The glorious story of Funk from James Brown to Off The Wall
6/3/202643 min
Old friend of the podcast Lloyd Bradley wrote Bass Culture, the defining account of reggae, and he’s now turned his attention to funk, from its deepest roots and via the jazz, arts, TV, radio and pop culture that flavoured it. The main 10-year focus of ‘Funk Has Its Own Reward’ is from James Brown’s ‘Say It Loud - I’m Black and I’m Proud’ to Michael Jackson’s ‘Off The Wall’ but free your mind and all this will follow! …
… the importance of radio being “colourblind”
… Cab Calloway’s Jive Dictionary and the impact of DJs Martha Jean ‘the Queen’ Steinberg and Daddy-O Daylie
… how James Brown floor-tested his records and saved a fortune making them
… funk’s deep roots in America’s marching bands
… why jazz is funk’s closest relative and what it stole from white rock
… how the Family Stone’s Larry Graham made bass the place
… how solo singers gave way to the ‘funk gangs’
… how Richard Pryor gave mainstream America a window on a whole new world.
… the influence of Soul Train and Sesame Street (19-year-old Nile Rodgers on guitar!) in bringing funk to the masses
… George Clinton – “I can’t dance, can’t play, people tell me I can’t sing … but without me none of this would have happened!”
… plus the Chambers Brothers, Herbie Hancock, Funkadelic, Bootsy, Quincy Jones, Parliament and the greatest funk record ever made.
Order copies of ‘Funk Is Its Own Reward’ here: https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/lloyd-bradley-2/funk-is-its-own-reward/9781472123411/
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Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsDavid Hepworth· Host0:01
[gentle music] Now look, Word in Your Ear comes to you at least once a week in the form of a podcast, a videocast, or a thing so new it has no name, and it's free. All we ask is that you subscribe, like, and wherever possible, leave a comment. And if you feel like getting further involved, you can become a Patreon supporter, which could mean you're inviting us to rifle through your record collection, our inviting you to join us for our very special Friday night quiz, and all of us feeling the sum of human happiness has been increased. Details at Patreon.com/WordInYourEar. And now, on with the show.
Mark Ellen· Host0:44
[upbeat music] You're listening to a podcast from The Word. Welcome to another edition of Word in Your Ear, and an old pal of ours who wrote a brilliant book called Bass Culture about reggae, and he's done, uh, much the same thing now for funk. Although actually it's a book, uh, it's called Funk Is Its Own Reward, and it's a book about kind of all Black American music really, with funk highest in the mix, and it's asks the crucial question, not what is funk, but why is funk? Lloyd Bradley, very good to see you.
Lloyd Bradley· Guest1:22
Oh, it's good to see you guys as well.
Mark Ellen· Host1:24
Terrific. Well look, I mean, there, there are all sorts of places in the book that you, you choose