WEBVTT - George Clinton 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:21.436 Pushkin. I want to let you know that Rick has 0:00:21.476 --> 0:00:25.516 a new podcast called Tetragrammaton. After about four to five 0:00:25.596 --> 0:00:28.476 years of recording Broken Record, Rick decided he wanted to 0:00:28.516 --> 0:00:30.876 talk to him more than just musicians, So on his 0:00:30.916 --> 0:00:36.596 new podcast, he'll be talking to actors, directors, wrestlers, business people, 0:00:37.036 --> 0:00:40.676 anyone that Rick finds interesting. So make sure to subscribe 0:00:40.716 --> 0:00:45.876 to Tetragrammaton wherever you listen to podcasts. George Clinton forever 0:00:46.076 --> 0:00:50.396 changed music with Parliament Funkadelic, whose theatrical sci fi performance 0:00:50.516 --> 0:00:54.316 art has captivated audiences worldwide for over five decades and 0:00:54.436 --> 0:00:57.276 influenced a range of artists from Prince to the Chili 0:00:57.316 --> 0:01:01.516 Peppers to Doctor Dre. P. Funk's blend of psychedelic rock 0:01:01.556 --> 0:01:05.116 and deep, repetitive, unfolding funk grooves helped bridge the R 0:01:05.156 --> 0:01:07.556 and B and rock worlds in the seventies, along with 0:01:07.636 --> 0:01:12.196 acts like Slying the Family Stone, known for multiple characters 0:01:12.276 --> 0:01:16.756 like Doctor Funkenstein, George Clinton orchestrated multiple solo acts under 0:01:16.796 --> 0:01:19.516 the p funk umbrella, and by the eighties was charting 0:01:19.516 --> 0:01:22.956 with solo hits himself like Atomic Dog, all of which 0:01:22.996 --> 0:01:25.676 would lay the groundwork for hip hop's classic g funk 0:01:25.756 --> 0:01:29.356 Era and beyond. On today's episode, Rick Rubin talks to 0:01:29.396 --> 0:01:32.236 George Clinton on Zoom about the origins of the original 0:01:32.356 --> 0:01:35.276 vocal group, the Parliaments, and the time George was on 0:01:35.316 --> 0:01:38.516 a panel with James Brown and dared the godfather of 0:01:38.556 --> 0:01:45.756 funkensole himself to do the splits eighteen times. This is 0:01:45.836 --> 0:01:49.636 broken record liner notes for the digital age. I'm justin Richmond. 0:01:50.636 --> 0:01:53.396 In true George Clinton fashion, he funked up his recording. 0:01:53.476 --> 0:01:55.236 But you know it's all good because we want the 0:01:55.316 --> 0:01:59.756 funk anyway. So here's Rick Rubin with George Clinton. It's 0:01:59.756 --> 0:02:03.956 a pleasure to see you, sir. Been a minute. Say yeah, 0:02:03.996 --> 0:02:06.996 I love your hat. By the way, Oh yeah, I 0:02:07.076 --> 0:02:10.156 have to keep don't know. But there was the hair 0:02:10.236 --> 0:02:15.756 before I got don't occupied at all. I like it. 0:02:15.796 --> 0:02:19.836 I watched a video of you from nineteen either from 0:02:19.916 --> 0:02:23.436 nineteen sixty nine or nineteen seventy, and everybody in the 0:02:23.476 --> 0:02:26.956 group had the best hots. You weren't wearing a hot 0:02:26.996 --> 0:02:33.196 everybody else had a hot. You had a mohawk. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:02:33.196 --> 0:02:36.276 I remember that. I always try to do so weird 0:02:36.316 --> 0:02:40.316 with the hair. You know. I was a barber I 0:02:40.356 --> 0:02:42.996 didn't know that. Tell me about your life before music, 0:02:44.116 --> 0:02:50.636 Oh gay Man, nineteen fifty six, we started the group, okay, 0:02:50.756 --> 0:02:54.556 thirteen years old. We started the group because of you know, 0:02:54.676 --> 0:02:58.676 like Frankie Lyman and the teenages, you know what, the 0:02:58.756 --> 0:03:05.156 foostball and love dwop was the main music. Yeah, dua 0:03:05.396 --> 0:03:09.596 was the music in New Jersey, and so I started 0:03:09.596 --> 0:03:11.556 a group and one of the first things you had 0:03:11.596 --> 0:03:14.436 to do in the group in those days was getta 0:03:14.556 --> 0:03:17.556 do you know you're here with the waves in it. 0:03:17.996 --> 0:03:20.436 We couldn't go to the barbershop, didn't get done because 0:03:20.436 --> 0:03:23.076 it's cost too much. So we learned to do each 0:03:23.076 --> 0:03:26.836 other's head. So while we was learning to sing in 0:03:27.156 --> 0:03:31.996 duop right up in the fifteen nineteen fifty nine, were 0:03:32.036 --> 0:03:34.836 working in the barbershop, singing at the Saint and rehearsing 0:03:34.876 --> 0:03:38.516 in the barbershop the Miracles smoking, the miracles come out, 0:03:38.636 --> 0:03:42.036 you know, the motown thing come out. So that was 0:03:42.156 --> 0:03:46.476 our destination from then on to be on Motown, singing 0:03:46.556 --> 0:03:50.116 duop and doing each other's head looking like the Temptations. 0:03:50.796 --> 0:03:55.836 We did exactly that from fifteen nine to like sixty six. 0:03:56.236 --> 0:03:58.236 When we got our first hit record, I just want 0:03:58.276 --> 0:04:03.116 to Testify incredible in Detroit, you know, after working for Motown, 0:04:03.196 --> 0:04:05.556 you know, Joe Bett most of that time, you know, 0:04:05.596 --> 0:04:08.476 as a writer, we weren't signed to you know, we 0:04:08.596 --> 0:04:11.076 never got a record out on the label. We were 0:04:11.116 --> 0:04:13.156 signed to the label for a minute, but we didn't 0:04:13.156 --> 0:04:17.236 get a record out. But the competition right down the street, 0:04:17.276 --> 0:04:20.476 Golden World from Motown. I got a job there and 0:04:20.516 --> 0:04:24.756 I recorded I Just want to Testify, and that became 0:04:25.156 --> 0:04:29.516 the hit of Detroit, you know, and we were like 0:04:29.596 --> 0:04:34.836 the competition for a minute, but we immediately changed, I 0:04:34.836 --> 0:04:37.916 don't think because it was too late. By then, the 0:04:37.916 --> 0:04:41.516 European invasion was happening, you know, it was, and the 0:04:41.676 --> 0:04:45.316 rollings on Beatles and led Zeppelins and all of that 0:04:45.436 --> 0:04:48.636 was happening. So we realized then because we had a 0:04:48.676 --> 0:04:52.236 real good backup band, which was like our little brothers, 0:04:52.796 --> 0:04:58.356 Eddie Hazel, Billy Nelson, your Tiki Fullwood, Tyle Ross and 0:04:58.436 --> 0:05:01.956 Bernie Warrell. But those were the first ones that we 0:05:02.156 --> 0:05:06.756 did for years they were called Funkadelic, But before Funkadelic, 0:05:06.956 --> 0:05:11.436 it was the Parliament's that star it in New Jersey, right, 0:05:11.676 --> 0:05:14.076 Because I think of you as Detroit, I don't think 0:05:14.116 --> 0:05:17.156 of you as New Jersey. When did you make the move? No, 0:05:17.276 --> 0:05:20.436 it started in New Jersey in the barbershop in New 0:05:20.556 --> 0:05:23.316 Jersey while I was doing these other that's when it started. 0:05:23.356 --> 0:05:26.116 At let's talk more about duop. I never made the 0:05:26.156 --> 0:05:28.996 connection because you said you did each other's hair. It's 0:05:29.036 --> 0:05:32.276 the name duop. Does it come from the dude? Is 0:05:32.316 --> 0:05:37.476 that why it's called duop? No, it was a dude, duop, dude, dude, 0:05:38.316 --> 0:05:41.756 But just so happened the dudes. You know, getting your 0:05:41.756 --> 0:05:44.396 head done was what it was called, getting the dude. 0:05:44.996 --> 0:05:48.556 So it did come close to that, but you related 0:05:48.636 --> 0:05:51.196 it together. That was the style. Remember that King Cole 0:05:51.356 --> 0:05:56.796 and his whole Bobby Sugar, Ray Robinson, those waves. That 0:05:56.916 --> 0:06:00.436 was the current style back in those days. So you 0:06:00.636 --> 0:06:02.636 if you're gonna go into the Apollo, you better have 0:06:03.276 --> 0:06:06.636 had to have a dude. You know, everybody was cool. 0:06:07.076 --> 0:06:10.036 You know on Friday, even you got that dude, your 0:06:10.036 --> 0:06:14.196 head was laid. And that was the style. When we 0:06:14.236 --> 0:06:19.076 think of a barbershop quartet, now you go, that's essentially duop. 0:06:19.716 --> 0:06:24.796 Even the gospel versions of that was basically the background 0:06:25.596 --> 0:06:29.076 singers singing the things that the bass player would play 0:06:29.236 --> 0:06:31.956 with the drummer. You know what I'm saying. They were 0:06:31.996 --> 0:06:36.156 singing the musical parts, who do up? Who do up? 0:06:36.316 --> 0:06:39.796 They would do the harmonies and singing the instrument parts, 0:06:40.396 --> 0:06:43.516 and that was basically duop. You know, you had a 0:06:43.516 --> 0:06:46.556 lot of acapellas that didn't even use music at all. 0:06:47.276 --> 0:06:50.396 You know, like if you ever remember Take six, Yeah, 0:06:51.156 --> 0:06:54.596 remember there was like experts on singing all the party, 0:06:54.956 --> 0:06:59.196 Bobby mcphern, that's basically I mean, you take the essence 0:06:59.236 --> 0:07:01.676 of du wop and making it all the way into jazz. 0:07:02.076 --> 0:07:05.636 But yeah, that's what duop basically was. We were singing 0:07:05.796 --> 0:07:09.516 in the barber shop. That's when we rehearsed that. In 0:07:09.636 --> 0:07:13.916 New Jersey. Was it always four or five in the 0:07:14.036 --> 0:07:16.756 duop group or it didn't have to be that, It 0:07:16.916 --> 0:07:19.316 didn't have to be that. But if five was basically 0:07:20.076 --> 0:07:23.876 saying that, then you got like the impressions they went. 0:07:23.956 --> 0:07:26.956 They took it to the three. You know, you had 0:07:26.956 --> 0:07:30.796 Gladys Knight and the Pips, who was four, but the 0:07:30.796 --> 0:07:34.676 three background was like a group by themselves, even though 0:07:34.676 --> 0:07:37.276 that he was backing her up, they were like another 0:07:37.316 --> 0:07:41.236 whole group. Did they come out of duop? Gladys Night, Yes, 0:07:41.436 --> 0:07:45.676 oh they then first things would have been like it 0:07:45.876 --> 0:07:49.116 was on Fury Records, would have been like it's in 0:07:49.196 --> 0:07:54.116 that sixty Yeah. So in the duop it was still happening. Yes, 0:07:54.636 --> 0:07:57.556 you know, Motown just slicked it up a little bit. 0:07:57.996 --> 0:08:00.796 It was still duop, you know, the tempts and all that, 0:08:00.996 --> 0:08:02.836 but they just slicked it up, you know, with the 0:08:02.916 --> 0:08:08.276 strings in the instrumentation. Motown took due up to the 0:08:08.396 --> 0:08:12.676 next level. What was the first duop do we know? No, 0:08:12.836 --> 0:08:16.356 that would have been in the forties. That would have 0:08:16.356 --> 0:08:21.796 been in the forties, I mean the ink spots, you know. 0:08:21.916 --> 0:08:25.436 Lewis Jordan would have been one of my favorite of 0:08:25.516 --> 0:08:30.316 that era that his was like du wop big band 0:08:30.356 --> 0:08:34.156 like count basically in Duke Ellington all that. Lewis Jordan 0:08:34.276 --> 0:08:37.436 was like the funk band of that era and they 0:08:37.476 --> 0:08:41.116 did a lot of duop type stuff. But do but dup. 0:08:41.236 --> 0:08:43.636 I think of duop as a vocal group. I don't 0:08:43.716 --> 0:08:46.156 think of the band as part of duop, Like the 0:08:46.196 --> 0:08:51.476 band is a backing band and the group are the singers. Yeah, 0:08:51.516 --> 0:08:53.956 but they kind of like did both of that. Lewis 0:08:54.036 --> 0:08:58.916 Jordan kind of like did like we did in Parliament Funkadelic. Yeah, 0:08:58.956 --> 0:09:02.956 they had the singing and the big the band part 0:09:03.276 --> 0:09:08.076 like U Ta. Sun Rock did duop. Most people don't 0:09:08.156 --> 0:09:11.356 know it he did before he went out of space. 0:09:11.556 --> 0:09:14.956 I didn't know that. There's a collection of Sunrone records 0:09:14.956 --> 0:09:19.916 out of Chicago where he was doing basic duop groups. 0:09:20.036 --> 0:09:24.596 You know when the Deals first started. Yeah, they were. 0:09:24.636 --> 0:09:28.796 They were like big in fifty four, the DALs over 0:09:28.916 --> 0:09:33.476 the Night and that stuff. They redid it in the seventies, 0:09:34.156 --> 0:09:37.596 but they were like one of the groups around when 0:09:37.636 --> 0:09:41.996 we was still around seventies that we compared our stuffs too, 0:09:42.036 --> 0:09:47.036 because we had both been there a long time. Let's 0:09:47.036 --> 0:09:50.636 talk about what a big doop group was, because now 0:09:50.956 --> 0:09:53.076 when we think of what a big group is in music, 0:09:53.236 --> 0:09:55.516 it's different today than it was then. What would be 0:09:55.516 --> 0:09:58.196 a big doop group? How many people would they get 0:09:58.236 --> 0:10:00.676 to play too? What would that be like? Tell me 0:10:01.436 --> 0:10:09.236 okay your eyes aspirations. Basically it was Cocavanna or the Vegas. 0:10:09.316 --> 0:10:12.716 That's all they thought about at that point, and you 0:10:12.756 --> 0:10:21.436 would have gotten like the Platters, Flamingos, Moolows I mean, 0:10:21.836 --> 0:10:25.196 Franky Lamon and teenagers. They they went away to like 0:10:25.796 --> 0:10:29.316 Michael Jackson. They got to that level international and they 0:10:29.316 --> 0:10:34.196 were a group. They didn't even have festivals then, so 0:10:34.236 --> 0:10:36.636 it was big. It was a big club. Basically, it 0:10:36.756 --> 0:10:39.876 was as big as it god and that was cool. 0:10:40.996 --> 0:10:46.116 We were probably ourselves in slash Stones, probably the first 0:10:46.116 --> 0:10:49.916 one that started playing to you know, black bands. They 0:10:49.996 --> 0:10:55.436 started playing to the arenas like the Soldiers Field and things, 0:10:56.036 --> 0:10:58.516 you know, and that would have been over into the seventies, 0:10:58.676 --> 0:11:02.556 but we started in the sixties along with the Ted Nude, 0:11:02.876 --> 0:11:07.236 Amboy Dudes, iggy Pop. We all was from Detroit with 0:11:07.916 --> 0:11:11.436 the same agent. So we played festivals in anne Arbor 0:11:12.116 --> 0:11:15.356 in Toronto, in places like that, you know, of the 0:11:15.436 --> 0:11:18.676 rock and roll side, you know. We was called the 0:11:18.716 --> 0:11:21.676 Bad Boys of anne Arbor at one time Funkadelic when 0:11:21.676 --> 0:11:24.356 we put out Free Your Mind and ass would follow up. 0:11:25.036 --> 0:11:29.036 Mama went in Maggot Brain. Basically when Maggot Brain came out, 0:11:29.556 --> 0:11:33.396 we played all the rock festivals. Why did you move 0:11:33.476 --> 0:11:38.436 to Detroit Motown? I see. The thing was was to 0:11:38.476 --> 0:11:41.756 get out there to record with the Motown sound you 0:11:41.796 --> 0:11:44.836 know musicians, And we went out there and I started 0:11:44.876 --> 0:11:49.836 writing with one of the competitive companies, which Motown bought out. Later, 0:11:50.316 --> 0:11:52.756 I started writing for them, and they did the Edwin 0:11:52.956 --> 0:11:58.636 Stars and you know, Dall Banks, stuff like that in parliaments, 0:11:59.236 --> 0:12:03.796 the parliaments still, you know, we did first records with them, 0:12:03.836 --> 0:12:06.076 and that's where we got our first hit. But that 0:12:06.316 --> 0:12:09.316 the time we got to Detroit, you moved out to 0:12:09.876 --> 0:12:16.276 want to join Motown. Yes, become part of that situation, 0:12:16.436 --> 0:12:21.076 which I see the same way people see hip hop today. 0:12:21.516 --> 0:12:25.636 That's the way it was to be at Motown. I 0:12:25.756 --> 0:12:28.956 tell you what, I'm going back and forth to Detroit. 0:12:29.876 --> 0:12:33.036 You know. I go to Detroit, do the week Monday 0:12:33.076 --> 0:12:35.476 to Friday. I go back to New Jersey and I'm 0:12:35.516 --> 0:12:39.636 working to barbershop Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and I'm and 0:12:39.716 --> 0:12:43.316 I go back to Detroit, you know, to write and 0:12:43.356 --> 0:12:46.516 stuff with Motown. I do that for a year and 0:12:46.556 --> 0:12:49.876 a half a thing, and then we get a hip record. 0:12:50.316 --> 0:12:53.476 I do the last record that I do for the 0:12:53.516 --> 0:12:56.636 Golden World. This guy's getting ready to sell the company 0:12:56.676 --> 0:13:00.636 to Motown. I do the last record for them, and 0:13:00.756 --> 0:13:03.516 I leave and go back to the barber shop. I'm 0:13:03.596 --> 0:13:10.116 there two weeks before the record comes out on the 0:13:10.116 --> 0:13:14.236 biggest station in the country, which was ckl W and 0:13:14.516 --> 0:13:17.556 w ABC in New York and I had no idea 0:13:17.556 --> 0:13:20.516 it was coming out. And when everybody started hearing on 0:13:20.636 --> 0:13:25.116 radio saying your record is out, and that was the 0:13:25.476 --> 0:13:30.676 I want to testify, which became the smashup that you know, 0:13:30.876 --> 0:13:36.756 sixty seven along with Beetles, um Geergeant, Jimmy Hendrix, the 0:13:36.876 --> 0:13:41.356 Cream and those was one imprinted in my brain from 0:13:41.396 --> 0:13:43.796 then on when that became a hit, and those were 0:13:43.956 --> 0:13:46.836 the records that came out with it, you know. And 0:13:47.076 --> 0:13:51.636 right after that, sly Stone came out. Before we left Plainfield, 0:13:52.196 --> 0:13:55.996 his manager got to Dave Kaepolick, that was his manager, 0:13:56.676 --> 0:13:58.996 told us that, you know, we were good, but he 0:13:59.036 --> 0:14:01.956 had a group called Sliding the family. Stone was blah 0:14:02.036 --> 0:14:05.716 blah blah blah, and I had to brighten up because 0:14:05.756 --> 0:14:10.196 we were too dark, you know, in our concepts, and 0:14:10.236 --> 0:14:13.116 he was actually I managed for a minute. We was 0:14:13.156 --> 0:14:18.676 on Stone Records with Dave Catholick managed for a minute 0:14:19.156 --> 0:14:23.196 and then Slat broke big. We went to Detroit. We 0:14:23.356 --> 0:14:26.036 had when we had that the hit single out, but 0:14:27.156 --> 0:14:31.156 we went separate ways for a minute because years get 0:14:31.196 --> 0:14:33.876 to that later. So I want to ask you about 0:14:33.916 --> 0:14:37.796 the commuting between New Jersey and Detroit for getting Motown 0:14:37.876 --> 0:14:43.116 for a minute. How different was just your experience of 0:14:43.236 --> 0:14:45.996 life in those two places or was it the same? 0:14:46.076 --> 0:14:51.156 And how would you say they were different worlds? Like this, 0:14:51.276 --> 0:14:54.356 I work in the barbershop in New Jersey, so you're 0:14:54.396 --> 0:14:58.116 dealing with New Harlem and they're like the first one 0:14:58.196 --> 0:15:01.116 that was doing those processes. Not the first, but the 0:15:01.116 --> 0:15:03.796 one that what we call elevated to where we were 0:15:03.876 --> 0:15:09.316 looking smooth and soft and natural and really fly as 0:15:09.356 --> 0:15:13.276 opposed to it's still being done and being hard and 0:15:13.676 --> 0:15:16.076 you know, glue to your head. So that was my 0:15:16.156 --> 0:15:18.556 only way of looking at it. There was lots of 0:15:18.596 --> 0:15:22.436 what they called players in Detroit, Cleveland. They was like 0:15:22.796 --> 0:15:28.036 preoccupied with that former lifestyle New York, New Jersey though 0:15:28.516 --> 0:15:32.476 we thought we was cooler with that lifestyle, same lifestyle, 0:15:32.516 --> 0:15:35.596 but just thought you was cooler in it. So I 0:15:35.636 --> 0:15:38.876 had to analyze going back and forth to you know, 0:15:39.796 --> 0:15:44.516 the players in Detroit and the players in the barbish 0:15:44.596 --> 0:15:48.276 chops around New Jersey who subdued it a little bit, 0:15:48.676 --> 0:15:51.956 and um you did to deal with what's called it 0:15:51.996 --> 0:15:56.556 abducing a quarter being the desired car as opposed to 0:15:56.876 --> 0:16:01.196 um El Dorado or Mercedes. You know what I'm saying 0:16:01.636 --> 0:16:05.316 being the car of choice. But Motown was there, which 0:16:05.396 --> 0:16:08.276 made the difference. You know, everything at Motown in my 0:16:08.396 --> 0:16:11.356 head was the who is in the world. No matter what, 0:16:11.516 --> 0:16:14.916 we just we just had to change their hairstyles. Yes, 0:16:15.276 --> 0:16:18.196 could Motown have happened to anywhere else? Or do you 0:16:18.276 --> 0:16:21.596 think that the nature of Detroit had something to do 0:16:22.156 --> 0:16:27.356 with Motown blossoming? I think it has something to do, 0:16:27.396 --> 0:16:31.596 you know, with the city in that whole factory car 0:16:31.756 --> 0:16:36.156 company thing, you know, and it's just been that place. 0:16:36.836 --> 0:16:40.876 When Chicago started like that, they just didn't get one 0:16:40.876 --> 0:16:45.196 place to zone in like Motown did. Like a lot 0:16:45.236 --> 0:16:48.196 of the records came out of Chicago, but they were 0:16:48.236 --> 0:16:50.956 different labels, And the same thing could have happened in 0:16:51.036 --> 0:16:55.836 Minneapolis when prison all of them were together. It's always 0:16:55.836 --> 0:16:58.396 been how do you keep it together? Because the industry 0:16:58.436 --> 0:17:00.916 aint going to let you keep it together. You know, 0:17:01.116 --> 0:17:02.716 the main thing is to break it up and get 0:17:02.956 --> 0:17:05.876 whoever's big, and everybody want to be big, so it's 0:17:05.916 --> 0:17:08.236 you know, kind of easier to get the good people 0:17:08.276 --> 0:17:10.396 and giving them some money and they lead before you 0:17:10.516 --> 0:17:14.756 get to a Motown guy. Motown was magic. It was 0:17:14.836 --> 0:17:18.716 like so magic. The particular band, you think of it 0:17:18.836 --> 0:17:22.596 like all the musicians, the one that played on it 0:17:22.676 --> 0:17:25.196 was unbelievable because then all those singers was like one 0:17:25.276 --> 0:17:29.716 big fan. That was like the first Motown the review 0:17:30.396 --> 0:17:34.956 were all those superstars was on the same buses. It's like, 0:17:35.196 --> 0:17:38.396 I don't know. It was like college. Yeah, everybody sharing 0:17:38.476 --> 0:17:42.516 information back and forth. And yeah, I mean and at 0:17:42.556 --> 0:17:46.556 that particular time, which was the sixties, school was happening, 0:17:46.916 --> 0:17:50.276 College was happening. A lot of kids in college was 0:17:50.356 --> 0:17:54.276 sharing knowledge all over the planet. We have to pause 0:17:54.316 --> 0:17:56.196 for a quick break here, but then we'll be back 0:17:56.196 --> 0:18:03.036 with more from Rick Rubin and George Clinton. We're back 0:18:03.076 --> 0:18:06.996 with Rick Rubin's conversation with George Clinton. It's interesting that 0:18:07.036 --> 0:18:09.836 your first song was Testify. Testify as is a word 0:18:09.836 --> 0:18:14.076 that I associate with church. Was there a spiritual component 0:18:14.276 --> 0:18:17.276 for music for you? From the beginning, I was around 0:18:17.356 --> 0:18:22.716 um barbershop a group called the Gospel Clefts. They rehearsed 0:18:22.716 --> 0:18:26.316 there and to see the show in the vibe that 0:18:26.476 --> 0:18:30.716 they would put on was unbelievable. It was like the 0:18:31.236 --> 0:18:35.956 coasters in church, and that that always let me know 0:18:36.116 --> 0:18:39.236 that that was the root of all the music, no 0:18:39.276 --> 0:18:42.596 matter what the tone was that was the root. So 0:18:42.676 --> 0:18:45.956 that vibe you know rap from to get to God 0:18:46.196 --> 0:18:50.196 Up was always the vibe of you know, church like 0:18:50.316 --> 0:18:54.956 I can remember the Staple singers or Mahellia Jackson that 0:18:55.156 --> 0:18:58.756 stuff when you know, waking up the breakfast too, and 0:18:58.836 --> 0:19:02.596 it sounds like hit records to this day when I 0:19:02.636 --> 0:19:05.756 go to Texas, all the all the bands, all the 0:19:05.796 --> 0:19:09.436 funk bands is in Texas and church. Yeah, all the 0:19:09.436 --> 0:19:13.836 best players, all the best musicians, absolutely, yeah, the best. 0:19:15.076 --> 0:19:19.036 So in the Detroit scene, how was the Motown world 0:19:19.836 --> 0:19:23.636 and the Detroit rock world part of the same thing 0:19:23.836 --> 0:19:25.396 when you were there, did you feel like it was 0:19:25.476 --> 0:19:27.596 all part of one thing or did it feel like 0:19:27.636 --> 0:19:31.156 the Motown thing is really separate from like the Ted 0:19:31.276 --> 0:19:34.556 Nugents and the and the Iggy's. When we got that 0:19:34.716 --> 0:19:39.636 funk and Testifi was out, we bridged that one instantly 0:19:40.276 --> 0:19:44.396 because Motown was already like a Motown played with those 0:19:44.676 --> 0:19:47.716 groups on shoulder with them, but we were immediately a 0:19:47.796 --> 0:19:54.076 funk psychedelic band, So it changed immediately at first. By 0:19:54.116 --> 0:19:59.436 the time Ted Nugent in Iggy Pop MC five, yeah, 0:20:00.556 --> 0:20:04.356 you know, it was merging right there. Would everyone play 0:20:04.396 --> 0:20:07.316 at the same clubs like with someone on Motown and 0:20:07.796 --> 0:20:11.796 MC five play at the same venue we did. We 0:20:11.956 --> 0:20:15.836 played with MC five and all of them, and they 0:20:15.916 --> 0:20:20.316 were separate R and B venues. Oh yeah, except for 0:20:20.476 --> 0:20:24.076 like the Rooster, tell you that's where pop and R 0:20:24.116 --> 0:20:27.716 and B played, The Fox, Pop in RB played. You know, 0:20:27.796 --> 0:20:30.916 most of those kind of places. The theater is everybody 0:20:30.996 --> 0:20:34.356 played there. What would you call the first funk record 0:20:34.716 --> 0:20:39.396 from anybody? Oh god, it would be, but it would 0:20:39.396 --> 0:20:43.516 have to be one of those blues things that you 0:20:43.556 --> 0:20:48.356 know it's in forties. Those are basically punk records, most 0:20:48.396 --> 0:20:51.956 of them. I look at, uh, you know the New 0:20:52.076 --> 0:20:58.356 Orleans stuff, you know, the Motown early records, James Jamison, 0:20:58.676 --> 0:21:04.996 those basslines, everything. They just had so much string on 0:21:05.076 --> 0:21:08.676 top that it was music for young America. That was 0:21:08.716 --> 0:21:12.236 the name. That was their theme. Their music, if you 0:21:12.436 --> 0:21:16.396 the basic rhythm tracks, was the funkiest thing that there was. 0:21:16.516 --> 0:21:19.916 That's what made us. That's who called us the Funk Brothers. 0:21:19.916 --> 0:21:22.876 They called us the Young Funk Brothers. You know, I'm 0:21:23.156 --> 0:21:26.276 backup band, and that's why we named it funka Deli. 0:21:26.716 --> 0:21:29.836 They had a New Orleans vibe on it, but Motown 0:21:29.916 --> 0:21:34.276 had its own chord changes with it. But basically everything 0:21:34.356 --> 0:21:40.556 they did, you know, was seriously funky pop. Nobody identified 0:21:40.596 --> 0:21:44.356 it with funk because we came along. We did it. Basically, 0:21:44.356 --> 0:21:48.436 we went to real raw funk, the simple lines, chants 0:21:48.836 --> 0:21:52.996 and extremely you know slow. What's the first time you 0:21:52.996 --> 0:21:57.676 were ever aware of James Brown? Please please and try 0:21:57.756 --> 0:22:01.236 me those two. I mean, as you know, they were 0:22:01.276 --> 0:22:04.836 like blues songs, but you see, you can feel the 0:22:04.956 --> 0:22:07.276 vibe in it that it was dead. But when he 0:22:07.356 --> 0:22:11.596 started doing Papa Gotta Ran New Bag, from that point 0:22:11.756 --> 0:22:15.916 on it was something else. You know, That's when you 0:22:15.956 --> 0:22:19.756 start seeing bands pop up that imitate him. You know, 0:22:20.236 --> 0:22:23.116 once they got to that point, he was like he 0:22:23.236 --> 0:22:26.876 was like a TikTok artist. Every city you go to, 0:22:26.996 --> 0:22:29.756 you can find a band that could perfect his show 0:22:29.836 --> 0:22:34.396 so good that they could actually substitute us. I mean, 0:22:35.396 --> 0:22:37.276 you know, I mean, I mean I knew some band 0:22:37.836 --> 0:22:41.156 it was more James Brown than James Brown. But the 0:22:41.316 --> 0:22:43.276 work that they had to put in to get those 0:22:43.356 --> 0:22:46.956 horn precision. I mean, you watch May She'll do it 0:22:46.996 --> 0:22:49.316 with us, You watch him do it with Prince Fred 0:22:49.396 --> 0:22:53.156 did the same thing. But the account basic they all bootsy, 0:22:53.956 --> 0:22:57.356 I mean, came our whole style. You know, from the 0:22:57.596 --> 0:23:01.436 Funk Funkadelic, like we were doing Funk first to the 0:23:01.476 --> 0:23:05.556 Parliament new stuff when we did Chocolate City up for 0:23:05.636 --> 0:23:08.876 the downstroke than Mothership and all of that, and it 0:23:08.996 --> 0:23:12.876 was still he brought the hornie horns, you know. Then 0:23:12.996 --> 0:23:18.316 with me and Bernie Warrell being a classically trained keyboardist, 0:23:18.876 --> 0:23:23.276 was able to have them played horn parts but with 0:23:23.396 --> 0:23:26.556 that same kind of precision. So it was like we 0:23:26.596 --> 0:23:30.316 had two or three generations of styles, you know, the 0:23:30.476 --> 0:23:34.756 Jimmy Hendricks, the James Brown, the Motown in Parliament funk 0:23:34.956 --> 0:23:37.716 up all at one time, you know, And that's what 0:23:37.876 --> 0:23:41.716 we were having, like ten albums out at one in 0:23:41.836 --> 0:23:46.356 a year with all the of the same people. Yeah, 0:23:46.516 --> 0:23:49.716 I always wanted to know about why, why the different 0:23:50.676 --> 0:23:54.036 band names and why the different labels, How did that happen? 0:23:54.076 --> 0:23:56.956 And was it on purpose? And tell me about it. 0:23:57.836 --> 0:24:00.236 It was the only way to get everybody, says about 0:24:00.236 --> 0:24:04.156 everybody wanted to be upfront start, So whoever was the 0:24:04.596 --> 0:24:07.116 gotta hit, that's who we all become. We was a 0:24:07.156 --> 0:24:10.876 backup band for the ads and you know, saying it 0:24:10.916 --> 0:24:13.276 didn't matter at the time, we realized that it was 0:24:13.316 --> 0:24:16.956 hard from one act to survive after you know, seeing 0:24:17.156 --> 0:24:20.916 you know, Motown get to its peak, we realized we 0:24:20.956 --> 0:24:24.556 had to have them on different labels and know that 0:24:24.636 --> 0:24:26.836 where you could accommodate all the new acts that was 0:24:26.876 --> 0:24:29.516 coming up behind us that we had, We had loads 0:24:29.596 --> 0:24:33.836 more in a way. You did what basically how the 0:24:33.876 --> 0:24:39.676 Funk Brothers was the root of all of the Motown. 0:24:40.356 --> 0:24:42.676 You did your own version of that, but instead of 0:24:42.956 --> 0:24:48.516 building a label, you had artists at all the different labels. Yeah, 0:24:48.916 --> 0:24:52.636 you know like Wotan did it right after us. Yes, 0:24:52.876 --> 0:24:56.116 and they stayed together as a group and was all 0:24:56.596 --> 0:24:59.716 on the thing. That was what we would you know, 0:24:59.836 --> 0:25:03.956 telling do had anyone done that before? You? Not? Not 0:25:04.116 --> 0:25:10.236 that many, I tell you, Phil Specter did. Remember he 0:25:10.316 --> 0:25:14.636 had that Darlene love song on everybody's record, and they 0:25:14.676 --> 0:25:18.676 had all the groups, the Crystals, you know, all the 0:25:18.756 --> 0:25:22.916 Royal raw teams and and Ike and Tina did it 0:25:22.996 --> 0:25:28.716 a little bit, remember that I gets in Ike and Tina. Yeah, 0:25:28.756 --> 0:25:32.556 they didn't, but we just spreaded it out a lot 0:25:32.716 --> 0:25:36.476 further because that's you them was was starred themselves as 0:25:36.876 --> 0:25:39.956 you know as the Jabs. We named him the Horny Horns, 0:25:40.516 --> 0:25:42.756 and they were already their own stars. So it was 0:25:42.796 --> 0:25:47.156 easy and Bootsy was Bootsy, so we made him into Bootzilla. 0:25:47.516 --> 0:25:50.676 We made him an instant star right from the get go. 0:25:51.436 --> 0:25:53.796 You know in Parliament Funk that we had built our 0:25:53.876 --> 0:25:58.516 reputation as the psychedelic band. So it was when the 0:25:58.556 --> 0:26:00.276 mother Ship happened. It was like we had a ship 0:26:00.316 --> 0:26:04.196 with all these acts on the The backup girls would 0:26:04.236 --> 0:26:09.076 become the Parletts and the brides. Was there a particular 0:26:09.156 --> 0:26:14.676 their inspiration for going psychedelic or was it more the 0:26:14.676 --> 0:26:17.956 whole movement or were there any like key artists were like, 0:26:18.196 --> 0:26:21.796 we need to do something more like this. We had 0:26:22.076 --> 0:26:26.556