Top Ten Funk Bands

Funk Rock, Funk Metal, Punk Funk, Funkcore, Funk, even. maybe. yeah.
The Top Ten
1 Red Hot Chili Peppers The Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American funk-rock and alternative rock band, that was founded in 1983.

The band's members are Anthony Kiedis (Vocals), Michael "Flea" Balzary (Bass), Chad Smith (Drums) and numerous guitarists, most well-known being John Frusciante.

The band is among the... read more

I grew up listening to this band. My favorite thing is that different songs of theirs come with different genres. Their basslines are so out of the box and crazy hard. With the guitar solos and Anothny's vocals, nobody can top this band!

Great band! I love flea but do they deserve to be placed ahead of Parliament-Funkadelic? RHCP is in the lower half of the top 10 at best. Their music is rock, funk-infused rock but still rock! George Clinton's P-Funk is "pure, uncut funk". Bands like Primus, Jane's Addiction, and Frank Zappa?...have no business in a funk band list.

2 Parliament/Funkadelic

Parliament-Funkadelic or Sly & the Family Stone should be in the top spot. The Chili Peppers are good, but they don't come close to the impact and influence that P-Funk have had on music. P-Funk influenced most of the bands on this list, including more recent ones like RHCP and Rage Against the Machine. P-Funk were true innovators and groundbreakers with talent to burn. The Chili Peppers don't come close in talent, impact or influence. People need to be a little more objective when voting on these lists. It's cool to have your favorites and all, but putting the Chili Peppers as the top funk of all time is just ludicrous. I wouldn't even put them in the top 30.

3 Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire is an American band that has spanned the musical genres of R&B, soul, funk, jazz, disco, pop, rock, Latin, and Afro pop. They have been described as one of the most innovative and commercially successful bands of all time.

Agreed. Earth, Wind & Fire are such a good funk group. Ever since the mid-70s, the group produced some of the sharpest grooves ever to hit our ears. I'd like to think that they're my favorite disco/pop group of all time. Their ballads are pretty good, as well. After The Love Has Gone just brings a tear to my eye. I actually played this song on my CD player after the band's founder died as tribute to him, just like I played "Something About Us" after Daft Punk split up. This band is just so earwax-inducingly good!

EWF is the history of black music and funk movement itself! Absolutely sure it is the greatest soul and funk act to ever emerge the musical stardom. They are legends.

4 The Brothers Johnson

Discovered by Quincy Jones, George "Lightning Licks" Johnson and his brother the late Louis "Thunder Thumbs" Johnson put together an incredible body of work. "Get the Funk Outta ma Face", "I'll Be Good To You", "Stomp", "Ain't We Funkin' Now", and my personal favorite, the magical "Strawberry Letter 23"! George's smooth vocals and strong guitar licks combined with Louis' out of this world thumb popping bass made for some of the best funk songs ever!

5 Sly and the Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone was an American band from San Francisco. Active from 1967 to 1983, the band was pivotal in the development of funk, soul, rock, and psychedelic music.

Really great examples of classic funk. Truly the Kings & Queens of this genre.
You know how Elvis and Michael Jackson are the Kings of their genre, while Sly's the King of Funk!

This group may singlehandedly (George Clinton and James Brown aside) be the most influential funk group of all time. There's a Riot Goin' On is the thickest, darkest funk you'll ever hear. Pioneers of the genre

Sly's bass player Larry Graham invented the technique of bass playing that is the cornerstone of funk. If you think Sly and the Family Stone is not a funk band then you have never heard "thank you for letting me be myself again"

6 Cameo

YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS! NUMBER 36? Cameo's body of work far surpasses the majority of those chosen above them! We're talking FUNK here, not rock! Cameo, along with the Brothers Johnson easily make the top ten! This list is totally bogus.

Hard core Funk and amazing slow jams. They are the Best Funk band ever!

7 Ohio Players

Only one group came close to these guys and that was Slave, also from Ohio.

They where the first band to incorporate funk jazz and r&b in the same song that I remember

8 Kool & the Gang

Most sampled Music Group in history. More too say? Most sucessful R&B Band iof all Times.
No other Black Music Group sold so many records in the 80s like them. Questions?

Best Band over all Genres ever! Most sampled Music Group in history. More too say?

Timeless...one of the best live bands ever...best Band over all Genres!

9 Zapp
10 Slave
The Contenders
11 Primus Primus is an American funk metal band based in San Francisco, California, currently composed of bassist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry LaLonde and drummer Tim Alexander. Les Claypool is regarded as one of the best bassists of all time for his slap-bass ability in notable songs like "My Name Is Mud",... read more

I see Primus as one of humanity's last attempts at decent music. And a damn good one, too. Perhaps music is fading into whatever noises you can get out of a computer now, but when I see bands like Primus I have to rethink that statement.

Hendrix is psychedelic rock for God's sake... Primus is real funk... And why aren't solo funk artists on the list? James Brown, George Clinton, Prince?

Primus created a new genre of music. It's the best genre in the world, and it goes by the name Primus.

12 Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine is a rap metal band formed in Los Angeles, California. The band consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk.

Why is this metal-rock band rated this high on a funk band top ten list? Incredible! So RATM is better than pure funk bands such as Cameo, The Ohio Players and The Brothers Johnson (conspicuously absent on this bogus list by the way)? Is there some type of criteria here that makes rock, alternative, and punk bands eligible to be included on a FUNK BAND list simply because they a bass guitar riff or two in their sound? Unbelievable!

These guys rocks and are really funky if you think that they are not you've got to learn more about music, RATM Mix a lot genres, Rap, Heavy Metal, Hip Hop and FUNK! Listen to Take the Power Back, Calm Like a Bomb, Bombtrack, Know your Enemy and obviously Killing in the Name, really funky tracks, they even covered a song called Renegades of Funk so...

13 Mr. Bungle Mr. Bungle was an American experimental rock band from Northern California. Known for a highly eclectic style, the band often cycled through several musical genres within the course of a single song, including heavy metal, avant-garde jazz, ska, disco as well as funk.
14 Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa was an American musician, songwriter, composer, record producer, actor and filmmaker.

?! Is Frank Zappa a one-man funk band? This list is so fraudulent!

Frank Zappa? On a funk band top ten list? Really?

15 The Isley Brothers
16 Average White Band

Pick Up The Pieces is a true master piece. Live versions are just awesome.

17 Bootsy's Rubber Band
18 Tower of Power

ToP created the pure, urban-funk sound. Knockout horn section...maybe the best ever. Yes, I liked the Commodores and Earth, Wind, and Fire, but they turned the pure funk sound into Pop / Funk fusion. Lastly, the best Funk of all time was the Father of Funk himself, James Brown.

I've seen TOP live and they're as tight live as they are on all their albums. They have extremely funky bass, horns, percussion and terrific vocals. They are the definition of funk in it's rawest form. Listening to Taxed to the Max and it's sweet!

19 Jimi Hendrix Jimi Hendrix (born November 27, 1942 - September 18, 1970) was an American rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter.

Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history of popular music, and one of the most... read more
20 Living Colour Living Colour is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 1984. Stylistically, the band's music is a creative fusion influenced by heavy metal, punk rock, funk, jazz, hip hop and alternative rock.
21 Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
22 Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin was an English hard rock band formed in London in 1968 as the New Yardbirds. The group consisted of Robert Plant (Vocal), Jimmy Page (Guitar), John Paul Jones (Bass, Keyboard) and John Bonham (Drums) and was very much the child of Jimmy Page who even financed their first tour. He had tasted... read more

Due to Bonham's funk and groove style of playing the drums all of led zep's songs are funky, but they also had one of the best funk rock songs of all time in 'Trampled Underfoot'.

23 The Gap Band

Best band ever and Charlie Wilson is The Greatest!

Love old school funk and Gap Band is my favorite!

24 The Meters

The Meters are the kings of New Orleans funk and a huge influence to RHCP.

No Meters, no almost anyone else on this list.

25 Vulfpeck

This is pure funk with massive feelz! If you were to extract the "funk" from every band on this list and make a potion that would instantly enable musicians to embody perfect platonian funk, those musicians would form Vulfpeck.

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