Funk is ending up like the Blues

[phillipkregg]

Funk can be Parliament. Funk can be Tower of Power. Funk can be Primus. Funk can be The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Funk can be Bruno Mars.

Whatever you think Funk is, someone will come along and change that. That’s just the way it is, and it’s a good thing.

 

[MJ5150]

Sorry for posting in the wrong place.

It's all good my friend. I can relate to the thread, so I wanted to be sure it's in the right spot for it to get the proper attention.

-Mike

 

[Tony In Philly]

Non-musician music's pervasiveness may have the unintended consequence of having the casual spectator saying something like "Wow - I just saw some people actually playing real music on real instruments!". What goes around comes around.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

I really want to like Vulfpeck. It's undoubtedly skillful, but to me it comes across as quantized, sterilized, Berklee Funk 101. There's something missing...

Yeah ... when I first listened to their tunes they seemed bringing some fresh air in this field ... however, I preferred them at the beginning when the thing was more like a joke between friends ... more genuine stuff and feeling than today seemingly

 

[foolforthecity]

Maybe I’m missing something here, but I got into the groove that young lady was throwing down big-time with a SUB on the Mac Miller stuff

 

[alaskaleftybass]

Music stores all over America are already dealing with the aging and death of guitar loving Baby Boomers.
I have two Basses coming in the next few months, but at 59, I have to ask myself, “why keep accumulating basses that my will dang give away soon as I am dead?”

Because of GAS. I'm older than you and always on the prowl for another bass. Matter of fact I may pull the trigger before the end of the weekend. You're at the age where you can probably afford what you couldn't 40 years ago. Enjoy it!

 

[40Hz]

I really want to like Vulfpeck. It's undoubtedly skillful, but to me it comes across as quantized, sterilized, Berklee Funk 101. There's something missing...

Agree.

 

[40Hz]

I worry a little about cultural appropriation

Why? Is it necessary to first obtain licenses or something?

Humanity has always freely borrowed from itself in order to progress. Different cultures and civilizations have always acquired, imitated, and adapted discoveries and innovations made by other cultures and civilizations. Why is that such cause for concern lately?

“Cultural appropriation” is just the old “separate but equal” mentality decked out in new clothes.

It’s hard to make an argument for social equality and unity while at the same time carving out exceptions to it and claiming privilege like the people who are making accusations about “cultural appropriation” are doing. It’s another one of those things that “sounds about right” until you look a little more closely at what it’s actually saying.

<Note: edited to make what I was saying clearer.

 

[ElMon]

I resonate with this Doc. Blues and Funk in particular speak to me. Those genres raise the neck hairs and put a glide in my stride and a dip in my hip, but I think you’re onto something here.

Blues defined/reflected a cultural experience of a specific group of people ... was lauded by and then appropriated by the larger culture to become new genres that had blues in its DNA, but is far from the source.

I hear the same thing with the Vulfpecks/RHCP/etc brand of ‘funk’. It has SOME of that ‘stank’ that the genre pioneered, but to my ears it did what a lot of white rock did: it smoothed off the edges and made it more palatable for mainstream (white) audiences.

That’s not necessarily good or bad, it just is. It’s how new genres/trends get created.

Doesn’t mean I won’t get pissed off when all the Vulfpeckers/wicka-wicka funk-with-organic soymilk folks profess ignorance of ‘Thrust’ or ‘Parliament Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome’.

I don’t think this new sanitized, hipster funk is bad necessarily. Pardon my food analogies, but this new stuff, to me, is vaping an e-cig after avocado on gluten-free toast, whereas the foundational music/genres are/were a real unfiltered cigarette after a huge greasy meal.

 

[Mosfed]

Vulfpeck is the future of Funk. Young Black kids are totally into Hip Hop, frankly most White kids are into Hip Hop too. Even country acts are being heavily influenced by Rap these days. Funk is being produced by music school “nerds” like Vulfpeck (I love them, but they do come off as music department nerds.) Of course, musicianship is very healthy in the Black Church, Black Church bassists can certainly get funky, but Gospel is not Funk, funk is just one of many flavors comprising current Urban Gospel. I am not complaining, I was blessed to have grown up during the heyday of Funk, and just like the Big Band and Jump Blues that my parents grew up listening to gave way to R&B, Funk was not going last forever. It is just a sign of my aging that I am seeing what happened to my parent’s music, happen to my music.

There’s a crazy amount of funk in hip-hop - it’s just developing and morphing into something new. Nothing to dispair about.

 

[squidtastic]

I, too, grew up in funk's golden age and have had the same thought about funk going the way of blues (and other older musical styles). But there's lots of stuff that isn't as traditional-sounding as Vulfpeck out there that still carries the funk torch. The days of "pure" funk in the top 40 are long gone, but music consumption is so different now -- there are plenty of artists with a clear funk sensibility with multi-million views on YouTube. Thundercat's "Them Changes" has over 7 million views, and it's just a variation on The Isley's "Footsteps In The Dark". Heck, sometimes old-school funk _does_ makes its way into the top 40... mainly courtesy of Bruno Mars, its seems -- especially "24k Magic" which could've come out in 1982.

The interesting thing to me about funk, though, is that while the overall sound of funk's golden age is mostly gone from the top 40, its rhythm has absolutely lived on and, in fact, is pervasive in modern-day pop.

 

[retslock]

I am leery of the notion of cultural appropriation because we do not live in total are even partial isolation from each other. What is dead wrong is when influences are ignored, downplayed, or denied.

Yes, western society certainly has numerous sub-cultures but we are too interconnected to pay much attention to the idea of cultural appropriation. Music is released to the world and we’re free to enjoy it all. I’ve been playing soul/funk since the ‘70s and I know very much where it comes from and so I acknowledge my African American influences readily.
Prince clearly showed his influences and I hear a nod to the English harmony based groups such as the Beatles and the Hollies in his music as well as the more obvious such as James Brown, Hendrix and Stevie Wonder.
Our cultures are beginning to overlap with influences flowing back and forth across recordings, movies, tv and the internet.
Music is forever changing and will never stay where we might have found it in our youth. It seems that we are destined to try hold onto the stuff that captivated us as youngsters, but alas, time marches on and we are left lamenting the good ol’ days just like our parents did.

 

[squidtastic]

And just cuz I feel like it, here're some of my fave funk tracks from yesteryear.








Ok, this is not funk from the golden age (and some would argue it isn't funk, period), but I remember hearing this track when it came out and thinking, "Man, this is borrowing heavily from funk." I pretty much hated 'N Sync before hearing this, but the track is just too funky to hate!

 

[JoeWPgh]

Part of this is simply human nature. Music is the first area where a young person can 'define' themself. They can choose what music they like before they can pick out their own clothes. And generally, the first step in defining oneself is to differentiate yourself from your parents. So music is always going to move away from what it was before.

 

[squidtastic]

Oh, almost forgot! Bare with me.
Next Friday, I'm playing a gig where a nearly-40-year dream will finally come true... because we're gonna play this epic EW&F song... which I've never played live! This song is just pure joy to me.

 

[Nashrakh]

I don’t think this new sanitized, hipster funk is bad necessarily. Pardon my food analogies, but this new stuff, to me, is vaping an e-cig after avocado on gluten-free toast, whereas the foundational music/genres are/were a real unfiltered cigarette after a huge greasy meal.

Hmm. Didn't know the original genres slowly killed you from the inside.

 

[staccatogrowl]

One truth about all great music: it will be assimilated. .

 

[JimK]

Eighties Funk was much more synth/drum machine/midi oriented.

i.e. Devoid of soul...the humanity that is a huge component of the Blues, of R&B, of Soul music, of Funk, etc.
Just one man's opinion.

 

[Oddly]

I really want to like Vulfpeck. It's undoubtedly skillful, but to me it comes across as quantized, sterilized, Berklee Funk 101. There's something missing...

If you can, go see them live.
That just may change your opinion.

 

[nilorius]

Funk lives forever !!!