War was a multiracial band from Long Beach that Eric Burdon found and then abandoned -- he quit mid-tour, and the band shrugged and kept going. What followed was one of the great runs in funk history. The Cisco Kid. The World Is a Ghetto. Low Rider -- that cowbell, that harmonica riff, that bounce -- is the unofficial anthem of East LA.

They absorbed Latin rhythms, jazz harmonies, street-corner soul, and backyard barbecue funk into one unified sound. Why Can't We Be Friends asked a question so simple it felt radical. The name was political. The music was peace. A band of Black, white, and Latino musicians making polyglot groove music in the shadow of the Vietnam War.

They're still touring in some form, the lineup shifting over the decades. But the records -- especially the 1971-75 run -- are some of the most joyfully eclectic funk ever made. Low Rider still sounds like a car bouncing in slow motion. Why Can't We Be Friends is still a question nobody's answered.

War -- Low Rider. Why Can't We Be Friends. Multiracial funk from Long Beach that still sounds like a backyard barbecue.