I didn't know it was called funk when I grooved to it as a child. I didn't know that I, a white child, wasn't supposed to groove. I just felt the thumping play and the sense of play, and I wanted to shake my booty, which the adults around me considered slightly scandalous. I listened to that top 40 Chicago AM station and got caught up in its infectious rhythms; I didn't know their names as well as I knew the Beatles' catalog, but they became part of the background music of my childhood. I know their names now: "Flashlight" by Parliament, "Fire" by Ohio Players, "Mr. Big Stuff" by Jean Knight, "Tell Me Something Good" by Rufus and Chaka Khan (which gave me goosebumps as a child).
Years later, in college, I followed a community radio show that dealt in blues and funk, mostly funk. The first time I heard Parliament's Aquaboogie, I sat there with this goofy grin on my face wondering "What the hell is this?" and called the DJ to ask. That was my introduction to Parliament/Funkadelic/P-Funk.
As I studied the genre (as an adult, I study everything) I discovered that funk, in addition to being playful, was sexy. And political. And inspirational. For example, P-Funk melds aspirations of political dominance ("Chocolate City") with tales of survival ("Cosmic Slop") and perseverance ("Aquaboogie"). The politically incorrect "Superfreak" rubs elbows with the motivating "Yes We Can" from the Pointer Sisters.
I'm very aware as I listen to the music that I am, as P-Funk would have it, devoid of funk. I do not have the shared experience of slavery and discrimination that funk seeks to rise above; I don't even have the ice cool of David Bowie, whose "Fame" fits the genre. (I detest the song "Play that Funky Music White Boy" because it seems to be blatant co-opting.) I think about this because I'm going to see George Clinton and his P-Funk All-Stars tonight on his closing tour, knowing that I was not the audience funk was written for. I hope funk will accept me as a respectful tourist.
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This is for Steve Emmerman, who was the DJ for that long ago funk radio show on WEFT.
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