The Mothership, which made its debut with the P-Funk Earth Tour on Oct. 27, 1976, was the climax of a mythological empire Clinton had been building for 10 years. It all began in Newark, with the Parliaments, a doo-wop group Clinton formed while working at a barbershop. After they scored a 1967 hit, “(I Wanna) Testify,” Clinton hired more hotshot musicians like the guitarist Eddie Hazel; they helped him expand into Parliament and Funkadelic, outlets for his acid-influenced musical ideas about interstellar cartoon space battles.