Maggot Brain is the third studio
album by the American
funk band
Funkadelic, released in
1971 on
Westbound Records. It was the last album that featured the original Funkadelic lineup; shortly after
Maggot Brain was recorded, Tawl Ross,
Eddie Hazel, Billy Nelson, and Tiki Fulwood left the band for various reasons. The album incorporates musical elements of
psychedelic music,
rock,
gospel, and
soul, with significant variation between each track.
Pitchfork Media named it the 17th best album of the 1970s. In 2012,
Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 479 on their list of
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The album is listed as one of the
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.