(Debuted February 28, 1981, Peaked #84, 8 Weeks on the Chart)

I'm going to come right out and say it...The Gap Band is much better than many of us realize. For 43 years (1967-2010), they laid down a righteous path of funk and really didn't get a lot of appreciation for doing it. Instead, the band -- made up of the three Wilson brothers from Oklahoma -- received a great deal of respect among the R&B/hip hop crowd but were better known by pop fans as the originators of Robert Palmer's "Early in the Morning" as well as for "You Dropped a Bomb On Me."

After three singles "bubbled under" the pop charts, "Burn Rubber (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)" finally placed them in the Hot 100. It was also their first #1 R&B hit. It lays down a classic funk groove and rides it for the full five and a half minutes of the song. There's a video below. Click it and see if you're not ready to hear some more when it's over.