George Clinton: Life lessons from a funked-up superstar

http://www.huckmagazine.com/art-and-culture/music-2/life-lessons-george-clinton-pioneer-interview-parliament-funkadelic/

by kikitee • 8 years ago

82 15 8 years ago

huckmagazine.com

zxv2• 8 years ago

This is my favorite George Clinton track.

Ain't That Peculiar feat. Sly Stone, El Debarge & the P-Funk All Stars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5vu9eNMKgQ

blacksmith_tb• 8 years ago

That's a fun Marvin Gaye cover, but doesn't have a ton of personality compared to the classic 70s Parliament/Funkadelic records, wouldn't you say?

zxv2• 8 years ago

To my ears, it's got a serious groove. Certainly very understated compared to Parliament/Funkadelic, but that's part of the charm.

ljw1001• 8 years ago

I was so happy to see the "mothership" in the first room of the music section in the amazing Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture. Make my funk the P-Funk!

pasbesoin• 8 years ago

Thank you for this.

Maybe some people will find it off-topic. But, talk about hacking the music scene...

Somewhat OT and different genre, but a couple of years ago, archive.org put effort into onlining especially early Hip Hop recordings.

https://archive.org/details/hiphopmixtapes

My (white, suburban) roommate was into this, big time. I didn't get it, although funk just reached down inside me and grabbed something, when I heard it.

Years, decades later, the story is finally getting to me without the contemporary cultural reprobation. (I've come to find the reprobation and its sources perhaps more false and damaging, than the [choose your own pejorative adjectives] genre and culture, itself.)

itronitron• 8 years ago

> He had an ability to arrange things in his mind exactly as he wanted. To me, that made him easy to work with.

This was nice to read.

mark-r• 8 years ago

Prince was amazing. Unfortunately even though I live 3 miles from Paisley Park I never met him.

I did work with someone who bumped into George Clinton once when he was in town to see Prince. He had nothing but good things to say about the encounter, but it was long enough ago that I can't remember any particulars.

Our company mascot was the Atomic Dog.

damontal2• 8 years ago

Just going to leave this here. I've watched it at least five times at this point and it never ceases to astonish me.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r5aHD5ruSZ0

leothekim• 8 years ago

Aw man so many good moments here. Love the groove starting at 26:31. Eddie Hazel RIP. I view funk in the 1970s as a natural extension of big band jazz, and Parliament Funkadelic was the epitome of that. Jazz is the teacher, and funk is the preacher. Thanks for sharing this!

damontal2• 8 years ago

What I love about that video is how much fun they seem to be having. The music is amazing. The costumes and act are crazy. And they make it look so effortless. The album versions of these songs don't quite approach the energy of this concert.

This video gets removed from YouTube from time to time I guess due to copyright but someone always puts it back up.

S_A_P• 8 years ago

I was three and a half months old, and about 3 and a half miles away from that concert... I grew up with Parliament and Funkadelic as an early sound track and have so many "Oh ST" moments when I connect a song to a memory from my youth.

wiz21c• 8 years ago

I saw them once in concert. They played like, 4 hours long. Unbelieveable. They were rotating some musicians during the show!

agumonkey• 8 years ago

I hold Parliament quite high in my musical universe. Am very happy to see this on the front page.

It sounds childlike crazy but the subtle and deep groove these guys delivered is of a rare grade.

wyclif• 8 years ago

I love Parliament-Funkadelic. My faves are Mothership Connection, Maggot Brain (Eddie Hazel's guitar playing is amazing), and One Nation Under a Groove.

I also had Motor Booty Affair on vinyl, and the photo of the back cover reminds me of staring at that album sleeve while listening to the record and thinking, "OK, only drugs could have inspired that."

piker• 8 years ago

The closest thing to a rule was not letting talent outta the room!

What a powerful and simple rule. I wonder how it works at scale, but makes so much sense in that industry.

George Clinton: Life lessons from a funked-up superstar

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