All-time FUNKIEST songs

[kupsch]

one way - pop it -
al hudson - you can do it

 

[Maggot]

The Meters - Cissy Strut
Stevie Wonder - Superstition
Blow your head - The JBs & Fred Wesley
The Beastie Boys - Shake Your Rump
Young MC - Know How
Give it up Turn it Loose - James Brown
Hot Pants - Bobby Byrd
Freddies Dead - Curtis Mayfield
The Ghetto - Donny Hathaway
Cash Money & Marvellous - Mighty HArd Rocker
Funky Nassau - Cant remember
Behind The Groove - Teena Marie
Rick James - Superfreak
Express Yourself - Charles Wright & 103rd St Band
Shifting Gears - Johnny Hammond
Thighs High - Tom Browne
FairPlay - SoulIISoul

Good selection.

 

[El Jefe]

the live version of Tighten Up by the JBs, the one that runs to about 7-8 minutes. Simply astonishing.

 

[tarannau]

Too many to mention, but a few essentials that haven't popped up yet:

Apache - Incredible Bongo Band
The Mexican - Babe Ruth
(Take me to the) Mardi Gras - Bob James
Jan Jan - The Counts

And a whole host more, including Atomic Dog, Flashlight, Zapp's 'More Bounce', Garbage Man (Ike Turner), assorted stuff by Brick. And a whole host of breaks, which for a minute or so, are the most funky songs ever.

 

[El Jefe]

I pretty much run out of patience with most funk past the early 70s - it's just too longwinded and overcooked. But New Orleans funk from the mid 60s and earlier through to the early 70s is untouchable IMO...

 

[ice-is-forming]

I don't know if it's possible to have too much Clinton.

.

And...

too right...clinton is funking funky

 

[tarannau]

Basically anything off "The Chronic" or "Doggystyle".

En Vogue - "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)"

Eh. But the Chronic's one of the worst offenders - and unashamedly so - of using existing breaks wholesale and doing very little different with them. Similar Doggstyle. Even that En Vogue song's got a whopping sample from James Brown's "The Payback' underneath it.

It's a bit like claiming that Black Box performed the best version of Lolilta Holloway's songs.

 

[tarannau]

I pretty much run out of patience with most funk past the early 70s - it's just too longwinded and overcooked. But New Orleans funk from the mid 60s and earlier through to the early 70s is untouchable IMO...

There's a bit of jazz syndrome there for sure, and disco perverted the funk as well.

There's some great stuff in the the later period mind, but I do find the tricksiness meant that you're often better off playing the funkiest nuggets of the record - ie the breaks - rather than the whole overblown tunes.

 

[grosun]

so many great tunes already mentioned!
a few more that spring to mind:

Edwin Starr - "Easin In"
Stone Alliance - "Sweetie Pie"
Larry Young's Fuel - "Turn Off The Lights"
Leroy & The Drivers - "The Sad Chicken"
Magnum - "Evolution"

All the uptempo things on this:

eg "Mind Power"

Fred Wesley & the Horny Horns - "Four Play"

i could go on... but must leave the house!

Edit: one more, one more..
Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers - "Ashley's Roachclip"
great tune & one of my favourite beats of all time.

 

[Passdout]

Nobody mentioned the Average White band Pick up the pieces, Schoolboy crush etc?

 

[stavros]

Eh. But the Chronic's one of the worst offenders - and unashamedly so - of using existing breaks wholesale and doing very little different with them. Similar Doggstyle. Even that En Vogue song's got a whopping sample from James Brown's "The Payback' underneath it.

It's a bit like claiming that Black Box performed the best version of Lolilta Holloway's songs.

True. I just put down the first stuff that came to mind. They, and their parent tracks, are all very funky.

Just been listening to Cornershop's "Funky Days Are Back Again", which is suitably funky.

 

[Sunspots]

Nobody mentioned the Average White band Pick up the pieces, Schoolboy crush etc?

Yeah, I almost nominated Schoolboy Crush too. Classic intro/break.

Have you heard Pick Up The Pieces One By One by A.A.B.B. (Above Average Black Band)? It was their answer record.

 

[tarannau]

Yeah, I almost nominated Schoolboy Crush too. Classic intro/break.

Aye, that track's definitely got the funkiest use of sleigh bells ever.

 

[Fictionist]

Turn Off The Lights - Larry Youngs Fuel
Funky Like A Train - The Equals
Miss Fatback - Saundra Phillips
(Ive Got) So Much Trouble On My Mind - Sir Joe Quartermass & Free Soul
Pick Up The Pieces - Average White Band
Fencewalk - Mandrill
Wicki-Wacky - Fatback Band

 

[Fictionist]

Blow Your Head - Fred Wesley & The JB's
Rock Creek Park - The Blackbyrds

 

[Fictionist]

Sun Goddess - Ramsey Lewis & Earth, Wind & Fire
Love Will Bring Us Back Together - Roy Ayers
Funkin' For Jamaica - Tom Browne
Dominoes - Donald Byrd

 

[Magic Sam]

I pretty much run out of patience with most funk past the early 70s - it's just too longwinded and overcooked. But New Orleans funk from the mid 60s and earlier through to the early 70s is untouchable IMO...

mmm yeah, Eddie Bo - Hook and Sling
Lee Dorsey- Gator Tail

 

[Apathy]

raw silk -

pleasure -

choosen few -

jimmy bo horne -

dynamic corvettes -

sylvia striplin -

i think james brown wins hands down tho

 

[Apathy]

forgot one of the funkiest hip hop ones imo...

 

[rapattaque]

Junior Walker and the All Stars - Shotugn


Kool and the Gang - Jungle Boogie