James Brown - An Obituary
Arguably the single most influential musician of the 20th Century, James Brown couldn't read music or understand concepts like time signatures, scales and chord changes.
| 10 Feb 2007
Santa Claus Is Definitely Here To Stay'
Sadly, James Brown isn't. He died on Christmas Day, of heart complications brought on by pneumonia, at around 6:30am UK time. RIP.
'Doing It To Death'
At 73, James Brown was still touring the world. He played Glasgow's Carling Academy in October 2006. As The Skinny said that very month, "This summer y'all remembered that rock stars don't live forever, and neither will JB..." Last month he was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame. At that age, he was no Apollo dynamite, leaping and bounding. He shuffled his feet, with a yelp and a howl and a grunt, whilst his band flexed every muscle they had, and his acrobatic dancers too. Who else puts on shows like that at 73? He wasn't called 'The Hardest Working Man In Showbusiness' for nothing.
'Super Bad'
If James Brown didn't happen, someone would have had to make it all up. Would anyone believe them? JB was arguably the single most influential musician of the 20th Century, but he couldn't read music or understand concepts like time signatures, scales and chord changes. At 16 he was jailed for armed robbery. Upon release, he turned to baseball and boxing before falling into music at 23. He had 125 singles reach the charts in his career. In case you didn't catch that – that was one hundred and twenty-five. He'd fine his musicians $100 for every wrong note they played, or whenever they were late for rehearsal, or looked scruffy. He went through a spell of only replying to interviewers' questions with song titles – "Hey man, I Feel Good! Please Please Please Mr Interviewer, Make It Funky, cos you're Talking Loud and Saying Nothing!" and so on. He was very difficult to get on with, stubbornly reticent, but with a famously out-of-control ego. He was married four times, though once to a polygamist, so only 3 1/3 times really. He was repeatedly arrested for assaulting his wife, possession of drugs, driving dangerously. He was jailed in 1988 for assaulting a police officer, and various traffic, weapons and drugs offences. He replaced his eyebrows with tattoos in 1991. He had plastic hair (OK, that's not officially true, but it looked like he had plastic hair, didn't it?). This is how people turn out when they are raised in a brothel.
'Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud'
Racist attitudes dissolve when light is shed on the full and equal humanity of all races. Popular music, and in particular soul music, has been one of the most pervasive tools of the 20th Century for shining that light. Why is it even called 'soul' music? Because it reveals, through the convincing emotion of the singer, that they have a soul too, that they're as fully deserving of human respect and empathy as anyone else. It seems trite now but in 1950s America, it wasn't the least bit obvious. It took performers like Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, and James Brown to turn the heads of that generation. In the 60s, it was Motown, Sly Stone, and James Brown. In the 70s, it was Marvin Gaye, Gil Scot-Heron, and James Brown. And in the 80s, it was Grandmaster Flash, KRS-One and Public Enemy who carried on the torch, newly-shaped by hip-hop. And where were they getting their beats from? James Brown, of course, the most sampled artist of all time.
"Like uh, like uh sex machine?"
Consider how controversial Elvis was in his day, this straight-laced patriotic white American - because he swayed his hips, in the late 50s. Such sexual obscenity could not be allowed on national TV. Think of the civil rights movement, Rosa Parks, the march on Washington, and the race riots. More pertinently, think of the opposition to it all. Think of how clean-cut Motown was, and how when any black artist sold well they were said to have 'crossover' appeal – as in 'crossing racial boundaries'. It's so good, even racists like it! Then imagine a song called 'Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud' reaching no.10 in 1968, and the same artist releasing 'Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine' two years later. Imagine a black man telling America he was a sex machine in 1970! Of course, that couldn't happen.
The Godfather of Soul
Soul was a gradual development from R&B, gospel and doo-wop, not a before-ye-know-it sudden invention. JB's most important part in soul's development was his first single – a full 50 years ago - the doo-woppy million-seller 'Please Please Please', which earned him the snappy nickname 'Mr Please Please Please'. Then again, people like Ray Charles, Sam Cooke and Berry Gordy were at least as innovative in developing the 'soul' music of the late 50s. Godfather of Funk would be far more appropriate – JB created funk on earth as sure as the sun creates the light, and everything descended from funk is descended from JB. The P-funk collective, aka Parliament and Funkadelic, are probably second only to JB in terms of being sampled, and they involved many former disciples of the main man: the likes of Bootsy Collins, Bobby Byrd, Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker. JB had soul in his heart, disco in his fingertips, and hip-hop in his head, but it was always pure funk coursing through his veins.
'Get Up Offa That Thing'
On eBay you can buy a James Brown rubber ducky. It's a bit creepy-looking. Keep an eye out now for James Brown memorabilia everywhere: reissues and compilations, TV tributes starring Bootsy and Maceo, 'Legends' T-shirts, posters, toys that dance and sing, TV tributes starring Stuart Maconie and Will Young, DVDs, flags, stamps, novelty banknotes, mousemats, fridge magnets, collectable cards. Look out for James Brown's face on a toasted crumpet; on a roadside petrol stain; on a dog's backside; and on the surface of the moon.
Look out for him on that new boat at the docks; sheepishly pushing a supermarket trolley; in the crowd at Firhill; playing himself in impersonator competitions; or sinking beneath your watery reflection. We don't believe you're dead JB, we know you were about to release a new album! So get up, get on up, and get on that good foot. People keep spotting Elvis, but they're just crazy. It's James Brown that can truly never die.
Sadly, James Brown isn't. He died on Christmas Day, of heart complications brought on by pneumonia, at around 6:30am UK time. RIP.
'Doing It To Death'
At 73, James Brown was still touring the world. He played Glasgow's Carling Academy in October 2006. As The Skinny said that very month, "This summer y'all remembered that rock stars don't live forever, and neither will JB..." Last month he was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame. At that age, he was no Apollo dynamite, leaping and bounding. He shuffled his feet, with a yelp and a howl and a grunt, whilst his band flexed every muscle they had, and his acrobatic dancers too. Who else puts on shows like that at 73? He wasn't called 'The Hardest Working Man In Showbusiness' for nothing.
'Super Bad'
If James Brown didn't happen, someone would have had to make it all up. Would anyone believe them? JB was arguably the single most influential musician of the 20th Century, but he couldn't read music or understand concepts like time signatures, scales and chord changes. At 16 he was jailed for armed robbery. Upon release, he turned to baseball and boxing before falling into music at 23. He had 125 singles reach the charts in his career. In case you didn't catch that – that was one hundred and twenty-five. He'd fine his musicians $100 for every wrong note they played, or whenever they were late for rehearsal, or looked scruffy. He went through a spell of only replying to interviewers' questions with song titles – "Hey man, I Feel Good! Please Please Please Mr Interviewer, Make It Funky, cos you're Talking Loud and Saying Nothing!" and so on. He was very difficult to get on with, stubbornly reticent, but with a famously out-of-control ego. He was married four times, though once to a polygamist, so only 3 1/3 times really. He was repeatedly arrested for assaulting his wife, possession of drugs, driving dangerously. He was jailed in 1988 for assaulting a police officer, and various traffic, weapons and drugs offences. He replaced his eyebrows with tattoos in 1991. He had plastic hair (OK, that's not officially true, but it looked like he had plastic hair, didn't it?). This is how people turn out when they are raised in a brothel.
'Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud'
Racist attitudes dissolve when light is shed on the full and equal humanity of all races. Popular music, and in particular soul music, has been one of the most pervasive tools of the 20th Century for shining that light. Why is it even called 'soul' music? Because it reveals, through the convincing emotion of the singer, that they have a soul too, that they're as fully deserving of human respect and empathy as anyone else. It seems trite now but in 1950s America, it wasn't the least bit obvious. It took performers like Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, and James Brown to turn the heads of that generation. In the 60s, it was Motown, Sly Stone, and James Brown. In the 70s, it was Marvin Gaye, Gil Scot-Heron, and James Brown. And in the 80s, it was Grandmaster Flash, KRS-One and Public Enemy who carried on the torch, newly-shaped by hip-hop. And where were they getting their beats from? James Brown, of course, the most sampled artist of all time.
"Like uh, like uh sex machine?"
Consider how controversial Elvis was in his day, this straight-laced patriotic white American - because he swayed his hips, in the late 50s. Such sexual obscenity could not be allowed on national TV. Think of the civil rights movement, Rosa Parks, the march on Washington, and the race riots. More pertinently, think of the opposition to it all. Think of how clean-cut Motown was, and how when any black artist sold well they were said to have 'crossover' appeal – as in 'crossing racial boundaries'. It's so good, even racists like it! Then imagine a song called 'Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud' reaching no.10 in 1968, and the same artist releasing 'Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine' two years later. Imagine a black man telling America he was a sex machine in 1970! Of course, that couldn't happen.
The Godfather of Soul
Soul was a gradual development from R&B, gospel and doo-wop, not a before-ye-know-it sudden invention. JB's most important part in soul's development was his first single – a full 50 years ago - the doo-woppy million-seller 'Please Please Please', which earned him the snappy nickname 'Mr Please Please Please'. Then again, people like Ray Charles, Sam Cooke and Berry Gordy were at least as innovative in developing the 'soul' music of the late 50s. Godfather of Funk would be far more appropriate – JB created funk on earth as sure as the sun creates the light, and everything descended from funk is descended from JB. The P-funk collective, aka Parliament and Funkadelic, are probably second only to JB in terms of being sampled, and they involved many former disciples of the main man: the likes of Bootsy Collins, Bobby Byrd, Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker. JB had soul in his heart, disco in his fingertips, and hip-hop in his head, but it was always pure funk coursing through his veins.
'Get Up Offa That Thing'
On eBay you can buy a James Brown rubber ducky. It's a bit creepy-looking. Keep an eye out now for James Brown memorabilia everywhere: reissues and compilations, TV tributes starring Bootsy and Maceo, 'Legends' T-shirts, posters, toys that dance and sing, TV tributes starring Stuart Maconie and Will Young, DVDs, flags, stamps, novelty banknotes, mousemats, fridge magnets, collectable cards. Look out for James Brown's face on a toasted crumpet; on a roadside petrol stain; on a dog's backside; and on the surface of the moon.
Look out for him on that new boat at the docks; sheepishly pushing a supermarket trolley; in the crowd at Firhill; playing himself in impersonator competitions; or sinking beneath your watery reflection. We don't believe you're dead JB, we know you were about to release a new album! So get up, get on up, and get on that good foot. People keep spotting Elvis, but they're just crazy. It's James Brown that can truly never die.