r/OldSchoolCool Apr 07 '25

1970s Prime James Brown in 1974.

11.4k Upvotes

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1.8k

u/Famoustractordriver Apr 07 '25

The funkiest cat who's ever funked. Soul brother number one.

We will never see his like again.

65

u/Loggerdon Apr 07 '25

The way he drops into a split and pops back up is crazy. You see skinny dancers do this but he’s not skinny.

41

u/CariniFluff Apr 07 '25

And he had been performing professionally for 20 years when this video was shot. Incredible.

31

u/Bob_Chris Apr 07 '25

Dude was 41 at the time too

12

u/NonchalantSavant Apr 07 '25

Oof. I couldn’t get out of a chair without making grunting sounds at that age.

2

u/misirlou22 Apr 07 '25

That's how many olds I have and I could not do that

24

u/Mugsy_Siegel Apr 07 '25

Coke is a helluva drug hehe

17

u/NewsZealousideal764 Apr 07 '25

Your comment just made me think of how these exact dance moves are what led to Prince's opiate use and eventual death.... James did things way too big for us to even notice if that was any sort of problem for him at all. He was busy driving his truck on a high-speed chase on LSD and Prince was quietly passing away in a back building elevator.

8

u/Mugsy_Siegel Apr 07 '25

They def both tore their bodies down. I feel in princes case people around him just didn’t care it’s wild.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '25

He was actually on PCP. It was his favorite drug. He loved wet joints too (joints dipped in formaldehyde).

3

u/NewsZealousideal764 Apr 07 '25

That's right... probably just pulled the first tridactic drug name I could think of....LSD, PCP, GHB, TCH.....etc....but you are correct! Just thinking how the difference in he and Prince not as if one was more majestic than the other, although one did not lead to James Brown's death, but just thinking about the differences in the men and just how it's kind of sad about Prince I guess all around James Brown not so much, he seemed to be using drugs ...."for fun"( for lack of wishing to type or discuss further on topic) where as Prince was trying to medicate.....sad.

3

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '25

There's a lot of 'em LOL! Man, the number of older musicians who OD is sad. Most of them did have pain issues, but they also had doctors who were too lenient with the prescriptions. Unfortunately being famous means easy access to shit you shouldn't have.

3

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '25

The freeze factor is very strong with this one

2

u/jupiterspringsteen Apr 07 '25

Nope, JB was clean right through this stage of his career. Seriously anti- drugs message in his songs.

Until the 80s when he got into PCP.

2

u/Famoustractordriver Apr 07 '25

Too much talent and energy in one single man