So funky you can smell it
June 25, 2013 8:22 AM   Subscribe

I'm making a playlist of deep in the pocket funk tracks. The emphasis here is on really great bass lines. Suggest your favourite booty-shaking songs.

Here's a list of the sort of things I'm after:

Parliament- The Motor Booty Affair
Parliament - Rumpofsteelskin
Funkadelic - Standing on the Verge of Getting On
Thelma Houston - Don't Leave Me This Way
Jimi Hendrix - Who Knows, Machine Gun... basically the whole Band of Gypsys album
The Police - Voices Inside My Head
The Rolling Stones - Miss You
James Brown - Get Up Offa That Thing

The main thing is great bass and drum interplay, and the funk. I need the funk. Give up the Funk. Don't feel limited to that genre though...
posted by wabbittwax to Media & Arts (32 answers total) 70 users marked this as a favorite
 
Superbad is my favorite thing that Bootsy has ever done.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 8:25 AM on June 25, 2013


The Commodores-Brick House
Rick James-Superfreak
Ohio Players-Funky Worm

Oh yeah, that's the jam...
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 8:28 AM on June 25, 2013


Ohio Players - Skin Tight

Betty Davis - They Say I'm Different

Out of left field: Talking Heads - Found a Job & Slippery People (from Stop Making Sense)
posted by Beardman at 8:52 AM on June 25, 2013


Miles Davis at his funkiest could make the list:
What I Say
Ali (Take 3)

As for booty-shaking, anything Fela Kuti:
Je'Nwi Temi (Don't Gag Me)
Black Man's Cry
posted by Lorin at 8:53 AM on June 25, 2013


Don't worry - The Meters are here to fix your problem. Cissy Strut and Just Kissed My Baby should funk your shit up good.
posted by greenish at 9:05 AM on June 25, 2013


Speaking of The Meters, Warren Lee - Funky Belly.
posted by Lorin at 9:13 AM on June 25, 2013


Stevie Wonder - Superstition. Not necessarily performed live on Sesame Street, but hard to imagine why not.
posted by The Bellman at 9:53 AM on June 25, 2013 [1 favorite]


Lots of stuff by Chic. Check out what Bernard Edwards does with like 4 notes on the break verse of "Le Freak"

Tower of Power, "You Got To Funkifize"

Little Beaver, "I Can Dig It Baby"
posted by thelonius at 10:05 AM on June 25, 2013


Extreme: "Cupid's Dead" and "Get the Funk Out". Great bass interplay.
posted by Gungho at 10:20 AM on June 25, 2013


gap band, open up your mind
posted by paultopia at 10:27 AM on June 25, 2013


Wild Cherry - Play That Funky Music

RHCP - Hollywood (Africa)
(It's a cover of The Meters, "Africa", but I like it.)

George Clinton - Atomic Dog - plus that video is a delicious piece of early 80s video game fetish and video animation.

The Dazz Band - Let It Whip

The Gap Band - You Dropped A Bomb On Me

Zapp and Roger - More Bounce To The Ounce - You may not know this yet, but you need this song. Thick chunks of farm-fresh funk, sprinkled with vocoder effects.
posted by benito.strauss at 10:30 AM on June 25, 2013 [1 favorite]


If you like Euro DJs remixing 60s soul, Blue Boy - Remember Me.
posted by benito.strauss at 11:05 AM on June 25, 2013


Best answer: Parliament - Flashlight
Isaac Hayes - Theme from Shaft
Funkadelic - One Nation Under a Groove
Kool and the Gang - Hollywood Swinging, Jungle Boogie
Gap Band - Early in the Morning
Curtis Mayfield - Superfly, Pusherman (more of a cool funk)
Parliament - Up for the Down Stroke
Funkadelic - Can You Get to That- remixed into the Sleigh Bells' Rill Rill
Sly and the Family Stone - Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)
Stevie Wonder - Living for the City
The Temptations - Papa Was a Rolling Stone (famous long cool funk intro)
James Brown's The Payback and The Boss are great examples of cool funk, for when you need to set your jaw and strut; Superbad is just tops
posted by Svejk at 1:02 PM on June 25, 2013 [1 favorite]


Best answer: And James's Brown's bandleader Fred Wesley answers your question directly with his instrumental Funk for your Ass. Check out Maceo Parker for more funk and jazz funk.
posted by Svejk at 1:17 PM on June 25, 2013


Take a listen to early Isley Brothers ("Who's That Lady," "Footsteps in the Dark").
posted by nubianinthedesert at 2:07 PM on June 25, 2013 [1 favorite]


And for a modern take on funk, check out The Brand New Heavies, Sharon Dap and the Daptones and Alabama Shakes.
posted by nubianinthedesert at 2:09 PM on June 25, 2013


May as well toss in Stanley Clarke, We Supply, to represent the fusion side of the street.
posted by thelonius at 2:38 PM on June 25, 2013


The funkiest James Brown: Cold Sweat, Pts 1 & 2 and There Was a Time.
posted by gteffertz at 2:46 PM on June 25, 2013




Oh yeah, this too:

Gwen Guthrie - Seventh Heaven

Sly & Robbie production with Larry Levan on the remix? Stay away from any objects you might be compelled to grind against.
posted by drwelby at 2:57 PM on June 25, 2013


Best answer: Some of these use a very loose definition of Funk but I think the vibe is right.

The Brides of Funkenstein - Amorous and Disco to Go
Bootsy Collins - I'd Rather Be With You. Bootsy played a lot of basslines on a lot of different projects and its hard to find a bad one. This, along with the other P-Funk/Parliament/Funkadelic suggestions you started with and have gotten should get you going.
William De Vaughn - Be Thankful for What You Got
Con FUNK Shun - Got To Be Enough, Ffun, Chase Me, Too Tight
Jamiroquai - Dynamite
Rose Royce - Car Wash
Betty Davis - Your Mama Wants Ya Back and Anti Love Song
Funkadelic - I Wanna Know If It's Good To You and Can You Get To That
Donna Summer - I Feel Love
Roxy Music - Love Is the Drug

Seconding The Meters - Just Kissed My Baby and adding Heartache
posted by tinamonster at 3:37 PM on June 25, 2013


A bit of MMW can't go amiss

For your funk radio needs I can recommend WeFunk radio
posted by yoHighness at 5:12 PM on June 25, 2013






Prince's funkiest songs:

Partyup
Lady Cab Driver
Housequake
She's Always in My Hair
Erotic City
Tambourine
Controversy
Le Grind, superfunkycalifragisexy and pretty much every other song on The Black Album
posted by beanie at 9:23 PM on June 25, 2013


Dee Lite- Grove is in the Heart

Bad Rabbits Can't Back Down (get's funky at about 1:20) or Girl, I'm Like Damn
posted by vespabelle at 9:47 PM on June 25, 2013


Best answer: oh man, i live for this shit. There's some great stuff in here, but i know of a lot of stuff that hasn't been mentioned yet. Sorry if there's some overlap with what was already posted. I'm gonna put a star next to the exceptionally good ones. I put serious time into this post. Like, i started hours ago.

Old School:

Rainbow team - Bite the apple **
Dr. Togo - Be Free(bad rip with a seemingly terrible EQ applied, but i never found a fuller/better sounding one)
One Way - MUSIC
The Whispers - In the Raw **
Stephanie Mills - You Can't Run From my Love
Instant Funk - Everybody
Empress - Dyin' to be Dancin(badass cover/remix of choppins funeral march!)
George Duke - Reach Out * (Star if only for the exceptional moog breakdown)
Dazz Band - Shake it Up * (I swear this has been sampled a lot, specifically great bass lines though "slappin fast and loose")
Thelma Houston - If you feel it
Teena Marie - It Must Be Magic
Janet Jackson - Say You Do(Remix, i forget by who)
Alicia Myers - I Want To Thank You (really cool vocals)
Evan Rogers - Secret Love
Jermaine Jackson - Let's Get Serious **
Jermaine Jackson - Burnin Hot
Dazz Band - Rare Jammin'(this is somehow impossible to find anywhere else??)
Vin Zee - Funky Bebop *
Shalamar - Right in the Socket **
Central Line - Walking into Sunshine
Bar Kays - Holy Ghost *(I think this specific song might be more exactly what you're describing than anything else i've posted, honestly)
Fatback Band - I Found Lovin
Starpoint - I Just Wanna Dance with You(Michelin star, would make zombies dance)
Bar Kays - Move your Boogie Body
The Brothers Johnson - Light Up The Night
The Brothers Johnson - Stomp **
Stevie Wonder - All Day Sucker(songs in the key of life 45rpm bonus disk track, under-appreciated)
Con Funk Shun - Confunkshunizeya
The Gap Band - Burn Rubber On Me(awesome video too, look it up. Maybe it was a live video? i forget, either way it's cool)
Unlimited Touch - I Hear Music In the Streets *
Change - Change of Heart *
Rick James - Ghetto Life
Patrice Rushen - Music of the Earth **
Rene & Angela - I'll be Good(80's funk, very WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY and DX-7/corny choir patch synth infused but awesome nonetheless)
Aurra - Are you Single * (wait for the breakdown jesus christ)
Zapp & Roger - Dance Floor(See also ANYTHING involving roger troutman, like this)
Slave - Watching You
Con Funk Shun - Got to be Enough
Rick James - Moonchild
Kool and the Gang - Too Hot
Surface - Falling in love
Barry White - It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down
Stephanie Mills - Sweet Sensation

New school/The Funk 2.0:

Thundercat - Oh Sheit its X
Thundercat - Walkin(i have a feeling you'll like most of thudercats stuff)
Shook - Tonight
Shook - Love For You(See also: EVERYTHING on shooks soundcloud)
Yuksek - So Down Feat. Chromeo
Data - So much in love
Linus Loves - Prom Night(Don Diablo remix)
Fare Soldi -Survivor(Saint Pauli RMX)
Flight Facilities - Crave You(Cassian RMX)
Boards of Canada - Aquarius(Compellingly sterile and computerized. It sounds like if you fed the enterprise computer every required element of the funk and told it to "jam")
Boss in Drama - Lights Off
Breakbot - Baby I'm Yours(My friend would punch me if i didn't also post Make You Mine, which is arguably funkier)
Dimes - Nothing Music
Digitalism - Apollo Gize(Breakbot hypnotoad RMX)
Junior Senior - Move Your Feet
Miami Horror - Make you Mine




Also in this category is like everything chromeo has produced(note, every word is a separate link), and possibly new g-funk stuff like Dogg Master

Oh, and check out "dinner bass" by spinnaface, and actually all of his stuff would probably be up your alley.

The Twelfth Hour will be up your alley, and it's one of the best mixtapes ever made.




Also wait beanie, you posted a princes funkiest songs list and didn't post let's work?

Seriously, this shit right here holy fuck

P.S. i can go on for a lot longer in any direction you want most likely, especially with the new stuff. I could probably make a post twice this length if i messaged a couple people to remember what we were chatting about or surfed through chat logs. But it's 12am, and i have to get up at 7am.
posted by emptythought at 11:50 PM on June 25, 2013 [4 favorites]


I made a Playlist of all available songs in this thread in case anyone wants to jump around.
posted by tinamonster at 10:15 AM on June 26, 2013 [4 favorites]


I have a real grooveshark account and can upload the others to make a truly complete list if anyone wants...
posted by emptythought at 12:42 PM on June 26, 2013 [2 favorites]


Ooohhhh, I have been saving this one: Heatwave - Party Poops. This is way down the line........Wait for the chorus
posted by jasondigitized at 6:45 PM on June 27, 2013


Please do, emptythought!
posted by exceptinsects at 1:52 PM on June 28, 2013


You might want to check out the material released by The Numero Group. The label specifies in digging up obscure funk & soul releases made by labels in flyover country. Every release seems to have a fair number of gems. (e.g. Lord Rhaburn's Disco Connection)
posted by Going To Maine at 8:01 AM on August 28, 2013


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