George “Funky†Brown, one of Kool & the Gang’s founding members, died on November 18 at the age of 74. In one of his last interviews, he and co-founder Robert “Kool†Bell spoke about the band’s legacy for our Superlatives column.
For nearly six decades, Kool & the Gang has been the ultimate party band. No bar mitzvah, wedding, or family reunion feels complete without the ferocious groove of “Jungle Boogie,†the seductive bass line of “Ladies’ Night,†or the horn-laden positivity of “Celebration†— which, since its release in 1980, has been used to wake up astronauts, hawk Wendy’s crispy chicken nuggets, and welcome home Americans held captive during the Iran hostage crisis.
But before they took over your dance playlists, Kool & the Gang were just seven jazz-loving teenagers from Jersey City called the Jazziacs, opening for music legends like Pharoah Sanders. Five years and as many name changes later, the septet started calling themselves Kool & the Gang, a nod to the nickname band leader Robert “Kool†Bell adopted to appease the local Jersey gangs. Though they dropped their self-titled debut in 1969, they wouldn’t solidify their party status for another decade, when singer James “J.T.†Taylor joined the group. During Taylor’s nine-year tenure, Kool & the Gang released their four best-selling albums — 1979’s Ladies’ Night, 1980’s Celebrate!, 1981’s Something Special, and 1984’s Emergency — and honed a distinct mix of jazz, soul, funk, R&B, rock and roll, and disco that would inspire generations to come (especially in hip-hop, where the band became one of the most sampled artists in history).
In July, Kool & the Gang dropped their 26th studio album, People Just Wanna Have Fun, while drummer George Brown released his memoir, Too Hot: Kool & the Gang & Me. Though they continued to tour the world until Brown’s passing, when I spoke with him and Bell in July, they insisted the band was never just a legacy act. “People are happy when they listen to the music we’ve made,†Brown said. “We’ve become the soundtrack of millions of people’s lives.†Later, he added, “I want us to be remembered as songwriters that brought simplicity. That we were true musicians, true artists, true stage performers. That when we hit the stage, you got a hundred percent. That Kool & the Gang is great — no ifs, ands, or buts about it.â€
Best Party Anthem That’s Not “Celebrationâ€
George Brown: I’d tell them to play “Get Down On It†if they want to get the party started. Most Kool & the Gang songs are all positive, but “Get Down On It†says, “Whatever you’re doing in life, get down on it, do it, make it happen!†It can be a mantra for people: “Let me get down on it. Let me get down on it. Let me get down on it. Let’s get down.†It’s a chant. Plus the groove — it’s a funky, funky groove.
Robert “Kool†Bell: People love “Get Down On It†and “Ladies Night,†especially the ladies. My wife and I were hanging out in New York City at Régine’s and Studio 54. We noticed they had ladies’ nights. I went back to the guys, J.T. Taylor had just joined the band, and I said, “Hey, listen, I got a great title for one of the songs on our new album: ‘Ladies Night.’†My brother says, “Wow, they have one of those all over the world!†The late Frankie Crocker broke that record in New York, but it became huge around the world. The tag of that song was, “This is your night tonight / Come on, let’s all celebrate.†My brother said, “That’s another good title!†So we get back to Jersey and he’s in the studio: “I want you guys to listen to this!†He plays this track that had that down-home groove to it like Grandma and Grandpa down there in Birmingham, Alabama, having some Kool-Aid, sitting on the porch. He said, “I want to call that ‘Celebration.’â€
Most Surprising Place You’ve Heard “Celebrationâ€
Bell: When Joe Biden was running for president and he won the nomination, of course, they played “Celebration.†Up in the International Space Station, the astronauts get up and they’re floating to “Celebration.†It has played at the Super Bowl, the World Series, it goes on and on and on. But it was when we played the Children of Africa concert for the late Nelson Mandela.
Brown: Going to India and hearing “Celebration†is a little different. To hear it there, it really brings it home that this record has crossed all boundaries, all cultures, all tastes, all societies. It’s a wonderful thing to have done that, to have brought so many people together on this globe to dance as one, party as one. I can even imagine some of the dictators in the world playing that around their castles. [Laughs] To have a piece of music that brings everyone together, that within itself is historic.
Song That Reminds You of Ronald Bell
Bell: In the early days, in the ’70s, Ronald came up with a lot of the horn lines. That was his thing. He was into John Coltrane back when we were the Jazziacs and he would come up with these riffs for “Jungle Boogie,†“Funky Stuff,†and “Open Sesame.†A lot of bands would cover our music and they would always ask about “Open Sesame.†They would say, “Where did that come from? That’s a great one!†Ronald was always telling me, “We got to compete with Earth, Wind & Fire. Let’s show them something!†[Laughs] It wasn’t really a competition thing. We appreciated what they did; Maurice White, Philip Bailey, they were great writers. We were always trying to up our game, to outdo the others. In the ’70s, you had the Ohio Players, the Commodores. Then came P-Funk, George Clinton and Parliament’s Mothership Connection. That was the funkiest band of all. They landed a spaceship in a stadium!
Favorite Track Featuring a Kool & the Gang Sample
Brown: I liked when Will Smith did “Summertime.†It’s so groovy. It just speaks of summer. I have not spoken to him [about the song], but I would love to tell him, “Thank you, Will. You broadened the spectrum of the song. You took it to another level that we would have never thought of.†Sampling is like when you ladies buy a dress and five years later, you pull it out and say, “Oh, I like this,†but you rip the sleeves off and it’s like, “Oh, she’s even better now!†It’s a little alteration to make it for today.
Bell: Diddy, then known as Puff Daddy, came up to me one night at the Apollo Theater and said, “Kool, I’m gonna make you some big money.†I said, “What are you talking about, man?†He said, “I’m gonna sample one of your songs.†He took “Hollywood Swinging†and made “Feel So Good†with Mase. That was a pretty big record, but there’s been quite a few. Tupac took a piece of “Winter Sadness†for one of his rap records. I had never heard it until this guy played it for me. Then we were on sample patrol! [Laughs] There have been little samples from Madonna and Janet Jackson. Depending on the producer, they grab a little bit of this, grab a little of that. They were honoring us, you know?
Kool & The Gang Record You’d Recommend to New Listeners
Bell: I would say Wild and Peaceful. The record company came to us in 1973 and said, “Listen, you guys have had some terrestrial radio hits in Connecticut, Philadelphia, Jersey, but I think you need to get a producer.†He said, “There is this big record out called ‘Soul Makossa,’ by Manu Dibango.†We met with that song’s producer and we weren’t feeling it, so we went into the studio about eight o’clock in the morning and we jammed. When we finished, we had created “Funky Stuff,†“Hollywood Swinging,†and “Jungle Boogie.†No more problems with the record label. [Laughs] I guess you could say our backs were against the wall a little bit, so we had to prove ourselves.
To go back to “Jungle Boogie,†I came home after being on tour [a decade ago], and my neighbor was telling me about how his kids knew Kool & the Gang. The Muppets had recorded “Jungle Boogie,†so they told their kids, “That’s our next-door neighbor. He’s the ‘Jungle Boogie’ man!†They were only about 5 or 6 years old at the time. Now they’re in their teens, and they’re Kool & the Gang fans. When we play “Jungle Boogie,†we have fans in our audience from maybe 8 to 80; they all get up and party.
Best Part About Hearing “Jungle Boogie†in Pulp Fiction
Brown: If you look at Pulp Fiction, you got Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta running around like crazy maniacs around the city, often called “the jungle,†and they were boogying, you know what I mean? The record goes along with the movie because “Jungle Boogie†was so different. You hear it and it’s like, What is this? It fits perfectly. I applaud Tarantino for that. He must be a fan because it works. Craziness on top of craziness makes good.
Favorite Memory From Rehearsing at Prince’s Paisley Park
Bell: It was the Emergency tour in 1985. We needed a full soundstage to rehearse our choreography. Prince was finishing building Paisley Park. He said, “Well, I’ll let you guys use my stage for about a week.†Prince came up and saw the band putting it all together. He told us that one of the first songs he learned how to play was “Funky Stuff.†He wanted to figure out how Charles Smith was doing that guitar line because it sounded like two guitar players playing at one time. Maybe he was repaying us by letting us rehearse there. We saw his talent early because he opened for us a couple of times. We were looking at him, like, Who’s this? If I’m not mistaken, he came out one of those nights in a diaper like he was in P-Funk. We thought, There’s something with this guy. He’s gonna be huge!
Most Emotional Song
Bell: I would say “Cherish.†We were in the studio in the Caribbean and my brother Ronald had this track and it had a real nice vibe to it. Our family was there; it was a vacation, but we were also making Emergency. That’s when J.T. and my brother came up with the lyrics for the song “Cherish†because that’s what we were doing. We had been pushing pretty hard on the road so it was great to have family there, cherishing their love. It was very emotional. I guess that’s why that song is played at so many weddings. The two top Kool & the Gang songs at weddings are “Celebration†and “Cherish.â€
Brown: It’s not the saddest; your heartstrings don’t pop when you hear “Too Hot.†I mean, it might strum them a little bit, but all of us on this planet, we’ve fallen in love and fallen out of love. When you’re being reflective, you may say, “It could’ve worked. I messed it up.†Maybe you both come together and say, “We both messed it up, but maybe it was supposed to be that way. We’re really good friends today. We can talk to each other about anything. I’m there for you.†This is that type of love song.
How Kool & the Gang Ended Up Touring With Van Halen in 2012
Bell: David Lee Roth was in London and he saw us on the BBC with Coldplay and other bands. He gets on the phone and he calls Alex Van Halen and his brother, Eddie, and he says, “I got the perfect group that I want to tour with.†This was for the celebration of David coming back. They said to him, “Man, what have you been smoking over there?†But David knew what he was doing. He told me that 60 percent of his fans were ladies. I didn’t know that. Then he said, “Back in the day when we were in L.A., we used to play some of your songs. We used to play ‘Funky Stuff’ and ‘Jungle Boogie.’†I didn’t know that either. His pitch was, “Hey, Kool, let us go out and have a party!†When we played “Ladies’ Night,†“Get Down on It,†and “Celebration,†those hard-core Van Halen fans got up and said, “You better get off your butt and get down, this is our song!â€
On Not Being in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Brown: Why aren’t Kool & the Gang in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? That’s what plays in my mind and all of our fans’ minds, too. I mean, did we steal somebody’s lollipop? What’s up? What did we do? But what would it mean? It would be a great honor to be accepted into that great hall of all the musicians that have come before. We would finally get to the holiday dinner with the rest of the family. It was a long bus ride, but we made it.
Bell: A funny story: My brother-in-law was in Cincinnati, they had just opened up the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Some of the top people in the entertainment business were there, Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey, and my brother-in-law got in an elevator with the president of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. He says, “I want to ask you a question; how come Kool & the Gang is not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?†You know what he said? He said, “I vote for them all the time.†My brother-in-law said, “Wait a minute, you’re the president and you vote for Kool & the Gang all the time? So what is it?†He said, “It’s the good old boys. They do what they want to do.†We’re trying to find the good old boys. [Laughs] If you are out there, good old boy, we want to be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
More From The Superlatives Series
- Cyndi Lauper on the Freest and Most Provocative Music of Her Career
- The Best and Nastiest of Slipknot, According to Clown
- Seth Meyers’s Proudest Milestones and Wisest Comedy-Writing Hacks