The Best Early 70’s Funk Music
Wondering what the best early 70’s funk music is? Look no further! Here’s a list of the top 10 funk songs of the early 70s.
The Meters
One of the most influential bands of the Funky New Orleans sound, The Meters were the snug groove machine that served as the backing band on hundreds of recordings by everyone from Dr. John to Paul McCartney. The group – which featured keyboardist Art Neville, guitarist Leo Nocentelli, bassist George Porter Jr., and drummer Zigaboo Modeliste – was tight but never flashy, which is why their work never quite caught on with the mainstream despite their stature as session players. The Meters only released a handful of albums under their own name, but each one is crammed with classics like “Cissy Strut,” “Hey Pockey Way,” and “People Say.”
The Ohio Players
The Ohio Players were an American funk band, formed in Dayton, Ohio in 1959. The group first found fame with their hit singles “Funky Worm” in 1973 and “Fire” the following year. The Ohio Players had a number of other hits including “Skin Tight” , “Love Rollercoaster”, and “Who’d She Coo?”. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.
Parliament-Funkadelic
Parliament-Funkadelic is an American funk music collective of rotating musicians headed by George Clinton, both as a solo act and as the principal leader of two bands, Parliament and Funkadelic. Psychologists have suggested that “the inner workings of P-Funk provide annual relief from difficult life circumstances”. The collective’s recordings spanned multiple genres including funk, soul, rock, and psychedelic rock. Their music drew on science fiction themes; Contrasting with other popular music acts of the time, they used outlandish costumes and appears that were sometimes shocking for white concertgoers.
Sly and the Family Stone
Sly and the Family Stone was an American funk and soul band that became one of the most popular groups of the early 1970s. They are best known for their hits “I Want to Take You Higher” and “Family Affair”. The band was led by singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone. The band’s music incorporated elements of rock, soul, gospel, and psychedelic music.
The group’s lineup changed frequently during its heyday; however, the core members always included Sly Stone, his brother Freddie Stone, guitarist Cynthia Robinson, trombonist/trumpeter Rose Stone, bassist Larry Graham, and drummer Greg Errico. Other notable members of the band at one time or another included saxophonist Jerry Martini, trumpeter Doug Rauch (a founding member who left before the group’s first album was recorded), flutist/keyboardist/vocalist Patrice Hathaway (Stone’s then-wife), keyboardist/vocalist Jedaddi Catlett (also a founding member who left before the first album was recorded), and singer June Millington.
The Family Stone achieved their greatest success with their 1969 album Stand!, which included the number-one singles “Everyday People” and “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”. The following year they released their fourth album, There’s a Riot Goin’ On. The album was a critical and commercial success, eventually selling over three million copies. It included the number-one single “Family Affair”, which remains one of their best-known songs.
By 1973 Sly and the Family Stone had become estranged from many of their original fans due to drug abuse and changing musical tastes; however, they continued to record music until 1975 when Sly Stone began a long period of seclusion. The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
