Your moment of funk
Thursday December 20, 2007
Categories: Culture
All behold the glory that was the Gap Band. And then along came rap and ruined everything. UPDATE: Oh, oh, oh, you GOTTA watch this old video from "Sesame Street," in which Stevie Wonder and his band bring the funk...
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Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
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I was on the Washington Beltway at 3am one late night, driving back from a day trip to New York. And the radio was playing the Gap Band's "You Dropped a Bomb on Me" (available here on YouTube ... a better song, Rod. Sorry.)
I looked down at my dashboard and saw that I was topping 100 mph.
Not difficult to do driving a Miata on a near-deserted 5-lane-each-way superhighway while the Gap Band is playing. I looked around, saw no blue or red lights. And said a little prayer of thanks to sweet baby Jesus.
I don't think Rap got really lame until 1992 or so. Old RUN D.M.C., Grandmaster Flash, etc. are still worth listening to. But yeah, the Gap Band is amazing. On this, we agree.
I agree with Victor. "You Dropped a Bomb on Me" is a great song, but the video for "Burn Rubber" is better. When talking about Rap, don't forget the Sugarhill Gang and "Rapper's Delight" which spawned the commercial Rap craze and inspired Deborah Harry's "Rapture" and Modern Romance's "Everybody Salsa" as well as true Rap artists like RUN D.M.C and Grandmaster Flash.
You can check out the history of "Rapper's Delight" here => http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4251153
I think you're half kidding about rap ruining everything, but even if you're not, ">this might sway you a little.
Stevie Wonder could have been the coolest guy in the history of pop music.
Then he had hook up with Paul McCartney for "Ebony and Ivory" and do wimpy ballads like Macca for the rest of his career.
Wow. To think Sesame Street once had guys like Stevie Wonder on performing. That just blows my mind. Kids today have no idea what they're missing. Although, IIRC, the old seasons of Sesame Street are available on DVD. Buy 'em now, and educate your kids!
Great stuff-- I remember Stevie's performance as a kid. Don't be so hard on rap though. It's got its problems, but there's some amazing stuff out there. (I'm a bit old-school about that, too, though. Give me Run-DMC and PE over anything being made today!)
I have to be honest, I really never got into the Gap Band, but still can remember this Stevie clip from Back In The Day, and how cool it was.
What I loved more at the time though was Stevie hanging out with oh, --The Greatest Sesame Street Character EVER -- Grover, teaching him about singing. (Grover and Madeline Kahn was great, too :-)).
I LOVE THIS!!!! I used to watch this when I was a kid all the time... and now I watch it with my kid... TOO COOL!!
"--The Greatest Sesame Street Character EVER -- Grover"
Oscar > Grover. My parents still have pictures of me pretending to be Oscar the Grouch while sitting in one of our metal trash cans when I was about 3 years old.
I haven't changed much since then.
The Average White Band was here a couple of years ago opening for Hall and Oates. Oh yeah baby! We want the funk! Gotta have the funk!
So, atheist, christian, muslim or jew we can all meet at a place of harmony called FUNK! Thanks, Rod, for the great clips!
Since I'm teaching a Symposium of Funkaliciousness, let me get your groove thang moving wit' some Brothers Johnson.
Get up off that thang and jam, people!
The Advanced Funkaliciousness Seminar continues, bringing it Old School with the Isley Brothers from 1973, "That Lady."
Not a live performance video, but the audio is awesome -- dig my man Ernie Isley trippin' his guitar with the phase shifter.
Today's lesson from the Advanced Seminar concludes with some harmolodic funk -- Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio from 1979, "You Can't Change That."
Class adjourned -- but be sure to study your double-bump, your robot and your kickspins. Those grooves will be on your final funky exam, children.
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