Funkadelic - Maggot Brain


Some albums are famous, some albums are infamous, and then there's Maggot Brain. If you thought System of a Down required an infitite rabbit hole of research to properly mentally grasp, you ain't seen nothing. From Tawl Ross's LSD bender induced brain damage to the title track's "play like your mom just died" to the Scientology splinter cell of a satanist church that is the Process Church of the Final Judgement, to the fart sounds in Wars of Armageddon, this seemingly innocuous little Funk Rock album will leave you wondering why everybody doesn't adore it. The answer of course is racism, but even without the support of radio play i highly doubt you know nothing of George Clinton. 

That being said, the album is actually super listenable and easy to love. Structurally, the album is bookended by two massive instrumentals, Maggot Brain and Wars of Armageddon, with various shorter and catchy Funk jams in the middle. A Funk sandwich, if you will. Thematically, the album is a meditation on fear, or more specifically the stupidity of letting fear control your life. 

I'm of course deeply fascinated by the coincidental relationships between my randomly chosen albums, and the fact that both System of a Down and Funkadelic are directly though apocryphally connected to Charles Manson is just crazy. 

But much as i'd love to delve into the topic of Manson's bonkers racist conspiracy theory and the blatant parallel between the narrative portrayals of Manson and Hitler, i not surprisingly enjoy listening to bad-ass guitar solos much more. Maggot Brain is a real doozie that absolutely deserves its reputation as one of the greatest solos on any instrument. 

Long story short, don't be afraid to check out Funkadelic's Maggot Brain. It's fantastic.

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