What becomes crystal clear in trailing the history of Bootsy Collins is that while his steps seldom came from design, they carried him towards a vision that was indelibly locked in his mind. From his earliest experiences in bar bands, Bootsy's mission was to simply take his music to the people and have fun doing it.

He formed his first group, the Pacesetters, in 1968, featuring his brother on guitar. From 1969 to 1971, the group functioned as James Brown's backup band and was dubbed the J.B.'s. In 1972, Bootsy joined George Clinton's Parliament/Funkadelic and launched Bootsy's Rubber Band as a spinoff of P-Funk in 1976.

Signing to Warner Bros., he enjoyed the first of his 15 R&B singles chart entries in 1976 with "Stretchin' Out." His most successful singles were "The Pinocchio Theory" (1977) and the chart-topping "Bootzilla" (1978). He also released six albums on Warners through 1982, including the gold-sellers Ahh...The Name Is Bootsy, Baby! (1977) and Bootsy? Player of the Year (1978).