I'm Rick James, bitch!

Rick James - Super Freak

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As Onealbumaday.wordpress.com pointed out, today's song is highly appropriate given the artist's celebrated status as a rock nutter. But there are other things to note about Rick James. The first is that Nick St Nicholas, who, despite sounding like a character from Spinal Tap, was later a member of Steppenwolf, Neil Young and Bruce Palmer (Buffalo Springfield) were members of his first band, a Canadian (more on that later) motown band The Mynah Birds. He also guest starred in the A-Team, along with Isaac Hayes. But back to the Rock Nutter Scale (tm).

As introduced yesterday, criteria that need to be met to be considered a recognised rock and roll nutter are:
(1) Must have done enough drugs to kill a regiment of dutch soldiers
(2) Must have been to prison more times than the neck tattoo fairy
(3) Must be reknowned for wild and destructive behavior
(4) Should have a proper pseudonym
(5) Should have a suitably weird history

If you've ever watched Dave Chappelle's "Rick James: Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories" skit, you'll know that Mr James ably ticks the boxes for (1) and (3). When it comes to drugs, what better reference than Afroman (he of "Because I Got High" fame) stating something along the lines of 'doing more drugs than Rick James'. Some benchmark. He's also well-remembered as a poster child for misogyny and "smacking up his bitches". Go Rick.

In terms of time in the big house, James spent time in the Brooklyn Brig, for deserting the US army (see point 5) and two years in Folsom Prison for the kidnapping and assault (With a crack pipe) of two women. This was during the period that he was spending $7000 a week on cocaine.

It's a pity that his pseudonym is a bit weak? Rick James? My grandmother could do better than that. On the rock and roll scale, it doesn't really sit at the top, along with Blag Dahlia, The Fresh Prince of Darkness (ok, or almost any of The Dwarves), Johnny Rotten or Flavor Flav. That said, now that "I'm Rick James, bitch" has become a catch phrase, it will become the basis of a good pseudonym or two.

On to the song. The first thing that hit me was "so that's where MC Hammer sampled U Can't Touch This from!". Basically, it's Rick panto-sex-funking about a slutty woman with dubious sexual tastes. It sounds like they stole the synths for The Ghostbusters theme. That's about all I can say. I'm not a fan. This is early 80s pop/funk at its most trivial, most coked up and worst. Prince probably didn't ever worry about his status as vanguard of that movement very much.

Verdict: Freak must be a synonym for bad.

Tomorrow: Foreigner - I Want To Know What Love Is.