Funkadelic
The bands Funkadelic and Parliament are intrinsically linked and can not be easily separated. This article focuses on Funkadelic; see Parliament-Funkadelic for an integrated history of the groups. For Funkadelic's self-titled album, see Funkadelic (album).Funkadelic was a famous
funk band, most prominent during the 1970s. Funkadelic was originally the backing band for the
doo wop group,
The Parliaments. The band was added in
1964, primarily for tours, and consisted of
Frankie Boyce,
Richard Boyce and
Langston Booth. They enlisted in the army in
1966, and
George Clinton (the leader of The Parliaments) recruited
Billy Bass Nelson and
Eddie Hazel in
1967, then also adding
Tawl Ross and
Tiki Fulwood.
Due to legal difficulties between Clinton and
Revilot, The Parliaments' label, the name was abandoned in favor of Funkadelic, which consisted of the same group of people (that is, both the former Parliaments and their back-up band, now both combined in the name "Funkadelic"). The group signed to
Westbound in
1968.
The group's self-titled debut album,
Funkadelic, was released in
1970. The credits listed
organist
Mickey Atkins plus Clinton, Fulwood, Hazel, Nelson and Ross, though the actual recording also included several uncredited sessionmen then employed by
Motown, as well as
Ray Monette (of
Rare Earth) and
Bernie Worrell.
Bernie Worrell was officially credited starting with Funkadelic's second album,
1970's
Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow, thus beginning a long collaboration between Worrell and Clinton (who had been friends for quite a while). Worrell would go on to produce many Parliament and Funkadelic albums, as well as play
keyboard on albums by other
members of P Funk.
After the release of
Maggot Brain in
1971,
Bootsy and
Catfish Collins joined the group. The group would go on to become major contributors to the
P-Funk sound. In
1972, this new line-up released
America Eats Its Young, but many members left the group after that, due to internal squabbles, plus Hazel spent a year in jail for drug possession and assault, Tawl Ross experiencing either a bad
LSD trip and/or a
speed overdose, while Billy Bass quit due to financial concerns.
Michael Hampton, a seventeen-year-old
guitar prodigy, replaced Hazel.
1975 brought Funkadelic to
Warner Brothers, and saw the release of
Hardcore Jollies in
1976. The same year, Westbound released a compilation of archived tracks titled
Tales of Kidd Funkadelic, which did significantly better than
Hardcore Jollies and included "
Undisco Kidd", an R&B Top 30 single. In
1977, Westbound capitalized on the success of
Tales of Kidd Funkadelic by releasing
The Best of the Early Years. Funkadelic recorded and released its
magnum opus,
One Nation Under a Groove in
1978. The titular track spent six weeks at #1 on the R&B charts, while Parliament was enjoying success with "
Flash Light" and "
Aqua Boogie."
As the 1980s wore on, with legal difficulties arising from the multiple names used by multiple groups, as well as a shakeup among Parliament's record label, Parliament and Funkadelic disintegrated. George Clinton recorded several solo albums (sometimes under the name
George Clinton & the P.Funk All-Stars).
Filmmaker Yvonne Smith of
Berkeley, California-based Firelight Media, produced
Funkadelic: One Nation Under a Groove, a full-length documentary about the groundbreaking group, which aired on
PBS in 2005.
(Greatest Hits and Compilations appear in bold)
*[
1] "Independent Lens, 'Parliament Funkadelic: One Nation Under a Groove', The Film - PBS"
*
MoreThings Remedial funk lessons: George Clinton-Funkadelic
*
History of Parliament/Funkadelic (at the P-Funk portal NewFunkTimes.com)
