Maggot Brain (song)

"Maggot Brain" is a song by the band Funkadelic. It appears as the lead track on their 1971 album of the same name.

"Maggot Brain"
Song by Funkadelic
from the album Maggot Brain
Released1971
Recorded1971 at Universal Studios, Detroit
GenrePsychedelic rock
Length10:20
9:35 (alternate mix)
LabelWestbound
Songwriter(s)Edward Hazel, George Clinton
Producer(s)George Clinton

The original recording of the song, over ten minutes long, features little more than a spoken introduction and a much-praised extended guitar solo by Eddie Hazel. Music critic Greg Tate described the song as Funkadelic's A Love Supreme;[1] the song is #60 on the Rolling Stone list of 100 Greatest Guitar Songs.[2] Reportedly, "Maggot Brain" was Hazel's nickname.[3] Other sources say the title is a reference to band leader George Clinton finding his brother's "decomposed dead body, skull cracked, in a Chicago apartment."[4] Michael Hampton (Hazel's replacement as lead guitarist) recorded his own interpretation of the song live in 1978, which was included in a bonus vinyl EP that was distributed with the album One Nation Under a Groove; the cut is also included in most CD editions of that album.

Creation

According to legend, the track was recorded in one take when George Clinton, under the influence of LSD, told guitarist Hazel during the recording session to play as if he had been told his mother was dead:[1] Clinton explained "I told him to play like his mother had died, to picture that day, what he would feel, how he would make sense of his life, how he would take a measure of everything that was inside him."[5] Though several other musicians performed on the track, Clinton largely faded them out of the final mix so that the focus would be on Hazel's guitar. Hazel utilized a fuzz and a wah effects, inspired by his idol Jimi Hendrix; Clinton subsequently added delay and other effects in mixdown, saying "I Echoplexed it back on itself three or four times. That gave the whole thing an eerie feel, both in the playing and in the sound effects."[5] Critics have described the solo as "lengthy, mind-melting" and "an emotional apocalypse of sound."[6]

Reputation

From 1976 to 1995, disc jockey Bill "B.L.F. Bash" Freeman started a tradition of playing the original full version of the song on 100.7 WMMS/Cleveland every Sunday morning at 1:30 (around "last call"). The tradition was picked up in 1987 and is still carried on to this day by Mr. Classic, host of "The Saturday Night Live House Party" featured on 98.5 WNCX/Cleveland at 11:50pm. The song appeared in "The Down Low", an episode of the television series House, and was featured in the films Towelhead, I Melt with You, as well as in Gaspar Noé's art film Love. In March 2005, Father Nature Magazine placed Eddie Hazel's performance on "Maggot Brain" at number 1 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos; the solo came in at #71 in "100 Greatest Guitar Solos" by Guitar World. The solo has had great influence on some guitar players, Vernon Reid and Dean Ween among them.[7][8]

Personnel

Influence
  • John Frusciante said he was inspired by "Maggot Brain" to record his own version called "Before the Beginning", which is featured on his 2009 album The Empyrean.[9]
  • Dean Ween, the lead guitarist of Ween, has cited Hazel's solo as one that he most frequently "rips off", along with the solo from "Blue Sky" by the Allman Brothers. [10]
  • Donald Glover, a.k.a. "Childish Gambino" said in an interview with Billboard that his album "Awaken, My Love!" was inspired by Funkadelic, with the album art even reflecting that of Maggot Brain [11]. Glover's lead single "Me and Your Mama" is supposed to emotionally reflect that of the song "Maggot Brain", and guitar effects (delay, fuzz and wah-wah) and playing style of "The Night Me and Your Mama Met" is inspired by the song. [12]

References
  1. Tate, Greg (January 12, 1993). "Eddie Hazel, 1950–1992". The Village Voice.
  2. "Eddie Hazel - 100 Greatest Guitarists". Rolling Stone. rollingstone.com. Retrieved 2015-11-27.
  3. Thompson, Dave (2001). Funk. Hal Leonard. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-87930-629-8.
  4. Vincent, Rickey (1996). Funk: the music, the people, and the rhythm of the one. Macmillan. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-312-13499-0.
  5. Houghtaling, Adam Brent. "One-Track Mind: The Passion of Eddie Hazel and Funkadelic's 'Maggot Brain'". Fender.com. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  6. Bogdanov, Vladimir; Chris Woodstra; Stephen Thomas Erlewine (2002). All music guide to rock: the definitive guide to rock, pop, and soul. Hal Leonard. p. 440. ISBN 978-0-87930-653-3.
  7. Reid, Vernon (November 1993). "Brother from Another Planet: George Clinton Freed Our Mind. If Only Our Asses Would Follow". Vibe. pp. 45–48.
  8. Ween, Deen (June 2013). "Guitar Moves". Noisey.
  9. "Watt from Pedro Show". Invisible Movement–John Frusciante Unofficial Site. January 25, 2009. p. 5. Archived from the original on November 17, 2018. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU9fTmTsssA
  11. "Fader". the Fader. November 17, 2016.
  12. "Billboard".
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