nothing extraordinary good or bad. I went to one of my friend's father's funerals today. this guy lived a great life. i just wish lives like my friend's dad's could be celebrate more instead of people who are extremely talented but are troubled. it's just a shame.
yeah and i just wanted to add that i wasn't tying to say this to make me look good or say i'm a better person then james brown. the guy was a troubled man. a lot of people were touched by his lyrics, but he beat his wife, was a drug addict, showed up on tv interview high, was arrested and jailed for robbery, had a car chase with the police, and assaulted a police officer.... now if i did not know anything about the man, from watching cnn, i would probably think that he found the cure for cancer or something like that. it's sad that when a troop is killed in iraq they just say 'another us soldier dead in iraq' and then they move on to the next story, but when james brown dies that's all we hear on the news for a week.
James Brown is one of the five most important musical figures in American history. It's just beyond dispute. When somebody like that dies, their private failings, however troubling, will not be highlighted. It just doesn't work like that. Personally, I think you need to stop being so self-righteous about other people. You made a nice list of James Brown's failings, but I bet you don't have anything good to say about him. He helped a lot more people than he hurt and people will never forget him. We should all be so lucky.
James Brown fought poverty and racism in his era and continued to work til he died. James Brown deserves all the glory he gets. yeah he had drug problems and marital problems. you expect everyone in the world to lead a perfect life? sorry. he brought music and joy to people. keep hating on james brown, bring up dead soldiers whatever you want to make his death seem unimportant. this man was great. i imagine you dont know the song 'Im Black and I'm proud', he wrote that during turbulent times in the 60s. James Brown forever. I'm not going to let any of you James Brown haters disgrace him on his thread. What kind of person hates on a 73yr old man who just died anyways?
We're a celebrity obsessed culture. That said James Brown is more deserving of the accolades he is getting than the kind of paroxisms of grief that JFK Jr. or Princess Di got.
Well for starters, he was entertaining and he was a good dancer. Also his hair was cooler than either one of them.
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how was i being self righteous? I didn't say I'm better then him and I wasn't comparing him to me at all. I know he's very important to music. I even like a lot of his music. He was great. I just wish that our country would honor true heroes more then people like James Brown. If James Brown was not talented in music, most people would just say that another wife-beating loser died. So what he could sing and dance better then almost everyone who ever lived. What's important is how he treated people close to him (his family) and I believe he failed in that matter.
I'm not hating on him. I just want to use him as an example of how celebrity-obsessed our country is. He was a great black singer. "I'm black and I'm porud." I know that song. Great song. His music made people happy. But I mean come on, what good musician's music doesn't make some people happy? What sacrifice did he have to make to make records? I'm sure he worked his ass off but it wasn't like he didn't get anything in return. People are acting like if someone makes a great song that makes people happy that it is like charity work or something like that. The man was great at what he did and his death is important from a musical standpoint, but when I hear stuff that makes James Brown seem like he was the greatest person in the world and 4 million hours of tv footage of how great of a person he is, it gets old. Say he died. Say he was a great musician and say he was a good person if you want to; I don't have a problem with that. But they are going way too overboard. He didn't cure cancer.
I couldnt agree with you more. Yeah I feel bad that he passed away, an yes he greatly influenced the world of music, but the guy was no saint. He was convicted of multiple drug crimes and beating his wife. There is no excuse for that. Yes everyone makes mistakes, but he should not be excused because of his talents. There is no excuse for hitting a woman, NONE. i feel bad that he is gone, and I will mourn his loss, but he not the outstanding person many of you are making him up to be. I dont blame the news for highlighting the good in his life because I'm sure he and everyone who knew him would have wanted him to be remembered in a good way. They dont want to point out his failures in life, but rather celebrate it. But, the fact is, he did some very bad things that are being overlooked because of his stardom.
I hate people like you. Seriously. You know *nothing* about James Brown, yet you go out of your way to piously bemoan the state of America because people are sad that he died and want to honor his memory. If that isn't the very definition of a self-righteous and ignorant windbag, I don't know what is. You spot his arrest record in a google search and you presume to judge his life like you have the right, knowledge, or wisdom to do so. Just disgusting.
What about Elvis? I guess he was a saint right? What did Elvis do better than James Brown? made some more movies? Did James have an underaged girlfriend like Elvis?
i agree. i don't want the media to talk about his troubles but when i hear stuff like "we should all want to live the same way James Brown lived", I get pissed. Yeah, I want my kid to beat his wife multiple times, use drugs, ,carry a weapon into someone's meeting high with a shotgun, and get in a car chase with the cops.
