0:00:02 > 0:00:07This programme contains very strong language
0:00:07 > 0:00:08Funk.
0:00:08 > 0:00:10Funk is a sensation,
0:00:10 > 0:00:14a universal feeling from another dimension.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17Funk's that thump in your chest
0:00:17 > 0:00:20that just makes you want to get on up and dance.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22Funk is all about rhythm.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26It affects your movements. It affects your speech.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28It affects the way that you dress.
0:00:28 > 0:00:33Funk, in its essence, makes you dance, makes you move.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36Some kind of tribal feeling, or tribal message,
0:00:36 > 0:00:38that makes people want to dance from the core of their heart.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40Definition of funk?
0:00:40 > 0:00:43Warm, damp place to give life.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48# Shit! Goddamn! Get off your ass and jam! #
0:00:50 > 0:00:54Funk's a state of mind. It's the sound of rebellion.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56A celebration of being black.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00What's interesting about funk is that it was ours.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02It actually brought us together.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05You know what funk music is? It's unapologetic blackness.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07HE SCREAMS Owww!
0:01:08 > 0:01:10# Get up offa that thing
0:01:10 > 0:01:12# And dance till you feel better... #
0:01:12 > 0:01:13Funk spread the groove around the world.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17Without it, much of the music we love today
0:01:17 > 0:01:18would never have happened.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21There probably would not be any hip-hop without funk music.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23That's all a funk attitude.
0:01:23 > 0:01:24You know, "I'm a player, I'm a hustler."
0:01:24 > 0:01:27That's all the stuff that George Clinton and those folks
0:01:27 > 0:01:29were doing in the 1970s. It's just called hip-hop today.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33So, as we're standing on the verge of getting it on,
0:01:33 > 0:01:35let's take it to the stage and discover the story
0:01:35 > 0:01:40of how, in the 1970s, America was one nation under a groove.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43# One nation under a groove
0:01:43 > 0:01:47# Getting down just for the funk of it... #
0:01:50 > 0:01:54By the mid-1970s, black America had gone totally funky.
0:01:54 > 0:01:56The groove was in full effect.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59MUSIC: Blackbyrds' Theme by The Blackbyrds
0:02:04 > 0:02:07But just a decade earlier, it was another story.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11MUSIC: Heat Wave by Martha And The Vandellas
0:02:11 > 0:02:15In the 1960s, it was hard just to be black.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18There was prejudice, discrimination and segregation.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20The only music made by African-Americans
0:02:20 > 0:02:23that filtered through to the charts was the vanilla pop
0:02:23 > 0:02:25of labels like Motown Records.
0:02:25 > 0:02:27# Could it be a devil in me
0:02:27 > 0:02:30# Or is this the way love's supposed to be?
0:02:30 > 0:02:33# It's like a heat wave... #
0:02:33 > 0:02:39So in the early 1960s, the funk was a mere glint in Mother Nature's eye.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43But one soul artist worked out a way to start the evolution.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49WILD CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:02:53 > 0:02:58James Brown began his career back in the 1950s as an R&B singer.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10By the mid-'60s, he'd become so influential
0:03:10 > 0:03:14and famous in black music, he was nicknamed the Godfather of Soul.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21But in 1967, James Brown left soul music behind.
0:03:21 > 0:03:26With one song called Cold Sweat, he showed the world the future.
0:03:26 > 0:03:27And that future was funk.
0:03:35 > 0:03:36# I don't care
0:03:38 > 0:03:39# About your past
0:03:42 > 0:03:43# I just want
0:03:45 > 0:03:47# Oh, our love to last... #
0:03:47 > 0:03:53Cold Sweat was the song that just blew me away. That groove...
0:03:53 > 0:03:57it was different from earlier James Brown. Something happened.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01# Ohhh, yeah! #
0:04:01 > 0:04:04I think the thing that happens with Cold Sweat is that
0:04:04 > 0:04:09that's where he really turned the whole band into a drum.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12You know, so every element in there is just kicking.
0:04:14 > 0:04:15# I break out
0:04:17 > 0:04:19# In a cold sweat... #
0:04:26 > 0:04:29That was it, when he put that break in that record.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31Yeah, and the horns, everything.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33The bass, Bootsy, the whole thing.
0:04:33 > 0:04:34Yeah, that whole... That whole vibe was...
0:04:34 > 0:04:36# I don't care... #
0:04:36 > 0:04:39- THEY MIMIC THE GROOVE - # About your past... #
0:04:39 > 0:04:42THEY MIMIC THE GROOVE
0:04:54 > 0:04:59There was more emphasis on the bass and drum locking.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01It became harder.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03It was...
0:05:03 > 0:05:05more intense, with less.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10James Brown surrounded himself with the best musicians money could buy,
0:05:10 > 0:05:13but it was him alone who decided what was funky.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16He'd get the band members to jam together, and then,
0:05:16 > 0:05:18one by one, he'd get each of them to play
0:05:18 > 0:05:19what he was hearing in his head.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25You had to really try to understand what he was talking about, you know?
0:05:25 > 0:05:28He would say a thing like...
0:05:28 > 0:05:32HE MIMICS GROOVE
0:05:32 > 0:05:34And it wouldn't really be anything, you know?
0:05:34 > 0:05:37But a bass player could try to think something like what he's doing.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39He'd say, "No, that's not it."
0:05:39 > 0:05:41They'd do something else, he'd say, "No, that's not..."
0:05:41 > 0:05:44Then he'd... He'd say, "That's it! That's it!"
0:05:44 > 0:05:47And when he said, "That's it!", you just kept what you were doing.
0:05:47 > 0:05:48Everybody hit it!
0:05:48 > 0:05:50Come on, now!
0:05:51 > 0:05:53Good God! Uh!
0:05:53 > 0:05:57Previously with rhythm and blues, rock'n'roll and soul music,
0:05:57 > 0:06:00the emphasis had been on the second and fourth beats of the bar.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03What James Brown did was to stress the first beat.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07This became the bedrock of funk music - the rhythm of the one.
0:06:09 > 0:06:10Hey!
0:06:11 > 0:06:13Yeah!
0:06:13 > 0:06:14Yeah!
0:06:15 > 0:06:16Yeah!
0:06:16 > 0:06:17There was that emphasis on...
0:06:17 > 0:06:22MIMICS DRUM PATTERN
0:06:22 > 0:06:25You know, his drumbeats.
0:06:25 > 0:06:26Yeah.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29Beep beep!
0:06:29 > 0:06:30Beep beep!
0:06:31 > 0:06:33Beep beep!
0:06:33 > 0:06:37James really conceived of the entire band
0:06:37 > 0:06:40as bringing these strong rhythmic accents,
0:06:40 > 0:06:44emphasising that first beat again and again and again.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46I mean, you know, every beat is there,
0:06:46 > 0:06:48but there's always that accent on the one,
0:06:48 > 0:06:51which is very African, you know?
0:06:51 > 0:06:56From way back in Africa, that was that rhythm that would just...
0:06:56 > 0:06:58You know, stir the soul, as it were.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05All of a sudden, groove was more important,
0:07:05 > 0:07:09whereas in years past, the middle part was very important
0:07:09 > 0:07:11and the vocal, cos remember -
0:07:11 > 0:07:15James wasn't doing a lot of lyrical, melodic vocals.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18He was... "Hiii! Good God! Uh!"
0:07:18 > 0:07:24Because he was just basically riding and dancing on top of that groove.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26Keep it down!
0:07:26 > 0:07:27Beep beep!
0:07:27 > 0:07:33It not only kind of changed the way listeners thought about
0:07:33 > 0:07:37what dance music was, what funky music was,
0:07:37 > 0:07:40but a lot of songwriters and musicians, a lot of his peers.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43All that we know, all that we do...
0:07:43 > 0:07:45James is the father.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48You know, they ain't call him The Godfather for nothing.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51He was the man that taught us all how to be funky.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59James Brown was funk's original pioneer,
0:07:59 > 0:08:02his Cold Sweat showing the path of the revolution.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05But the funk was not yet fully formed.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07Over on the West Coast of America,
0:08:07 > 0:08:10from the heart of San Francisco's peace and love generation,
0:08:10 > 0:08:13emerged a new funk phenomenon.
0:08:13 > 0:08:15Amongst the psychedelic rock scenes
0:08:15 > 0:08:18of bands like Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead,
0:08:18 > 0:08:21this pioneering group was about to change the groove again.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27Hey, here's Sly & The Family Stone. Owww!
0:08:27 > 0:08:30MUSIC: Dance To The Music
0:08:30 > 0:08:32# Get up and dance to the music!
0:08:42 > 0:08:45# Dance to the music
0:08:45 > 0:08:48# Dance to the music... #
0:08:48 > 0:08:50Where James Brown's funk was strictly controlled
0:08:50 > 0:08:52by the Soul Brother Number One himself,
0:08:52 > 0:08:56in Sly & The Family Stone, everyone got involved with creating the vibe.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59Although they were a multi-racial, mixed-gender group,
0:08:59 > 0:09:00they had a sense of togetherness
0:09:00 > 0:09:03that really shone through in their music.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05A lot of bands back during that time,
0:09:05 > 0:09:07they would have the singing group out front
0:09:07 > 0:09:10and the band would be the backing band.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14But we were self-contained, in that we were the band and we were
0:09:14 > 0:09:19the singers as well, and we would all contribute to the lead lines.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21Sly would sing a line, I would sing a line...
0:09:21 > 0:09:23Usually always the low, uh...
0:09:23 > 0:09:26- LOW VOICE: - # I'm going to add some bottom... #
0:09:26 > 0:09:28# ..Add some bottom
0:09:28 > 0:09:31# So that the dancers just won't hide... #
0:09:31 > 0:09:35We all had our own musical background and experiences
0:09:35 > 0:09:38that we were allowed to contribute to the band.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40So everybody brought something to the table.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44# You might like to hear my organ
0:09:44 > 0:09:47# I said, "Ride, Sally, ride now"... #
0:09:47 > 0:09:49Although Sly was the writer,
0:09:49 > 0:09:53musically he would allow us to express ourselves,
0:09:53 > 0:09:56and I think that that really helped the band to be
0:09:56 > 0:10:00kind of like a melting pot of music, so to speak.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06It was this openness to new ideas
0:10:06 > 0:10:09that allowed Larry Graham to go wild with his bass.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11He invented a new style of playing
0:10:11 > 0:10:14that would become one of the sounds most associated with funk...
0:10:14 > 0:10:16# Looking at the devil... #
0:10:16 > 0:10:17..slap bass.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20# Grinning at his gun
0:10:22 > 0:10:24# Fingers start shaking
0:10:27 > 0:10:29# I begin to run... #
0:10:30 > 0:10:34It was a technique he'd developed playing with his mum as a kid.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46My mom decided that we weren't going to have drums any more.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50Now, I don't know if that was for economic reasons or what.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54Maybe two people could make more than dividing it up among three!
0:10:54 > 0:10:55She never told me the reason.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57But, "We're not going to have drums any more."
0:10:57 > 0:11:02So that's when I started thumping the strings with my thumb
0:11:02 > 0:11:04to make up for not having that bass drum,
0:11:04 > 0:11:06and plucking the strings with my finger
0:11:06 > 0:11:09to make up for not having that backbeat on the snare drum,
0:11:09 > 0:11:13so it's kind of playing the drums on the bass.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20# Mama's so happy
0:11:22 > 0:11:25# Mama starts to cry... #
0:11:25 > 0:11:28After Thank You (Falettin Me)...
0:11:28 > 0:11:32That became a huge template for every bass player
0:11:32 > 0:11:34to start using the thumb slap.
0:11:34 > 0:11:39You talk about a song being written around a bass riff, that was it.
0:11:39 > 0:11:44Later on, other bands, if you were going to play some serious funk,
0:11:44 > 0:11:47you kind of had to have the bass player
0:11:47 > 0:11:50play my style of playing the bass.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55Thank You was a number one record
0:11:55 > 0:11:57that became a cornerstone of the funk.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00The way the bass riff left space for the rest of the band
0:12:00 > 0:12:03to fill in the groove showed the next generation of funkateers
0:12:03 > 0:12:06how to construct a hit song out of a jam.
0:12:08 > 0:12:13# Thank you falettin me be mice elf agin... #
0:12:15 > 0:12:20The more space sometimes that you leave between the 2 and the 4,
0:12:20 > 0:12:23and if you just play that continuously
0:12:23 > 0:12:26and let it just brew on the same groove over and over
0:12:26 > 0:12:31and over and over again, till it gets so powerful...
0:12:31 > 0:12:35that is ridiculous. That's like the kind of funk that I like.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39And then you make the ugly face. Like...
0:12:39 > 0:12:41- SHE LAUGHS - That's funky.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45# Sing a simple song!
0:12:45 > 0:12:48# Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah... #
0:12:48 > 0:12:51Everybody helped create the sound of the band,
0:12:51 > 0:12:54but Sly was very much the head of the family.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58He wrote the songs, the lyrics, and even told them what to wear.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02Their freaky clothes and afros would define the funk look of the 1970s.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04# It's a simple song at last
0:13:04 > 0:13:05# Let me hear you say...
0:13:05 > 0:13:09# Ahhh
0:13:09 > 0:13:12# Ya-ya-ya, ya-ah-h-hhh... #
0:13:12 > 0:13:17They came as a unit. They were dressed as a unit.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20They wore the funkiest clothes.... Oh, my God.
0:13:20 > 0:13:25Bell bottoms, platform shoes, hats, jackets with fur on the side...
0:13:25 > 0:13:29It was almost like being in a dressed-up gang.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34He didn't like what I wore when I came to his house one day.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39So he looked down on the ground,
0:13:39 > 0:13:45and he had a cowskin rug down there, and he goes, "Give me a razor."
0:13:45 > 0:13:49And he got the razor, he went and cut a slit in the cowskin,
0:13:49 > 0:13:53I put it on as a poncho, and that was my outfit.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55I didn't choose that. That was hot and sweaty!
0:13:55 > 0:13:57But after that, I paid attention.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00# Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah... #
0:14:00 > 0:14:03It wasn't just the band's clothes that made them stand out.
0:14:03 > 0:14:04Back in the late-1960s,
0:14:04 > 0:14:08a mixed-race group with a black lead singer was rare.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10Just performing on live television
0:14:10 > 0:14:13was making a statement to the whole of America:
0:14:13 > 0:14:15an integrated society could work.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18But for Sly & The Family Stone,
0:14:18 > 0:14:22it was just about talented musicians making incredibly funky music.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25We just felt like a family, you know?
0:14:25 > 0:14:30I didn't really look at Greg Errico or Jerry Martini as, you know,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33the white members of the band, and I'm sure they weren't
0:14:33 > 0:14:35looking at us as the black members of the band.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38And so, the crowds that we played for,
0:14:38 > 0:14:42they looked at us like that and we looked at them like that.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46# Huh! Watch me... #
0:14:46 > 0:14:48But not everybody shared the same views.
0:14:48 > 0:14:52For black Americans, the 1960s was a daily fight for racial equality.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56There was widespread rioting and violent clashes with authorities.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59It was rough, you know?
0:14:59 > 0:15:04We had gotten used to being looked upon as second class, you know,
0:15:04 > 0:15:10and not deserving first-class treatment, and that's a bad thing.
0:15:10 > 0:15:15When people get used to being downtrodden and stepped on,
0:15:15 > 0:15:16that's a real bad thing.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19MUSIC: The Boss by James Brown
0:15:19 > 0:15:21# Paid the cost to be the boss... #
0:15:21 > 0:15:23James Brown believed he could help make a change.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26Thanks to some big funky hits in the second half of the '60s,
0:15:26 > 0:15:28he was a national superstar.
0:15:28 > 0:15:30And while he toured America, he used his fame
0:15:30 > 0:15:32to talk to local black communities,
0:15:32 > 0:15:35inspiring them to succeed in a white-run world.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38When you go to get a job, don't go just to get a good job,
0:15:38 > 0:15:40go in saying, "One of these days, I plan to own this company.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43"I'll be the general manager and build one of my own."
0:15:43 > 0:15:45# Look at me! #
0:15:45 > 0:15:48Brown believed money was the only way
0:15:48 > 0:15:50for black people to have any real power.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54He felt that the secret to the success of the black community
0:15:54 > 0:15:57hinged on being self-supportive
0:15:57 > 0:16:01and not just depending on government support
0:16:01 > 0:16:05or having to work for the white man.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09# Give it up to the funk... #
0:16:09 > 0:16:12As the 1960s drew to a close,
0:16:12 > 0:16:15James became part of a growing group of black leaders
0:16:15 > 0:16:17forcing America to wake up to the civil rights movement.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21We going to walk on this nation.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23We going to walk on this racist power structure,
0:16:23 > 0:16:26and we're going to say to the whole damn government,
0:16:26 > 0:16:27"Stick 'em up, motherfucker!
0:16:27 > 0:16:30"This is a hold-up. We've come for what's ours."
0:16:30 > 0:16:32# Give it up to the funk... #
0:16:33 > 0:16:35But in April of 1968,
0:16:35 > 0:16:39this political push was stopped dead in its tracks.
0:16:39 > 0:16:40Dr Martin Luther King,
0:16:40 > 0:16:43the movement's figurehead, was murdered.
0:16:44 > 0:16:50When Martin Luther King was assassinated, you look and you go,
0:16:50 > 0:16:54"Our heroes are being wiped out, one by one.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59"What can we do? Just when we...
0:16:59 > 0:17:04"you know, we're getting some place, we get knocked back down again."
0:17:07 > 0:17:08Riots raged across America,
0:17:08 > 0:17:12and as one of the nation's most prominent black figures,
0:17:12 > 0:17:15pressure was on James Brown to respond.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18James was pretty much the guy, you know, back then in the late '60s.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22There was pretty much nobody else that was as powerful and as strong
0:17:22 > 0:17:26as James was, his voice and his music, and people listened to him.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28# Uh! With your bad self... #
0:17:28 > 0:17:31James' answer was to unite African-Americans
0:17:31 > 0:17:34the best way he knew how - through the funk.
0:17:34 > 0:17:35# Say it loud
0:17:35 > 0:17:37# I'm black and I'm proud... #
0:17:38 > 0:17:42In 1968, he released one of pop music's most influential
0:17:42 > 0:17:47cultural anthems - Say it Loud - I'm Black & I'm Proud.
0:17:47 > 0:17:48# Say it loud
0:17:48 > 0:17:51# I'm black and I'm proud... #
0:17:51 > 0:17:54The single peaked at number ten on the national charts.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57Funk music was carrying a message of black empowerment
0:17:57 > 0:17:59directly into mainstream America.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02The lyrics, everything, were right on.
0:18:02 > 0:18:04It was perfect, you know?
0:18:04 > 0:18:07It instilled pride in us, you know?
0:18:07 > 0:18:11It instilled a sense of purpose,
0:18:11 > 0:18:14so we could go further in life if we wanted to,
0:18:14 > 0:18:16and not to be ashamed of the fact you were black,
0:18:16 > 0:18:19because at that time, everybody was telling you, you were ashamed,
0:18:19 > 0:18:22you know, to be ashamed of yourself, or "you'll never be nothing".
0:18:22 > 0:18:23# Say it loud
0:18:23 > 0:18:25# I'm black and I'm proud
0:18:26 > 0:18:27# Say it loud
0:18:27 > 0:18:30# I'm black and I'm proud... #
0:18:30 > 0:18:35Well, he played it live in Jersey City, Roosevelt Stadium,
0:18:35 > 0:18:39and they had about 30,000, 40,000.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41And everybody said, "I'm black and I'm proud."
0:18:41 > 0:18:43- "Say it loud."- "Say it loud."
0:18:43 > 0:18:44- In fact, they had to stop the concert.- Yeah.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46HE LAUGHS
0:18:46 > 0:18:50Cos we got excited, you know? You want to tear something up now!
0:18:50 > 0:18:52First time we played it live was in Houston, Texas.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55I'll never forget it. And James came on stage,
0:18:55 > 0:18:56and he said, "Say it loud..."
0:18:56 > 0:18:58And the whole audience...
0:18:59 > 0:19:01I tear up when I say this.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05"I'm black and I'm proud!" You know?
0:19:05 > 0:19:07It was...amazing.
0:19:07 > 0:19:09Amazing.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12The whole audience said it.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15Must have been 20,000, 30,000 people there,
0:19:15 > 0:19:18and they all...all said, "I'm black and I'm proud."
0:19:19 > 0:19:24# I am everyday people
0:19:24 > 0:19:26# Yeah, yeah... #
0:19:27 > 0:19:30While James Brown's funky protest anthem
0:19:30 > 0:19:32plugged right into the heart of black America,
0:19:32 > 0:19:35Sly Stone was writing some anthems of his own.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39# We got to live together
0:19:40 > 0:19:44# I am no better and neither are you
0:19:44 > 0:19:48# We are the same whatever we do... #
0:19:48 > 0:19:51He was the Family Stone's creative genius,
0:19:51 > 0:19:54and whereas James Brown's lyrics were often about black pride,
0:19:54 > 0:19:57Sly's message was about bringing people together.
0:19:57 > 0:20:02# I am everyday people... #
0:20:02 > 0:20:08More important than anything, to me, is he was naturally funky,
0:20:08 > 0:20:10and everybody in the band was funky, even me.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14But his lyrics were the most important things that he ever did.
0:20:14 > 0:20:16He is so brilliant.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20I mean, even songs like Stand, if you listen to Stand,
0:20:20 > 0:20:22it was about the times.
0:20:22 > 0:20:28# Stand for the things you know are right
0:20:28 > 0:20:32# It's the truth that the truth makes them so uptight
0:20:32 > 0:20:33# Stand... #
0:20:33 > 0:20:36There was no talk about violence.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39He doesn't talk about "get your weapons
0:20:39 > 0:20:42"and stand up against something", you know what I'm saying?
0:20:42 > 0:20:43It is just stand FOR it.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45# ..Stand
0:20:45 > 0:20:47# Stand. #
0:20:49 > 0:20:52Sly & The Family Stone's sing-a-long songs
0:20:52 > 0:20:55and hippy attitude appealed to both black and white record buyers.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59By the time the band played Woodstock Festival,
0:20:59 > 0:21:02they'd already had two huge number one singles.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05If they could go down well in front of half a million rock fans,
0:21:05 > 0:21:08the funk would truly have crossed over.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15# Hey, hey, hey, hey!
0:21:15 > 0:21:19# Feeling's getting stronger
0:21:19 > 0:21:23# Music's getting longer too... #
0:21:23 > 0:21:27But arriving on stage at 3am, they had their work cut out.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29# ..I want to take you higher... #
0:21:32 > 0:21:36About three or four songs into our set, people started getting into it
0:21:36 > 0:21:39and coming out of their tents because it had been raining.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42It was amazing.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44But the energy coming from the audience...
0:21:44 > 0:21:47So it was this whole thing that was driving...
0:21:47 > 0:21:49They were driving us and we were driving them.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52And it was like a snowball effect.
0:21:52 > 0:21:53It was pretty powerful.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58# ..I want to take you higher. #
0:21:59 > 0:22:01The roar of half a million people
0:22:01 > 0:22:04going, "Yeeeeah,"
0:22:04 > 0:22:06I mean,
0:22:06 > 0:22:12that was something that we had never heard before or felt before,
0:22:12 > 0:22:14that kind of energy.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16- # ..Want to take you higher - Higher
0:22:16 > 0:22:19- # Want to take you higher - Higher
0:22:19 > 0:22:22- # Want to take you higher - Higher
0:22:22 > 0:22:25- # Higher!- Higher!- Higher!- Higher! #
0:22:30 > 0:22:37It was just a turning point for us, to be seen by that many people,
0:22:37 > 0:22:39for it to be written about
0:22:39 > 0:22:43by as many writers as wrote about the Woodstock event.
0:22:43 > 0:22:48It just changed the lives of a lot of entertainers.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54Both Sly Stone and James Brown
0:22:54 > 0:22:57had engineered the genetic make-up of funk.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00By the early 1970s, it became infectious,
0:23:00 > 0:23:04and soon the funk DNA was spreading all around the world,
0:23:04 > 0:23:06spawning a wave of new music.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10# Can't get enough
0:23:12 > 0:23:14# Of that funky stuff. #
0:23:14 > 0:23:19There's just funk everywhere, it became the music of young people.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22Funk had become the new hot music in the black community,
0:23:22 > 0:23:25and amongst dance music fans.
0:23:25 > 0:23:27It was...it was the new shit.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29# Fire!
0:23:31 > 0:23:34# Fire! #
0:23:34 > 0:23:38Ohio Players, the Commodores, Kool & The Gang, Tower Of Power...
0:23:38 > 0:23:40Funk was everywhere, everyone had a band,
0:23:40 > 0:23:42everybody wanted to make music that was funky.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53You had Soul Train, you had "Soul!",
0:23:53 > 0:23:56which were national TV shows that represented black music,
0:23:56 > 0:23:59black culture, so people were having it brought into their living room.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03# See how I'm walking See how I'm talking, Mamma
0:24:03 > 0:24:05# Notice everything in me
0:24:05 > 0:24:09# Your hand in mine And love me all the time
0:24:09 > 0:24:12# The truth you will plainly see
0:24:12 > 0:24:14# Come on and feel it. #
0:24:14 > 0:24:17Even if you look at the Jackson 5,
0:24:17 > 0:24:19at a certain point they broke away from the Motown model
0:24:19 > 0:24:22they were given and they made Dancing Machine,
0:24:22 > 0:24:24which was funk-influenced as well - they wanted to make music
0:24:24 > 0:24:27that was funkier cos that's what was all around them.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30# Dancing, dancing, dancing
0:24:30 > 0:24:33# She's a dancing machine
0:24:33 > 0:24:36# Oh, baby, move it, baby. #
0:24:36 > 0:24:39The Jackson 5 weren't the only act from the Motown family
0:24:39 > 0:24:40to embrace the music.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43Although the Detroit record label was initially reluctant
0:24:43 > 0:24:46to let its stars join the party, the only ones who would survive
0:24:46 > 0:24:50into the 1970s were those who could keep up with the funk.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55Little Stevie Wonder grew up from a child pop star
0:24:55 > 0:24:56into a fully-grown songwriter
0:24:56 > 0:25:00with a run of albums that featured some seriously funky cuts.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03# Very superstitious
0:25:04 > 0:25:06# Writings on the wall
0:25:09 > 0:25:12# Very superstitious
0:25:13 > 0:25:15# Ladders 'bout to fall. #
0:25:15 > 0:25:19And it wasn't long before British bands got their funk on too.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25Having begun their careers nicking riffs from African-American
0:25:25 > 0:25:28blues artists, English rock bands like The Rolling Stones
0:25:28 > 0:25:31and Led Zeppelin borrowed a few funk ones too,
0:25:31 > 0:25:35working a couple of tracks onto their multimillion-selling albums.
0:25:35 > 0:25:36# He sure is a good friend
0:25:36 > 0:25:42# And I ain't going to tell you where he comes from, no. #
0:25:42 > 0:25:44But it was a Scottish band who had
0:25:44 > 0:25:47the funkiest sound in 1970s Britain.
0:25:47 > 0:25:49Average White Band started out as a covers group
0:25:49 > 0:25:51obsessed with James Brown's funk records.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54They honed their chops on the London live circuit
0:25:54 > 0:25:57and then put out their own monster slice of funk
0:25:57 > 0:26:00called Pick Up The Pieces. It topped the American charts.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03MUSIC: Pick Up The Pieces by The Average White Band
0:26:06 > 0:26:09The record sounded so authentic, there were a few surprises
0:26:09 > 0:26:11when the band took to the road.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13A lot of audiences assumed we were black
0:26:13 > 0:26:16because they'd heard the record on the radio,
0:26:16 > 0:26:18and they would turn up and it was like...
0:26:18 > 0:26:20- when we came on!- Yeah.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24And then as soon as we started to play, it was like, "Ah, OK."
0:26:25 > 0:26:28# Pick up the pieces Pick up the pieces
0:26:29 > 0:26:31# Pick up the pieces
0:26:31 > 0:26:33# Pick up the pieces... #
0:26:34 > 0:26:37They were so funky, even James Brown and his band
0:26:37 > 0:26:41came to one of their shows to check out white funk in action.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45He said, "Yeah, you guys, I like you guys' groove."
0:26:45 > 0:26:47You know, it was the ultimate compliment.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49Of course we went to the bar after that
0:26:49 > 0:26:51and we were hanging with some of the guys,
0:26:51 > 0:26:54and they were saying, "Man, when your record came out,
0:26:54 > 0:26:55"when Pick Up The Pieces came out,
0:26:55 > 0:26:57"everyone was coming up to us and saying,
0:26:57 > 0:27:01" 'Man, we love your new record!' And we're going, 'It ain't us!
0:27:01 > 0:27:07" 'It ain't us, it's some SCAHTTISH band from SCAHTLAND!' "
0:27:09 > 0:27:11Funk was taking over planet Earth,
0:27:11 > 0:27:15but another funkateer was already orbiting our atmosphere,
0:27:15 > 0:27:17who would take the music into another dimension.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30Armed with laser-guided melodies, atomic grooves
0:27:30 > 0:27:32and rhythmic devastation,
0:27:32 > 0:27:36this intergalactic funkonaut came from another planet.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38His name was George Clinton.
0:27:44 > 0:27:48By the end of the 1970s, Clinton had built a musical empire
0:27:48 > 0:27:50that turned funk into a way of life.
0:27:52 > 0:27:53# Make my funk the P-Funk
0:27:53 > 0:27:55# Uncut funk
0:27:55 > 0:27:56# I want my funk funked up
0:27:56 > 0:27:57# P-Funk
0:27:57 > 0:27:59# Make my funk the P-Funk
0:27:59 > 0:28:00# Uncut
0:28:00 > 0:28:03# I want to get funked up. #
0:28:03 > 0:28:05It all began back in the 1950s,
0:28:05 > 0:28:08when George Clinton led a barber-shop singing group
0:28:08 > 0:28:10called The Parliaments.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13I remember them as being a stand-up group,
0:28:13 > 0:28:17wearing powder-blue suits, like The Temptations.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19And they had a song called I Just Wanna Testify.
0:28:19 > 0:28:24# And don't you know that I just want to testify
0:28:24 > 0:28:27# What your love has done for me... #
0:28:27 > 0:28:31But suits and smart haircuts wasn't George Clinton's thing.
0:28:31 > 0:28:36He had the funk inside of him and it just had to burst out.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39From there, things really start to
0:28:39 > 0:28:42unravel, because as George has said,
0:28:42 > 0:28:44they could not keep it smooth,
0:28:44 > 0:28:48keep it together, like those Motown acts.
0:28:48 > 0:28:50He said, "Yeah, we just sweated too much.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53"Guys started ripping off their shirts
0:28:53 > 0:28:55"and choreography got messed up."
0:28:55 > 0:29:00# Free your mind and your ass will follow... #
0:29:00 > 0:29:04George walks in and he's got this mohawk,
0:29:04 > 0:29:06cut his hair down here,
0:29:06 > 0:29:10and he had colour over here. I said, "What's up, George?"
0:29:10 > 0:29:13"Man, I'm taking this thing in another direction."
0:29:13 > 0:29:18# ..Free your mind and your ass will follow
0:29:18 > 0:29:22# The kingdom of heaven is within. #
0:29:23 > 0:29:27George's plan was to find a new platform for the funk.
0:29:27 > 0:29:30Although rock had developed out of the blues and R&B
0:29:30 > 0:29:32created by African-Americans,
0:29:32 > 0:29:36apart from Jimi Hendrix, there were virtually no black rock artists.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40So in 1969, George Clinton set out to change that.
0:29:40 > 0:29:43He took the funk and married it with psychedelic rock.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46He called it Funkadelic, and that's exactly what it was -
0:29:46 > 0:29:49acid rock with a huge dose of funk.
0:29:49 > 0:29:53# ..Well, I discovered that this life that was given to me
0:29:53 > 0:29:55# Was not really mine
0:29:55 > 0:29:57# Free your mind
0:29:57 > 0:30:01# If it were mine I would have fun all the time. #
0:30:01 > 0:30:04We were late, so we had to catch up with the psychedelic.
0:30:04 > 0:30:06So, of course, we just
0:30:06 > 0:30:10turned everything up, had all the Marshalls in the world...
0:30:10 > 0:30:11went into the studio
0:30:11 > 0:30:14and did Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow all in one day,
0:30:14 > 0:30:16tripping on acid.
0:30:16 > 0:30:19# Yeah, yeah, yeah
0:30:19 > 0:30:21# Yeah, yeah, yeah
0:30:22 > 0:30:25# If you and your folks love me and my folks
0:30:25 > 0:30:28# Like me and my folks love you and your folks
0:30:28 > 0:30:33# If there ever was folks That ever, ever was poor. #
0:30:33 > 0:30:40Those first four or five Funkadelic records are the most esoteric,
0:30:40 > 0:30:47bizarre, experimental takes on what R&B could be imaginable.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50Cos they are full of parody and full of satire,
0:30:50 > 0:30:53but then they are full of this amazing musicianship.
0:30:53 > 0:30:58So it's not just guys kind of, you know,
0:30:58 > 0:31:01taking the piss out of the R&B tradition
0:31:01 > 0:31:03and the discipline of that,
0:31:03 > 0:31:07but guys who actually know that discipline, know all the rules
0:31:07 > 0:31:14and they know how to just completely abstract and...um, demolished it.
0:31:18 > 0:31:22Although cult hits, Funkadelic's acid-drenched funk-rock albums
0:31:22 > 0:31:25of the early '70s barely made the top 100 -
0:31:25 > 0:31:27their experimental sound too challenging
0:31:27 > 0:31:29for both white and black audiences.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32But George Clinton was already moving on.
0:31:32 > 0:31:37When everybody thinks they have them pegged, you know,
0:31:37 > 0:31:43as these LSD-tripping, half-naked, performing...funk circus,
0:31:43 > 0:31:46they revive Parliament,
0:31:46 > 0:31:51but this time as... just this amazingly
0:31:51 > 0:31:56spectacular, theatrical, dance-oriented act.
0:31:56 > 0:32:01And George keeps some of the kind of conceptual...
0:32:01 > 0:32:04um, headroom of Funkadelic in the thing,
0:32:04 > 0:32:07but it is really masked by the beat.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10# Get up for the down stroke
0:32:10 > 0:32:12# Everybody get up
0:32:12 > 0:32:15# Get up for the down stroke
0:32:15 > 0:32:17# Everybody get up
0:32:17 > 0:32:21# Get up for the down stroke
0:32:21 > 0:32:23# Everybody get up. #
0:32:23 > 0:32:25George wanted Parliament to be the group
0:32:25 > 0:32:27that got HIS funk into the pop charts.
0:32:27 > 0:32:30He looked to James Brown's band for help.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33Bass player Bootsy Collins, his guitarist brother Catfish,
0:32:33 > 0:32:37and most of the horn section were tired of Brown's control-freakery.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40They jumped ship to join Parliament, bringing with them
0:32:40 > 0:32:42Brown's theory of keeping it on the one.
0:32:43 > 0:32:47But with George, they could go as wild and as funky as they wanted.
0:32:49 > 0:32:52James Brown wanted, "Just like this, just like that."
0:32:52 > 0:32:57Just like he said, everything had to be just like he said.
0:32:57 > 0:33:00But George Clinton would take anything that you did
0:33:00 > 0:33:04initially, but he would either mix it out or mix it in,
0:33:04 > 0:33:07he would choose whether to use it or not.
0:33:07 > 0:33:09I did some stuff that was so crazy
0:33:09 > 0:33:10that George would say, "Did you mean that?"
0:33:10 > 0:33:14And I would say, "Yes, I meant that." And he would use it.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18It was freedom, freedom, you could do whatever you wanted.
0:33:18 > 0:33:23You could make any kind of music that was in your heart,
0:33:23 > 0:33:25that you could imagine you can do.
0:33:25 > 0:33:26There were no rules.
0:33:26 > 0:33:28# Tear the roof off
0:33:28 > 0:33:30# We're gonna tear the roof off the mother, sucker
0:33:30 > 0:33:32# Tear the roof off the sucker. #
0:33:32 > 0:33:35With George Clinton in charge, it was pure creative freedom,
0:33:35 > 0:33:38whether in the studio or on stage.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41From the mid-1970s onwards, Clinton joined Parliament
0:33:41 > 0:33:44and Funkadelic into one big touring circus.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47He called the whole thing P-Funk
0:33:47 > 0:33:50and turned the concerts into total theatre.
0:33:50 > 0:33:52# We want the funk, come on
0:33:52 > 0:33:55# Get up off your ass now! #
0:33:55 > 0:34:01P-Funk shows were like going to the circus, it had everything.
0:34:01 > 0:34:08It was just like watching images like this, like, what's going on?
0:34:08 > 0:34:11# Do you want to fly this evening?
0:34:14 > 0:34:15# Do you want to ride
0:34:15 > 0:34:17# On the mother ship? #
0:34:18 > 0:34:21First of all, there's a little tiny spaceship
0:34:21 > 0:34:27coming in from the back of the hall, all the way to the front.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31And then the mother ship just comes down.
0:34:37 > 0:34:41And then George comes up out of the floor...
0:34:44 > 0:34:46It was incredible.
0:34:46 > 0:34:48# Everybody say goddamn!
0:34:48 > 0:34:50# Get off your ass!
0:34:51 > 0:34:52# Goddamn! #
0:34:54 > 0:34:57It was one continuous song. It never stopped.
0:34:57 > 0:35:01I think they would have to pull the plug to tell them to get offstage.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04They played for two, three, four hours at a time,
0:35:04 > 0:35:05and just keep playing
0:35:05 > 0:35:09until it was like, "Cut! We've got to turn the lights off!"
0:35:10 > 0:35:13# Give it up, y'all! #
0:35:13 > 0:35:15There could be over 30 musicians on stage,
0:35:15 > 0:35:17but they all knew how to play together,
0:35:17 > 0:35:20keeping it all on the rhythm of the one.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23The funk had become a spiritual experience.
0:35:23 > 0:35:27It's that tribal thing, and what it is is listening to a heartbeat.
0:35:27 > 0:35:29Everyone listening to the same heartbeat.
0:35:29 > 0:35:34Boom, boom, ba-ba, boom, boom. Boom, boom, ba-ba.
0:35:34 > 0:35:35You started hearing that.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38And you get the people feeling more tribal,
0:35:38 > 0:35:44and when you become tribal it brings together unity to the music.
0:35:44 > 0:35:46MUSIC: Night Of The Thumpasorus People
0:35:50 > 0:35:53It was this sense of unity that was bringing thousands
0:35:53 > 0:35:57of black P-Funk fans together at huge concerts all over America.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00This was the first time a black act had rivalled
0:36:00 > 0:36:03the big live shows of the 1970s' white rock bands.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06And for many African-American teenagers,
0:36:06 > 0:36:09this was THEIR stadium rock experience.
0:36:09 > 0:36:13P-Funk always had a humongous black audience,
0:36:13 > 0:36:17so they were playing sold-out stadiums full of black people.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21Like, if you went to a P-Funk concert in DC,
0:36:21 > 0:36:24you know, as I did, like, in the '70s,
0:36:24 > 0:36:26you never saw any white people there.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33And it was black America buying the records,
0:36:33 > 0:36:36taking monster P-Funk jams like One Nation Under A Groove
0:36:36 > 0:36:40and Flashlight to the top of the R&B charts.
0:36:40 > 0:36:41# Flashlight... #
0:36:44 > 0:36:46As the money started rolling in,
0:36:46 > 0:36:50George Clinton turned P-Funk into an empire.
0:36:50 > 0:36:54I figured the best way to keep the dream alive is get as many
0:36:54 > 0:36:59deals as you could. One group, you have one chance to make it.
0:36:59 > 0:37:03Two groups, you've got two chances. And Bootsy made it three.
0:37:03 > 0:37:07Then I realised everybody around you wants to be a star.
0:37:07 > 0:37:09And we all helped each other -
0:37:09 > 0:37:12it was the same people on everybody's record,
0:37:12 > 0:37:13just another person got out front.
0:37:13 > 0:37:18We did Bootsy, Fred Wesley And The Horny Horns,
0:37:18 > 0:37:20Eddie Hazel,
0:37:20 > 0:37:22Bernie Worrell...
0:37:22 > 0:37:25We did everything, we even recorded the roadies.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27Cos most roadies are musicians too.
0:37:29 > 0:37:32# Well, all right, gotcha... #
0:37:32 > 0:37:34At the height of its success,
0:37:34 > 0:37:37there were nearly 100 musicians in the P-Funk gang.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40It may have seemed like a crazy army of funk,
0:37:40 > 0:37:42but just like James Brown and Sly Stone,
0:37:42 > 0:37:45there was meaning behind the music.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47They were very serious about their message.
0:37:47 > 0:37:51Their whole vibe was black and about black empowerment
0:37:51 > 0:37:53in different ways, and so I think that people
0:37:53 > 0:37:55who don't understand that
0:37:55 > 0:37:57don't really understand funk music, don't understand P-Funk.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00The thing was to make you think.
0:38:00 > 0:38:04We'd say stuff off the wall, but you have to ponder it.
0:38:04 > 0:38:05"What the hell is he talking about?"
0:38:05 > 0:38:10Might not be talking about nothing, but it leads you into thinking,
0:38:10 > 0:38:15and when you tell somebody no, you REALLY turn them on to thinking.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18So we would do a lot of things that we know people would say,
0:38:18 > 0:38:20"No, don't do that."
0:38:20 > 0:38:24Like, if you will suck my soul, I will lick your funky emotions.
0:38:25 > 0:38:29# If you will suck my soul
0:38:29 > 0:38:35# I will lick your funky emotions... #
0:38:35 > 0:38:37You don't know why, but that just don't sound like
0:38:37 > 0:38:39something you were supposed to say.
0:38:39 > 0:38:41You know, and that makes you think, "What are they saying?"
0:38:41 > 0:38:43# ..What's happening, CC?
0:38:43 > 0:38:44# They still call it the White House
0:38:44 > 0:38:46# But that's a temporary condition
0:38:46 > 0:38:48# Can you dig it, CC? #
0:38:48 > 0:38:52The P-Funk philosophy inspired black people to believe in themselves
0:38:52 > 0:38:57and told them they could achieve the unachievable in 1970s America.
0:38:57 > 0:38:59We had to get a lot of black people up off their knees,
0:38:59 > 0:39:02who were thinking they COULDN'T do these things,
0:39:02 > 0:39:05who were ashamed of being black, ashamed of being a Negro,
0:39:05 > 0:39:08ashamed of being everything. They did not know what they wanted
0:39:08 > 0:39:11to be called cos it was built into you to be ashamed of yourself.
0:39:11 > 0:39:13You're told your options are limited,
0:39:13 > 0:39:19you're told not to think about a life beyond the givens,
0:39:19 > 0:39:23and here are these guys saying, you can be astronauts,
0:39:23 > 0:39:28you can be aliens, you can be Ancient Egyptian mad scientists.
0:39:28 > 0:39:30When they talk about black folks in outer space,
0:39:30 > 0:39:32we didn't think black folks would be in outer space
0:39:32 > 0:39:34unless we smoked weed or something.
0:39:34 > 0:39:36So they were saying, "No, you can actually do this."
0:39:36 > 0:39:38Parliament, Funkadelic, George Clinton,
0:39:38 > 0:39:42they are liberators of the black imagination in 20th-century America.
0:39:42 > 0:39:46That is the revolution they kind of fought and won.
0:39:46 > 0:39:48But funk's power to free the black imagination
0:39:48 > 0:39:52was reaching outside of the music business too.
0:39:52 > 0:39:54In the 1970s, a wave of action films
0:39:54 > 0:39:57were produced BY black people FOR black people.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00Now known as Blaxploitation films, they were often
0:40:00 > 0:40:02cartoon and sometimes controversial characterisations
0:40:02 > 0:40:07of African-American life, or spoofs of classic Hollywood movies.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12But they all drew from 1970s black culture -
0:40:12 > 0:40:15the fashion, the language, and of course, the music.
0:40:15 > 0:40:17Every movie had a funky soundtrack.
0:40:17 > 0:40:25You were getting these artists who had an opportunity to score movies.
0:40:25 > 0:40:27# Ain't I clean? Bad machine
0:40:27 > 0:40:29# Super cool, super mean
0:40:29 > 0:40:30# Dealin' good, for The Man
0:40:30 > 0:40:33# Superfly, here I stand... #
0:40:33 > 0:40:36Music made the film and the film made the music.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39# ..I'm your pusherman... #
0:40:39 > 0:40:40Freeze!
0:40:42 > 0:40:45Blaxploitation movies gave African-American actors
0:40:45 > 0:40:48the opportunity to star in leading roles,
0:40:48 > 0:40:51something 1970s Hollywood was denying them.
0:40:51 > 0:40:54- OK, Tom, used up your minute - get out!- Don't "Tom" me, man.
0:40:54 > 0:40:56MACHINE GUN FIRE
0:40:56 > 0:40:59With funk music very much in the foreground of the
0:40:59 > 0:41:03movie soundtracks, the films had an unapologetically black swagger.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06A feeling that was directly taken from the funk.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08I can't tell you how empowering it was for us to see
0:41:08 > 0:41:10ourselves on screen that way,
0:41:10 > 0:41:13and it was literally people that we saw in our communities with
0:41:13 > 0:41:17the big Afros, the colourful shirts, medallions, necklaces...
0:41:17 > 0:41:19They were walking like you walked, when you were
0:41:19 > 0:41:21walking down 63rd Street.
0:41:21 > 0:41:23They didn't just walk - they swaggered down.
0:41:23 > 0:41:25They had style.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28They were wearing the kind of clothes that you were wearing.
0:41:28 > 0:41:32It was just a wonderful time for a lot of actors
0:41:32 > 0:41:35that couldn't buy a part... to play in a movie.
0:41:35 > 0:41:40And I just felt that was fantastic that our people got to work.
0:41:40 > 0:41:44A lot of our people got a chance to get a payday.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49Funk music was at the centre of a cultural shift where,
0:41:49 > 0:41:51for the first time, African-Americans were able
0:41:51 > 0:41:53to proudly display their blackness.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56They no longer had to deny their African heritage
0:41:56 > 0:41:58and were empowered to explore a history
0:41:58 > 0:42:01the American education system had wilfully ignored.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05It was necessary for us to recognise our identity,
0:42:05 > 0:42:09because it was taken away from us and denied us for so long.
0:42:09 > 0:42:15And suppressed. It was necessary for us to have that reinforced.
0:42:23 > 0:42:25A lot of people became more aware
0:42:25 > 0:42:29of our background, where we came from,
0:42:29 > 0:42:36and I think that they were very proud of where us
0:42:36 > 0:42:40and a lot of our ancestors came from.
0:42:40 > 0:42:44The strength that it took to endure a lot of the things that had to
0:42:44 > 0:42:46be endured just to survive.
0:42:46 > 0:42:53And it started to be expressed musically, but also in fashion.
0:42:53 > 0:42:55- ALL:- Beautiful people know true beauty is natural.
0:42:55 > 0:42:59- Wear their naturals proudly. - Wear their naturals proudly.
0:42:59 > 0:43:03- As a symbol of pride in blackness. - As a symbol of pride in blackness.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08Funk was at the forefront of this new wave of black pride,
0:43:08 > 0:43:11with many musicians adopting African imagery.
0:43:11 > 0:43:13# Mama ko mama sa maka makoosa
0:43:13 > 0:43:15# Mama ko mama sa maka makoosa... #
0:43:15 > 0:43:18When Kool & The Gang looked back to Africa,
0:43:18 > 0:43:20it gave them their first big hit records.
0:43:20 > 0:43:24They took spiritual and rhythmic themes from African artists like
0:43:24 > 0:43:28Manu Dibango and transformed them into funk.
0:43:28 > 0:43:30Our producer at that time, Gene Redd, said,
0:43:30 > 0:43:33"I want you to record Soul Makossa."
0:43:33 > 0:43:38"We don't really need to make a copy,"
0:43:38 > 0:43:41because we felt that our music was creative enough.
0:43:41 > 0:43:43So we make up our own Soul Makossa.
0:43:43 > 0:43:47So we went in the studio, made it up in the morning, right? At Baggy's.
0:43:47 > 0:43:50Funky Stuff, Holywood Swinging and Jungle Boogie.
0:43:50 > 0:43:55So we stumbled upon our first gold records by not doing Soul Makossa.
0:43:55 > 0:43:58- Mm-hm.- We thought we'd make our own jungle music.
0:43:58 > 0:44:00# Jungle boogie
0:44:00 > 0:44:02# Jungle boogie
0:44:02 > 0:44:03# Get it on
0:44:03 > 0:44:04# Jungle boogie
0:44:04 > 0:44:07- # Jungle boogie - Get it on
0:44:07 > 0:44:10- # Jungle boogie - Get up with the boogie... #
0:44:10 > 0:44:12Kool & The Gang were just one of many funk groups
0:44:12 > 0:44:14who were all over the charts in the 1970s.
0:44:16 > 0:44:21But emerging from this scene was one band that would eclipse them all.
0:44:27 > 0:44:29# Yeah
0:44:29 > 0:44:31# Hey
0:44:33 > 0:44:35# When you wish upon a star
0:44:37 > 0:44:40# Your dreams will take you very far, yeah... #
0:44:41 > 0:44:44In the second half of the 1970s, Earth, Wind & Fire
0:44:44 > 0:44:48beamed their precision funk into the homes of millions.
0:44:48 > 0:44:50Started by funky drummer Maurice White,
0:44:50 > 0:44:53this nine-piece band brought with them a meticulous level
0:44:53 > 0:44:57of musicianship that made funk more popular than ever.
0:44:57 > 0:44:59# ..You're a shining star
0:44:59 > 0:45:02# No matter who you are
0:45:02 > 0:45:04# Shining bright to see
0:45:04 > 0:45:07- # What you can truly be - What you can truly be! #
0:45:07 > 0:45:09They used the same elements,
0:45:09 > 0:45:15in terms of gospel, funk, jazz, soul -
0:45:15 > 0:45:17all of that was in their music in the same way
0:45:17 > 0:45:19it was in George Clinton's music,
0:45:19 > 0:45:21it's just it was more polished.
0:45:21 > 0:45:23Do you believe in love this evening?
0:45:23 > 0:45:25AUDIENCE SCREAMS
0:45:25 > 0:45:28Do you believe love was written in the stone?
0:45:28 > 0:45:30CHEERING
0:45:30 > 0:45:34George Clinton's music was a harder sounding funk.
0:45:34 > 0:45:36The long jams, psychedelic freak-outs
0:45:36 > 0:45:40and lyrical in-jokes could sometimes alienate audiences.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44Earth, Wind & Fire was a lighter style, using the rhythms
0:45:44 > 0:45:48and grooves to make catchy pop songs with a universal appeal.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52# I found that love provides the key
0:45:52 > 0:45:56# Unlocks the heart and souls of you and me... #
0:45:56 > 0:46:00There were people for whom Funkadelic was just too weird.
0:46:00 > 0:46:03Earth, Wind & Fire, their agenda was definitely to make
0:46:03 > 0:46:06a black sound that also kind of reached into
0:46:06 > 0:46:09mainstream Middle America as well.
0:46:09 > 0:46:12# Come to see victory
0:46:12 > 0:46:15# In a land called fantasy... #
0:46:15 > 0:46:19Earth, Wind & Fire's funk-lite was not just more appealing to whites,
0:46:19 > 0:46:22but also to the black middle classes, whose numbers were
0:46:22 > 0:46:24significantly rising in the late 1970s.
0:46:26 > 0:46:28Moving into white areas,
0:46:28 > 0:46:31these newly affluent African-Americans were keen to
0:46:31 > 0:46:33portray an image of black sophistication
0:46:33 > 0:46:35that Earth, Wind & Fire represented.
0:46:39 > 0:46:43The music is in some ways kind of leading that charge...
0:46:43 > 0:46:49of segments of black America being able to move out of the hood
0:46:49 > 0:46:55and into these areas with nicer homes, nicer schools, nicer lawns.
0:46:55 > 0:46:57So there's a sociological parallel.
0:46:59 > 0:47:01It was a new audience for the funk,
0:47:01 > 0:47:05and they bought Earth, Wind & Fire's records in their millions.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08In the late 1970s, the group scored five top ten albums,
0:47:08 > 0:47:12selling out huge stadiums all over America.
0:47:12 > 0:47:14They were one of the biggest bands on the planet,
0:47:14 > 0:47:17and the funk was at the height of its powers.
0:47:17 > 0:47:21# Gonna tell the story Morning glory
0:47:21 > 0:47:24# All about the serpentine fire
0:47:24 > 0:47:28# Gonna tell the story Morning glory
0:47:28 > 0:47:31# All about the serpentine fire
0:47:33 > 0:47:39# Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah... #
0:47:39 > 0:47:42Earth, Wind & Fire's phenomenal record sales allowed them
0:47:42 > 0:47:45to take P-Funk's live show concepts to the next level.
0:47:48 > 0:47:51While they belted out their perfectionist funk,
0:47:51 > 0:47:54they stunned their audiences with extravagant costumes,
0:47:54 > 0:47:57choreographed dances and elaborate magic tricks.
0:48:01 > 0:48:04This may have been the funk at its most commercial,
0:48:04 > 0:48:07but at the end of the '70s, it was the greatest show on Earth.
0:48:07 > 0:48:13One of Maurice's visions, brilliant, was that as well as having
0:48:13 > 0:48:18a well-honed and toned band, musically,
0:48:18 > 0:48:21let's give the people a feast for their eyes as well as their ears.
0:48:25 > 0:48:29We were kind of into Egyptology at the time, the pyramids and the
0:48:29 > 0:48:31Sphinx and all that,
0:48:31 > 0:48:36it was part of our...our persona, part of our show.
0:48:38 > 0:48:40CHEERING
0:48:46 > 0:48:51People thought we could levitate! People thought we could...
0:48:51 > 0:48:54I mean, they really thought we were magicians after a while.
0:49:01 > 0:49:05They were doing tricks, disappearing, the drums
0:49:05 > 0:49:09were moving, they were moving and different elements on stage.
0:49:09 > 0:49:16It was crazy, it was like a magic show/fashion show, a dance-off.
0:49:16 > 0:49:19I mean, I was exhausted, I felt like I had performed.
0:49:19 > 0:49:21I was so busy screaming and yelling,
0:49:21 > 0:49:24"Aah, I love that song! Aah!" You know?
0:49:24 > 0:49:28But just as it seemed the funk was fully evolved,
0:49:28 > 0:49:31a rival groove was working its way into our atmosphere.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35Once it broke through, it would take over our entire planet.
0:49:35 > 0:49:37The funk was under serious threat.
0:49:37 > 0:49:39# Shake, shake, shake
0:49:39 > 0:49:41# Shake, shake, shake
0:49:41 > 0:49:42# Shake your booty
0:49:42 > 0:49:45# Shake your booty... #
0:49:45 > 0:49:50When disco came in, uh...things started changing.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53Almost overnight.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56And it was unfortunate for a lot of those funk acts,
0:49:56 > 0:50:01cos it just sort of killed them dead in their tracks.
0:50:01 > 0:50:05Disco was so big, they was having them in grocery stores at night.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09Funeral parlours moved the caskets out the way, turned it into a disco.
0:50:09 > 0:50:11They was in demand.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16Although disco retained elements of the funk,
0:50:16 > 0:50:18something vital was missing.
0:50:18 > 0:50:22Funk's heartbeat - the rhythm of the one - had gone up in smoke.
0:50:22 > 0:50:24# Burn, baby, burn
0:50:24 > 0:50:25# Disco inferno
0:50:25 > 0:50:27# Burn, baby, burn
0:50:27 > 0:50:30# Burn that mother down, y'all... #
0:50:30 > 0:50:33The beat went to four on the floor.
0:50:33 > 0:50:38It became boom-boom-boom-boom, no syncopation,
0:50:38 > 0:50:41so you just had this boom-boom-boom-boom.
0:50:42 > 0:50:47And funk is bump, tacky-ticky-tack - syncopated beat.
0:50:47 > 0:50:49So the beat went to boom-boom-boom.
0:50:49 > 0:50:54# Ooh, it's so good, it's so good
0:50:54 > 0:50:56# It's so good, it's so good
0:50:56 > 0:50:59# It's so good... #
0:50:59 > 0:51:03In the clubs, I guess, disco is easier to dance to.
0:51:03 > 0:51:04It was a straight beat.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08But one beat, to do everything with that beat is like making love
0:51:08 > 0:51:10with the same stroke.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13One stroke, get on your nerves so bad, you won't be able to come,
0:51:13 > 0:51:15it's like not being able to come.
0:51:15 > 0:51:18The natural rhythms of funk that made it so human
0:51:18 > 0:51:21were being replaced by the computerised precision
0:51:21 > 0:51:24of electronic instruments.
0:51:24 > 0:51:27I remember having conversations with many drummers
0:51:27 > 0:51:29and percussion players to say,
0:51:29 > 0:51:31"Oh, my God, what's going to happen,
0:51:31 > 0:51:34"are we going to have a job any more, are we going to be able to play?
0:51:34 > 0:51:35"Who's going to hire us?
0:51:35 > 0:51:37"Because now it's all about drum machine and technology."
0:51:41 > 0:51:44The funk had to adapt to survive.
0:51:44 > 0:51:47Earth, Wind & Fire tackled disco head-on by switching their groove
0:51:47 > 0:51:50and punching into the charts with one of their biggest hit records.
0:51:52 > 0:51:54# Dance
0:51:55 > 0:51:57# Boogie wonderland
0:52:00 > 0:52:02# Dance!
0:52:02 > 0:52:07# Boogie wonderland
0:52:07 > 0:52:12# Midnight creeps so slowly into hearts of men
0:52:12 > 0:52:14# Who need more than they get... #
0:52:14 > 0:52:17Many of the '70s' bands were posed with a dilemma -
0:52:17 > 0:52:19get down with the disco beat,
0:52:19 > 0:52:22or stay true to the funk and lose your record deal.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25The reality is, Maurice didn't want to do Boogie Wonderland.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28And Verdine and I said, "We should do it."
0:52:28 > 0:52:31When it started shooting up the charts, Maurice was like,
0:52:31 > 0:52:33"Yeah, yeah." You know?
0:52:33 > 0:52:39So there's a slippery slope you have to walk between so-called
0:52:39 > 0:52:43staying current and staying true to what got you current.
0:52:43 > 0:52:47# Yes, it's ladies' night and the feeling's right
0:52:47 > 0:52:51# Oh, yes, it's ladies' night, oh, what a night... #
0:52:51 > 0:52:54Other funk bands realised it was time to change too.
0:52:54 > 0:52:57Kool & The Gang - formerly an instrumental group -
0:52:57 > 0:52:59introduced a singer, adapted the beat
0:52:59 > 0:53:02and enjoyed the most successful hits of their career.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05Ladies' Night wasn't straight-up disco, Ladies' Night was nice
0:53:05 > 0:53:08because you still heard the Kool & The Gang style
0:53:08 > 0:53:12- with them horns and where the groove was.- Watered down, of course, but...
0:53:12 > 0:53:16But our die-hard funk fans, they did NOT like that.
0:53:16 > 0:53:17They hated it.
0:53:17 > 0:53:21No, they said, "They sold out, they crossed over,
0:53:21 > 0:53:24- "they doing songs like Joanna." - We did.
0:53:24 > 0:53:29- We sold out...of every record in the store.- We could sell.
0:53:29 > 0:53:32- The record company didn't have no problem with that.- Nah, no problem.
0:53:36 > 0:53:40But the original pioneers struggled to survive as disco took over.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43James Brown, once such an innovator of black music,
0:53:43 > 0:53:47was now playing catch up, his new watered-down sound failing to sell.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54By the end of the 1970s, Sly & The Family Stone had disbanded,
0:53:54 > 0:53:57with Sly practically disappearing
0:53:57 > 0:53:59from public life due to a serious drug problem.
0:54:03 > 0:54:06And as the clubs and dance floors of America were getting down to
0:54:06 > 0:54:07that four to the floor...
0:54:09 > 0:54:11..George Clinton's empire was in tatters,
0:54:11 > 0:54:13as he battled record label disputes
0:54:13 > 0:54:17and the spiralling costs of running his army of P-Funk musicians.
0:54:19 > 0:54:23With a new decade on the horizon, how could the funk continue?
0:54:30 > 0:54:31The answer, once again,
0:54:31 > 0:54:34came straight out of the African-American community.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37# Left my wallet in El Segundo
0:54:37 > 0:54:39# Left my wallet in El Segundo... #
0:54:39 > 0:54:41Just like funk, this new music form
0:54:41 > 0:54:44was a direct reflection of black life.
0:54:44 > 0:54:46They called it hip-hop,
0:54:46 > 0:54:49and thanks to sampling technology, at its heart was funk.
0:54:49 > 0:54:51# Just me, myself and I... #
0:54:53 > 0:54:56There probably would not be any hip-hop without funk music.
0:54:56 > 0:54:59James Brown, the most sampled artist in music history -
0:54:59 > 0:55:01pioneer of funk music.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04Parliament-Funkadelic, George Clinton -
0:55:04 > 0:55:08second most sampled artist in pop music history.
0:55:08 > 0:55:09Foundation for hip-hop.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12# Yo, pretty ladies around the world... #
0:55:12 > 0:55:15While hip-hop raided funk's back catalogue,
0:55:15 > 0:55:17other graduates of the 1970s
0:55:17 > 0:55:19school of funk were keeping the groove alive.
0:55:19 > 0:55:23A wave of 1980s bands used digital production to keep funk
0:55:23 > 0:55:25relevant for the next generation.
0:55:25 > 0:55:27# Word up
0:55:27 > 0:55:29# Everybody say... #
0:55:29 > 0:55:32As did one man from Minnesota who spent his childhood
0:55:32 > 0:55:35worshipping at the church of Brown, Stone and Clinton.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44# Controversy... #
0:55:44 > 0:55:48Prince began his career in funk, but by the mid-1980s, he'd moved on
0:55:48 > 0:55:52to rock, pop and whatever else tickled his purple fancy.
0:55:52 > 0:55:54# Do you get high?
0:55:54 > 0:55:56# Does your daddy cry?
0:55:59 > 0:56:00# Controversy... #
0:56:00 > 0:56:03He made himself into a superstar in the process,
0:56:03 > 0:56:07but that irresistible groove has always underpinned his music...
0:56:07 > 0:56:10# Let's funk
0:56:10 > 0:56:12# Uh, let's roll... #
0:56:13 > 0:56:16..his recent records a celebration of his funk roots.
0:56:16 > 0:56:19# ..Let's funk. #
0:56:19 > 0:56:22The last 20 years have seen the beats, breaks
0:56:22 > 0:56:25and bass-lines of funk embedded into popular music.
0:56:25 > 0:56:29As George Clinton would say, it's in the DNA.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32# And that's why I'm gon' take a good girl
0:56:32 > 0:56:36# I know you want it, I know you want it... #
0:56:36 > 0:56:39Blurred Lines, the big hit by Robin Thicke during the last year that
0:56:39 > 0:56:43was produced by Pharrell, multiple rhythms, that's funk music, man.
0:56:43 > 0:56:46What Pharrell Williams is doing, that's all funk.
0:56:46 > 0:56:48Daft Punk - definitely a funk album.
0:56:48 > 0:56:53- # Lose yourself to dance - Come on, come on, come on
0:56:53 > 0:56:57- # Lose yourself to dance - Come on, come on, come on
0:56:57 > 0:57:00- # Lose yourself to dance - Come on, come on, come on.... #
0:57:00 > 0:57:03While the funk continues to mutate and survive in the 21st century,
0:57:03 > 0:57:07the original funkateers who pioneered this music
0:57:07 > 0:57:10in the 1970s are still keeping the groove alive today.
0:57:11 > 0:57:15# You're a shining star No matter who you are
0:57:15 > 0:57:17# Shining bright to see
0:57:17 > 0:57:19# What you can truly be
0:57:19 > 0:57:20# You can truly be... #
0:57:24 > 0:57:28When you look at the black music that's booked and appears all over
0:57:28 > 0:57:30the world - Larry Graham in China,
0:57:30 > 0:57:32there's a huge funk market in Japan -
0:57:32 > 0:57:35this music has become an international language.
0:57:35 > 0:57:38# Red-hot momma from Louisiana
0:57:38 > 0:57:40# Thumbin' her way to Savannah
0:57:40 > 0:57:42# She's been cooped up too long... #
0:57:42 > 0:57:44George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic
0:57:44 > 0:57:46are still out on the road doing their thing,
0:57:46 > 0:57:50Bootsy's still doing his thing, Fred Wesley, Maisie-o,
0:57:50 > 0:57:53all of these veterans are still out here keeping it alive.
0:57:53 > 0:57:59# ..Ride on, red-hot momma You sure look good to me
0:57:59 > 0:58:03# Ride on, red hot mama You sure look good to me
0:58:04 > 0:58:07# Ride on, red-hot momma You sure look good to me
0:58:09 > 0:58:13# Ride on, red-hot momma You sure look good to me... #
0:58:13 > 0:58:16Funk will never die, funk will be here for ever,
0:58:16 > 0:58:19because as long as there's things like oppression
0:58:19 > 0:58:22and discrimination, and people feeling marginalised,
0:58:22 > 0:58:24there's always going to be a need for people
0:58:24 > 0:58:26to create some sort of multi-rhythm music that's
0:58:26 > 0:58:29so different than everything you will ever hear on the radio.
0:58:29 > 0:58:30That's funk music.
0:58:32 > 0:58:34# ..Ride on, red-hot momma You sure look good to me
0:58:35 > 0:58:39# Ride on, red-hot momma You sure look good to me
0:58:39 > 0:58:44# Ride on, red-hot momma You sure look good to me
0:58:45 > 0:58:51# Ride on, red-hot momma You sure look good to me
0:58:51 > 0:58:57- # Ride on - Yeah, yeah, yeah. #
0:58:57 > 0:58:59Yeah.