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Five years ago, the Rock's Backpages posse knocked their fevered crania together and came up with the 50 greatest tracks ever laid down in the name of F.U.N.K. All hail the next ten, from Kraftwerk to Led Zeppelin via Bootsy and Kool & the Gang.-- Barney Hoskyns, Editorial Director, Rock's Backpages

20 Kraftwerk: "Trans-Europe Express," from Trans-Europe Express (Capitol, 1977) The key template for electro and early hip hop--ask Afrika Bambaata--this juddering, robotic epic is Aryan brainfunk on the grand scale: a werk of enormous kraft and dry Dusseldorf humour... and as danceable as they come.

19 Public Enemy: "Fight The Power," from Fear Of A Black Planet (Def Jam, 1990) Chuck D and P.E. at their most fired-up and militant, "Fight" is the Long Island crew stampeding over JB beats, burning a hole in 1990's psyche with c'mon-if-you-think-yer-hard-enough lyrics like "Elvis was a hero to most/But he never meant s**t to me/Straight-up racist that sucker was/Simple and plain/Mother f**k him and John Wayne..." The Bomb Squad, indeed.

18 Dr. John: "R U 4 Real," from Desitively Bonnaroo (Atco, 1974) The good doctor predates Prince's butchering of the English language in the title of this song by a good decade. After the acid-fried late-'60s of Gris Gris and the N'Awlins revivalism of Gumbo, 1973-4 saw Mac Rebennack plug right into the au courant Crescent City groove with In The Right Place and Bonnaroo. Produced by Allen Toussaint and backed by the Meters (phew!), these two albums saw him shake many a tailfeather. The humidity of the funk keeps the shirt stuck to your back, whilst the bottom end rumbles like thunder over Lake Ponchartrain.

17 James Brown & The Famous Flames: "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag," single (King, 1965) What one has to remember is that between 1965 and 1967 James Brown produced music with no antecedents! This stuff really did come out of nowhere. Virtually dispensing with melody and structure, and turning the whole band into an interlocking rhythm machine. This was the cut that started it all, and was a song ever better titled? Funk Ground Zero. Outtasite!

16 Bootsy's Rubber Band: "The Pinocchio Theory," from Aah!... The Name Is Bootsy, Baby! (Warner Bros., 1977) There's an argument to be made that the sharpest, funniest, funkiest stuff to come out of the whole P-Funk thang was the work of William "Bootsy" Collins and his Rubber Band. Where Parliament/Funkadelic often sounded sludgy, messy and overcooked, Bootsy's records were tight, focused and funky as all hell. We could choose any number of tracks, but "The Pinocchio Theory" gets our vote--funny, rambunctious and with a groove to die for.

15 Sly & The Family Stone, "Thank You For Talkin' To Me, Africa," from There's A Riot Goin' On (Epic, 1971) The downer version of "Thank U 4 Lettin Me B Mice Elf Again," this seven-minute finale of the epochal Riot is as shot and as paranoid as any drug music you'll hear. Over Larry Graham's hugely influential "popped" bass line, Sly drawls barely decipherable lyrics and scratches out nervy guitar fills, the track dragging almost painfully on to a fade that suggests the album never really ended.

14 Kool & The Gang: "Funky Stuff/More Funky Stuff," from Wild And Peaceful (Mercury, 1973) "Can't get enough ... of that funky stuff !" Before they whored themselves to disco pop, New York-based Kool & the Gang were creating monster slabs of brickhouse funk in the tripped-out, gonzo style of Sly Stone, Funkadelic and later Outkast. The use these self-styled "scientists of sound" made of horns and jazzbo jams had an enormous impact on '70s styles, and this track, inspired by the whistles their fans would blow to encourage them at gigs, filled dancefloors for years. Split into two tracks on the album and spread over two sides on the single, Part One fades out to nothing before a lone country-blues-meets-the-JBs guitar riff begins the whole groove again.

13 Gwen McCrae: "Funky Sensation," single (Atlantic, 1981) A Paradise Garage classic, this slo-grind Kenton Nix epic has George's ex emoting over the horniest 4/4 funk groove in '80s clubland history. Gwen's '70s albums on TK had already proved she was among the sexiest singers ever captured on vinyl (hunt down "90% Of Me Is You," if you have to kill for it!), but this was sommat else again.

12 Chic: "Good Times," from Risqué (Atlantic, 1979) Yes, that bass line: the Bernard Edwards one that launched a thousand rip-offs: deconstructed on Defunkt's "In The Good Times"; purloined by the Sugarhill Gang for "Rapper's Delight"; abused by Queen on "Another One Bites The Dust", never mind the thousand Brit Blitz-kids in their foppery and finery. Aside from that, and from Nile Rogers' almost mathematical rhythm guitar, there is the impossibly sculptural piano playing--always an under-appreciated aspect of the Chic oeuvre. The redemption of disco.

11 Led Zeppelin: "When The Levee Breaks," from IV/Runes (Atlantic, 1971) This one's all about DRUMS--as loud and high in the mix as on any record before or since. Playing in the middle of an enormous baronial hall, "Bonzo" Bonham laid down a beat as phat as anything Clyde Stubblefield or Zig Modeliste ever devised. That's not to say that the rest of the instruments aren't worth a mention: Percy Plant's harmonica has the raw spookiness of Sonny Boy Williamson, and Jimmy Page lays down some searing bottleneck. A very scary record--much copied (from Birmingham to the Bronx), but never bettered.

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