I was digging back into my substantial funk collection and got out some 1980's BarKays. Their Banging the Wall album is such a blatant copy of the 80s Prince sound that it sounds like they were doing it as a tribute to Prince. The same sound effects (like the growling sound at the beginning of When Doves Cry) and the monotone dialogue from Lady Cab Driver and the keyboard riff from Erotic City are just some of the most obvious rips. I love the album. Its so dumb and flat out dirty that its fun to listen to in retrospect.
[Edited 7/19/05 12:07pm]

blade said:

I also have that BarKays album and yeah, it is biting off of P.

blackguitaristz said:

BG Baby, you are dead on it with that comment. Because, I can remember this one single by them that was a dead ringer for Automatic which was ironically called Sexomanic. The only difference between these two songs were the tempo and maybe a few chords.

blade said:

The same sound effects (like the growling sound at the beginning of When Doves Cry)

and the monotone dialogue from Lady Cab Driver and the keyboard riff from Erotic City are just some of the most obvious rips.

That would be "Dance Your Body Desara".



"Sex Driver" and "Banging The Walls".

Also, check out the chant in "Missiles On Target". It reminds me a lot of "Let's Work".....work alright, we're gonna work all night.....

On their previous album, "Dangerous", the track "Dance, Party, Etc." is a ripoff of "DMSR".

funkpill said:

Yep.....

Freaky Behavior - Super Freak (Rick James)
Freakshow On The Dance Floor - No Parking On The Dance Floor (Midnight Star)
Body Fever - Move Your Boogie Body (The Bar-Kays) A ripoff of one of their own songs.

They are a bad ass group though.....my third favorite of all time.

Speaking of The Bar-Kays, get your hands on this album.....



Ebonee Webb was a group that was produced by The Bar-Kays longtime producer, the late Allen Jones. Their single "Something About You" was released around the same time as The Time's "Get It Up".

Prince's new album "Controversy" was not out yet but people were anxiously awaiting it. When Ebonee Webb dropped "Something About You", everyone swore it was Prince's new single because the falsetto, the synthesizers, and the entire sound of the song is very similar to Prince's "Head". I haven't heard anything that sounds as much like Prince and as funky as Ebonee Webb.

This is their follow-up 1983 album, "Too Hot".....

[/img]http://rds.yahoo.com/S=96062883/K=Ebonee+Webb/v=2/SID=e/l=IVS/SIG=11upo98ge/EXP=1121903680/*-http%3A//fkd.fc2web.com/funkindex/Ebonee.JPG[img]

The single "Too Hot To Be Cool" is also pure Prince.

Hotlegs said:

Speaking of The Bar-Kays, get your hands on this album.....



Ebonee Webb was a group that was produced by The Bar-Kays longtime producer, the late Allen Jones. Their single "Something About You" was released around the same time as The Time's "Get It Up".

Prince's new album "Controversy" was not out yet but people were anxiously awaiting it. When Ebonee Webb dropped "Something About You", everyone swore it was Prince's new single because the falsetto, the synthesizers, and the entire sound of the song is very similar to Prince's "Head". I haven't heard anything that sounds as much like Prince and as funky as Ebonee Webb.

On their follow-up 1983 album, "Too Hot", the single "Too Hot To Be Cool" is also pure Prince.

.
[Edited 7/19/05 16:57pm]

The Bar Kays are a great band,but in the 80s,they really started to "borrow" alot of ideas from other songs by other artists...lol...I'm surprised they didn't get sued.


***Their 1984 hit "Freakshow On The Dancefloor" is a blatant rip-off of Midnight Star's "No Parking On The Dancefloor".

DavidEye said:

There is a reason for the similarties. The Bar-Kay'ssong was produced by the Calloway Brothers who were the ones that produced and wrote Midnight Star's material.

Hotlegs said:

Ahh....so that explains it.Thanks for the info

Also, from Ray Parker, Jr.'s "Woman Out Of Control" album....



The song, "Invasion" sounds like it could have been inspired by "Automatic" because it has the same futuristic feel. "Invasion" also reminds me of "All The Critics Love U In New York" because it has a man talking on a walkie talkie/CB type radio in space throughout the song, similar to the line in Prince's song that goes....."He's definately masturbating".

I don't know if you guys remember them,but there was a group known as Sexual Harassment.They released their debut album in 1983.The single was called "I Need A Freak",and it was a huge hit in my area.Their album sounded so much like a Prince album.....suggestive songs like "If I Gave You A Party (Would You Come)?" and "K-I-S-S-I-N-G" were very Prince-influenced.It was the same synth-funk that Prince was playing in 1981/82,dirty lyrics and all.These guys were Prince fanatics.They even released a single in 1985 called "We Want Prince"...lol



..
[Edited 7/20/05 1:08am]

DavidEye said:

Are u serious?!

I don't know if you guys remember them,but there was a group known as Sexual Harassment.They released their debut album in 1983.The single was called "I Need A Freak",and it was a huge hit in my area.Their album sounded so much like a Prince album.....suggestive songs like "If I Gave You A Party (Would You Come)?" and "K-I-S-S-I-N-G" were very Prince-influenced.It was the same synth-funk that Prince was playing in 1981/82,dirty lyrics and all.These guys were Prince fanatics.They even released a single in 1985 called "We Want Prince"...lol

DavidEye said:

I need a freak, with long long hair.....a super freak, in underwear.

I definately remember "I Need A Freak" and have it on a compilation. I remember "We Want Prince" also. I never knew who made it though because I sure would have bought it back in the day.

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[Edited 7/20/05 14:22pm]

blackguitaristz said:

I have only heard the song once on the radio in my entire lifetime back in 1985 and I never heard it again. I didn't even hear the whole song, I caught it midways through the song.

From the little bit I heard, it didn't really have many lyrics. Mostly what I heard was rhyming of Prince's song titles like.....

D.M.S.R.....we want Prince.....Baby I'm A Star.....we want Prince.....

For years, I thought it was one of our local groups at the time called Non-Stop (believe it or not, radio used to support local groups) until I spoke with David Eye a few months ago and he told me it was Sexual Harrassment. I remember Sexual Harrassment very well for their 12 Inch, "I Need A Freak", and if I remember correctly, the music on "We Want Prince" is along the same style of "I Need A Freak". I need to find this album.