Sly & The Family Stone - Dance To The Music

Year Released:
1968

Genre:
Funk / Soul / Psychedelic Soul / Proto-Funk / R&B

Description

“Dance to the Music” marks the moment Sly & The Family Stone crystallized the sound that would not only define their career, but also lay the groundwork for the future of funk, soul, and eventually hip-hop. Released in early 1968, both as a 7″ single and later as the title track of their breakthrough LP, the recording introduced the band’s now-iconic formula: multi-racial, multi-gender musicians, a massive rhythm section, vibrant horn lines, and a communal vocal approach that blended harmony, call-and-response, and pure party-energy.

The track — and the album it anchors — is explosive, joyful, and unapologetically innovative. It’s a kind of musical manifesto: a declaration of what funk would soon become.

Tracks like “Dynamic Tension,” “Higher,” and “Ride the Rhythm” display the early formation of what would become the signature Sly & The Family Stone sound: tight yet loose, rhythmic yet melodic, accessible yet musically sophisticated.

The LP version of “Dance To The Music” (and the album as a whole) helped kick open the doors for the next wave of funk innovators — including James Brown’s heavier rhythmic shifts, George Clinton’s psychedelic funk architecture, and eventually, countless hip-hop producers who sampled the band’s drums, basslines, and vocal hits.

The record is now viewed as a turning point in American music: the moment when the energy of soul, the experimentation of psychedelia, and the rhythmic insistence of funk collided into something new.