{
  "slug": "funk",
  "name": "Funk",
  "aliases": [
    "funk music",
    "the one",
    "p-funk"
  ],
  "description": "The rhythmic reorganisation of American popular music around the first beat of the bar. From 1967 onward, melody and harmony give way to interlocking parts, and the groove itself becomes the subject of the song.",
  "origin": {
    "place": "Cincinnati, Ohio",
    "year": 1967
  },
  "lineage": [
    {
      "genre": "soul",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/soul/",
      "inherited": "The band, the studio and the singers, all already in place. Funk is what the Stax and King house bands did once the chord changes stopped being the interesting part and the drummer's placement started being it."
    },
    {
      "genre": "jazz",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/jazz/",
      "inherited": "The players and the harmony. The horn sections on these records read charts, and when a jazz musician like Herbie Hancock decides the groove is the interesting problem, the traffic is going both ways."
    }
  ],
  "bpm": {
    "min": 90,
    "max": 120
  },
  "updated": "2026-08-29",
  "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/",
  "trackCount": 10,
  "curatedBy": [
    {
      "name": "The Waxonia Desk",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-desk/",
      "pickCount": 5
    }
  ],
  "playlists": {},
  "tracks": [
    {
      "rank": 1,
      "trackKey": "james-brown--cold-sweat",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/james-brown--cold-sweat/",
      "title": "Cold Sweat",
      "artist": "James Brown",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/james-brown/",
      "year": 1967,
      "label": "King",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "The year zero record. Brown moves the accent to the first beat and stops changing chord, and everything in this list plus most of what follows it on this site is downstream of that one instruction to the band.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-roots",
          "name": "Roots",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-roots/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-accent-moved",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Where the Accent Moved",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-accent-moved/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/James%20Brown%20Cold%20Sweat",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=qkgIoMuaoQ0",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 2,
      "trackKey": "sly-and-the-family-stone--thank-you-falettinme-be-mice-elf-agin",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/sly-and-the-family-stone--thank-you-falettinme-be-mice-elf-agin/",
      "title": "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)",
      "artist": "Sly & the Family Stone",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/sly-and-the-family-stone/",
      "year": 1969,
      "label": "Epic",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Larry Graham slaps and pops a bass because his band had no drummer, and invents an entire technique by accident. The most cheerful record ever written about being ground down.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-accent-moved",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Where the Accent Moved",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-accent-moved/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Sly%20%26%20the%20Family%20Stone%20Thank%20You%20(Falettinme%20Be%20Mice%20Elf%20Agin)",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=-T9vmaTI2LE",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 3,
      "trackKey": "james-brown--funky-drummer",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/james-brown--funky-drummer/",
      "title": "Funky Drummer",
      "artist": "James Brown",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/james-brown/",
      "year": 1970,
      "label": "King",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Twenty seconds of Clyde Stubblefield alone became the most sampled bar of music in existence. Hip-hop, jungle and big beat are all, at some level, arguments about what to do with this loop.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-soulquarians-room",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Soulquarians Room",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-soulquarians-room/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/James%20Brown%20Funky%20Drummer",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=7dtpj8qa1hQ",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 4,
      "trackKey": "stevie-wonder--superstition",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/stevie-wonder--superstition/",
      "title": "Superstition",
      "artist": "Stevie Wonder",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/stevie-wonder/",
      "year": 1972,
      "label": "Tamla",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A clavinet riff so complete it barely needs the rest of the arrangement. Wonder played almost everything on it himself, which is the point: funk here becomes composition rather than a band's collective accident.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-accent-moved",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Where the Accent Moved",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-accent-moved/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Stevie%20Wonder%20Superstition",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ftdZ363R9kQ",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 5,
      "trackKey": "herbie-hancock--chameleon",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/herbie-hancock--chameleon/",
      "title": "Chameleon",
      "artist": "Herbie Hancock",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/herbie-hancock/",
      "year": 1973,
      "label": "Columbia",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Fifteen minutes built on two chords and an ARP bassline. A jazz pianist of the first rank decides the groove is the interesting problem, and takes a generation of musicians with him.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-one-subject",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — One Subject",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-one-subject/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-accent-moved",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Where the Accent Moved",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-accent-moved/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "twice-over",
          "name": "Twice Over",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Herbie%20Hancock%20Chameleon",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=iqomTAiRnVM",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 6,
      "trackKey": "parliament--give-up-the-funk-tear-the-roof-off-the-sucker",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/parliament--give-up-the-funk-tear-the-roof-off-the-sucker/",
      "title": "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)",
      "artist": "Parliament",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/parliament/",
      "year": 1975,
      "label": "Casablanca",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Clinton turns funk into cosmology — a mythology with its own spacecraft, villains and liturgy. Underneath the theatre is Bootsy Collins playing the most disciplined bass line on this list.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-accent-moved",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Where the Accent Moved",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-accent-moved/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Parliament%20Give%20Up%20the%20Funk%20(Tear%20the%20Roof%20off%20the%20Sucker)",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=xNpNTkSkrU8",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 7,
      "trackKey": "kool-and-the-gang--jungle-boogie",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/kool-and-the-gang--jungle-boogie/",
      "title": "Jungle Boogie",
      "artist": "Kool & the Gang",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/kool-and-the-gang/",
      "year": 1973,
      "label": "De-Lite",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Horn stabs, a grunted vocal, and no other ideas whatsoever. Proof that funk at its most functional is not a lesser thing than funk at its most ambitious — it just has less to say between the hits.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Kool%20%26%20the%20Gang%20Jungle%20Boogie",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=QGKiC2suCHQ",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 8,
      "trackKey": "average-white-band--pick-up-the-pieces",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/average-white-band--pick-up-the-pieces/",
      "title": "Pick Up the Pieces",
      "artist": "Average White Band",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/average-white-band/",
      "year": 1974,
      "label": "Atlantic",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Six Scotsmen out-funk most of America and go to number one doing it. The arrangement is a masterclass in leaving gaps, and the gaps are why it still cuts through on a big system.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Average%20White%20Band%20Pick%20Up%20the%20Pieces",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=YEVcxDU4QqM",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 9,
      "trackKey": "incredible-bongo-band--apache",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/incredible-bongo-band--apache/",
      "title": "Apache",
      "artist": "Incredible Bongo Band",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/incredible-bongo-band/",
      "year": 1973,
      "label": "Pride",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A session-band cover of a Shadows instrumental, and the single most important break in the history of the block party. Its middle eight is where hip-hop was physically assembled.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Incredible%20Bongo%20Band%20Apache",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=-Udnb6F1A0g",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 10,
      "trackKey": "funkadelic--one-nation-under-a-groove",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/funkadelic--one-nation-under-a-groove/",
      "title": "One Nation Under a Groove",
      "artist": "Funkadelic",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/funkadelic/",
      "year": 1978,
      "label": "Warner Bros.",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "The last great statement of funk as a mass movement rather than a set of techniques. It is a manifesto you can dance to, and it knows disco is already at the door.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-what-the-djs-kept",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — What the DJs Kept",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-what-the-djs-kept/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Funkadelic%20One%20Nation%20Under%20a%20Groove",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=gQw7b489DlE",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}