Monday, September 7, 2009

You Make the Call: George Clinton's Maggot Brain versus Metallica's Unforgiven



Totally random. I just got back from seeing the one and only George Clinton (can you smell the p-funk on me?) at the Africafest in Chicago. Gordon and his queen were also in attendance. At the climax of the show--one song before "Flashlight"--George Clinton's boy Michael Hampton played "Maggot Brain." Am I just that late to the party, but did Metallica borrow some of "Unforgiven's" chord progressions from Parliament's "Maggot Brain?"



In union, Gordon, his queen, and I noticed the similarities between the two songs. Are we crazy? What are some other funk-rock-metal borrowings/samplings/collaborations that are so obvious they have subsequently gone under the radar for most listeners? Enlighten me please as I enjoy adding those selections to my music rotation.

I am still waiting for the mothership!



I wonder if Riley Martin will get me a seat on the next outbound shuttle to Alpha Centauri?

4 comments:

luclonde said...

Eh, not really. I'm a musician and I've studied Metallica, but you can take any song based on three chords and hold it up to another that's also based on three chords and find similarity. I really really like that Parliament video, though. That's a great find!

DS Hathaway said...

I'm a old P-funk head and know Maggot Brain note for note...nope not the same. But, great seeing the video again.

Anonymous said...

"What are some other funk-rock-metal borrowings/samplings/collaborations that are so obvious they have subsequently gone under the radar for most listeners? Enlighten me please as I enjoy adding those selections to my music rotation."

How about this one - never realized it until I heard them side by side:

"Summertime" by Ricky Nelson (1962):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izsVZup02-4

"We Ain't Got Nothin' Yet" by The Blues MaGoos (1967):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOGRTLn2uKY

"Black Night" by Deep Purple (1970):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIqKvfS3Xtk

-Bill the Lizard

Lady Zora, Chauncey DeVega, and Gordon Gartrelle said...

Hmmm, maybe it was how it was performed that night--damn creative types who never reproduce a song exactly as it is written...just had to be a bit euro-modernist for a second.

chauncey d