"HAMMER: Of all the live albums you've done at the Apollo, which one is your favorite?

JB: My favorite would be the first one. There's no greater number in the world than number one. Live at the Apollo. They said it couldn't be done. 1962. October. I asked the record company would they let me do it. And they wouldn't give me no money to do it. I had to pay for it myself. So I debited my account $5700 and paid for the album. And it would cost you a million dollars to cut today. And now it's the number one live album in the world. It's just like I said, "I don't want nobody to give me nothing. Open up the door, and I'll get it myself."

-- James Brown, Godfather of Funk/Soul, died early Christmas Day of complications from too much sweat. Watch a killer version of "Sex Machine" above from French TV in the late 60s. The man added the beats, grunts and punch to Black America in the 1960s. Raise a toast for everytime you sang out "Can I take it to the bridge?" Read more of a 1996 Hammer interview.