Funk, having emerged through the 1960s and 70s as party music, became renowned for its wild, conceptual stage shows as groups such as Earth, Wind and Fire and the Ohio players would use costume, lighting and props to bring their musical concepts to life. These elaborate, colourful stage shows were taken and propelled to a whole new dimension by George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, most notably through the intergalactic, psychedelic absurdity of their 1976 Earth tour, where the ground breaking Mothership Connection (in both musical and spaceship form) was thrust into the world.
Clinton’s Funk legacy began in 1956 with Doo-wop group The Parliaments, but over the years he developed many different identities for his groups and presented new styles under different names. By the 70s, Clinton’s crew of musicians played Funk and Soul aimed at the mainstream as Parliament, whilst under the guise of Funkadelic the group disregarded the discipline and formality of audience expectations, creating radical new creative music inspired by psychedelic rock. Known as P-Funk, the group developed a reputation for unprecedented, eccentric and outrageous live shows. They dressed in wizard hats, long johns and bedsheets, and the musicians would often be fuelled by LSD for 3-4 hour long sets, sometimes until the entire audience had left. As Tony Bolden notes in The funk era and beyond: new perspectives on Black popular culture, “P-Funk’s live shows were the vehicle to help you free your mind and to make your ass follow.” These shows would connect a wide range of people through their communal atmosphere and craziness, one of Clinton’s motifs behind the madness.
The group continually worked on new concepts for their music and live shows, often presenting characters which would help the audience to connect with the music, these included Dr. Funkenstein, Mr Wiggles and Sir Nose D’Voidofunk, and each came with their own story in the production of ‘Funk Operas’. Dr. Funkenstein, in Mothership Connection comes from another planet to “bring back the funk”, however there was much more to these stories and characters than just gaining attention for the group.
Clinton and P-Funk came to prominence in a time when the civil rights movement and reforms for equality were struggling after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and through their music they not only entertained, but acted as a symbol of social and political commentary. Many of the songs and concepts which were brought to life by the group contained highly political messages, stemming from principles of Black empowerment and civil rights. 1975’s Chocolate City acted as a commentary on Black diaspora, and places African American people in the White House with a Black President, Aretha Franklin as First Lady and others from Stevie Wonder to Muhammad Ali making up the cabinet. This positioning of Black people in places previously deemed impossible sparked Clinton’s unstoppable creativity and lit the fuse for the creation of Mothership Connection. The concept for Mothership embraces the idea of taking Black people to Space, not only through the music, but through the live shows. P-Funk had performers dressed as aliens, members of the band flying across the ceiling and of course the
The humour, eccentricity and thunderous scale of these shows drew in audiences, even those who perhaps wouldn’t usually associate themselves with this type of music, encouraging them to listen to what the band had to say. Clinton created an almost spiritual atmosphere where audience members could find a release from an oppressive and increasingly disaffected society.
“Clinton’s ultimate goal was to help everyone find their funkiness.” (Bolden, 2008), but bringing back the funk meant more to Clinton and P-Funk than just music and a good time for their audience. The Funk they aimed to bring to the arena represented spiritual, cultural forces and values which would empower African Americans. Through post-human suggestions of Black People travelling to space, finding their funk and thriving, Clinton confronts and attempts to bring down the oppressive systems and norms of post civil-rights society, and suggests a utopian, intergalactic alternative.
Comentários