This so sounds like a prince should have been song...I dont even know who sings it....

afaik: Bruno Mars is singing.....

It's imitation almost to the point of parody. Sounds like a mish mish of The Time, Cameo, P-Funk and The Gap Band.

I really dig Bruno Mars, he's the real deal.

But, this song is crap! You can't fake the funk! Real funk makes you wanna move, tap your feet, snap your fingers and make the "that FUNK stinks" face.

This song does not have that impact on me.

Militant said:

It's imitation almost to the point of parody. Sounds like a mish mish of The Time, Cameo, P-Funk and The Gap Band.

don't forget trinidad james

Militant said:

It's imitation almost to the point of parody. Sounds like a mish mish of The Time, Cameo, P-Funk and The Gap Band.

Agreed. It's a truly anaemic pastiche. I almost mistook it for a spoof when I first heard it.

C'mon my fellow orgers Uptown Funk in my humble opinion is awesome funk. It's obviously inspired by Prince and you can't get anymore direct referance to him than by combining two of his favorite concepts, Uptown and Funk. This song may not challenge or push the envelope but this song is fun and I am very very happy to hear the word "funk" on the radio. When was the last time you did? The song has all the classic basics to any Prince funk songs. It's just fun. Don't take it so serious. I swear if P did this song and it made to the radio and he was singing and playing it exactly the same we would all be rejoicing. This song makes a great addition to any house party trax list. Dont hate, congratulate!

OperatingThetan said:

Militant said:

It's imitation almost to the point of parody. Sounds like a mish mish of The Time, Cameo, P-Funk and The Gap Band.

Agreed. It's a truly anaemic pastiche. I almost mistook it for a spoof when I first heard it.

That's how I reacted at first but as a funky person, can't say the world didn't urgently need some song reminescent of all those great bands+ Prince. Yeah, for people like you and I, it's "pastiche", but there's lots of young folks that don't know Cameo from Romeo,. A popular funky song is something to welcome even though in this case it's inevitably overreminescent.

[Edited 1/30/15 10:34am]

ufoclub said:

Mark Ronson the creative producer of the song denies his obvious influence: "Is the live performance of “Uptown Funk,” especially on SNL, inspired by Morris Day and the Time? "Everyone always brings up the Morris Day and the Time reference. It’s definitely something as a DJ I knew about, I really loved playing “Jungle Love” in the club. I actually don’t know, I think it’s just something I’ve seen so much that I know it or it’s filtered in. I’ve never seen Purple Rain. I know it’s sacrilegious. Somebody told me there’s a lyric in the Time song where he says, “Jerome, get me the mic.” And I have that line in the song. It’s just bizarre how things like that happen. I don’t know that song, I’ve never heard that line before. Hopefully there’s some reason why it’s happening and we’re in the same spirit as what they were doing because they were such a phenomenal band and so exciting to watch."

His credibility just went down the tube for me. What a liar

ufoclub said:

Mark Ronson the creative producer of the song denies his obvious influence: "Is the live performance of “Uptown Funk,” especially on SNL, inspired by Morris Day and the Time? "Everyone always brings up the Morris Day and the Time reference. It’s definitely something as a DJ I knew about, I really loved playing “Jungle Love” in the club. I actually don’t know, I think it’s just something I’ve seen so much that I know it or it’s filtered in. I’ve never seen Purple Rain. I know it’s sacrilegious. Somebody told me there’s a lyric in the Time song where he says, “Jerome, get me the mic.” And I have that line in the song. It’s just bizarre how things like that happen. I don’t know that song, I’ve never heard that line before. Hopefully there’s some reason why it’s happening and we’re in the same spirit as what they were doing because they were such a phenomenal band and so exciting to watch."

You've never seen Purple Rain -- is this because you're blind, have low vision or some other reason, or is it by choice?

ufoclub said:

Mark Ronson the creative producer of the song denies his obvious influence: "Is the live performance of “Uptown Funk,” especially on SNL, inspired by Morris Day and the Time? "Everyone always brings up the Morris Day and the Time reference. It’s definitely something as a DJ I knew about, I really loved playing “Jungle Love” in the club. I actually don’t know, I think it’s just something I’ve seen so much that I know it or it’s filtered in. I’ve never seen Purple Rain. I know it’s sacrilegious. Somebody told me there’s a lyric in the Time song where he says, “Jerome, get me the mic.” And I have that line in the song. It’s just bizarre how things like that happen. I don’t know that song, I’ve never heard that line before. Hopefully there’s some reason why it’s happening and we’re in the same spirit as what they were doing because they were such a phenomenal band and so exciting to watch."

Ok............want 2 buy a bridge in Brooklyn?

This song is as WEAK as H2o

[Edited 1/30/15 10:53am]

How the fuck do you know about The Time, call them an awesome band, yet have never seen Purple Rain?!

That's some megabullshit. I also watched an interview where he said that he was influenced by the Prince and Morris Day sound...AKA Prince.

At the end of the day, the song grooves, but the fact that the targeted audience doesn't know where this song actually draws from is so frustrating!

Every time this song comes on in a public place I get the uttermost urge to go on a rant and just tell people to listen to Prince to get GOOD funk music, not this imitation bullshit.

I went bowling with some friends and they played it like 3 times, I wanted to scream haha

Edit: Forgot to add this:

The fact that it's in the style of music that I love frustrates me further because therefore I actually LIKE the song. It makes me want to tear my hair out!!

[Edited 1/30/15 13:03pm]

I agree that he doesn't make any sense. There is no way this is not influenced by Prince and or The Time. There is no way it's coincidence that this song is called Uptown Funk by chance. He's a music producer and he hasn't seen one of the biggest musical movies ever made? He knows about Morris Day but not sure what the connection is to this song? Poor coincidence? Sorry, it doesn't add up and I am calling BS! Even the comedy routine throughout the video and song is clearly the Time in every manner. Please

"Uptown Funk" had its begging "out of a jam in Bruno’s studio in LA". While Mars was drumming, Bhasker was playing the synths and Ronson was on the bass. After they "got the basic groove", Philip Lawrence joined and they wrote the lyrics to the first verse. They finished the song in Toronto, six months later.

I could easily believe Buno is a huge Prince fan and was more into The Time/Prince than Ronson. Making a funk album and not wading into the Prince catalog which inevitably means Purple Rain? That's hard to believe.

There are too many Morris Day lines in the song where Bruno. Hopefully the O7 will get back on it and put out "Sick".

On the album - the song prior "Feel Right" (ft Mystikal) is more James Brown than Prince, and what a song! I think the rest of the album is the same. It go's futher back than Prince.

Nothing original, but it's fun and infectious. Yins are so dour sometimes.

The horns sound like they're directly lifter from Michael Jackson's "Jam". They're identical. cool enough song though, I guess.

alexzander said:

The horns sound like they're directly lifter from Michael Jackson's "Jam". They're identical. cool enough song though, I guess.

>

OMG you're right!

I love JAM too.

Imitation is the sincerest form of thievery?

Militant said:

^ Yeh but these guys put funk back on the radio. Nobody else is doing it these days. The Original 7 Album was massively overlooked. Although Morris Day is on Kimmel soon I think?

Ronson can't pull out a solo like Prince but this performance kills!

Noodled24 said:

^ Yeh but these guys put funk back on the radio. Nobody else is doing it these days.

Why does it take a white British guy who clearly didn't grow up on funk (and hasn't even seen Purple Rain!) to get funk back on the radio for the first time in 20 years with a weak imitation track like this one, when the originators who have actually been making funk the whole time, keep getting told by the majors that "this kind of music doesn't get played on the radio"? Am I missing something? Plenty of people, from members of P-Funk to members of Cameo, people who played with Rick James, Zapp etc, have produced far better funk songs than this in the last decade and major labels won't touch them. I just find it a bit weird.

I wish Ronson would have done what Daft Punk did with Disco, when they paid respects by actually getting people like Nile Rodgers on their songs, who is now enjoying a huge career resurgence thanks to that.

Ronson should have got Jimmy Jam or Bernie Worrell or David Frank to play the synths, then they wouldn't be so thin and weedy, and he should have got Jesse Johnson or Al McKay on guitar, because that weak attempt at chicken scratch is laughably poor. Or any members of the Stone City Band.

I've said this before, but uptown funk is a piece of every funk and disco song for m the seventies, EWF, Ohio Players, Cameo, Zapp, Parliament Funkadelic, someone here mentioned Jam/MJ and yes the horns and stabs sound lifted right from there, but even Jam was easily lifted from EWF...there's PRINCE all over that record, and tbh, SO WHAT, these kids are eating it up with a spoon and while yes its a conglomerate of sounds past, they did pick the best ones and its a really perfectly constructed hit, like with laser precision.


that being said...I dont really care, the song is straight up FUN, Bruno kills the vocal and people are LOVING IT. So to be able to bring that back is all good....those horns - yes they sound familiar but DAMN THEY SOUND GOOD!

terrig said:

goofy said:

terrig said:

I've said this before, but uptown funk is a piece of every funk and disco song for m the seventies, EWF, Ohio Players, Cameo, Zapp, Parliament Funkadelic, someone here mentioned Jam/MJ and yes the horns and stabs sound lifted right from there, but even Jam was easily lifted from EWF...there's PRINCE all over that record, and tbh, SO WHAT, these kids are eating it up with a spoon and while yes its a conglomerate of sounds past, they did pick the best ones and its a really perfectly constructed hit, like with laser precision.


that being said...I dont really care, the song is straight up FUN, Bruno kills the vocal and people are LOVING IT. So to be able to bring that back is all good....those horns - yes they sound familiar but DAMN THEY SOUND GOOD!

I agree, its normal for new artists to recycle what went before. 30 years ago Prince was new and what he did made me find James Brown and Jimmy Hendrix. At the time my Dad told me it had all been done before but I was having none of it! And so it goes...

Well the other great thing about it is the full band, people playing their instruments, singing and dancing. And doing it WELL. It's a very talented group of people - are they EWF? NO, but thank goodness they are TRYING TO BE. These people are attempting to make it cool to dance, sing, and play FUNK...I think they deserve our full support.

I love playing DMSR straight after hearing this song and laughing at the sheer difference in quality. DMSR is just filthy and the production actually has some quirk and interesting qualities to it. ptown Funk is far, far to clean and sterile for a funk track. Where's the stank? The grease?

Uptown Funk is a plastic parody of the sounds of yesteryear. The fact my 10 year old cousin and her friends LOVE it just makes me want to lock them all in a room and educate them 'No no no, this isn't funk! This is funk! (plays Erotic City)'

It's closer to Zapp and Rick James than it is Prince. I could never confuse it for Uptown funk. To me it's just an irritating mishmash of classics. But that's what music is today. I can't even name all the songs on the radio that are clearly chopped up pieces of better songs by other acts. Jam and Lewis have a song following this trend on the new Charlie Wilson album.