While not rooted in jazz, funk nevertheless took the expansiveness of bop and implemented the resulting freedom from pop song structures into a steamy soul context. Lengthy explorations of a single chord, horns accentuating the beat rather than the melody, freeform song arrangements--these became the hallmarks of soul's rawest, dirtiest outpost. When James Brown and his band began exploring the innermost workings of the almighty groove in the mid-1960s with "Out of Sight" and his seminal funk workout "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," the age of funk had officially dawned. What followed was a maelstrom of mainstream hits not only for Brown throughout the rest of the '60s and into the early '70s, but also for a new breed of funk luminaries--chiefly, the psychedelicized soul of Sly & the Family Stone's ("Thank You [Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin],") and George Clinton's ultraweird amalgam-outfits Parliament ("Tear the Roof Off the Sucker [Give Up the Funk]") and Funkadelic ("You Hit the Nail on the Head"). The '70s saw new acts such as Earth, Wind & Fire, Kool & the Gang, and the Meters rise to the top of the funk game, while longtime Motown mainstay Stevie Wonder contributed several of the genre's best-loved songs with "Living For the City," "Superstition," and "Higher Ground." Following the lead of a young Minneapolis visionary known as Prince, a more synthesized take on funk came to pass in the '80s, as the Gap Band, Cameo, and Zapp scored booty-shimmying hits in the early part of the decade.

Notable Artists: James Brown, George Clinton/Parliament/Funkadelic, Earth, Wind & Fire, the Gap Band