I was thinking the other day about my musical origins. Well, the thinking was inspired by my MP3 player and the fact that it's mostly filled Hard Rock and Funk. I love Funk. It's not just that it's because I'm a bass player, and we're sorta pre-programmed to like bass heavy music, but I've always listened to Funk. It's probably actually why I was drawn to the bass--even when it was playing bass in a Hard Rock setting.
I had the good fortune to go to high school up not way too far from Washington, D.C. when Go-Go was happening. Now that grooved. E.U., Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers, and other acts like Cameo--that was the bomb. But my interest in Funk started even earlier than that.
I was 8 years old when Saturday Night Fever came out, and that with Disco and especially the really funky disco bands like The Commodores,KC and the Sunshine Band or Kool & the Gang who had enourmous hits in the late Seventies, were just as influential on my musical upbringing as was that cassette I had of Kiss's Double Platinum.
I also specifically remember watching Soul Train ("with yo' host, Don Cornelius") on Saturday afternoons, and perferring it to American Bandstand. At the time I thought it was because the people looked like they were having more fun, or maybe because I thought the music was better. Of course, now I know that they were indeed having more fun, because the music really was better. And I loved the hair. Afros. Afros and Jheri Curl.
You won't believe it based on my current picture and my haircut as a monument to the unholy hybrid of a tennis and bowling ball, but I used to have (and assume that I would still have if I grew out what was left) curly hair. Lots of it. And because I like low maintenance, I just let it curl and grow, so I had a white man's Afro.
One afternoon, I remember watching Soul Train, and they had a commercial for Jheri Curl, and the slogan was (something like) "For Our Kind of Hair." Now, at the time, I'll admit to having been a bit racially naiive. (My parents raised me without any type of racial programming, and let me figure things out for myself, for which I am very grateful.) I didn't really understand "Our Kind of Hair." So, I asked my mother:
Oliver: "I want to get some Jheri Curl."
Oliver's mother: "Uh, why's that?"
O: "Because it's for our kind of hair. And the comercials are cool. And the music is cool."
OM: "I don't think it's really for your kind of hair."
O: "Well, then, what kind of hair is it for?"
OM: "It's for, uh, people with curly hair."
O: "BUT I HAVE CURLY HAIR!"
OM: "I'll explain it to you when you get older."
Anyhow, I like Funk. Especially 70's and 80's Funk. With or without the Jheri Curl.
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Tales
By Marcus Miller
Release date: 2002-04-09 |
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