R.I.P. Sly Stone

After what appeared to be a long battle with COPD, Sly Stone passed away yesterday.

This is not a shock, but a bummer to me. I recently wrote about the fantastic documentary "Sly Lives", and it seemed like his music was getting a big bump on streaming after the release. But, I do want to point out that in the coda of that movie, they got some recent interviews with Stone and he looked not so great. But, whenever a legend like this leaves this plane, it bums me out.

Sly Stone's music has been a big part of my life. Ever since I started to kind of form my own musical tastes, Sly and the Family Stone was a big jumping off point for me. I was instantly into the music. It was groovy and funky, then it could switch to dancy and then close out with some very introspective and important lyrical stuff. Sly and the Family Stone never really allowed themselves to ever be put into one genre of music, and this made their reach go to many, many different people. For me, a white kid from the suburbs, I instantly connected with the more funky stuff.

When I first learned of the band I was pretty heavily into Parliament Funkadelic and solo George Clinto stuff. A friend of mine mentioned Sly and the Family Stone, and I remembered my dad used to listen to them. I was familiar with the name, but not the music. Again, from the jump the music was perfect for me. I decided to listen at the perfect time in my life, and they have stuck with me all the way through to now. In fact, when I said something to my wife about Stone's passing, my son, who's 13, said that he knew who he was too. I asked him how, and he said that he has heard me listen to his stuff over and over in my car. I guess I'm doing what my dad did for me without even realizing it. And I'm very much okay with this. I like that my son knows of his music because he is a hip hop fan, and a bunch of hip hop artists either sight Sly Stone or have sampled a bunch of his stuff in their music. It is great for the both of us because we can relate to each other while listening to the music we like.

Outside of his band, and his many issues with drugs and alcohol, Stone was a wonderful radio DJ and producer. He was one of the best songwriters in the world in his heyday. Even after the band broke up, and he struggled with his solo stuff, I still find things I like about that era. Sly Stone could have, and would have made it in any era. With his talent and work ethic, he was destined to do something memorable and boy was his career and music memorable. I also appreciate that he was able to reunite with his family and kids later in his life. I have to imagine that helped him last longer than maybe he would have if he didn't reconcile with everyone.

This one stings. While it isn't on the level with Prince passing and RD's fandom, Sly Stone was my version of Prince. I listened to him before diving into Prince's catalog. Rest in Peace Sly Stone. I hope that wherever you are right now you are laying down some funky riffs and writing some extraterrestrial lyrics. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Watches "Sly Lives"

I'm currently finishing the new Hulu documentary, "Sly Lives". Let’s discuss.

I am a Sly and the Family Stone fan. I was introduced to their music a long time ago by my dad. I'm sure at the time of him playing it for me I got nothing out of it. I bet I just figured that my dad was showing me "old" music he liked. But, as I got older, and more into music, I heard more and more artists I liked talking about their music or covering songs at shows. I was intrigued. I asked my dad about it and I'm sure he informed me that he had played his music for me in the past. But, since other artists I liked were now talking about it to me, I wanted more. I started to dive deeper and deeper. I knew "Everyday People", "Thankyoufalettinmebemiceelf" and "Dance to the Music". But as I searched more and more into their catalog, I found more stuff I liked. Songs like "Family Affair", "If You Want Me to Stay", "Hot Fun in the Summertime", and so on and so forth. I dug the music because it was funky and I could bop my head along to it. I never really paid full attention to the music until I got even older. I would then, and still do now, listen to the lyrics and realize that Sly Stone had something important to say. He used his talent to talk about what was going on in the world. I realized that he had this vision for the world and I agreed with his vision. It also helped that his band was made up of black and white people and boys and girls. He wanted input from everyone. Sly didn't see color, he saw music. I love that.

The documentary tells you about all of this and tells it great. They have some very influential and important people talking about his genius. Questlove directed the movie, and with this and his last doc, "Summer of Soul", I feel like he has cornered the market on docs about funk and soul music from the 60's and 70's. He knows the topic and knows it well and he puts that out there on full blast. I love it. He was able to secure interviews with former band members, D'Angelo, Andre 3000, Nile Rodgers, Chaka Khan and Q-Tip, to name a few. To hear these heavy hitters talk about Sly Stone was amazing. Of course they talk about the music, but they also talk about so much more. I didn't realize how deep and connected people are to Sly Stone. I had no idea he was a producer and DJ before he was a renowned musician. I was floored when I realized he produced "Somebody to Love". I didn't know he came up in the church and later used that in his music. His family, when he was a child, was very important to his development as an artist. I didn't realize the drug issue stuff. I knew a bit about it, but didn't know how rough it truly was. The performance from Woodstock was eye opening. Questlove was able to get these videos of performances and interviews that were amazing for a fan like me to see for the first time.

I love this movie. If you know any little thing about Sly and the Family Stone, if you know one song, this movie is required viewing. I cannot recommend "Sly Lives" enough. It is instantly on my shortlist for best movies of 2025 already. "Sly Lives" is incredible. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.