The Electric Spanking of War Babies

by Alex HendersonWith George Clinton, a humorous phrase could be nothing more than playful tomfoolery, or it could be a double entendre with a deep political meaning. The phrase "electric spanking of war babies" falls into the latter category -- it referred to what the funk innovator saw as the U.S. government using the media to promote imperialistic wars. To Clinton, the American media functioned as a propaganda machine during wartime. But whether or not one cares to examine its hidden political messages, Electric Spanking is an above-average party album. Spanking falls short of the excellence of One Nation Under a Groove and Uncle Jam Wants You and didn't boast a major hit single, but amusing funk smokers like "Electro-Cuties" and "Funk Gets Stronger" aren't anything to sneeze at, nor is the reggae-influenced "Shockwaves." Spanking turned out to be the last album Clinton would produce under the name Funkadelic -- when he hit the charts again in 1983, Mr. P-Funk was billing himself as a "solo artist."