at a glance...

Hometown: Detroit, MI
First Recordings: 1968

Personnel ( partial list ):
Bernie Worrell -keyboards
Tyrone Lampkin, Tiki Fulwood -drums, percussion
Eddie Hazel, Gary Shider, Phelps "Catfish" Collins -guitars
William "Bootsy" Collins, Cordell "Boogie" Mosson -bass
George Clinton and Bernie Worrell -arrangements

Notes:
Initially formed as a backing band for George Clinton's The Parliaments to circumvent label conflicts, Funkadelic eventually evolved into its own entity, with the consistent backing of Billy "Bass" Nelson and Eddie Hazel (guitar). The group became a vehicle for the experimental, less commercial side of Clinton's musical vision, releasing records that were challenging, political, and musically abrasive at a time when popular music was becoming increasingly homogenized. A constantly shifting cast of backing musicians characterized the group in its later years, culminating in a disbandment that led to the creation of the P-Funk All-Stars, a conglomeration of contributing musicians that continues to tour and record.

The most enduring and consistently vital figure in funk music, George Clinton has acquired an iconic status that is well deserved, the result of incessant sampling of his songs, and equally incessant touring by the 58 year old funkateer. His reputation is built upon the many classic songs he helped pen and produce ("Flashlight," "Atomic Dog," "One Nation Under A Groove," and many others), yet like many unconventional artists who achieve a measure of mainstream success, he has a masterpiece in his catalog that has achieved little attention from any but his biggest fans.

America Eats Its Young does to the music of black America what The Beatles White Album did to the popular music of white westerners -- that is to say it devours it whole and regurgitates it back as a virtual catalog of styles and sounds. Containing no hit singles and precious few catchy tunes,America Eats Its Young is primarily an experimental record that doubles as a lesson in the history of black music.

Deeply funky, keyboard-based instumental passages (held down by the inimitable Bernie Worrell), bump booty with divinely passionate gospel rave-ups, while lush string arrangements share grooves with crunchy guitar bombast (courtesy of the late Eddie Hazel). As if the music weren't enough, the most overtly political album of Clinton's career also boasts multiple nuggets of lyrical wisdom, oftentimes aimed at personal accountability and empowerment of a community Clinton sees weighed down by the abuses of the past: "You say you don't like where you're at / You can make a change / If you accept the blame / Stay in control of your reactions, yes....A situation is just that / it has no special power to do you harm / it's your reactions that count."

While practically all of Funkadelic and Parliament's albums are essential listening, America Eats Its Young is in a class of its own as one of the boldest experiments in the history of funk.