phunkdaddy said:

MickyDolenz said:

It's not like The Commodores records after Lionel left were funk either.

They wanted the same money Lionel was getting as they were great songwriters

just as Lionel were. After the success of Nightshift why wouldn't they wanna keep

getting it. The truth is they did have one more moderate successful funk jam

Goin To the Bank.

What about Ray Charles? He didn't start out doing country, but he became known for country music later.

rdhull said:

Hudson said:

Someone that ancient selling a million copies of an album in 2012 is amazing no matter what.

Whats amazin is that no other new release reached a million in 2012.

Up All Night by One Direction did. Lionel's the second new release to do so so far.

Apples and oranges. Ray Charles started out in the 1950's playing blues. Lionel started out in the late 1960's as a soul musician.

phunkdaddy said:

Apples and oranges. Ray Charles started out in the 1950's playing blues. Lionel started out in the late 1960's as a soul musician.

The Mystics/early Commodores were a soul-jazz combo. It was really Walt Orange's band. Lionel was one of the last members to join and he was aspiring a tennis career at the time when he agreed to join (on saxophone). Lionel's roots included country.

By the way I think it's quite funny some folks here are trying to make the case that Lionel was really a funk artist at heart when he wasn't.

R&B, pop and country were always in him.

phunkdaddy said:

Apples and oranges. Ray Charles started out in the 1950's playing blues. Lionel started out in the late 1960's as a soul musician.

The Beatles started out playing 1950's style rock, R&B, and pop. Genesis first record was kind of folky. Fleetwood Mac started out out as a blues band. Rick James was in a hippy rock band. Sam Cooke, Johnnie Taylor, and The Oak Ridge Boys started out singing gospel songs. George Clinton sung doo wop. The Pointer Sisters were doing 1940's Andrews Sisters style jazz pop at first. Many acts changed their sound later on. What's the big deal when Lionel or Kool & The Gang do it?

[Edited 9/6/12 15:20pm]

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phunkdaddy said:

MickyDolenz said:

It's not like The Commodores records after Lionel left were funk either.

They wanted the same money Lionel was getting as they were great songwriters

just as Lionel were. After the success of Nightshift why wouldn't they wanna keep

getting it. The truth is they did have one more moderate successful funk jam

Goin To the Bank.

God, I hated that song.

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

[img:$uid]http://pic80.picturetrail.com:80/VOL2084/9118410/23995995/403715191.jpg[/img:$uid]

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

[img:$uid]http://pic80.picturetrail.com:80/VOL2084/9118410/23995995/403715191.jpg[/img:$uid]

MickyDolenz said:

Hudson said:

Someone that ancient selling a million copies of an album in 2012 is amazing no matter what.

Didn't Tony Bennett have a popular duets album recently? His first record came out in the 1950's.

But still pretty amazing, very few veteran artists can sell that well even with duets with A-list music stars.

Hudson said:

MickyDolenz said:

Didn't Tony Bennett have a popular duets album recently? His first record came out in the 1950's.

But still pretty amazing, very few veteran artists can sell that well even with duets with A-list music stars.

Yeah I think it sold a million too. Tony released this at the right time like Lionel did his.

MickyDolenz said:

Hudson said:

Someone that ancient selling a million copies of an album in 2012 is amazing no matter what.

Didn't Tony Bennett have a popular duets album recently? His first record came out in the 1950's.

When you duet with someone who had a number one hit that year and someone who died that year, you're bound to get a successful album

Timmy84 said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

[img:$uid]http://pic80.picturetrail.com:80/VOL2084/9118410/23995995/403715191.jpg[/img:$uid]

daPrettyman said:

phunkdaddy said:

They wanted the same money Lionel was getting as they were great songwriters

just as Lionel were. After the success of Nightshift why wouldn't they wanna keep

getting it. The truth is they did have one more moderate successful funk jam

Goin To the Bank.

God, I hated that song.

How dare anyone call that piece of shit song funk.

Timmy84 said:

daPrettyman said:

God, I hated that song.

How dare anyone call that piece of shit song funk.

That song makes the Jacksons post-Michael material sound like God

aardvark15 said:

Timmy84 said:

How dare anyone call that piece of shit song funk.

That song makes the Jacksons post-Michael material sound like God

For real and the video was even worse and corny as fuck. And why was Ray Parker, Jr. there at the end? Did he produce it?

aardvark15 said:

That song makes the Jacksons post-Michael material sound like God

I like the 2300 Jackson Street album.

MickyDolenz said:

aardvark15 said:

That song makes the Jacksons post-Michael material sound like God

I like the 2300 Jackson Street album.

I like the title track

aardvark15 said:

MickyDolenz said:

I like the 2300 Jackson Street album.

I like the title track

Well, Mike only fans would say that.

I don't really care for this new jack version of Brick House.

MickyDolenz said:

I don't really care for this new jack version of Brick House.

This is from the 1st post Lionel and pre JD Nicholas album. People here like to make fun of Dancing On The Ceiling, but this came out a few years before that.

MickyDolenz said:

I don't really care for this new jack version of Brick House.

Believe it or not they actually had a video for this version.

Timmy84 said:

By the way I think it's quite funny some folks here are trying to make the case that Lionel was really a funk artist at heart when he wasn't.

R&B, pop and country were always in him.

Not saying he was exclusively r&b. He started out that way with the Commodores

period. That Mystics stuff was the group trying to find their way Nothing about the Commodores first 4 Motown albums screamed pop or country.

MickyDolenz said:

phunkdaddy said:

Apples and oranges. Ray Charles started out in the 1950's playing blues. Lionel started out in the late 1960's as a soul musician.

The Beatles started out playing 1950's style rock, R&B, and pop. Genesis first record was kind of folky. Fleetwood Mac started out out as a blues band. Rick James was in a hippy rock band. Sam Cooke, Johnnie Taylor, and The Oak Ridge Boys started out singing gospel songs. George Clinton sung doo wop. The Pointer Sisters were doing 1940's Andrews Sisters style jazz pop at first. Many acts changed their sound later on. What's the big deal when Lionel or Kool & The Gang do it?

[Edited 9/6/12 15:20pm]

I didn't have a problem with the JT Kool & The Gang era. Hell i have more of

their albums than i do the Jazz period. Was some of their stuff fluff? Yes but

they still jammed when they had to. Some people may think Victory was corny

but i won't front i love it. Even if the lyrics were bland for people the groove was

still tight. You have to take the Kool argument to someone else.

Timmy84 said:

daPrettyman said:

God, I hated that song.

How dare anyone call that piece of shit song funk.

That piece of shit funk song put people on the dance floor.

It was number 2 r&b in 1986. Never said it was great but it

worked. Is it worse than the shit u hear on mainstream radio now?

phunkdaddy said:

I didn't have a problem with the JT Kool & The Gang era. Hell i have more of

their albums than i do the Jazz period. Was some of their stuff fluff? Yes but

they still jammed when they had to. Some people may think Victory was corny

but i won't front i love it. Even if the lyrics were bland for people the groove was

still tight. You have to take the Kool argument to someone else.

Other people here have said they don't like the JT era. That isn't really the point, it's that many acts changed their sound, and had more success with it than what they were originally doing. I like Lionel's 1980's records and don't see anything wrong with them. Why would Lionel go back to funk anyway, when that was going out of style and was never really a big seller in the first place. The Commodores had their biggest hits with pop ballads, not funk, same as Atlantic Starr. I doubt most of the people who bought Lionel's post Commodores music care about funk. Saying that he should do that is like saying George Michael should still record rap songs like Young Guns & Wham! Rap. He won't make much money that way.

phunkdaddy said:

Timmy84 said:

How dare anyone call that piece of shit song funk.

That piece of shit funk song put people on the dance floor.

It was number 2 r&b in 1986. Never said it was great but it

worked. Is it worse than the shit u hear on mainstream radio now?

Yeah. People with TWO LEFT FEET. Fuck outta here...

MickyDolenz said:

phunkdaddy said:

I didn't have a problem with the JT Kool & The Gang era. Hell i have more of

their albums than i do the Jazz period. Was some of their stuff fluff? Yes but

they still jammed when they had to. Some people may think Victory was corny

but i won't front i love it. Even if the lyrics were bland for people the groove was

still tight. You have to take the Kool argument to someone else.

Other people here have said they don't like the JT era. That isn't really the point, it's that many acts changed their sound, and had more success with it than what they were originally doing. I like Lionel's 1980's records and don't see anything wrong with them. Why would Lionel go back to funk anyway, when that was going out of style and was never really a big seller in the first place. The Commodores had their biggest hits with pop ballads, not funk, same as Atlantic Starr. I doubt most of the people who bought Lionel's post Commodores music care about funk. Saying that he should do that is like saying George Michael should still record rap songs like Young Guns & Wham! Rap. He won't make much money that way.

Conversely the people who bought the Commodores early period don't give a shit

about Lionel now. I've already stated that i don't care if he does country. I don't have

to buy it. He needed to do this because his previous album with Akon Just Go flopped

like 2 day old pancakes so what did he have to lose by going country. I never stated that he had to do funk again but what's the problem with the soul ballads before he started doing pop records. Oh it's all about the money? If that's the case 75 % of the artists wouldn't even bother recording. Funk was never really a big seller? Try telling that to

Parliament and The Ohio Players. Let's face it who was funk really for? Of course

it wouldn't sell like the pop acts during that era when the black music buying population

was far less than their white counterparts. By the way, Brick House was a huge funk

record for the Commodores and i would say that done pretty well.