In The Groove: Funk legend George Clinton looks back on 50 years of ‘Mothership Connection’
In The Groove’s Ryan Patrick Hooper chats with George Clinton about all things funk.
50 years after Parliament’s “Mothership Connection,” George Clinton is still bringing the funk to fans all over the world. Recently, he came back to Detroit to perform at the Detroit Opera House for a one-night-only performance with a full orchestra that blew the roof off of the place.
Before that, George Clinton sat down with In The Groove’s Ryan Patrick Hooper to chat about his legacy, his career and the music that has defined his career.
Listen: Funk legend George Clinton looks back on 50 years of ‘Mothership Connection’
There’s no doubt Clinton is up there with Sly Stone and James Brown as a major musical innovator, but he doesn’t always get the love he deserves. In Detroit, however, he’s royalty. Many of those groundbreaking Parliament and Funkadelic records were recorded at the legendary local recording studio United Sound.
WDET has been a big part of his career, too.
“We did all those hit records over at United Sound, and we used to have to walk over to WDET to do our interviews back in the day,” laughs Clinton.
How does it feel to be an artist looking back on a funk-filled legacy? Well, Clinton always had a sense that this music would stand the test of the time.
“Feels to me like the plan worked,” says Clinton. “Once we saw in the early 80s that funk was going to be the DNA for hip-hop, we kind of planned that it would be around forever.”
Listen to In The Groove with host Ryan Patrick Hooper weekdays from noon-3 p.m. ET on 101.9 WDET or stream on-demand at wdet.org.
