Funk Rock

Necromancer · 05-28-2010, 10:53 PM

According to one source, New Orleans-born drummer Earl Palmer "was the first to use the word "funky" to explain to other musicians that their music should be made more syncopated and danceable.

Funk rock (also written as funk-rock or funk/rock) fuses funk and rock elements. Its earliest incarnation was heard in the late '60s through the mid-'70's by musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, Herbie Han****, Gary Wright, David Bowie, as well as Mother's Finest, and Funkadelic on their earlier albums.

Many instruments may be incorporated into funk-rock, but the overall sound is defined by a definitive bass or drum beat and electric guitars. The bass and drum rhythms are influenced by funk music but with more intensity, while the guitar can be funk-or-rock-influenced, usually with distortion. Prince, Jesse Johnson, and Fishbone are major artists in funk rock.
Its earliest incarnation was heard in the late 1960s through the mid 1970s by acts such as the Jimi Hendrix Experience (last two albums), Eric Burdon and War, Funkadelic, Betty Davis and Mother's Finest.

In the early 1980s Gang of Four, Iggy Pop in his LP The Idiot, The Big Boys, Xavion (An Afro-American group whose Asylum/Mirage LP in 1984 predated the formation of Living Colour) & Rick James along with New Wave mainstays Blondie and Talking Heads created their own sound mix of Punk Funk. One famous funk rock song of the period was "Another One Bites the Dust" by British Rock icons Queen. Also in the 1980s, a fusion genre probably best described as Synth-Funk (a combination of synthpop and Funk) was prominent in some Synthpop bands such as Scritti Politti, a notable album being Cupid & Psyche 85.

(Synth-Funk) The increasing availability of synthesizers in the late 70s and early 80s spawned a new generation of Funk artists who typically replaced melodic segments traditionally performed with horns with synthesizers. Synthesizers also sometimes usurped the roles of keyboards and both electric and bass guitars. Synth funk often, but not always, incorportated drum machines to augment the futuristic sound. Prominent artists of synth funk include The Gap Band, Zapp, and Prince, and their example would go on to spawn a number of followers as well as influence many established funk acts like Cameo and Rick James.

(Punk-Funk) Originally coined to classify the early 1980s post-punk artists introducing funk, disco and dub influences to experimental rock (A Certain Ratio, Konk, Liquid Liquid, PiL, Pigbag), the term punk-funk has now been requisitioned by the current crop of acts putting that same ideology to more direct effect. At the center of the movement is the New York production team the DFA, who produced the Rapture and whose James Murphy fronts LCD Soundsystem. Meanwhile, !!! and Spektrum demonstrate how guitars can be successfully welded to four-to-the-floor house rhythms without the embarrassment of most ill-considered dance/rock crossovers. Punk-funk challenges the complacency of clubland while giving indie kids something to dance to.

(80s Funk Rock) The genre's representatives from the 1980s to present day include Jane's Addiction, Fishbone, Mr. Bungle, Primus, Living Colour, Spin Doctors, as well as Prince leading the way with spinoffs, The Time, and one hit wonders, Mazarati, who all have created, expanded and defined the funk rock style.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers's second and third albums (which were released 1985 and 1987 respectively, and featured guitarist Hillel Slovak) are seen by many fans as the more funk orientated albums of their collection. This is often characterized by a driving bass-line which is played over a sparse guitar track occasionally punctuated by metal-like riffs and solos (such as the solo in the middle of Backwoods).

(90s Funk-Metal) In the early 1990s, several bands combined funky rhythms with heavy metal guitar sounds, resulting in "Funk metal", where the emphasis is in using much Heavier distorted guitar sounds in the mix. Funk Rock employs more of a lighter, "crunchier" distorted guitar sound, and the musical emphasis tends to be more beat-driven with prominent Bass lines; more rhythmic in the R&B sense. One of the best examples of the fusion can be heard on the critically-acclaimed Blood Sugar Sex Magik album, released in 1991 by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Other notable 1990's artists in the Funk-Rock genre, although not widely-known in North America, include guitarist Stevie Salas and Funk-Metal bassist TM Stevens. The latter's 1995 album Boom! is an excellent example of bass-heavy songs mixed with rhythmic guitar riffs.

Lenny Kravitz is one of the most prominent musicians today in the fusion of rock riffs and funk rhythms, as exampled in tracks such as "Tunnel Vision," "Always on the Run," and "American Woman." Incubus has dabbled in the genre as well with albums such as Fungus Amongus and S.C.I.E.N.C.E.. During the making of his acclaimed studio album Voodoo (2000), neo soul musician D'Angelo was influenced by the funk rock sound of P-Funk, Jimi Hendrix and other such artists, while his hit single "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" has been noted by critics for containing elements of and similarity to the "Maggot Brain" sound of Funkadelic.Jane's Addiction have included many funk based routines in tracks as well as Slipknot in their early days with tracks like Bitchslap and Confessions from Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat., Limp Bizkit too uses funk metal.

Funk Rock is a term broad enough to include the narrower Funk Metal genre as well as funk-related jam bands like the Spin Doctors and the Dave Matthews Band. The more retro-tinged work of artists like Prince (the Artist) and Lenny Kravitz also fall into this category. All of these artists take the guitars and riffs of metal and rock and meld them to the popping basslines and syncopated rhythms of funk.

Jedey · 05-29-2010, 06:44 AM

I think Paul Weller said it best.

"Bring Back The Funk (Parts 1&2)

mr dave · 05-31-2010, 06:15 PM

i think there's a continuing confusion in the distinction between Funk and Disco. the booty groovability is present in both styles but it's the subtleties that divide. Funk is about endless grooves, Disco is about dollars.

kudos for slightly editing a wikipedia page rather than just copying and pasting i guess, still just as dry to read though.

mr dave · 05-31-2010, 11:13 PM

i definitely agree funk deserves praise. i think one aspect a lot of people miss on is its proximity to jazz with a heavy feel for improvisation.

as for the funk rock bits they're pretty solid though i disagree with the Spin Doctors being listed as much of anything. especially where FAITH NO MORE is somehow omitted from funk metal. i also vehemently refuse to acknowledge Dave Matthews as funky. he might be able to play funk but he, and his band, are NOT funky.

Violent & Funky · 06-01-2010, 12:33 PM

Would you vote differently now?

Violent & Funky · 06-01-2010, 12:38 PM

I kinda skimmed, but my Ctrl+f is telling me that Infectious Grooves, Faith No More, and 311 were all left out? Sublime had some funky stuff, and the Minutemen's Mike Watt was a major influence on many 80s bassists. And if you're gonna bother to mention Limp Bizkit you might as well say something about KoRn too, who were another variation of funk metal.

Violent & Funky · 06-01-2010, 01:27 PM

Cheers to that!

mr dave · 06-01-2010, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VocalsBass

This doesnt belong in this genre, but I wanted to know what you think about the song & artist?

it's got just as much of a place in this genre as half of the other acts listed so far. it may be far more on the pop side of the spectrum but there's still a solid funky groove at play. sounds like a simpler, more accessible P-Funk track which puts in that grey area of being too poppy to be funk but too musically complex to be disco.

Violent & Funky · 06-01-2010, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr dave

it's got just as much of a place in this genre as half of the other acts listed so far. it may be far more on the pop side of the spectrum but there's still a solid funky groove at play. sounds like a simpler, more accessible P-Funk track which puts in that grey area of being too poppy to be funk but too musically complex to be disco.

Yeah, but this is a "funk rock" thread, not a "funk" thread.

That Isley Brothers song was okay. It needed a little more energy but had a fine bass line. When I read the name "Isley Brothers" the first thing I think of is the story about when Les Claypool auditioned to fill Cliff Burton's vacancy in Metallica and suggested he and the band "jam on some Isley Brothers tunes."

I'm glad that didn't work out because we probably wouldn't have Primus!

Funk Metal is almost purely a product of California in the 1980s. Los Angeles had just finished with its first wave of punk and was amidst a new sound called hardcore. Many LA bands wanted more than abrasiveness in their music and began experimented with what would eventually lay the foundation for funk metal. Original LA funk pioneers include the Red Hot Chili Peppers (funk with punk), Fishbone (funk with ska), and Jane's Addiction (funk with alternative rock).

Not long after, the thrash metal scene exploded north in the Bay Area. Many funk metal musicians, such as Les Claypool and Robert Trujillo, first honed their chops in the thrash scene. Northern Californians Faith No More and Mr. Bungle emerged with a funk sound influenced by thrash. Claypool started Primus with a bunch of ex-thrashers. LA skate-punk-turned-thrash-metal band Suicidal Tendencies filled a vacancy with bassist Rob Trujillo, who brought funk along with him. ST frontman Mike Muir eventually started a side project with Trujillo called Infectious Grooves just so they could focus on more funk.

Some funk metal bands popped up in other areas of the country during the 1980s too. Rolling Stone called New York's Living Colour "black-funk-metal pioneers." Elsewhere, King's X played progressive metal which included funk influences.

In the 1990s, many of the early funk metal bands found mainstream success. Faith No More's 'Epic' made an especially large impression. 311 formed in 1991 and by the middle of the decade their ska-funk hybrid was common on American mainstream radio. Rage Against the Machine played funky rap metal that along with Faith No More and Primus helped initiate a new era of metal called "nu metal". Because their heroes played funky, many nu metal bands incorporated melodic bass lines into their sound. KoRn played with the bass high in their mix, and you can especially hear funk metal in Incubus's first two albums.

I think the truest funk metal bands are Infectious Grooves, Faith No More, and Living Colour. All three bands have excellent metal pedigrees and have the purest combination of funk and metal.

Maybe some of the Brits can help me out; are there any influential European funk metal bands?

mr dave · 06-02-2010, 02:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Violent & Funky

Yeah, but this is a "funk rock" thread, not a "funk" thread.

That Isley Brothers song was okay. It needed a little more energy but had a fine bass line. When I read the name "Isley Brothers" the first thing I think of is the story about when Les Claypool auditioned to fill Cliff Burton's vacancy in Metallica and suggested he and the band "jam on some Isley Brothers tunes."

I'm glad that didn't work out because we probably wouldn't have Primus!

touché

as for Claypool, i've read him directly crediting Metallica for Primus. they basically told him he was too weird for Metallica but that he absolutely positively totally needed to start his own band.

though if i may, this album is an ABSOLUTE MUST LISTEN for anyone interested in funk rock.

Good Time Boys sets the mood nicely, it's an album full of non stop in your face funky freak outs with a cool 'odd' bit in the middle then ends with a bang. it's a simple formula when you look at it that way but it still kicks 45 minutes of solid ass front to back. the positivity still feels genuine.

it's the first album featuring the 'main' lineup and they're playing like they have something to prove. everything is cranked up a notch and played furiously.

the lyrics could almost be prophetic about the band as well considering what their followup did for them. speaking of, they're not 'that' deep on this album and it definitely works better at delivering the message they wanted to get across. they still had something to say as opposed to just wanting to make music.

05-28-2010, 10:53 PM	#1 (permalink)
Necromancer Divination Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 2,655	Funk Rock According to one source, New Orleans-born drummer Earl Palmer "was the first to use the word "funky" to explain to other musicians that their music should be made more syncopated and danceable. Funk rock (also written as funk-rock or funk/rock) fuses funk and rock elements. Its earliest incarnation was heard in the late '60s through the mid-'70's by musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, Herbie Han***, Gary Wright, David Bowie, as well as Mother's Finest, and Funkadelic on their earlier albums. Many instruments may be incorporated into funk-rock, but the overall sound is defined by a definitive bass or drum beat and electric guitars. The bass and drum rhythms are influenced by funk music but with more intensity, while the guitar can be funk-or-rock-influenced, usually with distortion. Prince, Jesse Johnson, and Fishbone are major artists in funk rock. Its earliest incarnation was heard in the late 1960s through the mid 1970s by acts such as the Jimi Hendrix Experience (last two albums), Eric Burdon and War, Funkadelic, Betty Davis and Mother's Finest. In the early 1980s Gang of Four, Iggy Pop in his LP The Idiot, The Big Boys, Xavion (An Afro-American group whose Asylum/Mirage LP in 1984 predated the formation of Living Colour) & Rick James along with New Wave mainstays Blondie and Talking Heads created their own sound mix of Punk Funk. One famous funk rock song of the period was "Another One Bites the Dust" by British Rock icons Queen. Also in the 1980s, a fusion genre probably best described as Synth-Funk (a combination of synthpop and Funk) was prominent in some Synthpop bands such as Scritti Politti, a notable album being Cupid & Psyche 85. (Synth-Funk) The increasing availability of synthesizers in the late 70s and early 80s spawned a new generation of Funk artists who typically replaced melodic segments traditionally performed with horns with synthesizers. Synthesizers also sometimes usurped the roles of keyboards and both electric and bass guitars. Synth funk often, but not always, incorportated drum machines to augment the futuristic sound. Prominent artists of synth funk include The Gap Band, Zapp, and Prince, and their example would go on to spawn a number of followers as well as influence many established funk acts like Cameo and Rick James. (Punk-Funk) Originally coined to classify the early 1980s post-punk artists introducing funk, disco and dub influences to experimental rock (A Certain Ratio, Konk, Liquid Liquid, PiL, Pigbag), the term punk-funk has now been requisitioned by the current crop of acts putting that same ideology to more direct effect. At the center of the movement is the New York production team the DFA, who produced the Rapture and whose James Murphy fronts LCD Soundsystem. Meanwhile, !!! and Spektrum demonstrate how guitars can be successfully welded to four-to-the-floor house rhythms without the embarrassment of most ill-considered dance/rock crossovers. Punk-funk challenges the complacency of clubland while giving indie kids something to dance to. (80s Funk Rock) The genre's representatives from the 1980s to present day include Jane's Addiction, Fishbone, Mr. Bungle, Primus, Living Colour, Spin Doctors, as well as Prince leading the way with spinoffs, The Time, and one hit wonders, Mazarati, who all have created, expanded and defined the funk rock style. The Red Hot Chili Peppers's second and third albums (which were released 1985 and 1987 respectively, and featured guitarist Hillel Slovak) are seen by many fans as the more funk orientated albums of their collection. This is often characterized by a driving bass-line which is played over a sparse guitar track occasionally punctuated by metal-like riffs and solos (such as the solo in the middle of Backwoods). (90s Funk-Metal) In the early 1990s, several bands combined funky rhythms with heavy metal guitar sounds, resulting in "Funk metal", where the emphasis is in using much Heavier distorted guitar sounds in the mix. Funk Rock employs more of a lighter, "crunchier" distorted guitar sound, and the musical emphasis tends to be more beat-driven with prominent Bass lines; more rhythmic in the R&B sense. One of the best examples of the fusion can be heard on the critically-acclaimed Blood Sugar Sex Magik album, released in 1991 by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Other notable 1990's artists in the Funk-Rock genre, although not widely-known in North America, include guitarist Stevie Salas and Funk-Metal bassist TM Stevens. The latter's 1995 album Boom! is an excellent example of bass-heavy songs mixed with rhythmic guitar riffs. Lenny Kravitz is one of the most prominent musicians today in the fusion of rock riffs and funk rhythms, as exampled in tracks such as "Tunnel Vision," "Always on the Run," and "American Woman." Incubus has dabbled in the genre as well with albums such as Fungus Amongus and S.C.I.E.N.C.E.. During the making of his acclaimed studio album Voodoo (2000), neo soul musician D'Angelo was influenced by the funk rock sound of P-Funk, Jimi Hendrix and other such artists, while his hit single "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" has been noted by critics for containing elements of and similarity to the "Maggot Brain" sound of Funkadelic.Jane's Addiction have included many funk based routines in tracks as well as Slipknot in their early days with tracks like Bitchslap and Confessions from Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat., Limp Bizkit too uses funk metal. Funk Rock is a term broad enough to include the narrower Funk Metal genre as well as funk-related jam bands like the Spin Doctors and the Dave Matthews Band. The more retro-tinged work of artists like Prince (the Artist) and Lenny Kravitz also fall into this category. All of these artists take the guitars and riffs of metal and rock and meld them to the popping basslines and syncopated rhythms of funk. Last edited by Necromancer; 05-30-2010 at 10:39 AM.*

05-29-2010, 06:44 AM	#2 (permalink)
Jedey Veritas vos liberabit Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Musicapolis Posts: 477	I think Paul Weller said it best. "Bring Back The Funk (Parts 1&2) __________________ My Tunes

06-01-2010, 12:33 PM	#5 (permalink)
Violent & Funky FUNky Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Midland, MI Posts: 2,482	Would you vote differently now? __________________ http://www.last.fm/user/ohio0808 sometimes I don't thrill you sometimes I think I'll kill you just don't let me fuck up will you 'cause when I need a friend it's still you

06-01-2010, 12:38 PM	#6 (permalink)
Violent & Funky FUNky Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Midland, MI Posts: 2,482	I kinda skimmed, but my Ctrl+f is telling me that Infectious Grooves, Faith No More, and 311 were all left out? Sublime had some funky stuff, and the Minutemen's Mike Watt was a major influence on many 80s bassists. And if you're gonna bother to mention Limp Bizkit you might as well say something about KoRn too, who were another variation of funk metal. __________________ http://www.last.fm/user/ohio0808 sometimes I don't thrill you sometimes I think I'll kill you just don't let me fuck up will you 'cause when I need a friend it's still you

06-01-2010, 01:27 PM	#7 (permalink)
Violent & Funky FUNky Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Midland, MI Posts: 2,482	Cheers to that! __________________ http://www.last.fm/user/ohio0808 sometimes I don't thrill you sometimes I think I'll kill you just don't let me fuck up will you 'cause when I need a friend it's still you