Did James Brown Invent Funk?

How the Godfather of Soul Created a New Sound

It’s a safe argument to make that James Brown invented funk… but it wasn’t really a lightbulb “a ha!” moment, as it was Brown’s innovative musical style caused a shift in how people produced and arranged music.

The Rhythm Was King

One of James Brown’s most important contributions was stripping away and changing lots of fundamentals of popular music. Chord changes, or the verse-chorus-verse style, for example… And one of the things he emphasized the most was rhythm.

To that end, Brown used the various instruments in his band as percussion, whether it was horns, bass, guitar, or whatever else. It was all in the service of the rhythm.

He really perfected boiling a song all the way down to an awesome beat with a lot of energy.

One of the first great examples of this was in 1964 with his hit song “Out of Sight.” It’s a pretty standard R&B rhythm underneath, but the beat is everything in this song, and every instrument is in the service of the beat. The drum is high in the mix, the horn section makes repeating rhythmic pops.

Everything is On The One

A lot of people point to 1965’s “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” as the “first” funk song, and there’s lots of great reasons for that. That infectious repeating groove is the very foundation of FUNK.

Two years later, James Brown’s 1967 hit “Cold Sweat” dropped the R&B backing entirely and focused the whole song around one good cord and a funky beat.

“Cold Sweat” is also an excellent example of THE ONE.

This may be one of the most musically groundbreaking things Brown did, and it’s really simple.

If a small part, or measure, of a song has a very normal 4 beats, the emphasis was commonly in the middle or on the last beat, like “one two three FOUR.”

Brown just emphasized the first beat, and hard, like “ONE two three four ONE two three four”.

Brown and his bands usually achieved this by the instruments hitting that ONE at the same time. Then for the other three beats, they could freestyle and come back to the ONE again.

It creates that very danceable rhythm that’s basically the backbone of Funk Music.

In fact, one of the easiest places to see the influence of James Brown’s “The One” practice is in Disco music! Following in Brown’s footsteps, Disco emphasized the ONE to anchor the musicians, but modified it for the dance floor by adding percussion on every beat.

The Funk Pioneers were Brown’s Former Band Members

One of the most compelling arguments for James Brown inventing Funk Music is that some of the most prolific funk artists of the era were former members of James Brown’s band.

Take for example the most pioneering funk band, FUNKADELIC.

Brown fired both Maceo Parker & Fred Wesley, who quickly helped build the funkiest horn section ever for P-Funk.

After James Brown fired Bootsy Collins, the bassist quickly joined George Clinton’s traveling Parliament Funkadelic circus, and he brought with him the wonders & knowledge of “The One”.

By 1976, Parliament was releasing hits like the aptly named “Everything Is On The One”.

Before Long Bootsy Collins himself would be a funk icon.

The Funk Goes Mainstream

The highly danceable beat that James Brown crafted soon became the foundation of Funk Music that would explode across the world in the 1970s.

Rick James, Sly Stone, Parliament-Funkadelic, The Meters, Earth, Wind & Fire, Kool and the Gang, The Gap Band, The Ohio Players, The Isley Brothers, The Commodores, ZAPP & so many more took the superfunky beat, and their reverence of percussion built on the ONE, and soared to new heights.

In funk’s 70s and 80s heyday, dozens of funk acts amassed hundreds of Gold and Platinum records for massive sales.

Earth, Wind & Fire alone achieved 18 Platinum records and 23 Gold. Funkadelic went Platinum twice for 1975’s Mothership Connection and 1978’s One Nation Under a Groove.

Bootsy Collins earned a Platinum Record for 1977’s Ahh… The Name Is Bootsy, Baby!, and two of his other albums went Gold.

We Make Funk Music T-Shirts & Merch

At Bluescentric we love talking about James Brown and Funk Music as much as we love working with the Estate of Funk legends to design and manufacture merch like officially licensed James Brown t shirts. Find our curated collections below.

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Funkadelic Hat – Pigment Dyed Olive
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George Clinton Funky Crown Baseball T-Shirt
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George Clinton Funky Crown Mineral Wash Shirt – Purple
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George Clinton Funky Crown Ringer T-Shirt
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