, rockin' rip!
34:13Rip!
34:16Hey, rockin' rip!
34:19One, two, three, four.
34:21One, two, three, four.
34:24One.
34:25And then when everything's on the one, the line, everybody played the same.
34:30It's bigger when everybody played.
34:32P-Funk would stay on the one, I mean, so hard and heavy and never move.
34:38They just drove that thing into your subconscious.
34:41And by the time you realized what was happening, you was hooked.
34:44Bernie would take that and add all these different colors to it, you know?
34:49And I think between that and George would come to the table with these vocal ideas that he heard.
34:55And I think with all that mixture there, those were the three ingredients that were like...
35:00And for the stew.
35:01It was the what?
35:02For the stew.
35:02For the pumpkin stew.
35:03The pumpkin stew, yeah.
35:04That's what I was trying to say.
35:11If you had any noise, it's just me and the boys, it may be...
35:17Oh, everybody sing the song right here.
35:19Everybody sing the song.
35:21If you had any noise, it's just me and the boys, it may be...
35:28Give me a little more foot up here.
35:31Well, all right, star child, yeah?
35:33Put a glide in your stride, a dip in your hippie, come on to the mothership.
35:40Doing the loose booty.
35:44It's just a progression of more energy, more attitude, and more freedom.
35:50George had a way of using everybody's attitude and everybody's energy, which he led.
35:56Like James gave the music permission to go different ways.
36:00George gave the language, the lyrics, everything permission to go wherever.
36:08Nobody does it like George Clinton, you know?
36:11Nobody does it then, and nobody does it now like George.
36:13And George is in a class by himself.
36:16Put your hands together, yeah.
36:23We're gonna say we can't get the mothership in here tonight.
36:25Come on.
36:27Most white people, when you listen to their music, it's, you know, they would rather turn
36:31up the treble, whereas black people turn up the bass.
36:35And we are, for whatever reason, that's where we are.
36:38And that's where our music is rooted, in the rhythm section.
36:44The rhythm, the beat, the bass, from R&B, from rock and roll, came from the drum, the
36:51first musical instrument that was communicating from one drummer to a people, carrying the message
36:57from his people, his community, to the next.
36:59And funk is when that bass line is just pumping in conjunction with the drums, and whatever
37:06else you want to put on top of it.
37:07But if you've got the heavy bass line and the drum pounding, then you have some funk.
37:16By the early 70s, funk had become the new standard in black music.
37:20A lot of bands sprang up with their own funk formulas.
37:23One of them was Earth, Wind, and Fire.
37:39They had incredible elements of music in the song, you know, the Afro-Cuban, very tribal,
37:49funky sound, they had jazz on top of that.
38:04To get airplay on white pop radio, Earth, Wind, and Fire developed a lighter, more melodic
38:10sound.
38:15And before they sweetened their sound, hardcore funk bands like the Ohio Players had a hard
38:21time crossing over.
38:33The music industry is not separate and distinct from the things that are going on in our community.
38:39I mean, there was forced busing, there was affirmative action.
38:43All these things were making some resistance to black music and black people in general.
38:48Their formatting of radio would change become much more conservative in terms of what they
38:52would play of different kinds of music.
38:54And so funk, to a great degree, was not really heard for the most part by the mass audiences.
39:00Those lines were drawn.
39:02You know, black music is for black folks on black radio stations.
39:05And white music is for white folks on white radio stations.
39:09But now we found that the buying public could care less.
39:13They were just interested in music that made them move.
39:16But the problem, the problem was convincing the record company that this is what we should
39:22do.
39:22Let's cross it over.
39:23Let's expose it.
39:27The major record companies had long ignored black music, but now were eager to cash in
39:33on what had grown to be a $160 million a year business.
39:39CBS Records was the first to set out in hot pursuit of black producers.
39:48In Philadelphia, they discovered a team who had been churning out hits, Kenny Gamble and
39:54Leon Huff.
40:06We were writing for that time, for that generation.
40:08And, you know, great love songs, and we were just having fun.
40:14That's what we would do, just writing and overjoyed that they liked them.
40:20Every time we wrote a song, it was a hit.
40:22Yeah, it was unbelievable.
40:24Kenny and Leon were magical in what they were able to do, the Philly sound, because they
40:31were able to keep the funk in their music, but yet make it nice and mellow and sweet.
40:39The Gamble and Huff style, it like put a bow tie on the funk.
40:46You know, it made it elegant.
40:49Gamble and Huff's music came with really strong sing-along melodies with really lyrics that
40:58made you think, and the lush treatment.
41:02I mean, the step beyond with a full orchestra really took it to a new dimension, took R&B
41:11to a new dimension.
41:15Some people got to have it, hey, hey, hey.
41:20Some people really need it, hey.
41:23Give me all.
41:24Do things, do things, do things, do things, do things, do things, do things, do things.
41:28But if you want to know the truth about it, they'll tell you what's pulling you, way, way, way, way,
41:35way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way.
41:41That's what you got, that's what you got, that's what you got, that's what you got, that's what you got,
41:47that's what you got, that's what you got, that's what you got, that's what you got.
41:49This funky beat was danceable, and the country was becoming obsessed with dancing and disco clubs.
41:55From the moment they started Philadelphia International, Gamble and Huff's high-energy, heavily orchestrated music became the signature disco sound.
42:04In order for them to make them people come to those clubs, you had to have music to make them
42:10dance and release themselves.
42:12We didn't set out to do disco records, but disco pretty much is just dance records, you know, and that's
42:20what some of the records that we produce, we intentionally meant for those records to be funky dance records.
42:29When we used to hang out in the discos, we used to go love to see those people dance off
42:33our own music. It was a thrill for me.
42:47The love my love was a sweet love
42:54The love I love
42:59Was gonna be love
43:02The love I love
43:07I will never
43:09No, no, never
43:11Love again
43:16But something went wrong
43:19We loved each other
43:21We just couldn't get along
43:23Take a good look at me
43:26The disco craze began during the late 60s
43:28in the underground clubs of New York City.
43:33As newly liberated attitudes were exploding
43:36the old social taboos,
43:37disco provided a soundtrack
43:39for the sexual revolution.
43:42Was gonna be love
43:45For love I love
43:49I will never
43:51No, no, never
43:53No, never
43:53Love again
43:56Looking for some hot stuff
43:58baby this evening
43:59I need your hot stuff
44:02baby tonight
44:03Keep my little hot stuff
44:05baby this evening
44:07Small independent record labels
44:09rushed to supply the disco market
44:11while the major record companies
44:12largely ignored it.
44:24What they needed was a white act
44:26that would attract the larger rock music audience
44:54The movie's white working-class hero, played by John Travolta, and the blue-eyed
44:58soul of the Bee Gees guaranteed the music's crossover success.
45:02Stayin' the night
45:03Ah, ah, ah, ah
45:06Stayin' the night
45:07Stayin' the night
45:08Ah, ah, ah, ah
45:10Stayin' the night
45:15You have people like the Bee Gees
45:17who were big disco stars
45:19You had, Cher had a disco record
45:21You had, ah
45:22Dolly Parton with a disco record
45:25Nine to Five, I think, was one of the records we had
45:28And you had Ethel Merman with a disco record
45:31At the height of the, ah
45:33of the disco craze
45:35You know, you could record the national anthem to it
45:37To, to, to, to the disco beat
45:41A la Saturday Night Fever
45:43And, and have a hit
45:44Come on my body
45:46And you think I'm saying
45:48Come on my body
45:50Tell me so
45:51Ah, ah, ah
45:54Ah, ah, ah
45:56Ah, ah, ah
45:58Oh, ah
46:01Even the staunch rock and rollers
46:03jumped onto the disco bandwagon
46:04when they saw how much money could be made
46:06But the disco train
46:09Eventually derailed
46:11Disco is funky
46:12You know
46:13When you take
46:15One record at a time
46:16It's just that they narrowed it down to one beat
46:18To try to corner the market on
46:22A particular music
46:24And when you do that with rhythm
46:26You're talking about something that will get on your nerve
46:29Try to make love with one stroke
46:32You boys
46:32There's something that will tell you
46:33The facts sit in
46:47While mass market disco drained the funk out of dance music
46:50George Clinton was busy pumping it back in
46:59Once you let go and be that loose with anything
47:03You know, it works
47:05I mean, it's a style of life
47:06It's a style of music
47:07It's like improvising
47:08It's like letting go Luke
47:10And use the force
47:15In an era of extravagant staging
47:17The large funk bands climbed onto the glam rock bandwagon
47:20Carving out their own identities
47:24The P-Funk Earth Tour was one of the most spectacular
47:29We bought a spaceship
47:31We bought cloned costumes with wings on there
47:35And leather
47:35Not plastic or not, you know, felt material
47:38But we spent a lot of money in other words
47:40We had to look more glitter than any other band
47:44If it was going to be glitter
47:45We had to do it better than anybody else had done it
48:14Everyone waited for the mother hit the land
48:16For Dr. Frankenstein to emerge and bring the funk
48:41George gave you the black people in space
48:45They had a whole elaborate science fiction view of the future, if you will
48:50That was very contemporary, but also not like reality
48:53It was reality, but not reality
48:54Everything came out of the street environment
48:57But it was heightened
48:58It was taken to someplace else
48:59Someplace of the imagination
49:00I said, maybe these guys really are from outer space, you know
49:04But then I looked at myself and said
49:06Well, I'm actually from Alabama
49:07So I'm not from outer space
49:09And I'm out here doing it with them, you know
49:11So it was really a movement
49:13I got to get over the heart
49:15I got to get over the heart
49:17Like many top musicians, Clinton was a tireless experimenter
49:21Constantly seeking new ways to reinvent his sound
49:24I got to get over the heart
49:26I got to get over the heart
49:30I got to get over the heart
49:41I got to play, but not use it as a bass
49:42But would play those real low sounds on it
49:44And I would hear Bernie hitting it
49:46So I told him, could you actually do the bass lad
49:49And he started doing Larry Graham for me
49:54Flashlight
49:55Flashlight
49:58Bernie was a, you know, Larry Graham freak
50:03Flashlight
50:08Flashlight
50:09Blacklight
50:12Bernie started doing his thing with him
50:14I would do a woo
50:16And he started loving that
50:19And then he started doing it
50:20He even started doing it on the Moog, right?
50:23So, um, everybody started grooving on that
50:25So Flashlight, as far as I know
50:27It was like the first of the songs with the synthesizer as the bass, you know
50:32And not just the sound effect
50:45Clinton was constantly pushing the musical envelope
50:48For his funk operas, he took the best players from other funk bands
50:52He added singers and dancers
50:54Until the stage was teeming with people
50:56Sometimes as many as 40
51:00P-Funk would bring an army
51:03They had an army on stage
51:04So we tried to compete in a sense, you know
51:08And we tried to get into that space thing
51:09And so we added like three, four female singers
51:13And we added more people other than our, you know, our regular chorus unit
51:17With seven people
51:18Just to try to stay afloat
51:20And when that fire
51:21They brought more, uh, members on stage
51:24With more horns and singers
51:26So just to compete
51:27Our band had to become a bit larger
51:29Just to, just to stay afloat of all that
51:32But P-Funk, they just came with the bomb
51:37Basically
51:38It was just too much
51:39We just couldn't hang with that thing
51:42It got too large
52:00The irreverence and freedom of P-Funk's style
52:03Took black music to another level of expression
52:06P-Funk became the standard by which other funk bands would be measured
52:11It was amazing, part of the funk adults
52:13We think that we're funky
52:15No, I mean, we had a share of funk, funky stuff
52:18But they were actually the funk, funksters of all time
52:22We want the funk, let me hear it
52:25Give up the funk
52:27We need the funk
52:29We gotta have some funk
52:30Y'all say
52:31We want the funk
52:33Give up the funk
52:35We need the funk
52:37Y'all got to get ready
52:38Gotta have some funk
52:39As the 70s drew to a close
52:42It became clear that in the period between James Brown and George Clinton
52:46Funk had developed an attitude
52:49James Brown provided the structure
52:52Sly Stone embellished it
52:54Opening it up to the influence of rock music
52:56And George Clinton shaped it into a movement of wit
52:59Whimsy
53:00And raw power
53:04But in the 80s
53:05The new black music would come from the streets
53:09In reaction to the extravagance of the previous decade
53:12This technology was simple
53:14All you'd need would be a couple of turntables
53:16A talent for rhyming
53:18And a slammin' beat
53:20We want the funk
53:20Y'all say
53:21We want the funk
53:23Yeah, we want the funk
53:25We need the funk
53:27Y'all got to get ready
53:28Gotta have the funk
53:29Next time on Rock and Roll
53:31Punk wasn't a musical style
53:32It was more a kind of do-it-yourself-anyone-can-do-it
53:35Kind of attitude
53:36Rock reinvents itself by returning to its roots
53:39Everybody worshipped us for it
53:41So thirsty were they for reality
53:44An alienated generation finds its voice
53:47I belong to that
53:49I give up the funk
53:51Yeah, I give up the funk
53:53Let me see you say it
53:54Gotta have the funk
53:55We want the funk
53:58Yeah, I give up the funk
54:00Oh yeah
54:00We need the funk
54:02Don't stop, do it again
54:04Do it again
54:04We want the funk
54:06Yeah, I give up the funk
54:09We need the funk
54:10Oh yeah
54:11Bring your funk
54:13I bring your sister
54:14Out
54:21A production of WGBH Boston