There are some songs that you remember the FIRST TIME you heard it... What were you doing, who was with you, where you were?
Well, I remember the entire album Maggot Brain. One of my housemates at the music house in Goleta had a bumpin sound system and when he played music, you could hear it in every room, and to much chagrin of our neighbors, even a couple doors down. And I was in my own room, then looked up like a lemming in a field, latching onto the then-and-now prophetic opening vocal, "Mother Earth is pregnant for the third time..." By the time Super Stupid comes in, after ephemeral and country-Louisiana-funky, grooves, I was in amazement, wow this is cool. They just ride the groove. In the pocket. On the one. Melody.
Then it's the bends opening the intro of Super Stupid. There's just one "verse" and the rhythm guitar riff is as screaming as a lead. But then Eddie does ACTUAL leads... AND THEY RIP. Shreds them out - no barriers, no constraints, searing through with ferocious clarity.
I remember staggering out of my broom-closet-of-a-bedroom, jaw agape, in astonishment, asking aloud, to my housemate, "who IS this?" My life was changed, forever.
This weekend I was messaging Oscar about something completely unrelated to music, and for some reason, the memory of Funkadelic/Maggot Brain came to mind. And I HAD to listen to it. And I did not even remember Super Stupid was on the album. So when that track came on this weekend, it happened all over again. I was working in front of my laptop, but I was paralyzed for the duration of the tune. What is left of my mind is a maggot in the mind of the universe.
And I needed to learn the riff, the tune, and throw together my own personal tribute:
Super Stupid. Funkadelic. Eddie Hazel.
I'm Harold Lee. From The Trees, Los Guys, Rice n Beans, Guitar Center Marketing, Rock Prodigy, Music Prodigy, Rubyfornia.