For the Record 5: George Clinton & P-Funkadelic [Paperback]

Dave Marsh (Author)

Book Description

Series: For the Record | Publication Date: June 1, 1998

Three more fascinating books in a multi-volume oral history of rock and soul music, edited by one of America's preeminent pop music journalists.

Told in the voices of the people who were actually there, here are the stories of: (1) Sly and the Family Stone, the Woodstock-era interracial, intergender band which merged soul with psychedelic rock; (2) George Clinton and P-Funk, the inventive musical aggregation that laid the groundwork for rap, hip-hop, alternative, and techno music; and (3) Women of Motown, members of "girl groups" and solo artists during the heyday of the world's most famous record label.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

From a Plainfield, New Jersey, barber shop to the Mothership and beyond, George Clinton and P-Funk: An Oral History is the riotous story of the Parliafunkadelicment thang straight from the mouths of those who created and witnessed it: Clinton himself, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell, and dozens of others. Clinton's transformation of the band from a bunch of acid-crazed former doo-woppers with loud amps into a slightly less crazed juggernaut that ruled late-'70s stages and airwaves is the main story here. But the heart of the book is the voices of those in and around the act; for instance, Clinton's explanation of how the Apollo moon landing affected his concepts: "I doubted logic ... 'cause the minute you say what goes up don't have to come down ... [when] they broke gravity, it was no longer true. So to me, everything else was suspect. When I heard, 'Man, that's bad,' and they meant good, I ain't gonna bet my life on nothing that's being said, 'cause it's too easy to change the meaning of a word. I don't believe in bad words. I was able to play with it." --Rickey Wright

Product Details

• Paperback: 159 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (June 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380793784
• ISBN-13: 978-0380793785
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,382,814 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Solid, but not necessary., June 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: For the Record 5: George Clinton & P-Funkadelic (Paperback)

Being that I am a hardcore Parliament-Funkadelic fan, I found this book to be a bit of a dissapointment. It was hard to keep up with what year the editor was going into. The book reads very fast and seems crammed. Each chapter covered at least 5 years at a time. However, being that there has never been a book written about George Clinton and P-Funk, this book is definitely entertaining, informing and revealing. It was good to read what other members takes are on P-Funk. Interesting insights were the introduction of George to Bootsy, quarrels within the band, the competition between the Brides of Funkenstein and Parlet, and how the band broke up. I personally would have liked to know more about the relationships between the musicians, especially clinton/collins/worrell, and Lynn Mabry, an original bride, seems to be absent from the book. I also would have liked to know how George and the other members of the band to talk about how they wrote and formed some of their biggest hits. I especially would have liked them to comment on the concepts of hits like "P-Funk (Wants to get funked up)" "Dr. Funkenstein" and "Sir Nose D'Voiddoffunk". All-n-all, this book should be read by all HARDCORE P-Funk fans until something better comes along.

Peace El-715

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars want my funk unkut, August 19, 2001

By 

Sherance M. Brothers (Jasper, Alabama United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: For the Record 5: George Clinton & P-Funkadelic (Paperback)

loved this book loys of info aboput the band, but my fault was i wanted more details about about the group, and what made them inspire to write the p-funk hits, how george really felt about his material being sampled. what are plans for the mob. george was interesting, bootsy was,nt given enough space. but not a bad place for those who want to learn about p-funk. but will leave funkateers craving more knowledge.this book really needs to be updated. it seems some stuff was left out.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A real trip, April 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: For the Record 5: George Clinton & P-Funkadelic (Paperback)

I thought the book gave a brief but to the point over view of how the funk mob got started. It was ok but it left out the names of some of the players of the funk ie.. Sheila Horn,Jessica Cleaves Steve Washington,Mickey Atkins to name a few. The funk is long deep and wide.