During the late 1970s, Zapp was noticed by two friends of the Troutman family, Phelps "Catfish" Collins and William Earl "Bootsy" Collins, both of whom were members of Parliament-Funkadelic since the early 1970s. Earlier, Roger Troutman and his brothers played frequently in the Ohio area, originally forming the band Roger and His Fabulous Vels in 1966.
After the two Collins musicians witnessed one of Zapp's live performances, they invited Zapp to visit Detroit's United Sound Studios, where they went on to write and record the demo for More Bounce to the Ounce, which would later appear on the debut album. Parliament-Funkadelic front-man George Clinton encouraged the band to present the demo tape to Warner Bros. Records, which ultimately led to the band's signing to the label in early 1979.
"George Clinton just happened to step into the studio this night and he really liked this one part that we had already re-did on 'Funky Bounce'. He advised us to loop that section and put the other talk-box parts over it. At that time, this was considered a genius act, because you had to actually cut the tape and make the right cut, line it up and loop it. So let us not forget that Dr. Funkenstein was way ahead of his time as well."
In 1980, More Bounce To the Ounce went to number 2 on the US Black singles chart. Also in 1980, the album launched in the number one position on the US Black albums chart[citation needed].
