Here's another example of one artist who inspires another artist who re-inspires the first artist, using the classic song "Fame".
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James Brown upended the pop melody formula by perfecting purely rhythmic vamps into a new dance music called Funk. He emphasized driving beat, hypnotic length, and scratchy rhythm guitar:
JAMES BROWN -"The Payback (Part 1)" (1974)
David Bowie and John Lennon sparked the song "Fame" during an impromptu studio jam, built on a riff by guitarist Carlos Alomar. Carlos had toured with James Brown in '69 and the song is a sonic love letter, or payback, to James' style:
DAVID BOWIE -"Fame" (1975)
James must've felt turnabout was fair play because he used that very arrangement the following year:
JAMES BROWN -"Hot (I Need To Be Loved, Loved, Loved)" (1976)
"Fame, it's not your brain, it's just the flame
That burns your change to keep you insane"
ROCK Sex Orgies are songs where everybody gets rewarded.
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Here's another example of a song giving a giant shout-out to other musicians.
The rhythm section of Talking Heads, bassist Tina Weymouth and drummer Chris Frantz, had more to say with their side project, TOM TOM CLUB. "Genius Of Love", their celebration of funk, soul, reggae, and dance heroes became a surprise dance hit in 1981 with massive influence.
Listen for the call-outs to James Brown, Bob Marley, Smokey Robinson, Hamilton Bohannon, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Sly and Robbie, and Kurtis Blow.
"Clinton's musicians such as Bootsy Collins/
Raise expectations to a new intention!"
Also beloved is the graffidelic video, based on the album art of James Rizzi.
TOM TOM CLUB -"Genius Of Love" (1981)
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"We met (Grandmaster Flash) and he said to us, 'You know this is a very cool beat. You're going to be hearing a lot of this.' I said 'Oh really?' He said 'Oh definitely.'"
-Chris Franz
The song was a perfect synthesis of the early '80s New York scene, where Disco, Punk, HipHop, Dub, and noizey Jazz were intertwined in the dance clubs, vinyl stores, art galleries, and indie films. Naturally it had an immediate impact in HipHop where responses were swift.
Here's are the first two HipHop responses made:
DR. JECKYLL AND MR. HYDE -"Genius Rap" (1981)
GRANDMASTER FLASH & THE FURIOUS FIVE -"It's Nasty (Genius Of Love)" (1981)
From there it became one of the most sampled songs of all time, popping up in tracks by The X-Ecutioners, Redman, Cam'Ron, 2nd II None, Fresh Kid Ice, Tupac Shakur, Mark Morrison, Busta Rhymes, Ant Banks, P.M. Dawn, Annie, Menajahtwa, and Eric Sermon. It also dreamt up Mariah Carey's huge hit "Fantasy".
"Genius of Love" is a shout-out song that got plenty of amen corners itself!
"There's no beginning and there is no end/
Time isn't present in that dimension..."
ROCK Sex is about how the liquid nature of culture involves everyone.
Today's example is how the relay baton of a musical idea moves easily between supposedly different music movements.
IN the mid-'70s, German progressive rock groups were challenging the structures and rhythms of Rock. Here's the pioneers Can, during their transition from noize jazz toward funk, churning a hupnotic sitar figure into a locomotive rhythm.
CAN -"Transcendental Express" (1975)
Following a train of thought, the german progressive group Kraftwerk had the masterstroke idea of becoming robots, making robotic music for the future. As 'anti-Rock' as this seemed, it was one of the most influential strategies and unending sonic revolutions in Rock history. Countless musical doors were opened by this move...
KRAFTWERK -"Trans Europe Express" (1977)
The Washington D.C. scene in the early '80s was dominated by GoGo, a heavily percussive funk with horns and synths. The prime band Trouble Funk intersected with Kraftwerk on this anthemic cover...
TROUBLE FUNK -"Trouble Funk Express" (1981)
The New York music scene between 1975 and 1982 was a hotbed of colliding styles -including the original Punk, HipHop, NoWave, PunkFunk, Salsoul, World Dub, Disco, Mutant Disco, and Noize Jazz. One of the originators of HipHop, Afrika Bambaataa ushered in Electro (which he called Electro Funk) with his merging of Rap and Kraftwerk...
AFRIKA BAMBAATAA And The Soulsonic Force -"Planet Rock" (1982)
When the postpunk band Joy Division suffered the loss of their leader, the remaining members became New Order, trading Manchester, England's grey factories for the excitement of the New York scene. They worked with rising 12" remix producer Arthur Baker on this classic track which extends the palette of the fusion of Kraftwerk and Electro Funk ...
NEW ORDER -"Blue Monday" (1983)
There are tributaries from this linking to New Wave, Darkwave, Coldwave, Industrial, Synth Funk, GoGo Funk, Techno, Rave, Jungle, and Electronica. But water is water...bask in it all.
The Mighty Mocambos crosses tracks with Can's title, a Dick Dale guitar approach, and a horn fanfare of Kraftwerk in this modern instrumental sequel.
THE MIGHTY MOCAMBOS -"Transcendental Express" (2011)
Her's the original song rethought by a legendary Jamaican steel drum ensemble.
THE EBONY STEEL BAND -"Tanzmusik (Jump Up)" (2019)
Here is it is interpreted as a Brazilian dance samba.
Guga Stroeter, Lucio Agra, Renato Soares -"TEE" (2020)
"Liberation for all. Everything must be rethought." ______________
Two great things hybrid a third great thing. ROCK SEX is a metaphor for the creative connections that link our shared culture together. This Pop Culture hub explores the roots and branches of Music, Film, Art, Comics, and more. _______________
Rock'n'Soul music is a baton relayed by everyone. Learn the holistic history with the most advanced Music Playlists online!:
BLUES, MAMBO, JAZZ, ROCKABILLY, SURF, BEAT, SOUL, GARAGE, PSYCHEDELIA, FUNK, GLAM, PUNK, NEW WAVE, HIPHOP, POSTPUNK, GRUNGE, RIOT GRRRL, ELECTRO, next! _______________
This is our party and everyone is invited!
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