Bandleader and funkateer George Clinton? R&B radio stalwarts like "One Nation Under a Groove?" Dr. Funkenstein and "The Bop Gun" and stuff that actually has more to do with the keyboard-driven space funk of Funkadelic's alter-ego, Parliament?
For the uninitiated, Funkadelic's pre-1976 albums are closer to Detroit than outer space. Picture something that screams with the same balls-out fury of MC5 or The Stooges with a dollop of gospel-tinged soul, and you get the funk-rock vibe of the band's first seven discs.
Anyway, legend has it that "Maggot Brain," the lead track from the 1971 album of the same name, was born when Clinton told Funkadelic's lead guitarist Eddie Hazel to "play like your momma just died, but then found out it wasn't true."
Who knows if the story was merely fabricated by Clinton years after the fact to fill in cloudy memories that heavy partying had erased. (Equally legendary was the band's consumption of drugs back in those days. If you have any doubts, just listen to Clinton's acid-fried, spoken intro to this track, as he lays down some odd stuff about "Mother Earth [being] pregnant for the third time," tasting "maggots in the mind of the universe," and drowning in excrement. Is it an indictment of mankind's screwing of the environment? A call to rise above social ills? LSD-fueled nonsense?) Whatever the case may be, Hazel laid down a minor-hued, wailing solo that sounds like a child crying for its mother.
The true testament to Hazel's talent is that he maintains the drama and emotion of the solo over minimal backing instrumentation for 9 whole minutes, and every second is completely compelling and mind-shattering. Honestly, if you aren't holding back tears by the time you hit the 7:30 mark, then you are stone cold--and not in the good way.
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