What happened to real funk -- da-nit!

[tsull1]

I was listening to some Brass Construction today on YouTube and almost had forgotten how good those guys were. Luckily I didn't forget. But what I've remembered is where is the funk today, damnit!

I'm talking about REAL funk with a hard-driving bass, a real kick a$$ drummer [[not a machine), and these huge bands of 7,8, 9, 12 members of the group, all playing important roles. What the hell happened?

I know, rap did a nice 1-2 punch on the music industry, helping wipe out soul AND funk, but it's got to go deeper than that. There was a time when I could simply go out and easily find Ohio Players, Lakeside, Cameo, Slave, etc., discs, and yes, Brass Construction as well as many others.

While I've complained enough about the lack of real soul and true great vocal groups today, there are some keepers of the flame who are very good, perhaps not legendary, however.

But where is the funk? What happened? This was some darn fun music to listen to. No groups of today thought it might be cool to pick up the funk and keep it going? Really?

[timmyfunk]

tsull, I'm sure you've followed our posts with regards to 1980's Funk and the politics that helped to push the genre back underground. Those bands that still tour today try to represent, with varying results. This is why I never miss P-Funk when they're in traveling distance. And now that Bootsy is back on tour, 2011 promises to be a very Funky summer indeed.

Do you have a Facebook page? If so, you might want to hit me up and check out my latest picture thread about NY getting Funky this summer. P-Funk, GCS, Bootsy, Morris Day and the Time, Mandrill, and EWF all have shows scheduled for the Big Apple this summer.

[stephanie]

The funk is around you have to look for it!

[soulster]

tsull, i'm with ya! I was listening to Mass Production's "Firecracker", General Kane's "I'm The Man", and Con Funk Shun's "Chase Me" and thinking the same thing.

Steph, point us to today's funk, because I sure don't hear it!

[tsull1]

Hey, there are some great groups today, some of my favorites are Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Raphael Saadiq, and Kings Go Forth, among others. I would classify those three not as neo-soul [[don't really like that term), but soul/r & b, more Stax-like than Philly or Motown, though Saadiq's "Where I'm Coming From" album is definitely Motownesque.

I'm not hearing the Slave or Ohio Players imitators. I'm guessing some are out there and quite good, but I can't find them and they're hidden behind much of the bad music shoved down people's throats today.

Like I said, I miss the heavy bass line, the large 10-12 person group, the big horn section, and the group that lays down the heavy funk as well as the smooth ballads. I believe 70's/80's funk is some of the finest music ever. Listen to those groups, like The Ohio Players, a serious tight horn section with major talent. Lakeside, ConFunkShun, Cameo ... I could go on and on. Damn good music, someone needs to carry the torch and revive it.

[timmyfunk]

The Funk that came through the post Civil Rights era fed off of the political atmosphere of the Black Power movement, as well as the concurrent self awareness/identity phase of our growth as a people. You really don't have a social movement as powerful as that to add fuel to the current crop of Funk/Soul oriented artists.

[tsull1]

Agree timmy, though I still say it -- and you agree with me -- bring back the funk!!

[timmyfunk]

Obviously, I always look forward to hearing new Funk from the veterans as well as new soldiers. I also look forward to innovative reissues that feature extra tracks from the vaults, as well as released extended mixes of single tracks.

[soulster]

I'm not hearing the Slave or Ohio Players imitators. I'm guessing some are out there and quite good, but I can't find them and they're hidden behind much of the bad music shoved down people's throats today.

Like I said, I miss the heavy bass line, the large 10-12 person group, the big horn section, and the group that lays down the heavy funk as well as the smooth ballads. I believe 70's/80's funk is some of the finest music ever. Listen to those groups, like The Ohio Players, a serious tight horn section with major talent. Lakeside, ConFunkShun, Cameo ... I could go on and on. Damn good music, someone needs to carry the torch and revive it.

Yeah! That's the stuff I want to hear!

I am not interested in likes of Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings. That stuff is too 60s for me, and the music is boring. It's for those who are more interested in the style of the songs. The music they make doesn't jam.

[timmyfunk]

You have to look to local bands for the torch holders. The record industry simply isn't set up for modern day Funksters.

[splanky]

Tim said:
The record industry simply isn't set up for modern day Funksters

Exactly. I'm glad I grew up when I did because I got to enjoy so many great funk bands and even a few not so bad
imitators and perpetrators when they were in their prime and seriously laying out deadly grooves that burnt up dance
floors everywhere I went. But I've long accepted that that time is past, like someone said you can never cross the same
river twice. Thankfully you can, though go put on a cd, lp or whatever you have in your collection and listen to past musics
and enjoy memories of good times which I do whenever I have time. Still,I like a lot of what today has to offer and I like
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings...

[tsull1]

Soulster, thanks for the tip, I just downloaded "Firecracker" by Mass Production on YouTube. Damn! Great stuff. I'd stand up and yell, "That's the funk I'm talking about!" But I'm at the library -- man, this is good.

The world is inundated with bad punk, alternative, and metal bands, every city has 1,000 of them. Someone get the funk re-started!

[paladin]

Splanky and Timmyfunk are really on point with this one. Cameo, ConFunkshun, Dazz band, The Barkays and I believe to some degree Lakeside are still playing. The Barkays have a new release out "Return of The Mack" which I really don't care for, [[not enuff funk-autotune) Sly Stone is due for a new release as well, but who knows. But I'll tell you this whenever I get a taste for the funk, and can see any of these bands, I run to Ticketmaster or whoever to get my tickets, I've seen them all lately and they are as good as it gets.

Seriously Larry a/ka/a Pops......you already sounded enuff like auto tune to have invented the dam thang.....but I still love this group.....mo later........

[soulster]

Seriously Larry a/ka/a Pops......you already sounded enuff like auto tune to have invented the dam thang.....but I still love this group.....mo later........

The original hit "Return Of The Mack" by Mark Morrison is better anyway.

[tsull1]

Are there any new groups today playing old style funk, I mean besides bar bands? There are some solid new soul groups, but is anyone brave enough to start a large, old 70's/80's funk style band?

I wish I could find the new groups ... and I ain't talking about drum machines and synthesizers, I'm talking about a 10-piece band with horns, a mean bass, guitar, great singer, kick a$$ drummers.

[funklexikon]

Heard a track "Doin it", live by a Band called "Papa Grows Funk" ... that's old style funk. Most newer funk bands with have around 6 members more only it they bring in an additioan horn section for live gigs. Bands, like New Mastersounds, Speedometer and many more. But they usually don't have that midtempo,heavy 70s groove ... they are mostly 120bpm up ... including mostly hammond, which was for 70s pure funk bands not very common. Check the 45s that came out past 15 years to get known of some funk bands. Poets of Rhythm in the mid 90s were on the right way [[70s funk) but by end of the 90s changed sound very much, too bad.