Masterminded by the larger-than-life figure of George Clinton, Funkadelic was a key component of his influential P-Funk empire. Funkadelic's unique combination of rock, psychedelia and soul led to the band to crossing over into the pop mainstream and gaining an international following, to become one of the most important groups in the evolution of funk. The last in a decade-long run of Top 50 R&B albums, The Electric Spanking Of War Babies was the band's twelfth studio LP and featured several players new to the Funkadelic line-up, notably Sly Stone. With its allusions to the Vietnam War and US imperialism, to paraphrase critic Robert Christgau, Clinton reached "into the disgusting depths of his drug-addled mind" for a project that was destined to court controversy from the start, not least for its uncompromising sleeve art which Warner Bros. demanded be changed. Originally conceived as a double album, many tracks saw release on Clinton's later P-Funk projects.
