30/11/2025
How a Record-Label Mess Created a Funk Universe
In the late 60s, George Clinton’s vocal group The Parliaments had a minor hit — but the label owned the name. That meant Clinton couldn’t release new music under it without their permission.
Most artists would’ve stopped. Clinton said: “Cool. I’ll build another universe.”
He formed a new band with the same musicians, but a new identity:
Funkadelic.
That was the loophole. The escape hatch. The alter ego that let him stay creative while “The Parliaments” sat in legal jail.
Then the twist: Clinton eventually won back the rights to Parliament. And instead of choosing, he made the genius move — he kept both.
Two groups. Same players. Different personalities.
They toured as both. Recorded as both. Sometimes the lines blurred completely — Bootsy might cut a Funkadelic track at noon and a Parliament anthem at night.
It wasn’t one band with an alter ego. It was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sharing a stage.
Before Marvel built a cinematic universe, Black musicians built the P-Funk Universe — the Mothership, Dr. Funkenstein, Sir Nose, the clones, the sagas. Clinton didn’t just outsmart the system. He expanded it.
One man. Two groups. A whole universe they couldn’t stop.
