Funkentelechy, The Placebo Syndrome, and Flash Light

This is easily one of Parliament's greatest albums, and they went all out to create it.

Hip-hop is my life. Therefore, I'm well-versed in the battles raging for the "soul" of the genre. Making music that is "pure" and "genuine" while yet appealing to the broadest possible audience (with all the financial consequences it entails) is a perpetual tension. When this struggle is captured on wax, Hip-Hop sometimes draws ridicule, but the reality is that every musical subgenre goes through this phase as it acquires popularity. There will always be musicians who worry about their genre becoming watered down or losing touch with its origins, and they may rest assured that this worry is shared by many. For 45 years, George Clinton and the members of Parliament have been waging the good fight with their album Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome. It was done with all the trippy funkiness of Parliament-Funkadelic that was humanly feasible.

In 1977, disco was at the height of its popularity. The film and its music for Saturday Night Fever were available to the public weeks after Funkentelechy's arrival. In the summer, stores began stocking the first record by the Village People. The year 1979 saw the publication of not one but two albums by Donna Summer. The year 1979 saw the release of disco and "dance-oriented" records by everyone from Ringo Starr to Bill Cosby. Several funk and soul acts, including Cameo, The Commodores, and Rufus, put out records that reflected the sound dominating the airwaves and club floors at the time.

George Clinton didn't dislike dance for any intrinsic reason. He was instrumental in breaking the Parliament-Funkadelic collective into its component bands, Parliament and Funkadelic. Midway through the '70s, Funkadelic and Parliament created acid-drenched versions of funk music inspired by rock and blues, although Parliament was somewhat more approachable. Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome, like most of Parliament's work, is intent on getting listeners up and moving their butts. While Clinton may have been correct in his assessment of disco as a watered-down version of the funk he pioneered, Parliament remained dedicated to pursuing authentic funk.

The conflict between Funkentelechy and the Placebo Syndrome is presented as a struggle for the very essence of funk. As one would expect from George Clinton and Parliament, however, the war was waged via the use of outlandish personas, ideas, and jargon in the music and comics that accompanied it. So, in their words, it was Funkentelechy, the genuine essence of funk, against the Placebo Syndrome, the commercialized, sanitized form of dance music. While Clinton and his crew may have become more "dance-oriented" on Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome than on their previous albums, it didn't mean they abandoned their signature sound.

There was a victorious player on each side. There was the Starchild, defender of the Pleasure Principle and supreme champion of funk, who traveled the galaxy aboard the Mothership while packing his trusty Bop Gun. Sir Nose D'Voidoffunk, the Subliminal Seducer, and a funkless being who claims they would never dance, are in the opposite corner. Since Parliament's classic Mothership Connection (1975), Clinton had been performing under the moniker Starchild; the concept for Sir Nose seems to have been inspired by a lyric from a song by P-Funk all-star Bootsy Collins, who had released his first album earlier that year. Collins says, "Don't fake the funk or your nose will grow!" in the song's introduction to The Pinocchio Theory. This is how Starchild's sworn enemy came into being.

Parliament’s Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome lineup usually included a solid collection of P-finest Funk's musicians. Besides Clinton as a bandleader, the band included Gary Shider on lead guitar, Glenn Goins on guitar and vocals, Cardell Mosson on bass, Fred Wesley on trombone, Maceo Parker on saxophone, Jerome "Bigfoot" Brailey on drums, and Bernie Worrell on keys. The Brides of Funkenstein provided backup vocals on several tunes, while Bootsy and Phelps "Catfish" Collins gave their skills to one track. Although everyone here is outstanding, Funkentelechy is where Worrell's genius shines. Worrell was brilliant in the middle to late '70s when he contributed to all of Parliament-Funkadelic's recordings.

The first track of Funkentelechy is called Bop Gun (Endangered Species), and it's when we're introduced to Starchild's preferred weapon. The Bop Gun's basic tenet is simple: shoot someone who is un-funky, and they will break into dancing. The Horny Horns brass section and Brailey's pulsating drums dominate the song's hard-charging rhythmic speed, while Worrell's flourishes on the keys keep things cheerful and energetic. Goins sings the lead on this track, sounding as fearless and confident as ever, yelling encouraging phrases like "Turn me free!" We will win in the end! “Where’d you get that funk from?” and “Gotta get over the hump!” During Parliament's live performances, Goins's loud and deep voice became a fan favorite and earned him a spot in the infamous "named the Mothership" group. Goins's contribution to Bop Gun was his last before he and others quit Parliament-Funkadelic shortly after this album came out. In 1978, he founded the band Quazar, and later that year, he succumbed to Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The album's villain is formally introduced in the track Sir Nose D'Voidoffunk, which has an appropriately ominous title. At the song’s outset, Sir Nose gives his monologue in which he categorically refuses to dance. Then, Clinton, in the role of Starchild, sings drug-themed nursery rhymes over a piano-driven beat. Although he sometimes alters Ba Ba Black Sheep, his primary focus is on the Blind Three Mice (the B3M from the song's title), about whom he exclaims, “Loves those meeces to pieces.” Besides "chasing the noses away," Starchild's other mission is to track down and kill Sir Nose, whom he warns to "Put that snoot to use, ya mutha!" Since you're a dancer, you'll know that. Meanwhile, "Syndrome, Tweedle-dee-dee-dum" is chanted again and over by the Brides of Funkenstein. Idle, resist the urge to give in.

Funkentelechy is the longest track on the album, at a little under 11 minutes. Clinton adopts a new character, the Lollipop Man, who was previously featured in the Mothership Connection album. The radio host, over a pulsating bassline and shimmering horns, repeats catchphrases in a jingle-like fashion, promoting Funkentelechy as the antidote to the inauthenticity and decreasing returns of disco. Clinton "sells" his product by using phrases like “The bigger the headache, the bigger the pill,” "Pecking lightly, like a woodpecker with a headache," and "Funk is a non-profit organization" after saying, “You might as well pay attention if you can't afford free speech,” The horn section, headed by Wesley and Parker, drives the song forward and provides the song's signature strong funk throughout the bridge and breaks.

There are a few occasions during Funkentelechy when the cast and crew make a change. The song Wizards of Finance doesn't fit the rest of the album's concept. Although there are hints of Parliament's early doo-wop inspirations, this song is as near as the band got to producing a traditional R&B/Soul ballad. There's a definite funkier vibe to Placebo Syndrome, a song. As the song's focal point, band member Billy Nelson provides both watery bass playing and melismatic vocals. The tune, which cautions against giving in to "the syndrome" or, once again, faking the funk, is bolstered by Worrell's keys and the Horny Horns part.

One of Parliament's finest works, and a classic of the funk genre, it serves as the album's last track and closing track, respectively, on Funkentelechy. When it comes to the strength of the funk, Flash Light is an outstanding example. It depicts Starchild's conflict with Sir Nose. To no one's surprise, Starchild uses the Bop Gun to blast Sir Nose, putting "the limelight on 'em" and forcing him to dance despite his protests. Catfish lays down some of the finest guitar work of his career on this track, while Bootsy's quiet but impeccable drumming makes this song a showcase for the Collins brothers' abilities. This time around, Clinton sings lead, acting as both protagonist and antagonist, as he narrates Sir Nose's downfall and proclaims, "Everybody's got a little light under the sun!" However, Worrell retakes center stage, this time demonstrating incredible keyboard prowess by performing on both the main synth and the accompanying synth track to create a bassline. He performs intricate lines on the main synth and generates a soaring tornado of funk intensity; his work is almost incomparable.

Flash Light exemplifies how accessible funk music can yet be faithful to the band's heritage. As such, it's not surprising that it became one of Parliament's most recognizable songs, a #1 hit on the U.S. R&B charts, and a platinum certification. Even now, it serves as an excellent dancing tune. This second act of Parliament-Funkadelic concludes with Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome. It was said above that band members started leaving in 1978, but it didn't stop them from producing some great songs for another four years. From 1978 on, however, the band's Parliament and Funkadelic versions hardly differed musically anymore, as both sides began focusing on producing more epic funk songs.

However, Starchild and Sir Nose's "fight" in Parliament would go on the record. A year and a half after the historic "Disco Demolition Night" at Chicago's Comiskey Park, authentic funk music was still intense, but disco was not going anywhere. So Clinton and Parliament kept inventing offbeat ideas and personalities to spread his message that joy and funk can change the world. One of the most lasting funk albums ever produced, Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome, was a massive hit for them.