R.I.P. James Brown

[aeon]

May you be funky forever.

 

At least your records remain.

 

But why on Christmas Day? Ah well, I won't question your sense of timing.

 

 

you are missed,

Ian

[mildbill]

This is a Man's World.

 

[Paolo Di Nicolantonio]

R.I.P.

 

for the man who gave us the most used breakbeat loop of all times...

[Don Solaris]

Really strange. He had a concert here less than month ago - he was full of energy & still rockin'.

 

[Outkaster]

He was actually a good Hammond player which people did not realize.

[asynchro_nous]

[aeon]

If one truly considers his musical legacy, he may be the single most-influential musical artist of the 20th century.

 

 

cheers,

Ian

[rjx]

One of the great things about James was through his music, he encouraged African Americans to stop referring to themselves as "colored" and to be proud of who they were.

 

1968: "Say it Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud (Part 1)" -- Released at the height of the civil rights movement, this anthem boldly asserted pride in being black at a time when African-Americans were still fighting for basic rights.

 

[rjx]

One more little bit of info ...

 

James Brown's involvement with the civil rights movement also began in the mid-'60s. He embraced it with the same energy and dynamism he devoted to his performances. In 1966, the song "Don't Be a Drop-Out" urged black children not to neglect their education. In the same year, he flew down to Mississippi to visit the wounded civil rights activist James Meredith, shot during his "March Against Fear." From 1965 onward, Brown often canceled his shows to perform benefit concerts for black political organizations like the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). In 1968, he initiated "Operation Black Pride," and, dressing as Santa Claus, presented 3,000 certificates for free Christmas dinners in the poor black neighborhoods of New York City. He also started buying radio stations. By 1968, James Brown was very much more than an important musician; he was a major African-American icon. He often spoke publicly about the pointlessness of rioting and in February 1968, informed the black activist H. Rap Brown, "I'm not going to tell anybody to pick up a gun." On April 5, 1968, African Americans rioted in 110 cities following civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination the day before. James Brown was due to perform in Boston, Massachusetts. Mayor Kevin White and Brown decided to proceed with the show and televise it. They realized people could not resist watching a James Brown concert, and the riots gripping other cities were averted in Boston. In May 1968, President Lyndon Johnson invited James Brown to the White House. The following month, the government sponsored him to perform for the troops in Vietnam. In August, he recorded "Say It Loud -- I'm Black and I'm Proud." Brown later attested the song "cost me a lot of my crossover audience," but it definitely caught the rising spirit of African-American nationalism and became the unifying anthem of the age. He graced the cover of LOOK MAGAZINE, which asked, "Is this the Most Important Black Man in America?"

 

[syncretism]

Oops, apologies for the second thread.

 

Had to give Derek B his yearly props, though.

[TheFoosa]

[easy1]

Been listening to a James Brown Christmas album as I do every year, one of my faves is "Let's Make Christmas Mean Something this Year", guess it will always be xtra special -- Peace --

[Mintbeetle]

 

Originally posted by aeon If one truly considers his musical legacy, he may be the single most-influential musical artist of the 20th century.

 

 

amen to that

 

I mean, funky drummer to that