#classic funk

Tracklist:

Got To Get You Into My Life • Fantasy • Can't Hide Love • Love Music • Getaway • That's the Way of the World • September • Shining Star • Reasons • Sing a Song

Submitter's note: Normally I wouldn't consider submitting a Best Of album; however, this is actually the album that September was originally released on (alongside its individual single release). With that said, I've actually chosen not to highlight it- because most people have definitely heard it by now. I'd wager a lot of people have never heard any other music by the band and only know September from its meme status, and I think that's a terrible shame.

Just come on down, to the 54 And find a spot out on the floor

Le Freak – CHIC

I Love The Nightlife – Alicia Bridges

Got to Be Real – Cheryl Lynn

You Should Be Dancing – Bee Gees

I Wish – Stevie Wonder

You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) – Sylvester

Rock with You - Single Version – Michael Jackson

Funkytown - Single Version – Lipps Inc.

We Are Family – Sister Sledge

Hot Stuff – Donna Summer

Jungle Boogie – Kool & The Gang

Do I Do - Single Version – Stevie Wonder

Boogie Oogie Oogie – A Taste Of Honey

September – Earth, Wind & Fire

Hollywood Swinging – Kool & The Gang

Good Times – CHIC

Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker) – Parliament

Play That Funky Music – Wild Cherry

Get Down On It - Single Version – Kool & The Gang

Brick House – Commodores

Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough – Michael Jackson

Celebration - Single Version – Kool & The Gang

Shining Star – Earth, Wind & Fire

Upside Down – Diana Ross

Superstition - Single Version – Stevie Wonder

I Feel Love – Donna Summer

Off the Wall – Michael Jackson

It's Your Thing – The Isley Brothers

Got To Give It Up (Pt. 1) – Marvin Gaye

Chameleon – Herbie Hancock

She's A Bad Mama Jama (She's Built, She's Stacked) – Carl Carlton

Get The Funk Out Ma Face – The Brothers Johnson

Thank You – Sly & The Family Stone

Get Up Offa That Thing – James Brown

Give It To Me Baby – Rick James

Let's Groove – Earth, Wind & Fire

Sir Duke – Stevie Wonder

He's The Greatest Dancer – Sister Sledge

I Want Your Love – CHIC

Blame It on the Boogie – The Jacksons

Bad Girls – Donna Summer

Stayin' Alive – Bee Gees

Mighty Mighty – Earth, Wind & Fire

Hot Pants... I'm Coming I'm Coming – Bobby Byrd

Flash Light – Parliament

Too Hot To Stop (Pt. 1) – The Bar-Kays

Everybody Dance - 2006 Remastered Version – CHIC

Bustin' Out (On Funk) – Rick James

It's Serious – Cameo

Workin' Day and Night – Michael Jackson

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) – ABBA

Give Me The Night - Edit – George Benson

Doin' It – Herbie Hancock

Pushin' On – The Quantic Soul Orchestra, Alice Russell

The Boss – Diana Ross

Gotta Get Funky – Doctorfunk

Get on the Floor – Michael Jackson

I'll Be There - Single Version – CHIC, Nile Rodgers

Do You Love What You Feel – Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan

Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours) – Stevie Wonder

Grease – Frankie Valli

Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine – James Brown

More Than A Woman – Bee Gees

Slippery When Wet – Commodores

Superfly – Curtis Mayfield

Fire – Ohio Players

Getaway – Earth, Wind & Fire

Shake – The Gap Band

People Get Up And Drive Your Funky Soul – James Brown, Fred Wesley, The J.B.'s

Walk Right Now – The Jacksons

Get Down Tonight – KC & The Sunshine Band

Ladies Night – Kool & The Gang

Yes Sir, I Can Boogie – Baccara

Never Can Say Goodbye – Gloria Gaynor

Pop Muzik – -M-

Night Fever – Bee Gees

Dancing Queen – ABBA

Last Dance - Single Version – Donna Summer

Disco Inferno – The Trammps

I'm Coming Out – Diana Ross

Best of My Love – The Emotions

I'm Every Woman – Chaka Khan, Lew Hahn

Boogie Wonderland – Earth, Wind & Fire, The Emotions

The Hustle - Original Mix – Van McCoy

Stomp! - Single Version – The Brothers Johnson

Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground) – The Jacksons

Give It Up – KC & The Sunshine Band

On The Radio – Donna Summer

Ring My Bell – Anita Ward

You Sexy Thing – Hot Chocolate

I Will Survive - 1981 Re-recording – Gloria Gaynor

Last Train to London – Electric Light Orchestra

Young Hearts Run Free – Candi Staton

Lovely One – The Jacksons

Shine On – George Duke

Funky President (People It's Bad) – James Brown

(Shake Shake Shake) Shake Your Booty – KC & The Sunshine Band

Daddy Cool – Boney M.

Boogie Nights – Heatwave

Lost In Music – Sister Sledge

That's The Way (I Like It) – KC & The Sunshine Band

In the Navy - Original Version 1979 – Village People

Dance Little Lady Dance – Tina Charles

I Got My Mind Made Up (You Can Get It Girl) – Instant Funk

There’s a whole lot of rhythm going down

from the album Mothership Connection

The collective legacy of George Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic recordings is as large and as all-encompassing as outer space itself, and I would be foolish to attempt anything comprehensive here. Maybe I’ll just say this: everyone in post-1970s pop, dance, R&B and hip-hop probably owes something to Clinton, including many of the artists who are now considered among the greatest of all time (to cite one of the more obvious examples, Prince would be a very different prospect without George Clinton’s influence).

Clinton stated that one of his aims was to portray black people in situations that the media rarely placed them in, and Mothership Connection took the band and their grooves right into space. ‘Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)’ must have sounded suitably otherworldly at the time - if there was ever evidence needed that disco evolved from funk, this is it, and with its deceptively simple lyrics and overlapping hooks, this track helped to anticipate the next big wave of popular music.

This was a hit - how could it not be? - and became one of the most famous tracks from any of George Clinton’s projects. Accordingly, ‘Give Up The Funk’ has been referenced, covered, and sampled countless times, but there’s no recreating the urgency of the original. The first Mothership single, ‘P-Funk (Wants To Get Funked Up)’, had seen the horns, guitars, and vocals subdued for much of the song in order to facilitate an explosion in the chorus, but ‘Give Up The Funk’ bursts right out of the gate - if ‘P-Funk’ was a suggestion, ‘Give Up’ is a demand. We need the funk. We gotta have that funk.

‘Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)’ audio:

Chart peak: US #15

Tracklist:

Let's Groove • Lady Sun • My Love • Evolution Orange • Kalimba Tree • You Are a Winner • I've Had Enough • Wanna Be With You • The Changing Times