Origins and early development
Funk rock's earliest incarnation on record was heard in the late 1960s through the mid-1970s by acts such as sly and the family stone, parliament-funkadelic, the isley brothers, redbone, rick derringer, david bowie, the average white band, gary wright, the bar-kays and mother's finest. james brown and earlier artists were cited as putting the funk in the rock and roll beat. george clinton has been considered the godfather of the genre since 1970, with funkadelic's maggot brain (1971) cited as an influential funk rock album. grand funk railroad pioneered a bass driven hard rock funk style in 1970, and artists such as frank zappa demonstrated merges of the styles on albums like overnite sensation.
Evolution or diversification
During the 1980s and 1990s funk rock experienced a surge in popularity with artists including prince, pigbag, inxs, talking heads, devo, the fine young cannibals and cameo dabbling in the sound. Later groups combined funk rock with metal, punk, hip hop and experimental music, with bands such as red hot chili peppers, rage against the machine, incubus, mr. bungle, primus and faith no more notably merging those influences and contributing to the emergence of funk metal or "punk-funk".
Cultural or musical significance
Funk rock influenced later popular music despite limited visibility on record charts in the 1970s. some later funk rock albums adopted a more radio-friendly sound while preserving funk rock approaches. funk rock acts were not always favored by r&b recording companies; nile rodgers recalled wanting to be a rock band like roxy music but becoming a disco act after being turned down. a few funk rock recordings reached charts, with examples cited such as david bowie's "fame" (1975), the rolling stones' "hot stuff" (1975), aerosmith's "last child" (1976), gary wright's "love is alive" (1976) and steve winwood's "i'm a man".
