{"id":15014,"date":"2012-08-27T10:44:46","date_gmt":"2012-08-27T14:44:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/?p=15014"},"modified":"2012-08-27T11:59:58","modified_gmt":"2012-08-27T15:59:58","slug":"once-and-for-all-did-the-thin-white-duke-stick-it-to-the-godfather-of-soul-or-david-bowie-vs-james-brown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/once-and-for-all-did-the-thin-white-duke-stick-it-to-the-godfather-of-soul-or-david-bowie-vs-james-brown\/","title":{"rendered":"Once and for All<\/em>: Did The Thin White Duke Stick it to The Godfather of Soul, or David Bowie vs James Brown"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This one puts me in a Cold Sweat…or…makes me wanna put your ray gun to my head. Either way you figger it, someone seriously ripped someone off here and the guilty party is either David Bowie<\/strong> or James Brown<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A couple of weeks ago Mr. Moderator made a west coast trip to The Back Office to discuss some Q3 RTH ventures. As part of this company retreat we attended a taping of Conan<\/em><\/strong>, complete with VIP tickets (true story).<\/p>\n

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Proof<\/p><\/div>\n

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Indisputable proof<\/p><\/div>\n

Anyhoo… The pre-show mix tape was even cooler that we thought it would it be and that’s a story for another post<\/a>. We got to see Conan’s Basic Cable Band <\/strong>play full songs and they were tight<\/em>. When The Fray<\/strong> (ehhh) were setting up they played more mix tape stuff, including the following, which I had never heard. I’m quite confident that most of you will recognize some of it…<\/p>\n

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I enjoyed that song the first time I heard it when it was this<\/em>:<\/p>\n

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Someone in our group told me that David Bowie ripped this off from James Brown. And isn’t it just like the white man to stick it to the black man! When I got back to The Back Office though I went to dig up the James Brown song and found online that there is a dispute about who stole from whom. Apparently they were recorded around the same time and in the same studio facility, and it seems that there was a guitarist, Carlos Alomar<\/strong>, involved with both artists and possibly even on both recordings. There seems to be more online support for the Brown-ripped-off-Bowie story but it wasn’t 100%…And that’s where we come in…<\/p>\n

I won’t belabor you with other gunk I found because it was inconclusive. Rather I ask you to belabor me<\/em> and all of us with what you know and what you find. This is a job for Rock Town Hall<\/strong>. We will<\/strong><\/em> determine…once and for all<\/em><\/strong>…who committed the Rock Crime<\/strong> here!<\/p>\n

Bonus follows.<\/p>\n

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It is pretty well known that Bowie ripped the following riff off. Here’s the original MTV video.<\/p>\n

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