James Brown — Godfather Of Funk

By the mid 1960s, James Brown had already made a name for himself with a string of hits like “Please Please Please” and “Night Train”. But in 1967 he broke new ground with the release of “Cold Sweat”, now widely regarded as the first true funk song. Brown had created similar songs in the past, but “Cold Sweat” was different- it put the emphasis of the song emphatically on the beat, taking the focus away from the melody almost entirely (the song has, basically, only two chords). Its effect on the music world was immediate: “‘Cold Sweat’ deeply affested the musicians I knew,” legendary soul producer Jerry Wexler said. “It just freaked them out. No one could get a handle on what to do next.” Brown liked “Cold Sweat” so much thta he used it as a blueprint for future songs, and other performers-notably Sly and the Family Stone and George Clinton- did, too. Soon, funk became it’s own genre.

“Cold Sweat” performed in 1968: