Dimetria Thinks...

postpunk:

Funkadelic - One Nation Under a Groove

mogravy:

Sampled by:

• Above the Law - “4 the Funk of It”
• Above the Law - “Uncle Sam’s Curse”
• Adina Howard - “For the Funk”
• Digital Underground - “Tales of the Funky”
  
• EPMD - “So Whatcha Sayin’?”
• George Clinton - “Martial Law”
• Hammer - “They Put Me in the Mix”
• Ice Cube - “Bop Gun (One Nation)”
• LL Cool J - “All We Got Left is the Beat”
• SL Fine - “Nothing Can Stop Us Now”
• Spice 1 - “Peace to My Nine”
• Steady B - “Mac Daddy”
• Sylk Smooth - “One Nation”
• X-Clan - “Earth Bound”X-Clan - “Funkin’ Lesson”

As we all know, this is a song about unity in ass-shaking and how a great groove helps create a more perfect union. In fact, it rewrites some of our biggest oaths: “one nation under a groove” and “Do you promise to funk? The whole funk, nothin’ but the funk”.

So here’s an open question: Have there been any other great dance-as-liberation/social reform/utopia songs since “One Nation Under a Groove”? In this decade?

I’m really drawing a blank here. The post-punks were too radical, too pessimistic and too distrustful of hierarchy: Gang of Four could build a fierce groove, but they would sing things like “dig me a ditch and I’ll dive in it.”