2 languages
Parliament
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Parliament was an American funk band centred on the singer and producer George Clinton. The group grew out of The Parliaments, a doo-wop group from Plainfield, New Jersey, who had a hit in 1967 with (I Wanna) Testify. From 1968 Clinton worked with two bands at once, Parliament and Funkadelic, made up largely of the same musicians. Together they were known as P-Funk. Funkadelic was the rougher, rock-oriented side, Parliament the more commercial one, with horns, synthesizers and a science-fiction world of its own.
Music and breakthrough
The breakthrough came after Clinton revived the name in 1974 on the Casablanca label. On Mothership Connection (1975), black Americans land in a spaceship to bring funk down to earth. On stage, a huge spaceship, the Mothership, descended from above. The single Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker), written by Clinton, Bootsy Collins and Jerome Brailey, was released in April 1976. It reached number 5 on the American soul chart and number 15 on the Hot 100, and became the group's first million-seller. On Flash Light (1977), the keyboard player Bernie Worrell built the bass line from several Minimoogs.
Influence
In 1997 sixteen members of Parliament-Funkadelic were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Hip hop used their grooves as building material: on Who Am I? (What's My Name?) (1993), Snoop Doggy Dogg re-created part of Give Up the Funk. The mix of black music and space travel is an early example of Afrofuturism. In Detroit, the DJ The Electrifying Mojo played Parliament alongside Kraftwerk, and techno grew out of that combination. A replica of the Mothership now stands in the Smithsonian museum of African American history in Washington.
Listening
Give Up the Funk · Parliament, 1975Apple Music ↗
Discography
Studio albums
- 1970Osmium
- 1974Up for the Down Stroke
- 1975Chocolate City
- 1975Mothership Connection
- 1976The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein
- 1977Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome
- 1978Motor Booty Affair
- 1979Gloryhallastoopid (or, Pin the Tail on the Funky)
- 1980Trombipulation
- 1994Music From the Motion Picture PCU (soundtrack)
- 2018Medicaid Fraud Dogg
- 2020Straight From #1 Bimini Road
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- Mixtape 6: Fear of a Black PlanetNL Reader
- Mixtape 8: Electronic MusicNL Reader
Mentioned in other articles
- Detroit techno Genre
In Belleville near Detroit, Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson grew up with the radio show of The Electrifying Mojo, who played Parliament alongside Kraftwerk.
- Minimoog Technology
Bernie Worrell played the bass with it in the funk of Parliament, Kraftwerk used it on Autobahn, and Gary Numan brought it into synth-pop.
See also
- Up for the Down Stroke
- Chocolate City
- The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein
- Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome
- Trombipulation
- Medicaid Fraud Dogg
- Funk
- Detroit techno
- Minimoog