Surprising funk from non-funky bands

[EinsteinsHund]

Ian Dury And The Blockheads - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick

The Clash - Overpowered By Funk

[Suburban_Plankton]

I’ve always thought that ZZ Top’s Cheap Sunglasses had a funky vibe.

[EinsteinsHund]

Ok, I know this is kinda far-fetched, because Van Morrison sure is a funky guy, but his only full-fledged funk song I can think of:

I’ve Been Working

[EinsteinsHund]

And now for something completely different:

Fehlfarben - Ein Jahr (Es geht voran)

A German post-punk band with a rare funky-new wave hybrid scoring a big mainstream hit.

[journeyman_southpaw]

Rod Stewart - You’re Insane
Van Halen - Push Comes to Shove
David Coverdale - Keep On Giving Me Love
Nazareth - Waiting for the Man

[LC_Strawhouse]

Big Bottom by Spinal Tap!

Hijinx by Heart

@EinsteinsHund

Oh my god, I know thousands of examples, but at the moment nothing gets to mind except:

Rolling Stones - Miss You
Rolling Stones - Sex Drive

Emotional Rescue has the best groove of any Stones song, in my humble opinion.

[EinsteinsHund]

@LC_Strawhouse

Emotional Rescue has the best groove of any Stones song, in my humble opinion.

Yeah, forgot about that, it’s one of the great lost Stones song in a way. Everybody hated it back then.

[JKellyMap]

@LC_Strawhouse

Big Bottom by Spinal Tap!
Emotional Rescue has the best groove of any Stones song, in my humble opinion.

Actually, my favorite from that album is even funkier: “Dance, Pt. 1.”
I also like their funky number “Fingerprint File,” from 1974.

[Alessan]

@RitterSport

Iffy:
Shakey Ground by the Temptations – super funky, but should the Temptations be disallowed? I’d include it – My Girl, etc., aren’t really funk, but Shakey Ground is one of the funkiest songs ever.

To me, the Temptations are first and foremost the band who did “Papa Was a Rolling Stone”, which is unarguably funk. Definitely disallowed.

[RitterSport]

OK, I added all these to a playlist called Surprising Funk in Spotify. My name over there is Bozobrain. Based on advice from Alessan, I didn’t include any Temptations. I’ve left in the Rolling Stones for now, but based on the number of recommendations, I may conclude that they are actually a funk band.

I didn’t include the cover from The Grateful Dead, but I did include the other one.

I couldn’t find Funky Chicken by Lionel Hampton on Spotify.

I couldn’t find Waiting for the Man by Nazareth on Spotify.

I didn’t include anything from the Talking Heads “Naked” album, but I’ll happily include the funkiest song if someone wants to choose.

Small Clanger, I don’t have the technology or the album, but why don’t you record the middle instrumental section at that speed and post it on YouTube?

As I listen to the playlist, I may decide some songs aren’t funky enough and take them off. I’ll add more if you all have more recommendations, or if I come across other examples on my own.

[Treppenwitz]

I’ll throw in Love Is The Drug by Roxy Music. Actually, Both Ends Burning is (to my mind, at least) better and funkier (live), but the interest in Love Is The Drug is that it’s the origin of that bassline:

The bassline by John Gustafson became influential. In the DVD, More Than This: The Story of Roxy Music, Nile Rodgers of Chic states that the song was a big influence as the bass timing is almost identical to the one in Chic’s song, “Good Times”.

And from Good Times it begat…plenty.

j

[Terminus_Est]

Queen - Another One Bites the Dust
This came about because bassist John Deacon had been spending a lot of time with disco group Chic. Michael Jackson himself suggested to Freddie Mercury that the song be released as a single.

[Shoeless]

CAKE - “Short Skirt Long Jacket”

Short Skirt Long Jacket by Cake

[bordelond]

@pulykamell

In a nod to an SDMB meme:

“Rio” by Duran Duran?

Bass is undeniably funky and inspired by James Jamerson and others. But Duran Duran were new wave dance pop, so perhaps not best described as a “non-funky” band. Depends on what your definition of that is.

Duran Duran didn’t always dig down into funk, but bassist John Taylor was well-capable of bringing it. Hear also “Girls on Film”.

In a similar vein, while Peter Gabriel’s earnest delivery works against the groove a little … bassist Tony Levin bangs out plenty of funk on “Big Time”.

…

Other songs for the OP to consider:

“I Wanted to Tell Her”, Ministry
“Hot Hot Hot!”, The Cure

[RealityChuck]

Though it’s unremarkable today, the Bee Gees “Jive Talking” was such a change for them that the record was released to DJs with a plain white cover and they didn’t know who had recorded it until they played it.

[RitterSport]

OK, the playlist is updated with the new suggestions (except for the Ministry song – that song is good, but not funky. I think Jesus Built My Hot Rod is funkier by far. Can you believe those are the same artist?).

[pulykamell]

@bordelond

Duran Duran didn’t always dig down into funk, but bassist John Taylor was well-capable of bringing it. Hear also “Girls on Film”.

Yeah, that’s why I wasn’t sure it was quite “surprising funk from non-funky bands.” I couldn’t help shoehorning ’ “Rio” by Duran Duran ’ somewhat seriously as an answer to an SDMB question. I feel like almost all dance/disco-oriented pop music has a foothold in funk, so it’d be kind of hard to justify Duran Duran as “non-funky,” even though they may have not done the dirty kind of funk a la Sly & the Family Stone, P-Funk, James Brown, etc. It’s definitely through an 80s New Wave perspective. But Duran Duran did have the funk about them.

[RitterSport]

@pulykamell

Yeah, that’s why I wasn’t sure it was quite “surprising funk from non-funky bands.” I couldn’t help shoehorning ’ “Rio” by Duran Duran ’ somewhat seriously as an answer to an SDMB question. I feel like almost all dance/disco-oriented pop music has a foothold in funk, so it’d be kind of hard to justify Duran Duran as “non-funky,” even though they may have not done the dirty kind of funk a la Sly & the Family Stone, P-Funk, James Brown, etc. It’s definitely through an 80s New Wave perspective. But Duran Duran did have the funk about them.

Agreed on this point, and I almost didn’t allow it – that guy was a great bass player. Similarly, any disco band like the Bee Gees will have lots of funk influence. But that song was part of one of my favorite Beavis and Butthead moments:

BeeGees on Beavis & Butthead

[Gray_Ghost]

@solost

The Beatles’ “Don’t Let Me Down” is kinda funky in a slow-burning, R&B way.

I don’t think many people would consider the band Talking Heads to be funky, but James Brown was a big influence. I remember when their (IMO) underrated album “Naked” was released, a DJ with a new music program on a local NPR station played snippets from “Naked” side-by-side with snippets from James Brown songs to very convincingly demonstrate that influence.

Go well before “Naked”, and listen to “Fear of Music,” and “Remain In Light.”. Songs like I Zimbra, Born Under Punches, Crosseyed and Painless: all have that funk rhythm I think the OP is looking for. This is key though with the Heads: listen to the live stuff. IMHO, for a lot of their studio tracks, they were way too tight and rigid. Their live music was much more free flowing. There’s an Italian broadcast of one of their concerts, floating around YouTube. Before the Stop Making Sense tour. Great versions of the above songs in that concert.

[nitroglycerine]

Iggy Pop’s Sister Midnight is pretty funky