An animated James Brown interview from 1984 covers Reagan, changing musical tastes  

We’ve previously featured the PBS web series Blank On Blank, which unearths old bits of interviews with notable people such as David Foster Wallace and Jim Morrison and animates small highlights. The latest video unearths an impromptu behind-the-scenes press conference with James Brown enumerating his views on many topics. This snippet comes from a 1984 interview Brown did with Rocci Fisch of ABC Radio while preparing for a show at the Washington D.C. Convention Center, with his wife styling his hair. The late Godfather Of Soul offers his opinion on Ronald Reagan (“I think he’s the most intelligent, most well-coordinated President we’ve ever had in history”), race (“Black is not a color, it’s an attitude. It’s the attitude of independence, respect, and dignity”), and the changing music scene (“Ten years ago y’all liked disco and that punk rock. You keep changing everyday. Don’t keep changing so much.”). It’s a glimpse inside the mind of a charismatic and arresting speaker who doesn’t let a blowdryer or Reagan's supposedly waning wits get in the way of good conversational momentum.