Haystack said:

If you take music seriously, you need to give respect to James Brown.

I own 67 of his albums. All of them original vinyl pressings.

And about 180 singles.

abierman said:

There would be no George Clinton without JB.
In fact, Funk would still sound like Horace Silver without JB.

Nefertiti said:

He is right next to Little Richard (showmanship) and Sly. But Prince got a lot of Sugarfoot of the Ohio Players in him. I mean A LOT!

Haystack said:

UMM YOU SAY YOU FIND JAMES BROWN'S MUSIC UNLISTENABLE, WELL CAN I PRESUME THAT WHEN PRINCE DOES "PASS THE PEAS" WITH MACEO, YOU WALKED OUT THE GIG. OR DID YOU JUST COVER YOUR EARS: (OR DID YOU NOT KNOW THAT JAMES BROWN WROTE THE TUNE)

Ubiquity said:

I know what you mean. But to say any single person is the #1 influence on him is to easily trump the rest of the amalgam of influences Prince has, and there are many. On a showmanship AND musical level.

Ubiquity said:

sure, and there would be no JB without Elvis Presley, and there would no Elvis without Chuck Berry, and there would be no Chuck Berry without Muddy Waters, and without Muddy Waters there would be no Snoop Dogg and without Snoop Dogg there would be no George Clinton, thus no James Brown...yadayadayada...

Nefertiti said:

True.
But its very clear that Prince draw so much influence from JB that it is very unlikely that he would have ever become the musician that he is today without James Brown.
If you know the music and artistry of JB very well, you will constantly find little details in Prince's musical creation as well as his self-presentation which go all back to James Brown. That besides the major obvious pieces.

abierman said:

Who taught you this crap?
Elvis Presely had absolutely no impact on the artistry of James Brown. In fact, they both emerged out of the blue around the same time... Elvis in 1955 and JB in 1956 with "Please, please, please". But he was around for years before that -- even without a record release. At the time Elvis was still singing songs for his mama, JB already had his first tight band together.

Its pretty safe to say that JB is one of the few very original artists in music history. The only influences he had was the music and style of Louis Jordan. Later JB stole some things from his big competitor Joe Tex -- for example kicking the mike stand in the audience and pulling it back at him.
The cape-show he got from boxer Joe Lewis. Thats pretty much it.

Next time you try to reconstruct music history please make sure you know what you are talking about.

Ubiquity said:

Today's weather is great for fishing, sir.

Tisk, tisk, tisk...

I'll get around to it some day.

heavyfunk said:

I have never witnessed Prince perform 'Pass The Peas' so your question is void. Would I cover my ears or walk out in the circumstances? No, I wouldn't be that dramatic. However, I'd probably choose that moment to go for a piss or get myself a drink.

heavyfunk said:

Pass The Peas sucks, so does P's 'The Work Part I'. Also, Maceo's solo gigs are boring, eventhough he's a great musician.

abierman said:

So much for your ability to keep a musical discussion alive...

abierman said:

Pass the Peas may not be a groundbreaking funk composition as Sex Machine or Payback, but it had a large impact on the funk of the 70s and is still inspiration to many.

Name me a Prince tune which had a larger impact on musical influence.

Ubiquity said:

Some tracks on SOTT or Lovesexy, or Black Album. But I wasn't comparing to P. I find JB a bad lyricist and his 'funk'is shallow. Funk has to be fat & and dirty, sweaty as in 'funky'... JB does not do that like Parliament Funkadelic, P-Funk All STars, Bootsy or Clinton do. I've seen George Clinton & the P-Funk All Stars perform live several times, No way I see JB conduct a 16 piece funkband the way GC can.

abierman said:

[This message was edited Fri Jul 18 5:48:25 PDT 2003 by Ubiquity]

Ubiquity said:

abierman said:

[This message was edited Fri Jul 18 5:48:25 PDT 2003 by Ubiquity]
[/quote][/quote]

this is going nowhere, two different opinions and in the end it becomes a discussion about which has become the biggest icon for black America. I will not get into this since I will not talk about race on the net, specifically not if linked to music. But let me say this: you think a coke snorring wife-beater/-rapist is a good Black American Icon? Sure GC is no saint either, especially when it comes to drugs, but still...

abierman said:

OUCH! this discussion is getting ugly.

DavidEye said:

for real... i dig james brown, but i just don't own any of his albums. it ain't that crucial,® ya'll...

abierman said:

The person you are talking about is the James Brown of the 1980s, at the time of his big fall and depression.

I am talking about the JB of the 1960s and 1970s. There is no man who had a larger impact on the black community of that time. Even TIME magazine titled in 1968: "Is James Brown the most important black man in America?"

James Brown convinced children to go to school when they didnt want to. His "Be cool stay in school" program was on of the largest and most effective private educational fund raiser in American history.

James Brown was consulted by a large number of US presidents about the matters for African Americans. He was invited to dinners at the white house with LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter. No other black artist had this privilige.

James Brown had the power to control the anger of black people. After the assassination of MLK he was asked by the mayor of Boston to play a live concert on TV and convince the upset people to stay home. While the whole country was going up into flames, it was absolutely quiet at the East Coast.

There is mofre to it, and of course -- the music. Back in the 1960s and early 1970s, ALL black kids wanted to be like James Brown.

I dont know of anybody who wanted to be like George Clinton.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

You should, because he is part of who you are, whether you know it or not.

Get "Payback" for starters. Its gonna blow your mind.
Or get anything by the "JBs".

Ubiquity said:

But you dont think the same could be said of Sly Stone's influence on him?

Ubiquity said:

no, i've heard plenty of james brown's material, it ain't like i'm clueless towards the brotha's output. if i wanted any of his stuff i'd prefer it on vinyl as it is.

i'll get around to gettin stuff whenever i feel the need...

abierman said:

UBQUITY I LOVE YA, BUT I DISAGREE WITH ONE THING YOU SAID, BROWN IS A BAD LYRICIST, NO WAY:WHAT ABOUT SONGS LIKE "GET UP ,GET INTO AND GET INVOLVED" AND "TALKIN LOUD AND SAYIN NOTHING (PRINCE DOES THAT) THOSE ARE DEEP LYRICS OR BALLADS LIKE "WHO AM I" AND "I'LL GUESS I'LL HAVE TO CRY" MR BROWN WAS A SOULFUL BALLADER ONE SO MUCH THAT HE WAS UNDERATTED VOCALLY. HIS FUNK IS AWESOME BUT HIS BALLADS IS WHAT I LISTEN TO, A LOT OF HIS SONGS HE DID'NT JUST SCREAM. ABIERMAN, NOT ALL OF WHAT YOU SAY IS THE TRUTH, YOU AIN'T RESEARCHED A LOT OF WHAT YOU SPEAK- THIS MAN HIS WRITTEN OVER 6,000 SONGS AND SANG OVER 8,000- YOU CAN'T TELL ME THAT NONE OF THEM AIN'T AS RAW AND FUNKY AS SOME OF THE P-FUNK STUFF, YOU MIGHT LIKE AN ALBUM THAT JAMES BROWN DID CALLED "SHO IS FUNKY DOWN HERE". I BET YOU'LIKE THAT- SEARCH IT OUT, PLEASE!

abierman said:

PLEASE TELL ME THAT THE TAPES OF JB THAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT IS SOME 80'S, 90'S TAPE. GO ONE E-BAY -SOMEWHERE AND FIND SOMETHNG LIKE OLYMPIA 71 VHS-

YOU WILL LIKE THAT
BOOTSY ON BASS, PHELPS ON GUITAR, FRED WESLEY ON TROMBONE ALSO TRY OUT A JB CD "FUNK POWER 1970:A BRAND NEW THANG"
GOOD CD.

first of all, how utterly patronizing can some of you be? where do you get off telling people what they should buy/listen to?
Now for the people who diss James, , shame on you all.

That being said, i own a greatest hits album by him & a couple of 45s, that's it. I really respect the man, he *is* (always will be) the godfather, but I'm no fanatic, shoot me.

anybody knocking JB ought to get hold of at least 'Papa's got a brand new bag', 'Cold Sweat' and 'Get up offa that thing'

Basically you got Prince's prototype right there in those three songs just minus a guitar solo.

'Get up' is basically the best funk record ever made IMO and sounds as fresh as anything Prince could put together NOW!

lovebizzare said:

Patronizing?