The historical waters of Parliament-Funkadelic are murky at best. But in 1976 George Clinton was fighting back against the titanic shift on the world’s dancefloors towards Disco. He saw the move as blatant commercialization of the rootsy organic sounds that had driven his career, and took up the challenge of planting the P-Funk flag firmly in the craw of the mainstream.

Borne upon three tracks of genre defining Minimoog sounds, “Flash Light” was his answer. The track was originally being worked up by Bootsy Collins for a solo record that the legendary bassist was in the midst of putting together for Clinton. But Bootsy wasn’t having it.

“The reason I rejected it,” Bootsy remembered “was because after my brother (Phelps "Catfish" Collins) and I put the rhythm track down, George was so adamant about having the track for
Parliament. We always agreed that we wanted each group to have at least one hit on all the albums that George was producing.”

Instead of worrying about where the track would ultimately land, keyboardist Bernie Worrell took up the song’s cause at United Sound Systems studios in Detroit.

“There was only drums and guitars when I heard it.” Worrell remembers. “I listened to what was there and I came up with that Moog bassline. I just said ‘Roll the tape!’ and I played what God sends through me.”

Released on the “Funkentelechy Vs. the Placebo Syndrome” in January 1978, “Flash Light” became the band’s first #1 single on the R&B charts, while reaching the #16 position on the Billboard Hot 100. A huge commercial success, the record defined the sound of funk for generations.

“None of us knew it was going to be as huge as it was,” Worrell insists. “We were just
working.”