[Drumbo]

Really? Rick James? Was it written by M.C. Hammer? Althogh he was born in 1948, James was wet behind the ears when the Godfather started the movement. James' first "hits" (modest ones at that) were in the late 70s and his only super-hit was in 1981. Rick James was a disco oddity at best. James Brown and others had been making it funky throughout the 60s and the roots go back farther. Every song JB touched was a smash by the day's standards and I'll bet "I Feel Good" has outsold "Superfreak" 10 fold. Anyone who wrote that Rick James was the father of funk, disrespects the Godfather, is simply uninformed or snorting too much of what Rick James was into to be writing about it. Remember, there ain't no songs called "Diggin' on Rick James" even though I suppose M.C. Hammer made a career out of doing it ("Can't Touch This" is "Super Freak").

An intresting sidnote to Rick James (and likely why I don't even include him), he went AWOL from the US Navy in 1964 (he served on the USS Enterprise), fled to Canada, joined a band called the Mynah Birds which by 1966 included Neil young. The band's first album was never realeased when James was outed by Columbia Records, caught by the FBI and sent to prison for the first of many times. Neil Young went on the become Neil Young - funkier than Rick James imho.

[mylife]

****!!
Rick James can kiss Johnny Guitar Watson’s Funky Booty!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm3A2YxVdpc

[spel_grammer_an_punct_polise]

I did not know all of that background about Rick James and the U.S. Navy but I was aware of his heavy drug usage. I was only imparting information that I had read many years ago although, of course, I knew that people before him had been doing “Funk”. I was simply wondering if Rick James was somehow in the background, promoting the sound and was responsbile for the sound. Maybe what I had read actually credited James with “Punk Funk”.

Thank you for all of the background information. ;-)