Chickenshack -- Funk in the Box

 

Wow! Talk about soulful and horny at the same time! Living in Japan between 1994 and 2011 meant that I missed out on a good chunk of "Saturday Night Live" (although there are those who will say that I really didn't miss out on much at all) including the famous Justin Timberlake "D**k in a Box" skit. I finally caught it just now and man, the hilarious lyrics aside, that is some fine groove in the melody.

According to the YouTube video for "D**k in a Box", the skit was brought about all the way back in 2006 but what got me to finally catch it was for a song from fusion band Chickenshack's 1990 album "Chickenshack VI", "Funk in the Box". Yes, I realize that it has nothing to do with SNL but frankly replacing one consonant with a J can get it closer.😝

But I digress. Nope, "Funk in the Box" isn't a soul tune but it's got another side of R&B covered: funk along with a rock solo and even some honky tonk harmonica. This would describe a major fun time to be had in Manhattan, and strangely enough, after "Chickenshack VI" had been released, guitarist June Yamagishi（山岸潤史）would call it a day and head over to the Big Apple. Chickenshack would go on hiatus for a couple of decades as a result. Even more interestingly, I'm typing this several hours after a 4.7 earthquake hit New York City and the surrounding area. The surprise was there but it soon got back to normal.