P-Funk All Stars

After <a href="spotify:artist:2GVBp7QyHckoOg7rYkLvrA">George Clinton</a> disbanded Parliament and <a href="spotify:artist:450o9jw6AtiQlQkHCdH6Ru">Funkadelic</a> at the dawn of the '80s, he embarked on a solo career, but also maintained contact with many of his band alumni in a short-term (at least initially) project dubbed the P-Funk All Stars. Having sorted out various legal and financial difficulties from the initial breakup, <a href="spotify:artist:2GVBp7QyHckoOg7rYkLvrA">Clinton</a> reconvened many of the best musicians from throughout Parliament/<a href="spotify:artist:450o9jw6AtiQlQkHCdH6Ru">Funkadelic</a> history in 1982, including <a href="spotify:artist:5K0rbdBrs2tNXe5LeWMATT">Bootsy Collins</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3vB7T6czx1Jh89YEnzM0UF">Bernie Worrell</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3JVF9a4IJrL7sTSdjXxIqJ">Eddie Hazel</a>, Garry Shider, Dewayne Blackbird McKnight, <a href="spotify:artist:3shcoEVk22LlHqZHyJtZWn">Walter "Junie" Morrison</a>, David Spradley, and many others -- not to mention a guest appearance by <a href="spotify:artist:66XuLc224VwkhDVuPMZL9c">Sly Stone</a>. They recorded a fine album, 1983's Urban Dancefloor Guerillas, that featured a different lineup on every track; it reached the R&B Top 50 and spawned a chart single in "Generator Pop." The accompanying tour featured many of the same musicians in what was one of the last P-Funk spectacles for quite some time. One of the shows from the tour was released on CD in 1990 by Westbound as Live at the Beverly Theatre in Hollywood; Westbound also issued an alternate version of Urban Dancefloor Guerillas under the title Hydraulic Funk, which restored several tracks to their full, unedited length.

Circa 1989, <a href="spotify:artist:2GVBp7QyHckoOg7rYkLvrA">Clinton</a> revived the P-Funk All Stars name for the group with which he would spend much of the '90s touring. Among these musicians were guitarist/bandleader Dewayne Blackbird McKnight, guitarists Gary Shider and Michael Hampton, bassists <a href="spotify:artist:2NXNY7U3zJhOhspGSd7Kqi">Lige Curry</a> and Billy "Bass" Nelson, multi-instrumentalist Rodney "Skeet" Curtis, drummer Frankie Kash Waddy, and many others in what became a loose, revolving-door arrangement. With <a href="spotify:artist:2GVBp7QyHckoOg7rYkLvrA">Clinton</a>'s musical legacy dominating the hip-hop scene, the group was much in demand during the early '90s, and even played the main stage of the 1994 Lollapalooza tour. <a href="spotify:artist:2GVBp7QyHckoOg7rYkLvrA">Clinton</a> used the All Stars as the backing band on his 1996 album T.A.P.O.A.F.O.M., and subsequently continued to tour with them, putting on marathon shows for a new generation of fans. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi