Overview
As we saw in the previous lesson, James Brown and his band developed an early version of funk music during the late 1960s, and they inspired many funk bands in the late 1960s and the 1970s. Funk music often featured a drum break during the last third of the song, during which the other instruments would drop out in order to allow the drummer to solo for a measure or two. This riff-and-groove structure and the importance of drum breaks were definitive characteristics of most funk music during the late 1960s and 1970s. In this lesson, we will survey several important funk artists from this era.
Objectives
- Identify some of the defining features and characteristics of funk music
- Recall the significance of Sly and the Family Stone in the development of funk music
- Recall the role George Clinton played in funk music during the 1970s with P-funk genre
- Examine how popular media such as Blaxploitation films and television programs helped promote African American music and musicians
Sly and the Family Stone continued
Late in 1969, Sly Stone began writing songs with a more assertive message about black pride and black empowerment. "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) ♫," recorded in 1969, is an excellent example of Sly Stone's turn toward messages of empowerment. The lyrics are not simply a celebration of togetherness and an invitation to put differences aside. Instead, they convey a message of struggle for independence and the desire to be recognized as an individual. As mentioned earlier, this song prominently features Graham's distinctive percussive style of playing the bass. During the third verse of the song, Stone makes specific reference to several earlier Sly and the Family Stone songs, including "Everyday People ♫," "Dance to the Music ♫," and "You Can Make it If You Try ♫." Like many songs by Sly and the Family Stone, the lyrics are performed by multiple singers, not by a soloist.
During the 1970s, Sly and the Family Stone's music became increasingly darker and grittier. Stone began overdubbing and re-recording his tracks to such an extent that some of the group's albums such as 1971's There's a Riot Goin' On is filled with the sound of tape hiss. Late songs like "Loose Booty ♫" (1974) have a stripped-down sound that is quite different from that of the group's earlier music. During the 1970s, drug use, contract disputes, unreliability of performers (often, a result of their drug use), and tensions among the group eventually led to the group's dissolution in 1975.
Sly and the Family Stone set a precedent for a number of other bands in the early 1970s. Playing dance-oriented messages with rhythmic bass lines, riff-based grooves, and group singing, bands such as Kool and the Gang, the Ohio Players, and Earth, Wind, and Fire followed in the wake of Sly and the Family Stone. Kool and the Gang released a handful of hit songs in the early 1970s, such as "Jungle Boogie ♫" that were in the mold of Sly and the Family Stone's sound. Kool and the Gang would have more success later in the 1970s as disco because increasingly popular. Earth, Wind, and Fire had a number of crossover hits during the 1970s as well, such as "Shining Star ♫" and the soundtrack to the 1971 Blaxploitation film Sweet Sweetback's Baaadassss Song.
