For the Record: George Clinton And P-Funk; An Oral History

by Brian Agustyn, Dave Marsh

Booming out from the depths of disco in the 1970s was an unmistakable new a danceable beat and bass riff, laid under an exquisitely tight and inventive horn ensemble, all coaxed out by an ultra-hip narrator whose spoken revelations believably proclaimed they came from another planet. The speaker--actually, the rapper--was musical mastermind George Clinton. Under his inspired direction, the groups Parliament and Funkadelic established what he called "P-Funk" as the modern outgrowth of soul, its irresistible funky genius paving the way for everything from rap and hip-hop to techno and alternative. The authors take you aboard the P-Funk mothership for candid reflections from Clinton himself, and from bandmates Bootsy Collins, Fuzzy Haskins, Bernie Worrell, Fred Wesley, Garry Shider, album cover wizard Pedro Bell, and many others. In their own words, they tell you how it feels to lay down "uncut funk" with one of pop music's greatest innovators, and get booties shaking from coast to coast.

Genres: Music

159 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1998

Reviews

[East Bay J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parliament. Funkadelic. The weird, wild, wonderful world of P-Funk. I had a copy of Mothership Connection as a kid and thought this Parliament was some kind of space age KISS. I didn’t know what to think. It wasn’t until high school that I really got turned on to Clinton and company. My buddy, John Book, made me a copy of every Parliament and Funkadelic album plus b-sides and even old Parliaments singles. Those fifteen or so cassettes were my education in the funk.

Years later, I found a copy of Dave Marsh’s George Clinton And P-Funk, from the For The Record series of books. These were cool little volumes that briefly touched on a band through the medium of oral history. Getting to learn more about the history of Parliament and Funkadelic from the mouths of the participants lends a great deal of authenticity and does a lot to pull the reader into the participants’ world. Although this volume is far too short to get into the meat of P-Funk’s history, it was the first of its kind when it came out. Unfortunately, no one since seems to have taken up the challenge to write a proper Parliament/Funkadelic bio. That would be one a hell of a read.

Favorite fact from this book: “Super Stupid” was written about Eddie Hazel and a drug deal gone bad.

[Shenanitims · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book just seems kind of light. You'd think, given the strangeness of the music made by both Parliament and Funkadelic, that there'd be better stories to go along with the songs. It's great hearing about the early days of the band(s), and how they got their start, but at the end you feel as if the story is still only half told. Which may just be a byproduct of how awesome the whole Parliament-Funkadelicment Thang truly was.