Here’s my list of the top 10 essential P-Funk songs you should listen to if you want to hear what the Funk is all about. This is actually pretty ambitious. It’s pretty much impossible to pick only 10 songs that capture the vast breadth and depth of the P-Funk oeuvre. But here are the first 10 that come to my mind. Not in any particular order. This is just the tip of the P-Funk iceberg. I encourage you to dive deep to discover the rest of what Parliament Funkadelic has to offer.
1. Flashlight – Parliament (1977)
From the album Funkentelechy Vs. The Placebo Syndrome
This song was my first taste of P-Funk. It remains one of their biggest hits. It’s got a lot of the key P-Funk characteristics–a funky beat, an incredibly inventive soundscape, lyrics that tell a story about a quirky cartoonish character.
2. Maggot Brain – Funkadelic (1971)
From the album Maggot Brain
This song’s kind of a 180 from Flashlight. Sad, angry, contemplative, funky, bluesy, powerful. The lore of this song is that Funkadelic leader George Clinton told guitarist Eddie Hazel to play like he had just been told his mother died, and then learned it wasn’t true. It’s a prime example of P-Funk’s power to take the listener on an emotional journey.
3. Mothership Connection (Star Child) – Parliament (1975)
From the album Mothership Connection
The mothership is a central symbol in the P-Funk mythology, and this is the song that introduced it. It’s kind of ingenious how this song combines the spiritual themes of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” with the funky spacey aspirations of the 1970s.
4. One Nation Under a Groove – Funkadelic (1978)
From the album One Nation Under a Groove
Just a good old-fashioned Funkadelic dance track. Once again combining something ingrained in our national DNA (the Pledge of Allegiance) and repurposing it to something modern and funky. Feet don’t fail me now!
5. Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker) – Parliament (1975)
From the album Mothership Connection
This is one of those P-Funk songs almost everyone knows. It’s been in commercials. It’s been in movies. It’s been sampled everywhere. It’s just an unequivocal statement of purpose, and the purpose is to get down and give up the funk.
6. (Not Just) Knee Deep – Funkadelic (1979)
From the album Uncle Jam Wants You
It’s like you’ve heard this song your whole life without realizing it, right? You heard Bobby Brown sample it? You remember it from that scene in Good Burger? It’s just something that’s part of our pop culture. I think it’s time we really stop and appreciate it.
7. Chocolate City – Parliament (1975)
From the album Chocolate City
P-Funk has the melodies and the rhythms, but it’s important to realize they could sustain a whole song on witty spoken banter as well. Funny, inspirational, awesome in every way.
8. Can You Get to That? – Funkadelic (1971)
From the album Maggot Brain
Another great example of quirky lyrics that really do make sense if you listen to them. “When you base your life on credit and your lovin’ days are done, checks you sign with love and kisses later come back signed, ‘insufficient funds.'” Words to live by.
9. All Your Goodies Are Gone – Parliament (1974)
From the album Up for the Down Stroke
This is a great example of a reworking of a song from the Parliaments repurposed as a Parliament song. Every inch of this is just so gorgeously quirky. “Let Hertz put you in the loser’s seat” is a reference to an old commercial for a rental car company that wanted to put you in the “driver’s seat.” Keep that in your memory bank for the next time you want to tell off your ex.
10. Wars of Armageddon – Funkadelic (1971)
From the album Maggot Brain
For a taste of how crazy P-Funk can really get. Funkadelic took all the rhythms and noises of modern life, threw them in a blender, and came up with this. It’s pretty hilariously disturbing.