Welcome to the CROSSED CHANNELS podcast — a.k.a. the podcast in which music journalists/obsessives Dan Epstein (the Yank) and Tony Fletcher (the Limey) clash and connect over music from either side of the pond.

This episode (our 27th!) focuses on an album from an artist we’ve wanted to discuss for ages: the legendary funk maestro George Clinton. The main reason we haven’t covered the good Dr. Funkenstein on the podcast before now is that the sheer breadth and brilliance of his six-decade discography made it difficult to decide how to approach it.

Ultimately, we decided to hitch a ride on Mothership Connection, Parliament’s 1975 commercial breakthrough. The record not only gave Clinton his first million-selling LP — and his first million-selling single with “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)” — but also introduced the first characters and storylines of the interplanetary Afrofuturist sagas that would dominate P-Funk’s albums and live shows over the rest of the decade.

In this episode of CROSSED CHANNELS, Dan and Tony discuss why Mothership Connection was the album that finally brought George Clinton mainstream US success after over a decade of funking on the margins. But we also talk about why the album failed to catch on overseas, and why it would take a few more years before Clinton actually landed on the UK charts.

And in addition to getting into the years and musical milestones leading up to the Mothership’s initial landing, we also touch upon Clinton and P-Funk’s widespread influence.

To hear this episode in its entirety, along with all of our previous complete CROSSED CHANNELS episodes, just sign up for a paid subscription to one of our Substacks — or, better yet, sign up for both of them! Dan Epstein (the Yank) and Tony Fletcher (the Limey)

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