AlexdeParis said:

I still remember the first time I heard those two songs. I could not believe that Bowie ripped off James so badly. When I realised that it was James who ripped off Bowie I was beyond shocked. It's very surprising that there was not a lawsuit involved. I guess Bowie must have been flattered?

Well hell....since the Beatles influenced so much.....I can BLAME them 4 the mess that is hiphop.

rialb said:

Who wouldn't be? If the Godfather of Soul ripped off one of my songs, I'd be hoping he ripped off more!

Graycap23 said:

Some stupid fan thought, Paul invented rapping in "Rocky Raccoon"
[Edited 6/30/09 12:42pm]

Graycap23 said:

Ray CHarles was pre-Beatles! EWF even covered a B song, so don't pretend they would not like them.

I'm also sure H-D-H felt competetive with Lennon/McCartney. After all, they began having hits when H-D-H already was a hit machine.

Donna Hathaway covered Yesterday. Whenever someone covers a song I assume, they like the artist's music.

jethrouk said:

dont argue with jethrouk

he doesn't want to be converted. I think the Bs are OBVIOUSLY the best band ever. No other band had so many great songs, of which all are known by everyone all over the world, they inspired millions of musicians.

graecophilos said:

Covering an artist song is NOT the same thing as influencing the artist or do u NOT agree?

Graycap23 said:

That makes no sense. If an artist touches another artist enough with a song that he wants to cover it, of course that is influencing them. How can it not be? James Brown chose to record “Something.” He heard the song, was inspired (i.e. influenced), and wanted to record his own version.

That doesn’t mean JB wasn’t original, or a great artist. I think James Brown was hugely influential himself – on par with Elvis, The Beatles, and Dylan. He was on the same level. But that doesn’t mean that JB wasn’t influenced by the Beatles, as I’m sure they were influenced by him as well.

JAMES BROWN (the "godfather of soul"): "George Harrison was one of the world's few good men, one of the better people I ever met. I will and the world will miss him. He was truly loved."
[Edited 6/30/09 13:08pm]

rialb said:

woah... I thought James Brown's was the first release, the Bowie/Lennon song was first?

ufoclub said:

"Fame" was released before "Hot (I Need to Be Loved, Loved, Loved, Loved)."

Yeah I was shocked when I first heard that James Brown song.The music is a total rip-off of David Bowie's "Fame"!

rialb said:

Maybe not now. And it was just not backwards guitars it was backmasking in general. But I can think of a number of influences. give it away RHCP, most of the early oasis stuff.

http://prince.org/msg/7/262013 (gives some prince examples) e.g. is a message about the lord coming in darling nikki

lots of pink floyd, their is a compeition in the wall. wings records (there is a recipe for a veggi dish,

lots more here - > http://en.wikipedia.org/w...d_messages

jethrouk:

rialb said:

good read - > http://en.wikipedia.org/w..._recording

rialb said:

true, but that was largely cut for radio play they stop it @ the b-side of it and just aired the a-side. though obl is still had an impact
[Edited 6/30/09 15:46pm]

Sandino said:

Wiki:

The Beatles' influence on rock music and popular culture was—and remains—immense. They affected attitudes to fashion worldwide when in the 1960s there was widespread imitation of their haircuts and clothing. In the recording studio The Beatles took innovative approaches to the use of technology, treating the studio as an instrument in itself and working closely with recording engineers, urging experimentation and regularly demanding, "Just try it […] it might just sound good"[108]. At the same time they constantly sought ways to put chance occurrences to creative use, examples being accidental guitar feedback, a resonating glass bottle or a tape loaded the wrong way round so that it played backwards, and incorporated the resulting sounds into their music. They were also pioneers in the use of sampling, which along with their other experimentation created techniques which were widely adopted by others.
The Beatles redefined the album as something more than just a small number of hits padded out with "filler" tracks, and they were the originators in the United Kingdom of the now common practice of releasing video clips to accompany singles. The Beatles became the first entertainment act to stage a large stadium concert when they opened their 1965 North American tour at Shea Stadium.

The Beatles thought way outside the box. They were excellent songwriters and 40 years later their songs still sell and chart. What other rock musical act can claim that?

Graycap23 said:

You mean "Come Together" or the verses of "Sgt Pepper"?

ufoclub said:

All of it.....

The Beatles influenced hip hop? They have like one breakbeat.

This is when the "Kraftwerk is more influential than The Beatles" topic comes in.

speaking of song writing, I rate the beatles even higher than Prince,

Beatles were simply the best song writers. Ever.

thedance said:

Prince's mistake is, that he released too much. There are times when he should have concentrated on a few ones, instead writing 100s of songs. Just think what happened in 1996 - 5 albums?

SoulAlive said:

I haven't heard this song you're talking about, but it seems if anyone deserves to rip of Fame it'd be James Brown!

NDRU said:

Heard it last night. It's pretty funky. The words are not the same but groove is. I was thinking 'could this be the first sample record'?

NDRU said:

James Brown - Hot (I Need to Be Loved, Loved, Loved, Loved)

AlexdeParis said:

Cool, thanks. I definitely hear Fame in this song, but it just sounds like James Brown to me, not like he's ripping of someone else's style. Quite the opposite, in fact, much as I love Bowie, I think he was the one who sampled others' styles to come up with songs like Fame!

NDRU said:

I love JB, but there's a difference between using someone's style and actually using the music. Still, both songs are hot (no pun intended).

AlexdeParis said:

Well, as I said I can definitely hear what you're talking about.

I'm not a big conspiracist on these things though. I could easily believe that it was a coincidence, or possibly unconscious ripoffery.

It's actually slightly different, a keyboard instead of a guitar, playing chords instead of a single note riff, and Bowie's drumbeat is more synchopated and the riff is tw bars, where JB's is only one bar. But the fact that they're in the same key makes them sound more alike.

And obviously they do sound a lot alike!
[Edited 7/1/09 11:53am]

Nearly two whole pages since I left and STILL no one has produced this magical fairytale influence that the beatles music had on forthcoming generations. I'm actually, honestly interested in knowing how "The greatest rock band" in the world changed music. I really want to know what they did as composers that no one else was doing before and everyone is doing since? I'd really like to know what they've done as musicians that no one else was doing before and everyone has done since? It's a simple question really and if you can't understand it or maybe I'm phrasing my questions wrong, I'll give you an example:

Sly & the family Stone

created revolutionary vocal arrangements in which they'd have multiple singers trading off in each bar, Larry graham invented the bass slaping technique. Sly Stone was the first funk/soul musician to speak out on social issues etc. impacted funk, rap music, soul, etc.

Sandino said:

Dude, why don't you just give it the fuck up already? This thread has gone on too long as it is. If you don't get it by now you never will. Quit trying. Better yet visit your nearest Borders or public library and check out a damn book about them if you need to know so badly! Maybe you'll learn something. Probably not.

What is interesting to me is that the Beatles admitted that they sucked in concert and went mostly into the studio after they realized it. In my opinion, yeah they are pretty overrated because of that fact. Most people don't know that or don't care. Kinda like most people don't care that MJ was a complete mess of a human being.

Can't deny their talents though.

dannyd5050 said:

You sound quite touchy when it comes to The Beatles.

AlexdeParis said:

Fame was co-written by Carlos Alomar, who used to play with James Brown. It was Carlos' riff. Carlos wanted to sue James...

http://www.teenagewildlif...losQA.html

Sandino said:

In the recording studio The Beatles took innovative approaches to the use of technology, treating the studio as an instrument in itself and working closely with recording engineers, urging experimentation and regularly demanding, "Just try it - it might just sound good". At the same time they constantly sought ways to put chance occurrences to creative use, examples being accidental guitar feedback, a resonating glass bottle or a tape loaded the wrong way round so that it played backwards, and incorporated the resulting sounds into their music. They were also pioneers in the use of sampling, which along with their other experimentation created techniques which were widely adopted by others.
The Beatles redefined the album as something more than just a small number of hits padded out with "filler" tracks, and they were the originators in the United Kingdom of the now common practice of releasing video clips to accompany singles. The Beatles became the first entertainment act to stage a large stadium concert when they opened their 1965 North American tour at Shea Stadium.