Song · Funkadelic
“Maggot Brain” by Funkadelic
From the album Maggot Brain (1971)
“Maggot Brain” by Funkadelic appears on 5 radio countdowns from 4 stations between 2012 and 2026. It was first released in 1971 on the album Maggot Brain. Its best result is #63 on The Best Opening Tracks of All Time. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #2,037 indie & aaa song of all time and #168 of the '70s.
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"Maggot Brain" is the title track and the gaping center of Funkadelic's 1971 album, and it's barely a song at all: past ten minutes, a spoken introduction and then Eddie Hazel's guitar, wailing and bleeding out for the whole length of it. George Clinton produced it and shares the writing credit with Hazel, and the title is said to have been Hazel's nickname, though accounts of where it came from differ.
Critic Greg Tate called it Funkadelic's A Love Supreme, and Rolling Stone put it at No. 60 among its 100 greatest guitar songs. It might be the loneliest ten minutes anybody put on tape in 1971.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 321 | WYEP | WYEP Top 500 Songs Countdown | 500 |
| 2020 | 1025 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2022 | 169 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '70s | 908 |
| 2024 | 63 | KEXP | The Best Opening Tracks of All Time | 738 |
| 2026 | 555 | WYEP | WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time | 1180 |
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