He will be missed :(

The song "Ebony Eyes", a beautiful ballad he sung with Smokey Robinson, will always stay with me, for the song spoke of love for the African-American woman. Although he lived a troubled life, his music will always live on!

Very sad!



Joey

Re:Wow...no sooner that we all are talking about being "Superfreaks" than Rick James dies. :(

Oh my god, they killed Rick James!!!!


You bastards!!!!!!!

To preface this post, I am a big music buff, and heavy into chart trivia.

"Super Freak" is one of many songs that have become much more popular with age than they were when they were newly released.  It came out in 1981, a year where rhythmic R&B or dance music had difficulty achieving mainstream/Top 40 success because radio station programmers were still feeling the effects of the disco backlash.  It was definitely a big R&B format hit, but not nearly as big a pop hit.  It peaked at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and just barely made Casey Kasem's "American Top 40" year-end countdown of the 100 biggest songs of 1981.  It is commonly accepted that "Super Freak" is James' biggest hit, but looking strictly at peak position on the Billboard Hot 100, his first hit was his biggest.  "You & I" peaked at #13 in 1978.

From my own personal perspective, I, like many other people, didn't get into "Super Freak" until long after it fell off the charts.  In my case, Kansas City (where I lived in 1981 & still do) did not even have a Top 40 station in 1981.  Its former primary Top 40 station, KBEQ-FM, flipped to a rock format in 1980 (a victim of the disco backlash), and the other Top 40 type stations of that era in KC (2), also altered their formats, leaving KC without one in 1981.  Even though KBEQ went rock, they still aired "American Top 40", probably due to contractual obligations.  Unless you listened to the R&B station in town (which I rarely did), the only other times you could hear "Super Freak" in KC was on "American Top 40", or perhaps on a non KC area station.  Topeka had a couple of Top 40 stations, which I listened to sometimes when reception would allow during this period, but I really didn't recall hearing "Super Freak" much, if at all.  Needless to say, I wasn't singing "Super Freak" to myself much in 1981.  I would say it was around 1983, when R&B and dance music began becoming a force again on Top 40 radio (thanks to Michael Jackson), that I started hearing "Super Freak" more often on the radio, and due to the increased exposure, took hold and became "popular" with me.  I had liked the song in 1981, but it didn't become "the get into it" song it is now for me until later.

In addition, "Super Freak" was also a pioneer of sorts in reshaping music today.  M.C. Hammer sampled it in his big hit "U Can't Touch This", which is a song that really helped to set off the use of "sampling" that is now commonplace in today's pop, R&B, and hip-hop music.  I personally am not a big fan of this "sampling" aspect of the music industry.  I would much rather hear a new composition with new music, or a remake of a song, than actual sound bytes of other songs thrown together to make a "new" song.  That doesn't mean I don't like all "sampled" type songs, because I do like many of them.  "U Can't Touch This" is one example, thanks to the song it samples, "Super Freak".  I really noticed after "U Can't Touch This" hearing many more songs that were sampling other songs.  Sampling wasn't nearly as common before this.

In my opinion, "Super Freak" was definitely a victim of bad timing.  If it had been released to Top 40 radio either 2 years earlier (1979, when disco was in force), or 2 years later (1983, when rhythmic R&B and dance music started becoming acceptable mainstream music again), it might've become, to use a Casey Kasem-type phrase, "a Top 10 smash" on the pop chart.  It might've even gone to #1.

Rick James had some problems, but he did put out some good music.  "Super Freak" obviously is the standout.

R.I.P.

KCSHYGUY


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