I WAS CERTAINLY NOT OFFENDED

It’s hard to picture the look on my face when started Maggot Brain, the 1971 funk rock epic by Funkadelic, to be greeted with a deep voice that spoke, “Mother Earth is pregnant for the third time. Y’all have gone and knocked her up.” At that point, I knew that this wouldn’t be a normal funk album. The titular track, “Maggot Brain,” is the opener for the album. The song is essentially a ten-minute extended guitar solo by Eddie Hazel. The solo is driven by the guitarist being not only under the influence of psychedelic drugs, but also by the passion of finding his brother’s lifeless body after being cracked over the head by a baseball bat, hence the name, “Maggot Brain.” This solo then burns out into six more groovy funk jams. “Can You Get to That” and “Hit it and Quit it” are two easygoing tracks that pump you up for the coming funk explosion. “You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks” is much easier to groove to than the two previous tracks, mostly because of its higher energy level. This energy is pushed to unfathomable funk standards in the following track, “Super Stupid,” the story of an ignorant drug user. We then get the energy pulled back for the brief intermission, “Back in Our Minds.” We then see the final show of funky lights, “Wars of Armageddon.” This is nine-minute long all-out battle between George Clinton’s smooth vocals and Eddie Hazel’s psychedelic guitar playing.

Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain is a funky, high energy romp that takes you back to the years when people lost themselves in the rhythm (or extreme amounts of drugs; remember that drugs are bad, kids) and got groovy. If you dig Maggot Brain, Funkadelic released two albums that preceded it that are definitely worth checking out. Funkadelic also has another George Clinton-related sister act, Parliament, with a large discography of seminal funk records that are worth looking into.