A revolutionary in his own right, George Clinton’s influence is felt throughout generations and in artists like Prince, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dr. Dre and more. He changed the game with Parliament Funkadelic, reconstructing the way the world experienced funk music and ultimately bringing the gap between R&B and Rock.
LISTEN NOW: George Clinton - Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond
In the latest episode of the Broken Record podcast, Rick Rubin sat down with funk master George Clinton to reminisce about his glory days, the rise of funk, and his crazy interactions with the legendary James Brown.
Listen to FUNK and more on the free Audacy app
Clinton shared how he used to routinely travel back and forth between New Jersey, where he originally started making music and was working as a barber and Detroit where he would go to work with Motown. “I’m going back and forth to Detroit and I go to Detroit through the week, Monday-Friday and I go back to New Jersey and I’m working the barbershop Friday, Saturday and Sunday… I do that for a year and a half,” he said.
Their first hit record, “I Wanna Testify,” released in 1967 and Clinton recalls that he “had no idea it was coming out,” but the timing was perfect– it got air play on some of the biggest stations at that time.
Rubin, wondering what about Motown allowed it to reach its level of success in Detroit, George explained it like this. “I think it had something to do with the city and that whole factory and car company thing.” But why did other big markets not see that same success? “Chicago started like that, they just didn’t get one place to zone in like Motown did,” he answered, “it’s always been about how you keep it together because the industry not gone let you keep it together.”
And he was right, the industry won’t let you keep it together, especially not at the time when “the European invasion was happening” as Clinton calls it, the rise of bands like The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and Led Zeppelin who were hijacking the rock industry.
Clinton spoke with glee reminiscing on his first time being aware of, and his interactions with James Brown. When he heard “Please, Please, Please” and “Try Me,” Clinton said “they were like blues songs but you could feel the vibe in it.”
He admitted that Brown thought he was crazy, “I always played crazy around him,” and that's truly how their relationship was. Once upon a time, Clinton dared Brown to do 18 splits in a row while at a music panel.
Closing things out, George shared that making music has always been fun for him, “even now” and revealed that he just recently did a remake of the 1982 hit, “Atomic Dog.” It’ll be a special version for his fraternity, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.. who for years have used the track as an unofficial theme song.
Listen to the full episode of Broken Record with George Clinton above.
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign up and follow Audacy
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram