Funk-rock
Funk-rock is a music genre that fuses funk and rock elements. It can incorporate a wide range of instruments, but tends to have a definite bass or drum beat and electric guitars.
Most Funk Rock bands take influence from one or more other genres, usually including Hip-Hop, Rap, Reggae, Jazz, Ska, and Punk rock. Funk Rock sometimes crosses or overlaps Rap-Rock, especially in the sounds of Red Hot Chili Peppers, 311, Rage Against the Machine, Rehab, Beastie Boys, among others. It is more musically driven, being guitar oriented and far less lyrically driven than Hip-Hop. Some enthusiasts feel that it strikes a better balance between lyrics and music than Hip-Hop or Rock alone.[citation needed] Some see this only as an alternative form of Hip-Hop,[citation needed] driven by bass-guitar rhythms, rather than bass-drum or synthesized beats. This sentiment is reinforced by Hip-Hop artists that have used this style to break into mainstream radio play, as well as many cross-collaborations between Funk Rock and Hip-Hop artists. It is also not unusual to hear copious doses of sampling and remixing used in Funk Rock. However, Funk Rock will always be set apart from Hip-Hop by more melodic singing backed by rock music with a funk bass line.
Genre history
The first incarnations of funk-rock evolve in the 1970s in the form of the British rock-band Trapeze, Frank Zappa and the American band Funkadelic. The Big Boys created their own sound with Hardcore Funk Punk in the early 1980s. Its origins in the 1980s through to the modern day lie with Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane's Addiction, Faith No More, Fishbone, Primus, Spin Doctors and Prince who have created, expanded and defined its style. In the early 1990s, several bands combined funky rhythms with heavy guitar sounds referred to as Funk metal.
A major form of Funk-rock is Minneapolis sound.
See also