Why Is David Bowie Referenced By Parliament?

September 20, 2013 2:50 PM

On the opening track of the album "Mothership Connection" by Parliament, there's what sounds like a reference to David Bowie. More specifically, it sounds like a reference to David Bowie as someone who is making a noteworthy contribution to some strain of funk music, along with the Doobie Brothers and Blue Magic, a strain markedly inferior to the uncut pure funk on offer by Parliament. So my question is: am I misinterpreting this? Would David Bowie, in 1975, have been on anyone's radar as a funk musician, or as an influence on some of them? Or would the Doobie Brothers have been? What exactly is the Lollipop Man getting at here?
posted by Ipsifendus to Media & Arts (9 answers total)

Yes, in terms of David Bowie eras, 1975 would have been right at height his "plastic soul" period. Young Americans came out in March of '75, was very funk-influenced (Andy Newmark from Sly and the Family Stone played drums), and charted in the Billboard Top 10, so it would abolutely have been on Parliament's radar screen.
posted by strangely stunted trees at 3:03 PM on September 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

Sure, why not
posted by Flunkie at 3:08 PM on September 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

Adding onto strangely stunted tree's post: "Fame" is definitely a funk song, reached #1 in the US, and was performed live on Soul Train.

As for the Doobie Brothers, "Long Train Runnin'" came out in '73 and is (sort of) funky.

Regardless, I think you answered your own question... Bowie and the Doobies are "markedly inferior to the uncut pure funk on offer by Parliament." That's what he's getting at.
posted by papayaninja at 3:09 PM on September 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

They're both from outer space, man!
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 3:11 PM on September 20, 2013 [3 favorites]

David Live, concert album from 1974 featured both David Sanborn and Herbie Flowers. While I can't find either of these guys playing with Parliament, both of them lived in that gray area between rock, r&b, and funk throughout the 70's, playing with the likes of James Brown, Butterfield Blues Band, Stevie Wonder, T. Rex, and the very underrated Al Kooper.

Bowie himself was at his funkiest in the mid-70's, with lots of horns and an overall disco/funk vibe. It's not at all surprising to me that Parliament was aware of him at that time and tipped their hat.
posted by bluejayway at 4:13 PM on September 20, 2013

Well, alright. Hey I was diggin' on y'all's funk for awhile
Sounds like it got a three on it though, to me
Then I was down south and I heard some funk with some main ingredients
Like Doobie Brothers, Blue Magic, David Bowie
It was cool, but can you imagine Doobie in your funk?

I always read that as an indictment of some other funk that drew too much influence from a certain type of pop/rock music. I suppose one could read it either way.

This is definitely not a hat tip.
posted by ssg at 4:42 PM on September 20, 2013 [3 favorites]

I've always been confused about that line, actually. Saying that it has "some main ingredients" and "It was cool" but immediately followed by "but" sure seems like it's setting up to be a backhanded compliment, but... it just doesn't work as one, for me at least. I mean, yes, I can in fact imagine doobie in my funk, and that sounds pretty funkalicious to me, actually. And if George Clinton can't imagine doobie in his funk, I will eat my bop gun.
posted by Flunkie at 5:33 PM on September 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

I noticed the same line just a few weeks ago. I don't think he is 'indicting' or disparaging Bowie and Doobie Brothers, per se. He is simply indicating that we (the singer, the audience, the p-funk movement) are going for something more heavy and more efficacious.

I like an awful lot of David Bowie's work. And flunkie and Bluejayway's points are well taken. But listened to just after the Parliament, one must concede that, even with all the real stylistic resemblances, it will not 'funk you up' in exactly the sense Clinton has in mind. I look at a song like P-Funk (I wants to get funked up) not so much as an self-advertisement as part of an attempt to make more precise the definition of the phenomenon, in the interest of more profound initiation.
posted by bertran at 11:27 PM on September 20, 2013 [5 favorites]

There was definitely crossover between musicians who played with Bowie and who played with Parliament—Talking Heads was one meeting point in the middle. So there was probably a dialogue there.
posted by limeonaire at 11:02 AM on September 21, 2013