A Purple Musical Appreciation #thread on a legend who had enormous influence on Prince.

Prince took inspiration from many artists, Joni, Sly, Santana, Hendrix, JB, Miles, Cocteau Twins, Stevie, EWF, Vollenweider, British New Wave, Marvin & Tower of Power amongst many others.

But there’s one artist who goes to his DNA

One artist who created the blueprint which mobilised him to build the sort of career he had

One artist who not only opened doors but also opened minds

One artist whom he called his “Teacher”.

The Supreme Maggot Mininster, aka:

Dr Funkenstein
Starchild
Sir Nose D’Voidoffunk:

The long haired sucker - Sir George Clinton (GC) @george_clinton

GC did it all, Funk, Rock, Soul, Jazz, Pop, concept albums, comic strips & ambitious stage shows, tapping into Black & White.

GC didn’t see boundaries & if he did, he would just bulldoze thru them.

1 thing he didn’t achieve which Prince did - bona fide pop hits & huge mainstream success.

GC had hits but nothing transformative that became part of mainstream ‘pop culture’ like Prince & Purple Rain.

GC had over 50 in his entourage to achieve what he did whereas Prince did it all by his lonely ass self.

GC’s entourage though featured some of the world’s most innovative:

Eddie Hazel
Bernie Wizard of Woo Worrell
Garry Shider
Glen Goins
Billy Bass Nelson
Michael Hampton

Tiki Fulwood
Tawl Ross
Clarence “Fuzzy” Haskins
JB Horns - Fred Wesley & Maceo Parker
House Guests - Bootsy Collins, Catfish Collins, Chicken Gunnels, Rob McCollough and Kash Waddy
Walter Junie Morrison (Ohio Players)

And the list goes on & on.

It’s utterly conceivable that Prince could easily have matched the musical proficiency of GC’s entourage. He could have been all of GC’s entourage all by himself!

It’s mind blowing just thinking about that.

Prince single handedly personified all that GC had to put together with many, many others.

But GC gifted him with the Blueprint & paved the way for Prince to become the artist he became.

GC & Prince first met in the late 70’s & GC helped to kickstart his career by pitching his music to the influential Detroit DJ - Electrifying Mojo.

Later Prince would repay the favour & sign GC to his Paisley Park label.

Their paths would continue to cross in numerous ways.

On this thread, I’m going to take you through the following:

Part 1:
Prince on GC
GC on Prince
GC’S influence on Prince
Collaborations

Part 2:
Funkadelic mythology & discography

Part 3:
Parliament mythology & discography

Part 4:
GC Solo

Of course, this will not be exhaustive or detailed as it could never be with Twitter threads but I hope it serves as a good “introduction” to GC’s output.

If you are into Prince, imho, it is essential to explore his musical DNA if you are to understand his music.

PRINCE ON GEORGE CLINTON

Prince wasn’t the most open or public person. He didn’t do many interviews preferring instead to let his music do most of the talking.

So there aren’t many places you can read or hear what Prince said about GC in public but here are some some of them.

I don’t think there is anything more profound & beautiful than this handwritten letter Prince sent to GC:

“Musta been moondust floatin’ on the day of your birth ‘cuz I’ll be damned if you’re from the planet Earth”

In 1997 Parliament/Funkadelic were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by Prince & he paid tribute to GC & all of his work with the following speech:

“I'm here to testify about Parliament Funkadelic tonight. Funk is the force that tore the roof off the sucker..

..that is modern music. The great George Clinton is the father of this funk mothership, the soulful supergroup that included legends like Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell, Eddie Hazel, and all the other brilliant musicians and singers that have signed on for duty...

They built Parliament Funkadelic and changed the world. There was something futuristic about Parliament Funkadelic and that was only fitting since they played a huge role in creating the future of music. Yet for all the outer space and alien imagery, Parliament Funkadelic was...

an earthy and funky and timely and ..I don't know about that [laughs]. Let me just say something about George, since he's a good friend of mine. One time he sent me a tape and says, um "you pee on it, then send it back to me. [Laughs] And I'll pee on it, & then we'll see what...

..we've got." So. [Laughs] This is what George is all about to me and mine. I went to see him at the Beverly Theater and it was frightening. 14 people singing "(Not Just) Knee Deep" in unison. That night, I went to the studio and recorded "Erotic City." [Applause]...

Needless 2 say, he's been an influence on me and everyone I know. That's all we talk about. That's all we groove on. Sitting down with him, he said 2 me "Everybody's got a little light under the sun." And that's really where his music is. You gotta really get into it and dig it”

Rolling Stone 85’:

“Not long ago I talked to George Clinton, a man who knows and has done so much for funk. George told me how much he liked ATWIAD. You know how much more his words mean than those from some mamma-jamma wearing glasses & an alligator shirt behind a typewriter?”

Prince clowned GC for the diaper his guitarist, Garry Shider (aka Diaper Man) wore onstage during some of his performances & said:

‘Man, you gotta get rid of that diaper,'”

[Early in his career when he was doing Punk Rock, GC & Tawl Ross also wore diapers as part of the act]

GC ON PRINCE

Conversely, George Clinton was always very open to the public & press & he spoke about many things including Prince on many occasions.

PRINCE IS A BAD MF

“When you come to the concept of a rock star, he is that.......He’s the epitome of that.”

“You could see it coming......You could see he was Sly [Stone] for the new generation”. ...

(Hit n Run UK Tour 2015)

“It was fantastic .. it was a rock n roll show for real..the girls are baaaad.. he’s in his element now for real ..

..this is what I knew he could do all along .. I mean you gotta get hit records & everything but Rock n roll he was doing last night is what I like to see him do...I’ve never seen 6 encores .. over & over .. he had done enough to keep everyone satisfied he just kept coming back”

PRINCE BEING HIS BOSS

“Once I left Capitol after Atomic Dog’ and all that, I needed a label. I just called him and said, ‘I got a track I peed on and I’m gonna send to you; you pee on it and send it back!’ And that’s the way it went,”