I always like to go back and listen to many of the artists that influenced Prince in his early years. Yesterday I listened to Super Bad by James Brown. You can hear so much that came into Prince's own music later on this one!

1) The short intro before James sings sounds similar to Sexy MF. (not a rip-off, but you can hear it)

2) JB does some screams in it.

3) Some of the lyrics sound like something P would write. "I'm Super Bad, don't need no one else", And "Sometimes I feel so good, want to kiss myself!"

4) JB calls out to the band in the song.

I swear, Prince was some kind of musical sponge, no wonder his style is hard to pin into a category.

It is a great song, give it a spin!

Prince's love for JB cannot be understated. It tends to get overlooked on this board when discussing his influences. Just like MJ this guy idolized Mr. Brown.

coldasice said:

And Gett Off has a segment of Mother Popcorn that starts right when P says “Like James used to say.

U so correct!

What people miss with the constant Hendrix or Brown comparisons is Prince's major pulls from Santana.

TrivialPursuit said:

What people miss with the constant Hendrix or Brown comparisons is Prince's major pulls from Santana.

Yeah, he is heavy on Santana; it's in there. (in the sponge......) Sorry could not resist that one.

Dang, no sponge emoticon!

Seahorsie said:

TrivialPursuit said:

What people miss with the constant Hendrix or Brown comparisons is Prince's major pulls from Santana.

Yeah, he is heavy on Santana; it's in there. (in the sponge......) Sorry could not resist that one.

Dang, no sponge emoticon!

And I say that because Prince relied heavily on guitar elements in his songs, instead of always putting the bass, drums, or horns up front like a lot of soul, R&B, and funk music does. I mean, we have a guy who makes funk workouts like "Let's Work," "DMSR," or "Erotic City," who is also making songs like "Peach," "Endorphinmachine," "Computer Blue," or "Bambi." That's probably some Hendrix in there, but I never heard him cover or mention Hendrix nearly as much as he did Santana.

That said, he certainly took huge nods from JB and Parliament in how he did arrangements, called out to the band, stopped them on a dime, and would signal fills. JB's "Hit me" became Prince's "Good God!"