[Ads-l] Antedating of "Funk" (Musical Genre)

[Dan Goncharoff]

How does Grand Funk Railroad come into this? They formed in 1969.

DanG

On Thu, Mar 5, 2026, 9:43 AM Shapiro, Fred <
00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> funk (OED, n2, 3.b., 1970 [21 Feb.])
>
> 1969 Billboard 15 Feb. 24/1 (ProQuest)  Honey-smooth soul, funk and
> electric blues are today's three faces of r & b, with gospel and Latin soul
> surfacing from the underground to give r & b as diversified a musical
> culture as the major (white) market.
>
> 1969 Billboard 11 Oct. 72/1 (ProQuest)  Missing is participation by the
> majors; by Atlantic, funk specialists.
>
> 1969 Omaha Star 20 Nov. 12/1 (Newspapers.com)  Jerry Wexler, the master of
> Southern funk.
>
> 1970 Transcript-Telegram (Holyoke, Mass.) 12 Feb. 8/5 (Newspapers.com)  A
> few additions to the longplay library are making some headway on the charts
> these days.  There is funk and soul music with Aretha Franklin's release of
> "This Girl's in Love with You" and James Brown's "Ain't It Funky."
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org