RIP James Brown

[eash]

What a sad loss to the music world....

[craigiep]

Yes indeed. A true great. Makes today's 'stars' look so lame in comparison.

[craigiep]

but I definitely cannot agree with ITN's headline claim that he was 'more influential than The Beatles'. Utter rubbish.

[saxy_jag]

That depends, Craigiep, on whether you're looking at soul or rock, and in terms of soul, he was very influential. Also, whilst the Beatles were big in the US, JB's legacy is much more evident in modern US music than the Beatles' are, whereas we hear echoes of them all the time here.

Agree, brilliant performer though. He was due to play here in Leicester a couple of years ago, but had to cancel late on because he'd been nicked - again! Weird, anyone else cancels (like Quo, for instance) and the punters moan like billyo, yet when it was JB it was just, 'oh well, that's life'.

[andy-hughes]

Very sad indeed - a great artist. i saw him with the Chili Peppers and he was awesome to watch - ageless.

His impact in social culture and black awareness makes him a seminal figure in the Civil Rights Movement, so his influence culturally is probably on a par with The Beatles - although we only know of that retrospectivly because the 'global village' did not exist in the early sixties, when black oprression was rife, and Brown was fearlessly demanding that black people stand up and "Say it loud - I'm black and I'm proud ... "

A complex mercurial individual, his loss is great to the music world he occupied such a hige influential part of - very very sad.