When was funk born and who invented funk?

[Funky Dude]

Ages ago I asked what was the first song you'd call disco, now I ask the same question about funk.

Which year was funk born, who invented funk, and what is the first song that falls under the funk category?

I can take a guess at this:

James Brown - Papa's Got A Brand New Bag/I Feel Good 1965

or maybe his earlier hit "Please Please Please" but that falls more under the soul category.

Although James Brown is the godfather of soul, did he invent funk, or was it some other artist?

There's also Bo Diddly the R&B artist doing "Bo Diddly" in 1955 which has R&B flavour, could this be a form of early funk?

Well those are my guesses. See what you's come up with in answering these questions.

[DeepBeat]

The roots of the term "funk" remain lost somewhere in the golden years of jazz (40s-50s) but James Brown brought it to the mainstream by changing the established r&b and r&r rhythmic patterns with this simple shout: on the one!

[Giovanni]

I suggest you to read the very interesting and informative book by RICKEY VINCENT titled "Funk. the music the people and the rhythm of the one". St. Martin's Griffin. NY

[Greg Wilson]

About 5 years ago there was an excellent documentary series on the BBC called 'Dancing In The Street', about the history of popular music (does anyone know if this is available on video or dvd?). They covered all the various genres of major influence, with Funk, Philly Sound, P-Funk and Disco covered under the heading 'Make It Funky'. I'd seriously recommend this, some great interviews with people like Larry Graham, Bootsy, Gamble & Huff etc.

[QUINNY]

Someone has suggested that Jimi Hendrix invented Funk (guitar) when he was playing with the Isley Brothers in the mid '60s. It's quite amazing how many Funk guitarists say they were greatly influenced by him. If you listen to Curtis Knight's "Hush Now" from '64 (with Hendrix on guitar) that has a sorta funky undertow. Personally though, I find it hard to believe that it was down to him, even though he was my #1 of all time.
The first modern Funk record that I heard was probably the Isley Brothers "It's Your Thing" from about '69. This just sounded so different to anything else, but I guess you'd have to say that things like "Tramp", "Soul Man" or even stuff by Wynder K. Frog in '67 or thereabouts even preceded that, although they each had other influences. I'm not so sure that "Papa's Got a brand New Bag" was pure funk, 'cos it had overtones of the Boogaloo and had more of the then, R&B sound. Yeah, I know I'm skimming the surface, but memory fades.......badly.

[Nano]

Hey Giovanni! I was about to reccomend Rickey Vincent's book to our Aussie friend, but you beat me up to it. Certainly it's an excellent study and has lotsa trivia from the time.

[efunk_adelic]

how about booker t. & the mg's
"hip-hug-her" lots of music from the stax label i believe changed the soul.... and james brown just took it to another level.... i agree on "tramp" also... how bout
"hold on, i'm comin'" .... funky & blues all at the same time....

[Funky Dude]

Thanks guys for helping me out on this question. With Booker T & The MGs, their early hit "Green Onions" recorded 1962 I would say that has to be an early funk/R&B song.

Greg, I've actually watched that Dancing In The Street episode, I also taped it too. Anyhow that show roots funk to James Brown from memory and followed through to Sly & The Family Stone, Parliament/Funkadelic/Bootsy and other bands like Ohio Players, EWF, Kool & The Gang to the later days when disco was really taking off eg. Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes "Bad Luck", McFadden & Whitehead's "Ain't Know Stopping Us Now", Ottawan's "D.I.S.C.O." etc.... through to rap music like Public Enemy. Great video and the clips are fantastic, I wish I had the full version clips, that would be a real BLAST YEAH :D 8) !!!

Anyhow looking forward to hearing more stories on the roots of funk.

_____________________________

[efunk_adelic]

Funkydude,
I screwed up the word.... in the earlier post... I meant to say the stax label could have been one of the earliest labels to change the "sound" to funk with their hit by Booker T. & the Mg's single of 1967 titled "Hip-Hug-Her" ... you gotta check out the bass guitar in this song... I dug this record when i was in my pre-teen days :D the next single to rock my world was Fred Wesley & the JB's "Doing It To Death" (1973) what a record!!!! :) :) :)

[Greg Wilson]

Within the Dancing In The Street documentary, and as far as many an authority on the subject is concerned, James Brown's 'Cold Sweat' (1967) is the pivotal moment in the birth of Funk. Dancing In The Street states that via this seminal record Brown "revolutionized the rhythmic foundation of Soul music...instruments like the trumpet, which had been traditionally used for melody, he now used to accent the beat".

Black Music historian, Nelson George, explains; "James Brown really re-invented the idea of rhythm", adding that "James took the concept of groove and intensified it so that every instrument on a James Brown recording augments this idea of groove".

Central to Brown's new approach to rhythm was a syncopated beat nicknamed 'the one' (as in the first beat of the bar, which was where the emphasis was placed). Bootsy Collins, who many people forget first came to prominence as the charismatic teenage bass player with the 2nd great James Brown band (around the time of 'Sex Machine'), would later take this concept to George Clinton (Funkadelic / Parliament), who would use it to the full in unleashing a new mutant strain of P-Funk in the 70's (the importance that Clinton placed on 'the one' is illustrated perfectly by the title of the Parliament track 'Everything Is On The One').

Hope this helps.

[Outsider]

I remember seeing a documentary on rock and roll several years ago on PBS (around 1995-96), and one of the episodes was about funk. It mentioned the same things about James Brown that the show all of you have mentioned. From what I remember, this episode included interviews with members of James Brown's band (including Bootsy Collins), George Clinton, and members of Sly and the Family Stone. :evil:

[Greg Wilson]

Outsider: That's definitely the same programme, 'Dancing In The Street' (subtitled 'A Rock & Roll History'). The whole series was spot-on, including a brilliant episode on 60's Soul (BTW nice to see one of the greatest all-time bands, Booker T & The MG's, getting big respect here, apart from their own tracks they provided the backing for so many great Stax / Atlantic releases). The follow-on from the 'Make It Funky' programme is also highly recommended. It was called 'Planet Rock', and starting with NYC Hip Hop and Electro, covers the dance explosion of the 80's / early 90's.

[Outsider]

I remember the hip-hop/electro/80s dance episode. There was also an episode on punk, which interested me since that's a style of music that I like, but what I didn't like about it was that half of it was about reggae. While I like reggae, it has nothing to do with punk (other than influencing bands such as the Clash), and it totally ignored the 80s punk era (bands such as Black Flag and Minor Threat), which is just as influential as the Sex Pistols and the Ramones.

That would be great if the whole series was released on DVD. I taped some of the episodes (including the ones mentioned on this thread), but I don't remember where the tape is. :evil:

[Nano]

About "the one". This is from James Brown's autobiography:

"I think Bootsy (Collins) learned a lot from me. When I met him he was playing a lot of bass -the ifs, the ands, and the buts. I got him to see the importance of the ONE in funk -the downbeat at the beginning of every bar. I got him to key in on the dynamic parts of the one instead of playing all around it. Then he could do all his other stuff in the right places -AFTER the one..."

Wise words from a wiseguy...

[QUINNY]

Personally I've never quite seen the relevance of 'The One'. Such a dominance of that beat didn't show up on one hell of a lot of Funk records did it? It's not as if a light bulb suddenly glowed in my own brain the first time I heard an explanation for it. What have I missed? Please enlighten.