Funk Rock

[Necromancer]

According to one source, New Orleans-born drummer Earl Palmer "was the first to use the word "funky" to explain to other musicians that their music should be made more syncopated and danceable.

Funk rock (also written as funk-rock or funk/rock) fuses funk and rock elements. Its earliest incarnation was heard in the late '60s through the mid-'70's by musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, Herbie Han****, Gary Wright, David Bowie, as well as Mother's Finest, and Funkadelic on their earlier albums.

Many instruments may be incorporated into funk-rock, but the overall sound is defined by a definitive bass or drum beat and electric guitars. The bass and drum rhythms are influenced by funk music but with more intensity, while the guitar can be funk-or-rock-influenced, usually with distortion. Prince, Jesse Johnson, and Fishbone are major artists in funk rock.
Its earliest incarnation was heard in the late 1960s through the mid 1970s by acts such as the Jimi Hendrix Experience (last two albums), Eric Burdon and War, Funkadelic, Betty Davis and Mother's Finest.

In the early 1980s Gang of Four, Iggy Pop in his LP The Idiot, The Big Boys, Xavion (An Afro-American group whose Asylum/Mirage LP in 1984 predated the formation of Living Colour) & Rick James along with New Wave mainstays Blondie and Talking Heads created their own sound mix of Punk Funk. One famous funk rock song of the period was "Another One Bites the Dust" by British Rock icons Queen. Also in the 1980s, a fusion genre probably best described as Synth-Funk (a combination of synthpop and Funk) was prominent in some Synthpop bands such as Scritti Politti, a notable album being Cupid & Psyche 85.

(Synth-Funk) The increasing availability of synthesizers in the late 70s and early 80s spawned a new generation of Funk artists who typically replaced melodic segments traditionally performed with horns with synthesizers. Synthesizers also sometimes usurped the roles of keyboards and both electric and bass guitars. Synth funk often, but not always, incorportated drum machines to augment the futuristic sound. Prominent artists of synth funk include The Gap Band, Zapp, and Prince, and their example would go on to spawn a number of followers as well as influence many established funk acts like Cameo and Rick James.

(Punk-Funk) Originally coined to classify the early 1980s post-punk artists introducing funk, disco and dub influences to experimental rock (A Certain Ratio, Konk, Liquid Liquid, PiL, Pigbag), the term punk-funk has now been requisitioned by the current crop of acts putting that same ideology to more direct effect. At the center of the movement is the New York production team the DFA, who produced the Rapture and whose James Murphy fronts LCD Soundsystem. Meanwhile, !!! and Spektrum demonstrate how guitars can be successfully welded to four-to-the-floor house rhythms without the embarrassment of most ill-considered dance/rock crossovers. Punk-funk challenges the complacency of clubland while giving indie kids something to dance to.

(80s Funk Rock) The genre's representatives from the 1980s to present day include Jane's Addiction, Fishbone, Mr. Bungle, Primus, Living Colour, Spin Doctors, as well as Prince leading the way with spinoffs, The Time, and one hit wonders, Mazarati, who all have created, expanded and defined the funk rock style.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers's second and third albums (which were released 1985 and 1987 respectively, and featured guitarist Hillel Slovak) are seen by many fans as the more funk orientated albums of their collection. This is often characterized by a driving bass-line which is played over a sparse guitar track occasionally punctuated by metal-like riffs and solos (such as the solo in the middle of Backwoods).

(90s Funk-Metal) In the early 1990s, several bands combined funky rhythms with heavy metal guitar sounds, resulting in "Funk metal", where the emphasis is in using much Heavier distorted guitar sounds in the mix. Funk Rock employs more of a lighter, "crunchier" distorted guitar sound, and the musical emphasis tends to be more beat-driven with prominent Bass lines; more rhythmic in the R&B sense. One of the best examples of the fusion can be heard on the critically-acclaimed Blood Sugar Sex Magik album, released in 1991 by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Other notable 1990's artists in the Funk-Rock genre, although not widely-known in North America, include guitarist Stevie Salas and Funk-Metal bassist TM Stevens. The latter's 1995 album Boom! is an excellent example of bass-heavy songs mixed with rhythmic guitar riffs.

Lenny Kravitz is one of the most prominent musicians today in the fusion of rock riffs and funk rhythms, as exampled in tracks such as "Tunnel Vision," "Always on the Run," and "American Woman." Incubus has dabbled in the genre as well with albums such as Fungus Amongus and S.C.I.E.N.C.E.. During the making of his acclaimed studio album Voodoo (2000), neo soul musician D'Angelo was influenced by the funk rock sound of P-Funk, Jimi Hendrix and other such artists, while his hit single "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" has been noted by critics for containing elements of and similarity to the "Maggot Brain" sound of Funkadelic.Jane's Addiction have included many funk based routines in tracks as well as Slipknot in their early days with tracks like Bitchslap and Confessions from Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat., Limp Bizkit too uses funk metal.

Funk Rock is a term broad enough to include the narrower Funk Metal genre as well as funk-related jam bands like the Spin Doctors and the Dave Matthews Band. The more retro-tinged work of artists like Prince (the Artist) and Lenny Kravitz also fall into this category. All of these artists take the guitars and riffs of metal and rock and meld them to the popping basslines and syncopated rhythms of funk.