The Best of 1990’s Funk Music

The 1990’s were a golden age for funk music, with many great artists putting out some of the best music of their careers. If you’re a fan of this style of music, then this blog is for you. Here you’ll find the best of 1990’s funk music, featuring all the biggest hits and greatest artists.

George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic

George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic were one of the most important funk bands of the 1970s. They were also one of the most popular, thanks to their many hit singles. The band’s biggest hits included “Flash Light,” “One Nation Under a Groove,” and “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker).” Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

The Mothership Connection

The Mothership Connection is the fifth studio album by American funk band Parliament, led by George Clinton. The album was released on June 15, 1975, by Casablanca Records. The album features the hit singles “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)” and “Mothership Connection (Star Child)”.

The Mothership Connection was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on October 21, 1975 and platinum on January 21, 1976. In 2003, the album was ranked number 228 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Maggot Brain

Maggot Brain is a 1971 instrumental funk song by the American funk band Funkadelic. The song was released as the lead single from their third studio album, Maggot Brain. It peaked at number 30 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

The song was written by George Clinton and produced by Clinton and Bootsy Collins. The title of the song is a reference to Collins’ bass playing on the track, which Clinton has said was inspired by James Brown’s bass player Bootsy Collins.

The song has been praised by music critics for its composition and arrangement, as well as Collins’ bass playing. In 2012, it was ranked number 4 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 50 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time.

Bootsy Collins

If there was anyone who dominated 1990’s funk music, it was Bootsy Collins. His bass playing was unmatched and his sense of style was unrivaled. Bootsy was the perfect combination of party and funk. He knew how to get a crowd moving and he always brought the funk.

The One Giveth, the Count Taketh Away

On September 28, 1990, the one and only Parliament-Funkadelic bassist and singer Bootsy Collins released his sixth solo album, The One Giveth, the Count Taketh Away. The record was, like most of his work both solo and with P-Funk, a mix of psychedelic funk and soul with a healthy dose of humor thrown in for good measure. It also featured some of Bootsy’s most political songwriting to date.

“The One Giveth, the Count Taketh Away” is a prime example of this. The song is ostensibly about the crack epidemic that was ravaging urban America at the time, but it’s also a sly commentary on the Reagan administration’s policies (or lack thereof) towards the problem. “The one giveth and the count taketh away/Another day, another hit,” Bootsy sings in his trademark falsetto over a funky bassline and sleazy horns. “The count giveth and the one taketh away/What more can I say?”

It’s a catchy tune with a serious message, and it helped make The One Giveth, the Count Taketh Away one of Bootsy’s most successful solo albums. If you’re a fan of ’90s funk (or just good music in general), it’s definitely worth checking out.

World Wide Funk

Bootsy Collins has always been one of the funkiest bass players in the business, but he took his talents to a whole other level with his 2017 album World Wide Funk. The album is a master class in funk, with Collins and his band Funk Unity laying down some of the most danceable grooves you’ll ever hear.

But World Wide Funk is more than just a collection of funk jams, it’s also a love letter to the genre, with Collins paying tribute to some of his biggest influences. Tracks like “Bass Odyssey” and “The Mothership Connection (Star Child)” are clear nods to Parliament-Funkadelic, while “Stormy Monday” and “Welcome to Bootsy Land” showcase Collins’ gift for writing catchy hooks.

If you’re looking for an introduction to Bootsy Collins, or if you’re already a fan and just want to hear him at the top of his game, World Wide Funk is essential listening.

The Meters

The Meters were an American funk band, formed in 1965 in New Orleans by Zigaboo Modeliste, George Porter Jr., Leo Nocentelli and Art Neville. The band is regarded as one of the pioneers of funk and as one of the most influential bands of the genre.

Rejuvenation

The Meters is a New Orleans-based band that rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a string of hits including “Cissy Strut” and “Look-Ka Py Py.” The band’s sound is often considered to be the cornerstone of what would later be termed “funk” music. Though The Meters disbanded in 1977, they reunited in the early 1990s and continue to tour and release new music today.

The Meters’ reunion in the 1990s brought renewed interest in the band’s music, and their albums from this period are considered some of their best work. In particular, 1994’s Rejuvenation is widely regarded as a funk classic, featuring tight grooves, intense horn playing, and the unique vocal stylings of frontman Levi Churchill. If you’re a fan of funk music, or simply want to check out one of the best bands of the 1990s, be sure to give Rejuvenation a listen.

Cabbage Alley

One of the mostinfectious and well-rounded records The Meters ever cut, 1974’s Cabbage Alley is also their second-to-last studio album with the classic lineup of Art Neville, Leo Nocentelli, Zigaboo Modeliste, and George Porter Jr. (mouse would leave during the recording of 1975’s Fire on the Bayou). Neville sings lead on just four of the nine tracks — “Be My Lady,” “Hey Pocky A-Way,” “Mardi Gras Mambo” (a raucous update of their early single), and an absolutely gorgeous cover of The Band’s “The Weight” — but he contributes his indelible stamp to every tune. On tracks where he doesn’t take the lead, such as Modeliste’s slinky opener “Africa” or Porter’s sinewy funk workout “People Say,” Neville adds his own inimitable syncopated countermelodies to the mix, pushing the rhythms ever onward while singing perfect little two- or three-note phrases in response to whatever else is going on around him. As always, it’s Nocentelli and Porter whose work really stands out here; not only are they two of funk’s tightest rhythm section (check out how they lock in on “Poppa Funk”), but both men also contribute several outstanding lead vocals throughout. On top of that, Nocentelli turns in what is arguably his finest moment as a guitarist on the soaring nine-and-a-half minute instrumental workout “(The World Is a Bit Under the Weather) Doodle Oop.” Equal parts celebratory and reflective, uptempo and down, funkside party music and deep soul searchin’, Cabbage Alley is one of those perfect examples of an album that truly has something for everyone.

James Brown

James Brown was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and musician who was one of the most important and influential figures in 20th-century music. He was born in Barnwell, South Carolina, on May 3, 1933. Brown began his musical career as a gospel singer in the early 1950s. He joined a rhythm and blues group called the Famous Flames in 1953, and the group had its first hit recording, “Please, Please, Please,” in 1956.

Star Time

Star Time is a box set by American musician James Brown. It was released on CD on August 5, 1991, by Polydor Records. The set comprises four discs spanning Brown’s career from 1956 to the early 1990s. It peaked at number 41 on the Billboard 200 and number two on the Top R&B Albums chart.

The title of the set refers to Brown’s radio show of the same name which ran from 1973 to 1974. The show was broadcast on more than 50 radio stations across the United States and featured music, interviews, and call-ins. Star Time was produced by Harry Weinger and Cliff White, who also wrote the liner notes.

Live at the Apollo, 1962

James Brown’s 1962 recording of Live at the Apollo is widely regarded as one of the most influential live albums of all time. The incendiary performance captured on record helped to define the sound and style of soul music, and launched Brown’s career into the stratosphere. While the album only reached #2 on the R&B charts, it remains one of Brown’s best-loved and most iconic recordings.