Parliament
I was an Army brat, as they say. And during my impressionable tween years, I was in Germany where I not only made German friends, but had military friends with diverse cultural backgrounds. It’s one of the few positive things about attending 18 schools before graduating high school. (I know that number sounds impossible, even I had to confirm it with my mother before writing it.)
During my time in Germany, an African American friend of mine suggested a few musical Christmas gifts to my mother. It was at that moment, at the age of 12, that I became a fan of funk and ’70s and ’80s soul/R&B.
Funk music makes me happy. And, how can’t it? Those steady beats, the heavy low-end bass riffs, and lyrics that don’t get much deeper than “Tear the roof off the sucka” or “We need the funk. We gotta have that funk.”
I surely owe my deep affection for funk and ’70s and early ’80s soul and R&B to those Christmas present suggestions. And for that I’m thankful. It puts me in a great mood every time I listen to Parliament Funkadelic or Kool & The Gang, to just name a few. And when I’m in a good mood, that makes it easier to step out for a 30-minute brisk walk to tunes like the following:
Gym Music Playlist of the Week: Funk Up Your Cardio
Click to download!
Parliament – Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)
Slave – Snap Shot
Average White Band – Pick Up The Pieces
Roger – I Heard It Through the Grapevine
Kool & The Gang – Jungle Boogie
Rick James – Give It To Me Baby
Sly & The Family Stone – Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
The Commodores – Brick House
James Brown – (Get Up I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine, Pt. 1
