Computer Games Album

YEAR: 1982
ITEM: Paraphernalia
COMPANY: George Clinton
COUNTRY: USA
IN OUR COLLECTION: Yes

Computer Games was the debut album from funk musician George Clinton. The record was released by Capitol Records on November 5th, 1982. Conceived in the aftermath of a period marked by financial and personal struggles for Clinton, "Computer Games" restored his popularity for a short time before P-Funk fell victim to renewed legal problems and scant label support in the mid 1980s. Computer Games ultimately spent 33 weeks on the Billboard 200 albums chart, peaking at No. 40.

The P-Funk story began in 1956 in Plainfield, New Jersey, with a doo-wop group formed by fifteen-year-old George Clinton. This was The Parliaments, a name inspired by Parliament cigarettes. By the early 1960s, the group had solidified into the five-man lineup of Clinton, Ray "Stingray" Davis, Clarence "Fuzzy" Haskins, Calvin Simon and Grady Thomas. Later, the group rehearsed in a barbershop partially owned by Clinton and entertained the customers. The Parliaments finally achieved a hit single in 1967 with "(I Wanna) Testify" while Clinton began commuting to Detroit as a songwriter and producer for Motown Records. The West End of Plainfield, New Jersey was once home to the Silk Palace, a barbershop at 216 Plainfield Avenue owned in part by Clinton, staffed by various members of Parliament-Funkadelic and known as the "hangout for all the local singers and musicians" in Plainfield's 1950s and 1960s doo-wop, soul, rock and proto-funk music scene.

“Get Dressed,” a heavy bass riff about life as an opening act, was written with Bootsy Collins and introduces the heavy funk of side one. “Man’s Best Friend” and the thumping “Atomic Dog,” both composed with P-Funk singer-guitarist Garry Shider, put togehter a typically kooky concept of man as a dog (or vice versa). The LP’s biggest hit, however, was “Loopzilla,” Clinton’s version of “Stars on 45.” Establishing a way to get himself on live radio with plugs for major black radio stations, Clinton weaves Motown (including “I Can’t Help Myself” and “Dancing in the Streets”), funk-rap (“Planet Rock”) and P-Funk (“One Nation under a Groove”) into a hand-clapping jam.

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