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The Four Most Influential Bassists?

#201
StrangerDanger said:
Just for my edification please tell me that you're in your seventies and played with James Brown in the 1950s.

My contention is that Art Neville and the boys had as much or more to do with creating the genre known as funk as anybody including JB. It's not a new phenomenon that Nola musicians get discounted by Yankee elitists. It's the way of things but I'm not going to do the same thing. No way.
Click to expand...

I am 64 years young. I have been playing out (drums) since 1961; banjo since 1973; bass since 1982. Your first sentence is irrelavent; the last two are BS. The only thing you said with any meat on it is the Neville bros. reference. Assuming they did create funk, which is highly arguable, I want to present an example. Elvis Presley stole his entire act from earlier and contemporaty black artists. It was a time of segregation. Elvis sold it and the general population (read white folks) bought it. Elvis was not the creator but he is undoubtedly the greater influence. If the Neville Bros./Meters (and I am a big fan from way back) did create funk it was without any doubt James Brown that sold it and was the major influence. Do not confuse apples and oranges.

I think the Bertrand Russell quote below is pertient here.
 
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#203
StrangerDanger said:
Just for my edification please tell me that you're in your seventies and played with James Brown in the 1950s.
Click to expand...

Like I said, believe what you need to believe. This supposition is laughably ignorant. Did anyone contend that James Brown played funk in the 50's? And does a musician have to play with an artist to be aware of their contributions? That argues against your prior logic. Just one more thing to point out.
:D

So tell me about your stint with the Meters?

My contention is that Art Neville and the boys had as much or more to do with creating the genre known as funk as anybody including JB. It's not a new phenomenon that Nola musicians get discounted by Yankee elitists. It's the way of things but I'm not going to do the same thing. No way.
Click to expand...


Yankee elitists? I didn't realize James Brown was a Yankee elitist position. Wow.
:hmm:

Thanks for the entertainment. Nobody is discounting the artists... I'm questioning your revisionist history.

Name an early Meters' funk cut that happened before JB's work in 1965? Or just keep swingin' that dead cat.
:D
 
#204
etoncrow said:
I am 64 years young. I have been playing out (drums) since 1961; banjo since 1973; bass since 1982. Your first sentence is irrelavent; the last two are BS. The only thing you said with any meat on it is the Neville bros. reference. Assuming they did create funk, which is highly arguable, I want to present an example. Elvis Presley stole his entire act from earlier and contemporaty black artists. It was a time of segregation. Elvis sold it and the general population (read white folks) bought it. Elvis was not the creator but he is undoubtedly the greater influence. If the Neville Bros./Meters (and I am a big fan from way back) did create funk it was without any doubt James Brown that sold it and was the major influence. Do not confuse apples and oranges.

I think the Bertrand Russell quote below is pertient here.
Click to expand...

:thumbup:
 
#206
etoncrow said:
I am 64 years young. I have been playing out (drums) since 1961; banjo since 1973; bass since 1982. Your first sentence is irrelavent; the last two are BS. The only thing you said with any meat on it is the Neville bros. reference. Assuming they did create funk, which is highly arguable, I want to present an example. Elvis Presley stole his entire act from earlier and contemporaty black artists. It was a time of segregation. Elvis sold it and the general population (read white folks) bought it. Elvis was not the creator but he is undoubtedly the greater influence. If the Neville Bros./Meters (and I am a big fan from way back) did create funk it was without any doubt James Brown that sold it and was the major influence. Do not confuse apples and oranges.

I think the Bertrand Russell quote below is pertient here.
Click to expand...

The first sentence was directed at Brad who thinks that because I wasn't alive and gigging at the time then I can't possibly know what I'm talking about. Which is ridiculous on its face. Because if that was true then no one could have a legitimate opinion on anything historical.

The fact that Nola artists don't get the credit they deserve is inarguable. It's a fact.

I do like the Elvis analogy. Kudos!

Please don't think I'm being ageist. I'm not at all.

I just think that I'm messing with his sacred cows and he is using ad hominem attacks to discredit me. Smilies or not.
 
#211
etoncrow said:
Hello?
Click to expand...

Sorry?

I was talking to Brad, not you. He has stated that "being there" is the only way to have a valid point to make on the subject so I was asking him if he was there. It's no different than saying if you didn't live in Germany in the 30s and 40s then you can't say the Nazis were bad guys. It's just dumb.

Again I have the utmost respect for cats like yourself. But I reserve the right to state my case without being disrespected or condescended to like I'm a child. I'm a 38 year old man.
 
#213
StrangerDanger said:
The first sentence was directed at Brad who thinks that because I wasn't alive and gigging at the time then I can't possibly know what I'm talking about. Which is ridiculous on its face. Because if that was true then no one could have a legitimate opinion on anything historical.

The fact that Nola artists don't get the credit they deserve is inarguable. It's a fact.

I do like the Elvis analogy. Kudos!

Please don't think I'm being ageist. I'm not at all.

I just think that I'm messing with his sacred cows and he is using ad hominem attacks to discredit me. Smilies or not.
Click to expand...

If this is really what you got from what I've written...

Sorry, this just devolves into to something more silly with each post. I made no such statement, you OTOH can't seem to read anything that doesn't support your sacred cow. I have none. I have very little respect for James Brown as a person but what he did musically is the point. Do try to keep that in mind.

You didn't have to be there but it does not help to base a case on info that is easily proven to be false. I'm using facts to prove you're mistaken. If you had actually lived through this period, been musically aware beyond your immediate surrounding and still thought things happened in the order that you did, that would've truly been interesting.

Prove that what I've stated is false.

You seem to have flipped timelines between JB and the meters. Care to explain why or do you want to just continue to dodge the obvious?

Brown's contribution started mid not late sixties. The Meter first recording appears to be very late sixties. Brown's sounds nothing like theirs... so explain how they started something he was already doing, after the fact?

Does your idea that NOLA artists don't get credit justify your giving credit where it's not due?
:D

The mean grown-up thing is overly transparent. Why not back up your case with facts vs. ducking everything and whining?

It's a rhetorical question, the answer being more than clear.
:cool:
 
#215
Brad Johnson said:
If this is really what you got from what I've written...

Sorry, this just devolves into to something more silly with each post. I made no such statement, you OTOH can't seem to read anything that doesn't support your sacred cow. I have none. I have very little respect for James Brown as a person but what he did musically is the point. Do try to keep that in mind.

You didn't have to be there but it does not help to base a case on info that is easily proven to be false. I'm using facts to prove you're mistaken.

Prove that what I've stated is false.

You seem to have flipped timelines between JB and the meters. Care to explain why or do you want to just continue to dodge the obvious?

Brown's contribution started mid not late sixties. The Meter first recording appears to be very late sixties. Brown's sounds nothing like theirs... so explain how they started something he was already doing, after the fact?

Does your idea that NOLA artists don't get credit justify your giving credit where it's not due?
:D

The mean grown-up thing is overly transparent. Why not back up your case with facts vs. ducking everything vs. the whining?

It's a rhetorical question, the answer being more than clear.
:cool:
Click to expand...

What do you think they were doing before they released their first album? Playing country? They formed in 1965 afaik. Of course there is obvious differences between the two sounds.

Your characterization of Nola artists not being credited or respected as an opinion shows how ignorant you are on the subject.

You keep up with the insulting condescension and throw in smilies as if that means something.

How old are you btw? Just curious.

It's silly because you've made it personal by attempting to deny my right to make a point because I'm not as old as you. That's exactly what you've said and meant. I'm pretty sure that goes against what TB is supposed to be. But keep it up. I'm done. You win. You are the man. The very very very old man. ;)
 
#216
More non answers. More misreadings.
:D

Brown recorded funk in the same year you think the Meters formed... not four or five years later. No problem there. What were you told the Meters were playing in 1965? How did Brown play what you contend Porter created at the same time? AND played it differently.

No, I don't expect answers to these glaring questions either. TB can be a great place to learn things and for me that's the true spirit of the place. When there's a clear conflict between "facts"... should all be given equal weight?
:)
 

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