Brown began his career as a soul shouter, in the mold of Hank Ballard, but soon surpassed his mentor. By July 1965, with “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” Brown was onto something new entirely - not just a new sound, but an approach to music that had never been heard before. He tore down popular music and rebuilt it around rhythms and grooves rather than melodies. It was no longer linear, it was static. Songs like “Cold Sweat” (1967) stretched out in endless, interlocking rhythmic plateaus. As the horns ventured wild improvisations over the rhythm section’s extended repetitions, Brown spun a modern fugue. It changed the course of pop music.
To measure how dramatic this change was, it’s worth remembering that “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” came out just a year after the Beatles first appeared on Ed Sullivan. Twenty-six years later, Brown’s rhythmic innovations remain the backbone of popular music; even the Beatles’ influence seems mere affect by comparison.
