Artist · chart history
Parliament
Band Plainfield United States Active 1968–1980
Parliament formed in 1968 in Plainfield, United States and was active until 1980. Parliament has 16 chart appearances on 9 radio countdowns from 7 stations on RockLists, spanning 2001–2025. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Flashlight”, which appears on 7 lists with a best position of #84. The station that charted Parliament most often is 90.9 The Bridge (Kansas City, MO), with 5 appearances.
Parliament was George Clinton's flagship, founded in Plainfield in 1968 as the slicker, more commercial arm of his sprawling P-Funk empire, with Funkadelic as the wilder, more rock-minded sister act. The band grew out of an earlier vocal group, and those doo-wop harmonies never fully left.
What Parliament built on top of them was pure space-age funk: blaring horns, squelching synthesizers, science-fiction mythology and a stage show so outlandish it made glam rock look shy. The cast over the years included Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, Bootsy Collins, Jerome Brailey and Gary "Mudbone" Cooper among many others.
Mothership Connection, in 1975, went Top 40, and "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)" sold a million the following year, a groove so deep and elastic it practically pulls you out of your chair. "Flashlight" is the other monster: a rubbery synth bass line that bounces like a basketball and a chant the whole room joins. Casablanca put the records out, and nobody has sounded quite like them since.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Parliament on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Flashlight | 7 | #84 | – | – | |
| 2 | Give Up The Funk | 3 | #275 | – | – | |
| 3 | Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker) | 1 | #188 | – | – | |
| 4 | Aqua Boogie | 1 | #26 | – | – | |
| 5 | Tear the Roof Off the Sucker (Give Up the Funk) | 1 | #295 | – | – | |
| 6 | Bop Gun (Endangered Species) | 1 | #421 | – | – | |
| 7 | Up for the Down Stroke | 1 | #525 | – | – | |
| 8 | Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop) | 1 | #860 | – | – |
Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about Parliament.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.