This year, CNN published a three-part investigation into some claims shrouding the deaths of James Brown in 2006 and his third wife, Adrienne Brown, 10 years earlier. The report details the horrifying conduct—rape, abuse, suspected murder—that shaped the Godfather of Soul's private life, especially in its second half. Some of the information was already public, including accounts of domestic violence, and the article leaves a number of questions open, such as whether Brown himself was a victim, murdered by one of his hangers-on. Still, now, if not before, listening to the tight funk of tracks like “I Feel Good” inspires more discomfort than awe—a feeling that the song is so tight only because his band feared what their violent boss might do if they ever missed a beat.