Tear The Roof Off The Sucker (Give Up The Funk) – Parliament | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#15) & R&B (#5); 1976
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
Parliament, Funkadelic, and Bootsy’s Rubber Band were all manifestations of George Clinton’s fevered imagination as he maneuvered dozens of musicians in and out of recording projects like a championship NBA coach.
Clinton designated Parliament to carry out his more commercial ideas, and Parliament was Neil Bogart’s first pick when he started up Casablanca Records. The “band” – an ever changing swirl of personnel – delivered hits such as Tear The Roof Off The Sucker, yet, it was in the live shows that Parliament really took off.
With the album Mothership Connection on its way to platinum sales, the tour’s set featured the mother of all motherships (of course), a Rolls Royce, a pyramid, and enough pyrotechnics to rival Manhattan’s Fourth of July display. On-or-off-the-stage, P-Funk was everywhere in 1976.
On the very week Tear The Roof Off entered the R&B and pop charts, five members of Parliament were already at #1, backing Johnny Taylor on the first-ever platinum single, Disco Lady.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- George Clinton
Lyrics Written by:
- Jerome Brailey
- George Clinton
- Bootsy Collins
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).