It feels like something that was floating through the minds of Julius Erving or Earl Monroe as they traipsed up and down the court.Īnyways, 1982’s “ Slam Dunk the Funk ” was a basketball song about basketball.
It’s just the band members chanting/imploring listeners to “get down with the Philly Jump” over a slushy groove alternately spiced up by a smooth saxophone and a gliding guitar. In fact there’s barely any lyrical content.
Now there’s a song that is a basketball song even though its lyrical content has nothing to do with basketball. It sounds great in studio and it probably was an epochal experience when the band performed it live. ” That track lends credence to my theory. Perhaps their best song was from 1976, the insanely catchy and groovafied “ Philly Jump. I’ve unfortunately never seen them live, but they sure seem like a group that could turn an arena out, while struggling to completely transfer that wildness to the studio. The band and producer had chops, but could never throw together a consistently great album. These two singles would far and away be Instant Funk’s best commercial showings.ĭespite their lack of chart success, over the years Instant Funk worked consistently with Philly soul writer and producer Bunny Sigler at their side. They also performed as session musicians, most notably laying down the grooves on Evelyn “Champagne” King’s 1978 hit “ Shame ,” which peaked at #7 on the R&B, #8 on the dance, and #9 on the pop charts. Their 1979 single “ I Got My Mind Made Up (You Can Get It Girl) ” reached #1 on the R&B and dance charts while also climbing to #20 on the pop chart. Hailing from Philadelphia by way of Trenton (NJ), Instant Funk ultimately registers as a one-hit wonder in the annals of music history. Instant Funk made the most of these musical exchanges and balances. Unsurprisingly a lot of funk and disco of the period also had hip-hop trappings. It was also an era when hip-hop had yet to fully separate itself from its funk and disco origins. The early ‘80s were a period of harmonic balance between live instrumentalists, synthesized music, and producer programming. It benefits greatly from coming out in 1982, two years before Blow’s “Basketball.” This was also before The Machines had fully taken over 1980s music and if Instant Funk had recorded their song in 1984, it probably would have sucked too. Instant Funk’s basketball jam, “Slam Dunk the Funk,” was released on their album Looks So Fine. “Sugar Sugar” by the Archies is a complete cash-in job that’s novelty to the max. And I don’t use novelty song as pejorative term. It’s a novelty song that’s nothing but a joke. “Basketball” contains none of that energy. Importantly, the actual lyrical content of “The Breaks” is one hilarious mini-story of misfortune after another. I mean listen to “ The Breaks ” and you can hear his naturally stilted delivery’s edges softened by the lively bass and quick-hittin’ piano. His style was better suited for live instrumentation, though. In fact those ladies are the only part of the song that’s above replacement and they deserve all the royalty checks. It doesn’t rise above standard fare mecha-R&B of the mid1980s and the female backing vocals are pretty good. I mean the music itself is likeable enough. When it comes to musical paeans to basketball, Kurtis Blow’s “Basketball” seems to be the gold standard.
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