Ever heard a song and thought to yourself; "DAYUM, that's funky!"?
Did you then go on to think "Hey, I wonder what makes it so funky..."? No? Well are you wondering that now? Good. Let's find out!
The Birth of Funk
Before Funk, music was very much about the melody and harmony - the chords and progressions provided the hooks and made the songs interesting. In the mid 50s, African American musicians started focusing more on the rhythm than the melody.
This new emphasis on the groove inspired a slurred-voiced man to begin creating music that, unbeknown to him, would change the pop music world forever. By the mid 60s, James Brown had invented Funk music.
Regarding the actual word, "Funk" initially had a pretty dodgy connotation, being associated with the smell of sex. Since this new genre had such a driving rhythmic element, the word became associated with it and it stuck.
What makes Funk Funky?
As I've mentioned - it's all about the Groove. The focus on bass riffs and syncopated drums make it intrinsically danceable. Even the guitars were percussive, with wah-wah pedals turning them into rhythmic devices, often with the guitarist playing a single chord for extended periods of time.
Another thing that changed is the use of "Vamps". No, James Brown was not a Twilight fan, a "Vamp" is a phrase of music that is repeated throughout a piece. If you're from an Electronic Music background, you'll probably refer to them as "loops".
So - repetetive, bass-heavy, rhythm-focused music. Sounds like a lot of things you hear in the charts, right? Funk got there first - let's see which styles have taken influence from the groovy genre!
Which genres were influenced?
Hip Hop - Why do you think it's called "G-Funk"? Take a listen to any of Dr Dre's beats and you'll find yourself nodding your head to the groove. That's because he grew up listening to the imaginatively-named funk band “Funkadelic”. He's even sampled some of their songs for his tunes in the past!
Electro - Repetitive, Bass heavy music? Shock horror, Electro music was influenced by this genre - they just transposed the format onto drum machines and synthesisers and blammo! Clubs were never the same again.
Disco - Rhythmic guitar, bass-centric, heavy on the dancing - another genre that calls Funk it's daddy!
So Funk seems to be the birth of a lot of popular music. Without it, we'd still be stuck slow-dancing in ballrooms. So when you next come to write a track, take a moment to think about the groove and ask the question "Is this Funky enough?"
