10 Insane Plots From Concept Albums
7. Parliament - Motor Booty Affair
The album that saw George Clinton at the height of his powers also saw him at his most lyrically outlandish. Taking inspiration from the most mundane of places (a fishing trip), the surreal funk maestro continued his mission to “put black people in situations nobody ever thought they would be in” - and this meant an Afrofuturist underwater kingdom.
The result is an 8-track odyssey that follows Mr. Wiggles the Worm - a fishing lure-cum-radio DJ on the WEFUNK station in Emerald City, Atlantis - and his endeavour to raise Atlantis from the bottom of the ocean, using only the power of funk. This is a metaphor for raising African Americans socioeconomic status... probably. As with The Small Faces, Clinton’s dialect is uniquely his own - and some of the finer plot points are not perhaps expressed as clearly as they could be, if at all.
Recurring Parliament nemesis Sir Nose shows up and tries to blow up Atlantis, bringing along his deformed ally Rumpofsteelskin. Fortunately, Clinton’s messianic alien alter-ego Starchild is on hand to save the day. Amongst all of this there's even an fish/human romance, 30 years before “The Shape of Water”.