WE DO THE MASHED POTATO AND THE FUNKY CHICKEN

CrashUp: The Commodores' "Machine Gun" is a Funkin' Lesson...

Posted over 2 years ago
...my HHT is bleeding right on over into my Friday funk feeling, so I'll slap this on right now...Long before Nicole came along, Lionel Richie and his boys were laying down "the real skinny" with tunes like this, the title track to the Commodores' first proper LP...initially this album got no play on pop radio (a good thing, hindsight 20/20) but was on heavy rotation over on the R&B side of the tracks which was where I lived when I was a crumb-snatcher...it still amazes me how much great tunage was created by groups like this who sonically strolled right on out to the proverbial ledge that Hunter S. Thompson was talking about but eventually got diluted by the suits (and greed) instead of rowing away from the rocks...other greats-turned-grouses include the Ohio Players and Kool & the Gang (at one time they were considered "edgy", believe it or not)...this album, which hit the streets in the summer of '74 held tight slices like "I Feel Sanctified", "The Bump" and "The Assembly Line"......those who got into mining record store bins for rare grooves eventually caught up to it decades later-- I tripped when I caught this track being used as incidental music on films such as Boogie Nights which was, at least a cool movie but that's neither here nor there...next to Stevie Wonder's early work, this classic Commodores instrumental showed my young arse how funky a clavinet could really be...you might've heard it already...but maybe you haven't...FONK!!!

Comments (11)

  1. CrashPryor says ...here's another jam from back when this group could do no wrong...the horn licks are poppin'...
    Permalink posted 06/14/2007
  2. msquared64 says was it on "Shadrach" that the Beastie Boys sampled "Machine Gun"?
    Permalink posted 06/14/2007
  3. Anonymous says cool post!
    Permalink posted 06/14/2007
  4. Girlcrawl says Glorious!! Always loved the 'Machine Gun' track especially, and I thought Boogie Nights was fa antastically 'cool' film as well. Cheers Crash.
    Permalink posted 06/15/2007
  5. kat3260 says If that hardcore funk doesn't get your booty shakin, I don't know what will. Woohoo! It's Friday!
    Permalink posted 06/15/2007
  6. doombilly says That made me think of the Hendrix song of the same name. Although that doesn't sound anything like the Commodore's song.
    Permalink posted 06/15/2007
  7. wassonii says Good to see some Alabama natives represented! I remember Commodores vinyl in Jr. High. Thank you.
    Permalink posted 06/15/2007
  8. Cody B says This and Outta Space sparked my early love for the funkstramental...Aaah the 8th grade dance! Go,Crash,Go!
    Permalink posted 06/15/2007
  9. CrashPryor says @msquared: I don't think so, son...I just checked that cut to be sure but didn't hear it in there... @Flower: word. cool era for that group's tunes... @Girlcrawl: truedat....the last time I chatted with Heather Graham, "*I had to give Roller-Girl her props*":http://chronicridicule.blogspot.com/2007/02/heather-graham-takes-wheels-off-roller.html ... @kat: well, now it's Saturday but...I FEELS YA, little sis... @doombilly: ...no, it doesn't sound like Jimi's version at all...still, the Band of Gipsies version is a funkin' lesson for a whole other set of reasons...nice... @wassonii: Tuskeegee in the hizzle fo' shizzle...man, dropped some hella phatness back in the day... @Cody: I can dig it...this kinda shite blows through the jasmine in my mind too...but I think I was checkin' the tunes at a really young age...at my 8th grade dances, they were pumpin' the old school hip hop and New Jack Swing...glad my uncles had a lot of vinyl to keep me in check...
    Permalink posted 06/16/2007
  10. Cody B says My BIG song at the 8th grade dance was Stomp (brothers Johnson). It was the first time I ever stayed out all night. I got in trouble, big trouble. My first music love was Billy Preston's Outta Space. I think I had that record in 2nd grade. Love those funkstramentals.
    Permalink posted 06/17/2007
  11. Mike the Knife says Totally forgot this one, C.P. What a riff-o-rama! Fever in the funk-house now ("now" being Monday, when I finally reached this post).
    Permalink posted 06/18/2007

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