The parallels between 1976 and 2008 are undeniable. Back then, the economy was in shambles, suffering through a wicked bout of inflation. Late in the year, hope arrived in the person of Jimmy Carter, a Democrat who was elected president to put an end to eight dark years of Republican rule. Sound familiar?

Sadly, no such parallels exist within the music world. In 1976, record companies were on the verge of seeing some of their biggest sales ever. Artistic giants prowled the stages of the world. Concert venues were sold out everywhere. New York City was soon to give birth, nearly simultaneously, to both the disco and the punk movements, even as the city faced financial ruin.

Elsewhere on the musical landscape, funk was in its ascendancy, and the undeniable kings of the genre were Parliament-Funkadelic. George Clinton had founded Parliament as a barbershop quintet back in the ’60s, and that is literally what they were, as Clinton earned a living my styling hair while rehearsing with the vocal group. Parliament had a #3 R&B hit in 1967 with “I Wanna Testify,” but the winds of change were blowing, and it wasn’t long before Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone showed up on the scene to change things forever. Of course, no discussion of funk can even begin without talking about the man who invented the genre, and James Brown was at the peak of his powers.

It was a combination of these musical influences, together with the rise of the black power movement, and the availability of psychedelic drugs that informed Clinton’s next move. While Parliament continued on, he created a rock band that he called Funkadelic. They toured the northeast, often sharing the bill with white bands like the Stooges, and the MC5, and also hit the black college circuit in the South and on the East Coast.

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