Firstly I want to dedicate this survey to UCLA English Professor Richard Yarborough, who of all the dorky looking brothers who appear to be far too nebbish to even utter the word 'funk', absolutely floored me with his encyclopedic knowledge of all things funky. Even though his punk ass never returns any of my emails, but that's OK. Sometimes it be that way.
I dedicated to him because I am prone to be all up in people's grills talking about how nothing ever gets done if I don't do it. These days I'm thinking why, despite the new underground of the AfroSpear, not one of them (us) has been able to aggregate snap into the TTLB. It's downright embarrassing. And yet despite my woofing there just as often as not is some spook sitting by the door taking notes, names addresses and all that. So when I started talking about The Family and Yarborough started naming tracks, I had to remember that there still might be half a million intellects of my persuasion out there. The problem remains - we are unhooked-up. And so with the Yarborough Caveat, I will say that this is unquestionably the biggest and bad assest funky survey in history.
So what's funky and what aint?
High & Low
It seems to me that a fundamental aspect of funky music is its self-deprecating irony. Some of it is clever and some of it is just deeply undercover. But that irony is best expressed in counterpoint. Consider School Boy Crush. You have sleigh bells and bass guitar. That's just mad genius. Then consider Funky Worm, the synthesizer solos just work their way all over the stratosphere. Another classic is the intro to Faze-O's Riding High. Synthesizers and vocals way up there. Bass and beats way down there.
Breakdown
Nothing is quite so funky as a deconstructed beat. Even though we didn't nominate much rap, it is true the Dr Dre is a master of this. When you let the beat drop, and then pick it up again. This funk essential is what James Brown invented so far as I'm concerned. Take down the instruments and then build them up again, oh man that's the juice.
The Cosmos
References to the cosmos, whether explicitly or implied through the use of sound effects make things funky. Steve Arrington wants to take you Way Out. The Brothers Johnson want you to Ride O Rocket.
The Funk Box
No instrument belongs so totally to the oevre of funk as the Vocorder voice box. It's pretty much called the funk box because of that. Nobody played to this strength like Roger Troutman. It's hard to imagine him talking in a normal voice at all. GCS employed it very well in 'Now Do U Wanta Dance', and Herbie Hancock employed it on his funk albums.
Poppin' Bass
It's not enough just to have a bass line, you have got to pop it. The classic and possibly all-time greatest poppin' bass line is Glide by Pleasure. And of course the reputation of the Brothers Johnson relied to a certain extent on Louis' extraordinary ability. Sometimes a bass line is sufficient with a minimalist rhythm guitar to make a funky song. Aurra's "Are you Single?" did just that.
Synth Bass
On the other side of the bass fence is the funky synth bass. The synth bass in Jamaica Funk and that applied by George Duke in Reach For It. Most of Parliament is synth. It's got the advantage of going way lower than a Drop C on a bass guitar. That makes for some extra deep funk.
Horns
There's just no substitute for swinging horns. Everything wrong to today's music is that few people know how to do funky horn arrangements. I won't belabor the point. Horns are funky.
Ugh
Go ahead and say it, but you gotta say it on time. This is where Cold Sweat just enters another realm. This is so funky that you can sample an Ugh from another song and drop it into your own and make it funky. The overweight lover Heavy D did that.
That's all for now.
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