An introduction to the James Brown legacy
“There’s no music in America that you can listen to that doesn’t have some James Brown in it…”
James McBride, author of “Kill ‘em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul”.
Not many musicians can claim to have had such a lasting and impactful musical legacy as James Brown.
Known to many as The Godfather of Soul, James Brown was a musical pioneer who not only founded his own genre, but went on to inspire countless musicians who followed in his footsteps and impacted culture in a way that is difficult to appreciate today. Michael Jackson, Prince, Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z, Kanye West… the list of James Brown’s musical offsprings goes on.
To understand why James Brown’s legacy is so groundbreaking we need to consider the era in which Brown rose to fame. American pop music of the early 1960s was dominated by artists like Elvis, Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys, The Four Seasons, and Roy Orbison, selling millions of records and dominating the billboard pop charts. This was the music of “White America”. Artists like Ray Charles, The Supremes, Chuck Berry, Aretha Franklin, and Sam Cooke did feature heavily throughout this period but were often derogatory labelled under the catch-all term of “race music”. This was in this segregated America, at the peak of Jim Crow, where James Brown entered the picture.
Initially slow to make an impact, James Brown slowly rose to prominence over the course of a decade to break through into the pop charts and reach a broad appeal across all of America. He wowed audiences, black and white, with his vocal ability, dance moves and larger-than-life stage persona. He toured with a sizable orchestra (22-piece at its largest) as a show of his financial prowess and musical might. It was a sight to behold for audiences, inspiring countless young black children with his empowering messages of black empowerment.
And it is from here that James Brown’s impact on music is often missed. The generation that grew up with James Brown went onto perform disco, hip-hop, and electronic music. Live at The Apollo (1962) was a household necessity; its cutting-edge technology was way ahead of the competition. Other live acts in the 1960s had to play catch up as James Brown stormed onto the scene, following watershed moments like The TAMI Show (1964) and James Brown’s appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show (1965).
The quality of “modern” music shows that we are familiar with today have their inception with James Brown, with the iterations that followed (such as Prince and Michael Jackson) only refining the process. The high standards we expect of modern performers have roots in the exceptionally high quality of the live James Brown shows.
So, whether realised or not, we have all seen the influence of James Brown on the music we listen to and digest today.
