Celebrate Bootsy Collins’ Birthday With Some Of His Best Bass Solos
by Kendall Deflin
Bootsy Collins
The legendary Bootsy Collins is celebrating his 65th birthday today. The bassist behind James Brown, Parliament Funkadelic, and countless others is known for his driving bass grooves and humorous vocals that have given him a staple name in the world of funk. To celebrate the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, we’re taking a look back at some of our favorite Bootzilla videos.
James Brown found Bootsy and ThePacemakers in 1968, when Bootsy was seventeen years old. They eventually became known as the J.B.’s. and played on some of Brown’s most influential funk recordings, like “Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine”, “Bewildered”, “Super Bad”, and several others during their 11 months together. Watch this 15-minute episode from and Italian television show filmed in 1971:
In the early 1970s, Bootsy met George Clinton and played bass on most of Funkadelic and all of Parliament’s albums through the early 1980s. Enjoy this full-show video from George Clinton and the Parliament-Funkadelic performing the music of The Mothership Connection live in concert in 1976:
Fans of Bootsy Collins are hip to his Rubber Band, whose single “I’d Rather Be With You” from Stretchin’ Out in Bootsy’s Rubber Band will always come to mind. Enjoy this particularly funky version from a live concert in Houston, Texas in 1976.
Enjoy some more of Bootsy’s greatest moments in the videos below:
