Democracy Now! unearthed an interview with James Brown and the Rev. Al Sharpton conducted in 1980, which were dark days career-wise for the Godfather of Soul. He tried to go independent and couldn't get played on radio, booked into decent halls, nothing.
The interview, conducted by Jon Alpert, was recorded just before things broke for Brown. Ultimately, the documentary for which the interview was conducted never got made. But the interview is still interesting:
JON ALPERT: Tell us the story. What happened? And this is something that everybody might be interested in knowing about. You tried to become independent, what happened?
JAMES BROWN: The system crushed me.
JON ALPERT: Give me some examples.
JAMES BROWN: Well, no one, I couldn't get into television, I couldn’t get into movies. The record company was cutting my records up, and wouldn't promote ‘em, and wouldn’t even send ‘em out. Why did all the black-owned record companies fold? Why? Because they were forced out by the big ones. Every one. And not just the black owned ones, all the small--I think you got two independents right now. A good friend of mine, Henry Stone, in Miami, Tone Records, he's being forced out. He's a good friend of mine, you know, forced him out. And he's not black, he's jewish, but he's being forced out. Name an independent record company? You name one.
JON ALPERT: Is there one?
JAMES BROWN: That's what you’re saying, is there one? But when you were a little kid running around, James Brown. There was 300,000. There's not any now.
JON ALPERT: So if you're independent, you can't get records out?
JAMES BROWN: Not a one.
JON ALPERT: And how about if you’re independent, can you get on the radio?
JAMES BROWN: Independent, nada.
JON ALPERT: Let’s say you walked in with a tape?
JAMES BROWN: No. Never get it on. And this place plays so much local stuff, that’s another thing. They probably don’t play no local.
JON ALPERT: And how about TV? Could you get on TV?
JAMES BROWN: Totally out of the question. Try to record. Try me. Nobody would accept it. I cut it on a Coca-Cola crate, on a coca-cola crate and come here. At a radio station I recorded it. And so I come to New York and [inaudible] Studios on 49th and Broadway at that time. I recorded nine accetates that you play outside in. they’re played backwards then. You ever seen that before? Well, those records was there. Outside-in. Did you know, that, I took these records? The record company wouldn’t let me record no records. King Records said I didn’t have nothing else left. So I took the records and took them to radio stations myself, and they played them. And the demand became great.
AL SHARPTON: Never been a leading black figure in no walk of life in this country that knew the business that they was the doing except him.
JAMES BROWN: They never let ‘em learn the business. And I learned it because I paid my way. When I made a mistake, I went back and next time I knew what it was and I didn’t do that no more. I'd have 15,000 people in the building—excuse me sir,-- I’d have 15,000 people in the building and I’d say you know, I could have 20,000 here. Everybody’d be happy with that, I'd be happy, but I'm not worried about what I did right. I'm worried about what I didn't do right and what I could have done. It's about what you can do better. Like, it’s not what you what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.
AL SHARPTON: The problem with James Brown getting played on a radio station like WBLS in New York is—we talked to ‘em the other day, getting ready for your South Africa tour. They said the problem with South Africa is not the whites or blacks. It's the coloreds. That’s the problem in the United States. It’s the coloreds. It’s the colored men. They are ashamed of being black. And James Brown brings it all to the surface. So only N----s run, the only N----s run, when a James Brown records on, is N----s thats really ashamed of being black. Cause you either got to be black or white when James Brown’s singing. You gotta be what you are. The only people that can’t take a James Brown record is unnatural people, cause they ashamed of what they are.
JAMES BROWN: Their color.
AL SHARPTON: That’s right. And all them N----s over there is ashamed of what they are so they try to act like they something else, so they try not to play what they really are, and hope nobody will notice what they are. And they don't realize the people they are trying to be like dig what they are in the first place.
AL SHARPTON: The struggle right now is the struggle its always been. It's just that now people are telling the truth about it. The struggle is against what's wrong. It's not black or white. Like Mr. Brown said, it's wrong.
JAMES BROWN: That’s right.
AL SHARPTON: The struggle is against wrong. Black people get free, we admit that blacks can be a problem too. I mean it was blacks that sold us to white folks in the first place. But until I deal with the seller and sellee, I'm going to be sold. [laughter]
I mean, if you look at black history or American history, the last 20 years, you had the Kennedy’s, you had the Martin Luther Kings, you had James Brown. You had this, you had that. And out of all that James Brown’s the only thing still here. And everybody ought to be, I mean, what does a man have is to die before he gets his respect? I mean it's crazy. If something god forbid would happen to James Brown, they’d be selling them at every hot dog stand in New York. And here he is and they won’t play him on WBLS. So I mean a man almost has to become a martyr to get appreciated in this country. And there’s something wrong with the people that build the dead and bury the living. I mean it's crazy.
JAMES BROWN: When are we, as a people, going to recognize that we have a duty to ourselves, you know? When are we going to put our own pants on? When are we going to be the one to set an example for our kids? I'm not saying all of the whole race of people don't do it. Whether it's Black or Latin, or Oriental, or what, I'm not saying that. I'm saying when do we, as black people, which I'm very much aware of, start doing something massively for ourselves. I don't care what people say, I must respect the Jewish people. I must respect their--
AL SHARPTON: That's the model we must emulate? The Jewish model.
JAMES BROWN: Well, I respect the Jewish people, I respect the Italians. I respect the Germans, I respect all the people. I respect anybody that stay where they at. And that’s the difference. And you got to respect the Oriental people, cause they really come from behind. See so, I respect these people.