George Clinton: One Contract Dispute Built Two Bands

George Clinton didn't set out to build a musical empire.

He set out to get around a bad contract.

That single decision in 1968 split one group of musicians into two working bands, Parliament and Funkadelic, recording on two different labels under his direction.

By the middle of the decade, that same collective was landing an actual spaceship prop on concert stages.

Most write-ups treat George Clinton's story as one long, colorful blur of costumes and mythology.

This one follows the real decade year by year, verified against Billboard's own chart data.

The original P-Funk Mothership built for George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic tour, on display at the Smithsonian

The original P-Funk Mothership, built for George Clinton's 1976 P-Funk Earth Tour, now on permanent display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Image credit: Photo by Fuzheado, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

1967-1968: One Contract Dispute Creates Two Bands

The Parliaments Hit, and a Label That Wouldn't Let Go

George Clinton started as a doo-wop singer, not a funk bandleader.

He formed a vocal group called the Parliaments in 1955 while working at a barbershop in Plainfield, New Jersey.

The group spent over a decade grinding on small labels with little to show for it.

Then "(I Wanna) Testify" became a real hit for Detroit's Revilot Records in 1967.

Revilot ran into financial and legal trouble almost immediately afterward.

Clinton found himself unable to record any new material under the Parliaments name while the label's mess got sorted out.

Funkadelic as the Workaround

George Clinton refused to sit and wait for a settlement.

In 1968 he signed the same touring musicians to Westbound Records under a new name, Funkadelic.

The band released its self-titled debut album in 1970.

By 1970 Clinton had also regained legal rights to the Parliament name itself.

He then signed that same core lineup to a second label, Invictus Records, as Parliament.

One group of musicians was now recording under two names, on two labels, at the same time.

Funkadelic leaned into heavier, guitar-driven psychedelic rock.

Parliament leaned into tighter horn-and-groove funk arrangements.

Both were run by the same man out of the same creative circle for the rest of the decade.

1971: The Maggot Brain Guitar Solo

Ten Minutes, One Take

Funkadelic released its third album, "Maggot Brain," in 1971.

The title track opens with George Clinton speaking over a slow, spacious groove.

Then guitarist Eddie Hazel takes over for nearly ten uninterrupted minutes.

The solo is now regularly ranked among the greatest guitar performances in funk and rock history.

It was reportedly recorded in a single take.

Clinton's Instruction, By His Own Account

George Clinton has told the same story about that session for decades.

He has said he instructed Hazel to play the first half as though he had just learned his mother died.

Then to play the second half as though he had just learned she was alive after all.

Clinton has also admitted the exact memory of that night has grown hazy over the years.

The story is his own account, not an independently confirmed record of the session.

Whatever instruction Hazel actually received, the recording itself is not in question.

1972: A Bassist Arrives From James Brown's Band

Bootsy Collins Leaves the J.B.'s

Bassist William "Bootsy" Collins spent 1969 through 1971 in James Brown's tight, disciplined backing band, the J.B.'s.

He left that group along with his brother, guitarist Phelps "Catfish" Collins.

George Clinton brought both of them into the Parliament-Funkadelic camp in 1972.

Bootsy's elastic, melodic bass playing became one of the collective's defining sounds for the rest of the decade.

It shows up directly on the bass line driving "Flash Light," one of the group's biggest hits.

Bootsy's Rubber Band Spins Off

George Clinton's operation kept growing new branches rather than staying one fixed band.

Bootsy Collins launched his own act, Bootsy's Rubber Band, as a spinoff in 1976.

He kept working within Clinton's wider camp even as he built a separate solo identity.

The arrangement matched the pattern already set by Parliament and Funkadelic themselves.

Musicians moved freely between projects that all answered to the same creative center.

1975-1977: The Mothership Lands

Mothership Connection Sets Up the Mythology

Parliament released "Mothership Connection" on Casablanca Records in December 1975.

The album built a loose concept around funk musicians arriving from outer space.

It leaned into Afrofuturist imagery George Clinton had been developing for years.

Critics and fans alike still regard it as the definitive Parliament-Funkadelic record.

The album's mythology needed a real stage show to match it.

The P-Funk Earth Tour's Real Stage Prop

Casablanca chief Neil Bogart bankrolled an elaborate stage production to bring that mythology to life.

The centerpiece was a real spaceship prop built to descend onto the stage mid-show.

It measured roughly twenty feet wide and ten feet high, with nine legs and a body of blinking lights.

It weighed close to 1,500 pounds.

The Mothership first landed on October 26, 1976, at the Municipal Auditorium in New Orleans.

It touched down in the wrong spot at the wrong moment during that first show.

The band adjusted on the fly and worked it into the middle of the set instead.

Running the prop night after night cost so much that some tour stops had to choose between paying for the ship and paying the band.

The Mothership was retired from the road by the following summer.

The original prop now sits on permanent display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.

George Clinton's Real 1970s Chart Record

Billboard's own year-end data tells a story that surprises a lot of listeners.

"Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)" (Parliament): reached number 15 on the Hot 100, ranked 93rd on the 1976 year-end chart.
"Flash Light" (Parliament): reached number 16 on the Hot 100, ranked 92nd on the 1978 year-end chart.
"One Nation Under a Groove" (Funkadelic): released September 1978 and went on to become Funkadelic's first platinum album.

Neither of George Clinton's two biggest Parliament singles ever cracked the Hot 100's top 10.

Both have since become two of the most heavily sampled recordings in hip-hop history, appearing in hundreds of later tracks combined.

George Clinton's actual 1970s chart peaks were modest next to the size of his cultural footprint since.

See how that chart run compares to other funk and soul acts of the decade with the Random Artist Picker.

Or read about the bandmate who helped build that sound in James Brown in the 70s.

Test what you know about the era with the 70s Music Trivia Quiz.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did George Clinton have two bands, Parliament and Funkadelic?

George Clinton created Funkadelic in 1968 after a contract dispute with Revilot Records froze the Parliaments name following their 1967 hit "(I Wanna) Testify."

He signed the same musicians to Westbound Records under the new name.

In 1970 he regained rights to the Parliament name and signed that same lineup to a second label as Parliament, splitting one group of musicians across two bands.

What is the story behind the Maggot Brain guitar solo?

George Clinton has said he told guitarist Eddie Hazel to play the "Maggot Brain" solo as if his mother had just died, then as if she were still alive.

Clinton has told this story for decades, though he calls the exact memory hazy.

Hazel recorded the ten-minute solo in a single take, now ranked among funk's greatest guitar performances.

How did Bootsy Collins end up playing with George Clinton?

Bassist Bootsy Collins had spent 1969 to 1971 in James Brown's backing band, the J.B.'s, before leaving with his brother Catfish Collins.

George Clinton brought both of them into the Parliament-Funkadelic camp in 1972.

Bootsy's bass work became central to the group's biggest hits before he launched his own spinoff act, Bootsy's Rubber Band, in 1976.

What was the Mothership on George Clinton's P-Funk Earth Tour?

The Mothership was a twenty-foot-wide, roughly 1,500-pound stage prop built to land on stage during Parliament-Funkadelic's 1976 P-Funk Earth Tour.

It first appeared on October 26, 1976, in New Orleans, funded by Casablanca Records chief Neil Bogart.

Retired by the following summer over its cost, the original now sits at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.

What are George Clinton's biggest Billboard Hot 100 hits from the 1970s?

George Clinton's Parliament reached its widest Hot 100 audience with "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)," which peaked at number 15 in 1976, and "Flash Light," which peaked at number 16 in 1978.

Both songs ranked in Billboard's year-end Hot 100 for their respective years.

Neither reached the top 10, a fact that surprises most listeners given how heavily both tracks have been sampled since.