jazzz said:

Ripoff or tribute?

..

Zapp - Itchin'

..

https://www.youtube.com/w...Cv-GTcJG7M

[Edited 1/16/15 3:56am]

Zapp 1 of the funkiest bands n the history of Funk

This 1988 Angela Winbush song had to have been inspired by Prince

The title track sounds alot like "Automatic"

NouveauDance said:

The Bar-Kays 1985 Bangin' The Walls LP is very Princely to the point of plagerism in parts, they're all over Cameo and Rick James too but I think that's par for the course for them, they're still a great band.

it's interesting how,nowadays,everyone's making a big deal about "Blurred Lines" and how much it resembles an old Marvin Gaye song...but in the 80s,there were many more extreme examples of songs that sounded like other songs.Hell,the Bar Kays had numerous songs that ripped off other songs I think,back then,these artists respected each other so they didn't bother with costly lawsuits.Quincy Jones flat out told Rick James that he "borrowed" the bassline from "Give It To Me Baby" when he was creating the song "Thriller".They were friends,so it was cool.

This just goes to show how good Prince was back in the 80s. Although decent attempts, most of these songs lacked the raw power and funk of a song like Dance Electric which Prince handed off to Andre Cymone.

lrn36 said:

This just goes to show how good Prince was back in the 80s. Although decent attempts, most of these songs lacked the raw power and funk of a song like Dance Electric which Prince handed off to Andre Cymone.

Good point, but some of these Nuccas thought they were better than Prince

.

Georgio comes to mind "I'm gonna be bigger than Michael Jackson and sell a billion copies" The resulting album probably barely broke 5 figures. Plus he did turn down Prince. Plus judging by his pose and the use of the "Produced, Arranged and Performed" schtick I am guessing old Dezzraye in the Dress Moorse was not too interested in Prince cast offs either, convinced his soundalike Prince songs were better than real actual Prince songs.

.

Liked I said on Page 2, Prince issued enough real product in the 80s and he was an acquired taste, so why bother with the offerings of a pack of wannabes. Only buy the genuine articles I say.

Im embarrassed to say i have this on vinyl...

SoulAlive said:

also,in 1985,there was a band called Exotic Storm.I've never heard their record,but I read a very negative review that said it was truly a Prince rip-off....

Ego101 said:

Im embarrassed to say i have this on vinyl...

SoulAlive said:

also,in 1985,there was a band called Exotic Storm.I've never heard their record,but I read a very negative review that said it was truly a Prince rip-off....

I am an even more embarassed to say I want to get this album on vinyl. I am going to pay more attention to that table of $2 clearance albums.

Exotic Storm are back according to this weird blog entry you can find by googling them

.

http://salemoore.blogspot.co.nz/2014/01/the-return-of-exotic-storm.html

.

It links to other posts and has one saying that they have signed to a lable called $alemoore records and their new single will be out in April (2014) and will top charts. Done by someone called DeeMo, anyone suspicious yet, and with the record label called $alemoore records. Remembering the lead singer was called Dezzraye Moore.

.

If nothing else, he is full of confidence.

And he can't stop flowing, his gogle page is full of his intentions to assault the music world with #1 hits and the finest R and B

https://plus.google.com/111368289681406384539/posts

He has identified himself as Dezzraye Moore and O.G.Moore the Dj and producers of the funk group 50 Bag$ of Funk and a MJ impersonator called Dan da man , ie. Baby Michael Jackson.

.

Seriously Prince, you been warned

[Edited 1/18/15 22:20pm]

they're trying to make a comeback,huh? LMAO

Averett said:

Wow - I swear a hear a snippet of a Prince track at the 2:09 mark I wish I could readily recall the track it reminds me of.

3:18 - someone seems to be trying to get their inner Prince working

He sure uses horns to accent this track kinda like someone we know...

https://www.youtube.com/w...LFvtgk7Lzs

More info from the web:

"He's known as Japan's number one singer-songwriter-dancer-producer. He's famous for once being the Prince of Japan and for his 2011 regenesis. European fans know him for the ending theme of City Hunter season two. No matter what face you see of him, his name is still Yasuyuki Okamura."

Oh by the way, he's also known by his symbol

[Edited 1/18/15 15:05pm]

.

Starting at the 2:09 mark, I hear a few beats that bring to mind "It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night". immediately after, I hear what sounds like the first few notes of the chorus from "We Can Funk".

.

I'm guessing this video was shot right around 1991, given the "Thieves In The Temple"-style hair and dance moves.

.

This guy takes the gold as the singlemost, crazy-shameless Prince rip-off artist. Basically stealing what he could that wasn't nailed to the floor, so to speak (the guitar strap, and possibly even the stage lighting(?!) look like they were lifted from the "1999" video). Everything except the threads, that is. I mean really, if you're gonna copy Prince, do the man justice and commit. I'll say this about Exotic Storm: they stay in character right down to the guyliner. Yasuyuki is the worst. As if stealing from Prince wasn't bad enough, he and his cheap, knock-off Game Boyz went about it wearing those god-awful 1980s mom-jeans. Talk about adding insult to injury...

Bluu said:

Averett said:

Wow - I swear a hear a snippet of a Prince track at the 2:09 mark I wish I could readily recall the track it reminds me of.

3:18 - someone seems to be trying to get their inner Prince working

He sure uses horns to accent this track kinda like someone we know...

https://www.youtube.com/w...LFvtgk7Lzs

More info from the web:

"He's known as Japan's number one singer-songwriter-dancer-producer. He's famous for once being the Prince of Japan and for his 2011 regenesis. European fans know him for the ending theme of City Hunter season two. No matter what face you see of him, his name is still Yasuyuki Okamura."

Oh by the way, he's also known by his symbol

[Edited 1/18/15 15:05pm]

.

Starting at the 2:09 mark, I hear a few beats that bring to mind "It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night". immediately after, I hear what sounds like the first few notes of the chorus from "We Can Funk".

.

I'm guessing this video was shot right around 1991, given the "Thieves In The Temple"-style hair and dance moves.

.

This guy takes the gold as the singlemost, crazy-shameless Prince rip-off artist. Basically stealing what he could that wasn't nailed to the floor, so to speak (the guitar strap, and possibly even the stage lighting(?!) look like they were lifted from the "1999" video). Everything except the threads, that is. I mean really, if you're gonna copy Prince, do the man justice and commit. I'll say this about Exotic Storm: they stay in character right down to the guyliner. Yasuyuki is the worst. As if stealing from Prince wasn't bad enough, he and his cheap, knock-off Game Boyz went about it wearing those god-awful 1980s mom-jeans. Talk about adding insult to injury...

I just figured it out.... he "borrowed" from "Databank" - wow a direct ripoff if I ever saw one

[Edited 1/19/15 10:16am]

Averett said:

Bluu said:

.

Starting at the 2:09 mark, I hear a few beats that bring to mind "It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night". immediately after, I hear what sounds like the first few notes of the chorus from "We Can Funk".

.

I'm guessing this video was shot right around 1991, given the "Thieves In The Temple"-style hair and dance moves.

.

This guy takes the gold as the singlemost, crazy-shameless Prince rip-off artist. Basically stealing what he could that wasn't nailed to the floor, so to speak (the guitar strap, and possibly even the stage lighting(?!) look like they were lifted from the "1999" video). Everything except the threads, that is. I mean really, if you're gonna copy Prince, do the man justice and commit. I'll say this about Exotic Storm: they stay in character right down to the guyliner. Yasuyuki is the worst. As if stealing from Prince wasn't bad enough, he and his cheap, knock-off Game Boyz went about it wearing those god-awful 1980s mom-jeans. Talk about adding insult to injury...

I just figured it out.... he "borrowed" from "Databank" - wow a direct ripoff if I ever saw one

[Edited 1/19/15 10:16am]

1988 Love Sex tour?

Wearing the same pokadot costume and tie as Prince... What a douche...

[Edited 1/19/15 10:20am]

Averett said:

Bluu said:

.

Starting at the 2:09 mark, I hear a few beats that bring to mind "It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night". immediately after, I hear what sounds like the first few notes of the chorus from "We Can Funk".

.

I'm guessing this video was shot right around 1991, given the "Thieves In The Temple"-style hair and dance moves.

.

This guy takes the gold as the singlemost, crazy-shameless Prince rip-off artist. Basically stealing what he could that wasn't nailed to the floor, so to speak (the guitar strap, and possibly even the stage lighting(?!) look like they were lifted from the "1999" video). Everything except the threads, that is. I mean really, if you're gonna copy Prince, do the man justice and commit. I'll say this about Exotic Storm: they stay in character right down to the guyliner. Yasuyuki is the worst. As if stealing from Prince wasn't bad enough, he and his cheap, knock-off Game Boyz went about it wearing those god-awful 1980s mom-jeans. Talk about adding insult to injury...

I just figured it out.... he "borrowed" from "Databank" - wow a direct ripoff if I ever saw one

[Edited 1/19/15 10:16am]

.

Good call! I needed a fresh listen of "Databank" to compare, but I hear it clearly now. You hit the nail on the head.

.

I saw a better video by this guy, for a song called "Date"...I guess. Can't read most of the title on Youtube as it's in a foreign language. But it was a more respectable rip-off this time 'round. The background dancers were doing some nice vogueing and had better outfits. The mom-jeans from the other video just ruined it for me.

.

I'm gonna look for the one Feeluupp mentioned with the polka dot suit. I'm in the mood for further outrage.

While I wouldn't call it a rip off, the song that mostr reminds me of prince by another artist is Untitled/How does It Feel by Dangelo. This is one of my fav songs of all time.

digitalelectric said:

Oh Sheila

to this day, people hear that song and think that it's Prince.

PurpleJedi said:

BartVanHemelen said:

NouveauDance said:

The Bar-Kays 1985 Bangin' The Walls LP is very Princely to the point of plagerism in parts, they're all over Cameo and Rick James too but I think that's par for the course for them, they're still a great band.

-- Crazy You?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNPEApc1k4g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQpOFJj_avo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR-bW6NF684

[Edited 1/18/15 15:30pm]

The Bar-Kays were always mimicking what was hot at the time. I like listening to them and they did the mimickry thing well, but it's so stupidly obvious sometimes. Maybe it just had to do with them having started their careers as studio musicians and being able to play what the producers wanted.

Apparently among some funk guys they were referred to as "The Borrow-Kays".

novabrkr said:

NouveauDance said:

The Bar-Kays 1985 Bangin' The Walls LP is very Princely to the point of plagerism in parts, they're all over Cameo and Rick James too but I think that's par for the course for them, they're still a great band.

-- Crazy You?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNPEApc1k4g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQpOFJj_avo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR-bW6NF684

[Edited 1/18/15 15:30pm]

The Bar-Kays were always mimicking what was hot at the time. I like listening to them and they did the mimickry thing well, but it's so stupidly obvious sometimes. Maybe it just had to do with them having started their careers as studio musicians and being able to play what the producers wanted.

Apparently among some funk guys they were referred to as "The Borrow-Kays".

The Borrow-Kays.................

I've never heard that one.

PurpleJedi said:

digitalelectric said:

Oh Sheila

to this day, people hear that song and think that it's Prince.

Supposedly,Sheila E. heard the song on the radio in 1985 and thought it was a new Prince song about her

SoulAlive said:

PurpleJedi said:

to this day, people hear that song and think that it's Prince.

Supposedly,Sheila E. heard the song on the radio in 1985 and thought it was a new Prince song about her

When that song 1st came out I really liked it but at no point did I ever think it was Prince song.

Graycap23 said:

novabrkr said:

The Bar-Kays were always mimicking what was hot at the time. I like listening to them and they did the mimickry thing well, but it's so stupidly obvious sometimes. Maybe it just had to do with them having started their careers as studio musicians and being able to play what the producers wanted.

Apparently among some funk guys they were referred to as "The Borrow-Kays".

The Borrow-Kays.................

I've never heard that one.

That was the ultimate sign of success in the R and B or Soul music industry, it was not enough having a #1 R&B hit or all the kids doing a dance they saw in your song or have made a dance up to your song on soul train, but when the Barkays had made a soundalike version of it

.

Musician #1 "My last song sold 5 million copies, was #1 on the Soul Chart and crossed over into the Pop Top 20"

Musican #2 "So what, don't mean shit until the Barkays have released something like it and their new single just dropped and it don't sound nothing like yours"

Graycap23 said:

SoulAlive said:

Supposedly,Sheila E. heard the song on the radio in 1985 and thought it was a new Prince song about her

When that song 1st came out I really liked it but at no point did I ever think it was Prince song.

You, like I, had an advanced understanding of Prince and his sound that enabled you to identify a rip off artist immediately. I can remember the day I heard it, I screamed out loud and said "DAMN! who the hell is this trying to sound like Prince" and laughed all the way through it. I had spent 2 years with Controversy on my turntable (yes, turntable) prior to seeing my first Prince gig on the COntroversy Tour (the Time and Zapp opened)

Graycap23 said:

While I wouldn't call it a rip off, the song that mostr reminds me of prince by another artist is Untitled/How does It Feel by Dangelo. This is one of my fav songs of all time.

I've gotta give D'Angelo props. Most artist imitate Prince's classic period. They go for falsetto. They talk dirty. They wear a curl over one eye. D'Angelo takes the game to a whole 'notha level. He imitates 90's Prince. Specifically late 90's Emancipation-era Prince. More specifically "Joint To Joint" Prince and the "You don't even know what kind of cereal I like" line. D made a whole fuggin album singing like he got cereal AND A DAMN SPOON in his mouth. I tried listening to his new shit. I couldn't understand ANYTHING he said on ANY song on the whole album. What an assclown. Fuck that guy.

Oh yeah. I forgot about this one:

Probably my favorite back at the time it came out. It was on the radio a lot in Detroit at that time, but 'dat ain't Prince or Morris.

Edit: Just realized that the white guy in the band is Jeff Bass, Eminiem's producer! I spoke with him some years ago about music, but didn't realize he was this much a Prince fan. WOW.

[Edited 1/21/15 20:48pm]

Adorecream said:

Bro, there is a lot more to Shalamar than that song "Dancing in the Sheets" which was actually their last big hit. Rather than be Johnny come latelies riding the Prince Bandwagon, Shalamar go back to 1977 with the disco hits Uptown Festi

Okay, thank you posting this. I read Shalamar's name come up, and I was racing to post something in their defense. Same with Bar-Kays. Whatever they borrowed from Prince would have been payback for what Prince took from them. Zapp was Ohio funk.

Sexxual Harrasment on the other hand....

Thing we can't forget is people didn't know for sure if Prince was involved with some of the copycat stuff, or they were secret Prince projects. Hearing it on the radio alone you might even think it was a Prince song.

[Edited 1/21/15 20:53pm]

treehouse said:

Adorecream said:

Bro, there is a lot more to Shalamar than that song "Dancing in the Sheets" which was actually their last big hit. Rather than be Johnny come latelies riding the Prince Bandwagon, Shalamar go back to 1977 with the disco hits Uptown Festi

Okay, thank you posting this. I read Shalamar's name come up, and I was racing to post something in their defense. Same with Bar-Kays. Whatever they borrowed from Prince would have been payback for what Prince took from them. Zapp was Ohio funk.

Sexxual Harrasment on the other hand....

Thing we can't forget is people didn't know for sure if Prince was involved with some of the copycat stuff, or they were secret Prince projects. Hearing it on the radio alone you might even think it was a Prince song.

[Edited 1/21/15 20:53pm]

Good point, someone like Prince who was forever watching musical trends, must have been aware of anything that sounded vaguely like him and he must have had an opinion on certain groups that clearly ripped his sound and image off, and just the groups who were established and just maybe had a song or two that was clearly sounding like a Minneapolis sound production.

.

Plus he was not the only cat in town, a lot of the earlier acts like Ebonee Webb and Dream Boy sound more like the Time than Prince, but given he wrote 98% of their stuff, it pretty much counts.

.

I have never confused a copycat for the real thing, the good Prince songs, are well written, have great hooks, excellent musician ship and a real deep musical feel. Nearly all of the imitators stand out for sounding too poppy/cheesy (Exotic Storm/Ebonee Webb/ RTFW/ Georgio), trying too hard (Jak/Dreamboy/Georgio) or just plain derivative and wrong (Sexual Harassment/Barkays). Plus nearly all the songs I have heard are amusing and catchy, but none suffer from particularly good or inspired songwriting and/or inspired musicianship. Nearly all have silly lyrics (Would Prince honestly write a lyric like "Bombs are falling everywhere, they better not harm your silky hair!!!)

.

And the better ones at least moved on to the next trend (RTFW went all New Jack swing, Barkays found someone else to imitate, before and after) and the talentless wannabes like Georgio, Exotic Storm, Sexual Harrassment and Jak and all the others disappeared as the OP said into a puff of Purple Smoke and oblivion. If nothing else I have never laughed so hard at some of these songs and groups in my whole life.

.

Its like an icecream slogan here in NZ, "Often licked, but never beaten" (Frosty Boy Creamfreeze).