TOM VICKERS: P-FUNK AMBASSADOR

The ex-Rolling Stone writer joined the funk mob and helped expand its media reach

Funk, for all its musical power and thematic scope, was not embraced by white media with the same enthusiasm as soul music in the ‘60s or hip hop in the ‘90s. It needed translation for gate keepers who treasured Motown, Memphis soul and the uplifting anthems of Curtis Mayfield. Funk sold records but the large bands, dark jams and able exposed chest hair of that era was a hard sell at newspapers and magazines who instead jumped on the disco band wagon.

For George Clinton and his vast, multi-faceted Parliament-Funkadelic empire, Tom Vickers fought the good fight. Recruited after writing a Rolling Stone article on Parliment, Vickers worked to shine a light on one of the most important but, at the time, relatively under the radar musical movement of the ‘70s. Despite some massive hits, I remember how little mainstream coverage the P-Funk generated. In a sense they were a big cult band that had more in common with the Grateful Dead than, say, Kool & the Gang. In this previously unseen, uncut interview from Finding the Funk, Vickers talks about life on the Mothership, how it worked and why it ended.