I recently came across this amazing old clip of Parliament performing "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)" live at the Houston Summit in 1976. It doesn't get any funkier than this. The performance was during the band's highest level of funkosity. The late, great Ray "Stingray" Davis kicked things off with his legendary bass vocal intro: "Tear the roof off, we're gonna tear the roof off the mother sucka, tear the roof off the sucka!" And that's exactly what the band did.There was no band funkier or badder than P-Funk during this period. The funk collective set off a new era in funk music, dropping an incredible amount of great music throughout the '70s. And their concerts were like three-ring funk circuses, which included elaborate stage sets, freaky costumes, and tons of booty shakin'. It was sort of like James Brown meets KISS.
"Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)" is the ultimate funk anthem and one of the band's most recognized songs. Even people who aren't into funk are familiar with this cut. Hell, it was even covered on Glee, and it's turned up in many films. My favorite cinematic usage of the song was for the film Slums of Beverly Hills, where Marisa Tomei and Natasha Lyonne get their groove on to the track. The song was written by the George Clinton, Bootsy Collins and P-Funk drummer extraordinaire Jerome Brailey.
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