see, i told ya the seventies were beautiful. i would have been 16 at the time of this isley bros. vid clip. soul train was on around noon or a bit later on saturdays, after the cartoons. i didn’t much care for it then, it was just too advanced for me (though i was a talking heads fan within 5 years, so i caught up soon enough). i’m sure it would be different if i grew up in philly or somesuch.
according to this site:
http://www.soul-patrol.com/funk/testify.htm
the very first funk song, if not something by james brown, was the isley brothers’ ‘testify parts 1 & 2’ from 1966, with jimi hendrix on guitar. he did session work then, but soon went to london and became a household name.