Who's badder than James Brown?

"Who's Bad?" Graffiti portrait of JB in Berlin

I was listening to the radio in the car the other day,  enjoying a sunny Saturday afternoon and only half alert to the steady stream of easy-listening classics filtering through the speakers, when my ears were suddenly arrested by a familiar and very welcome sound.
"Whoah!".
It was James Brown's signature yell that kicked off his 1965 hit "I Got You (I Feel Good)", a song that packs more power, soul and feeling into it's two-minute-and-forty-seven second duration than the entire decade of the 1980's could muster.
I listened and grooved along, and then it was over - back again to the standard "middle of the road" playlist that so many radio stations are content to pump out ad nauseam. It was like an alien transmission had hijacked the airwaves for 3 minutes to shake the listener back into consciousness - and get some feet tapping at the same time....

They don't make characters like James Brown anymore. Michael Jackson tried to convince us he was "Bad" - but James Brown was "Bad-Ass".

The Man and The Cape

He was the man responsible for some of the finest R&B, soul & funk music of the 20th century and is remembered for his high-energy live shows and his fondness for crushed blue velvet suits. There's not many performers who can wear a cape on stage without damaging their street cred (I'm looking at you, Vegas-era Elvis), but James Brown did it with style and flair over a career lasting more than five decades.
 He was known by many names over the years, from "The Godfather of Soul", "The King of Funk" and "Mr. Dynamite", to hipper titles such as "Soul Brother Number One" and, my personal favourite, "The Hardest Working Man In Show Business". He rose to fame in the late 50's and early 60's - back when it was acceptable to release an album called It's A Man's Man's Man's World without being stoned in the street by the feminist movement - and had his own personal MC on stage at every concert who introduced him with a barrage of superlatives that wouldn't be out of place in the World Wrestling Federation. His 1963 album, Live At The Apollo is considered by many to be one of the greatest live albums of all time. 

In The Jungle Groove (Compilation, 1986)

In the late 60's he became more vocal in his support of the civil rights movement and his songs became more politically charged, with titles such as "America Is My Home" "Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved" and "Say it Loud - I'm Black And I'm Proud", the last of which became the unofficial party anthem of the Black Panthers.
His most funkiest work came in the early to mid-1970's, and the music he produced during this period would have a huge influence on the hip-hop movement 20 years later.
He is regarded as one of the most sampled artists in hip-hop, with "Funky Drummer" providing possibly the single most sampled drum break in music history. This track, and other works recorded between 1969 and 1972 were compiled on In The Jungle Groove (1986), which is the best place to start for anyone interested in "getting their funk on".

As Reverend Cleophus James, in The Blues Brothers (1980)

The man could also dance. He produced moves onstage which would have made Fred Astaire blush (Note: I've already made one Michael Jackson reference so far - besides, you can only blush if you have blood flow in your face, right?), and his cameo as the jiving Reverend Cleophus James is one of the highlights of The Blues Brothers movie in 1980. He had another notable cameo in an episode of The Simpsons, performing "I Got You (I Feel Good)" at the Springfield "Do As You Feel" festival, showcasing all his classic signature moves. This is a man who does the splits on stage, dammit - could any man be more committed to his art than by risking his own groin for entertainment value !?! Come on Bono, let's see you top that you preachy prat!

The other thing about "Soul Brother Number One" that should not be overlooked is the fact that he spent 6 of his 73 years on this earth behind bars. Over the years he gained a rap sheet that would have made a Gangsta rapper green with envy - with offences including theft, possession of unlicensed weapons, drug-related charges and assault, as well as numerous arrests for alleged domestic violence. No huge surprises, really, for a guy that once sang the line "I don't know karate, but I know ka-razy!!"

The Brown mug shot, 2004

James Brown continued performing well into his 70's despite periods of ill-health, and eventually died at the age of 73, in 2006. And in typical James Brown style, he didn't die on just any day of the year - he went out in the early hours of Christmas Day. What a Bad-ass!!

So as I flip through the FM stations in the car looking for further inspiration, I start thinking about ways I can be as Bad-ass as James Brown, and immediately decide on my new nom de plume: "The Hardest Working Man in Cyberspace".