Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain was released in July of 1971. For a bit of perspective, Carole King and James Taylor dominated the pop charts for most of the month. While the Isleys, Marvin Gaye and Isaac Hayes all charted in July of 1971, they were nowhere near the top. The funkiest thing to be found on the high end of the charts that month was probably the Bee Gee’s “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart.” Thus it’s probably forgivable for the general public to have ignored Maggot Brain upon release, it was just too much. Too much funk, too much rock, too much blues and too much soul. Maggot Brain was also unapologetically original–name another album that opens with an increasingly calescent guitar solo which, over the course of its ten minute runtime, grows into a cascading shower of sparks so white hot as to challenge even Hendrix’s guitar-god supremacy… And that’s just the title track.
