Brit funk

Brit funk is a musical style that has its origins in the British music scene of the late 1970s-80s. It mixes elements from funk and soul music with original jazz-funk and Caribbean overtones.

An important stylistic element of Brit funk is the dominant role of the bass and rhythm guitars. With a hard funky rhythm, a cross between James Brown and Earth, Wind & Fire, the Brit funk trend reached its peak in the mid-1980s.

Brit Funk Bands

The Pioneers of Brit funk were Hi Tension who had hits with "British Hustle" and "Hi Tension". Hi Tension a band north west London started as Hot Waxx, which included Phil Fearon (Galaxy and Kandidate) and Lloyd Phillips, brother of Paul (Kandidate) in the early '70s before becoming the famous Hi-Tension. The Real Thing, Heatwave (led by the destined-for-world-domination Rod Temperton) and Gonzalez were also pioneers from the late '70s, adding their own slant to the American melodic funk/R'n'B sounds of the post-disco era. However, the first time the term was use was in reference to bands like Light Of The World, who though obviously influenced by the funk scene from the USA were happy to acknowledge their UK roots without the need for adopting American accents on stage. So the phenomenon has its roots in North and East London where the band members were born.

Groups such as Light Of The World were among the first after Hi Tension to have major hit records in UK and international charts. Their eponymous debut spawned 'Swingin', a driving piece of thunderous funk - especially the guitar and perfectly timed horn stabs. 'Round Trip' followed with the soul weekender anthem 'London Town'. After their split, the most notable part was Incognito. Headed by former LotW Jean-Paul Maunick and Paul Tubbs released one of the definitive Brit-funk era albums called 'Jazz-Funk' plus a couple of notable singles such as 'North London Boy'. They reformed 8 years later on Gilles Peterson's Talkin' Loud label in 1990. The duo Lynx should also get a mention as being one of the quality acts following their eponymously-titled sparkling debut album from 1981 which included 'You're Lying' and 'Intuition' (David Grant and Peter Martin)- followed solo careers around 1983) .New Wave|pop|soul boy|brit soul rock bands could be considered part of the Brit-Funk movement of the '70s and '80s. Other bands that rose above some of the bandwagon jumpers were The Inversions, Shakatak (Drivin' Hard and Invitations are classics), Paul Hardcastle and Derek Green of First Light, Central Line ('Walking into Sunshine' must not be missed), Morrisey Mullen, UK Players, Atmosfear ('Dancing in Outerspace'), Paz, Beggar and Co (further splinters from LotW), Second Image (in particular 'Special Lady' and 'Sing and Shout'),Imagination (notably 'Changes' and 'Burning Up') and Freeez, whose 'Southern Freeez' must rank as one of the greatest British club tracks ever released - regardless of genre. Loose Ends could be included but weren't really part of the movement, though they carried the torch into the second half of the 80s.

One of the most influential and commercially successful bands deserving of their own mention are Level 42. Mark King, their lead singer and bass player, took up the slap and pop style created by artists like Larry Graham and Stanley Clarke brothers johnson and developed his own sound which became the Level 42 sound. Working with Earth Wind and Fire producer Wally Badarou, their self-titled album and tracks like 'Turn it on' and 'Love Games' was unique and crossed the water spurring US interest in remixing their tracks for club use. They produced three albums that were associated with the movement: 'Level 42', 'The Early Tapes' (released a few years later following their rising success) and 'The Pursuit of Accidents'. A best visual example of this period is on Level 42 at 'Rockpalast', recently released on dvd and representative of a band at their peak.

Spandau Ballet and Kajagoogoo are other examples of peripheral Brit-funk bands. Record companies and music press of the time wanted to change the face of brit funk so the soul Boy movement was started with bands like haircut 100 sounding very Brit funkish and wham as a way to commercialize the music. The sound had out-stayed its welcome by 1985 with the rise of the stripped-down 'house' music sound and Brit-funk - along with related forms of Soul, Funk and Boogie - had become a footnote in music history. The best of it lives on and remain classics.