Cold Blooded

Rick James wrote "Cold Blooded" about his girlfriend at the time, Linda Blair, an actress who played the possessed little girl Regan in the 1973 movie The Exorcist. The title implies that she's heartless and cruel, but James had a different definition of the phrase "cold blooded." To him it meant sexy, and Blair knew that - she loved the song. A little backstory: In 1982, Blair was profiled in a magazine called Oui, where she said Rick James was sexy. James found out and had his people contact her, which kicked off their affair. They split up about two years later but spoke well of each other.

"Cold Blooded" was released in 1983 around the time Rick James' career was at a peak. He was really funky and highly suggestive in his lyrics, which scared away MTV and most pop radio program directors, but he had a huge following in the Black community. "Cold Blooded" topped out at #40 on the Hot 100 but was a #1 R&B hit. Like Prince, James could do it all, and on "Cold Blooded" he played all the instruments in addition to writing, producing and singing the song. But unlike Prince, he couldn't get on MTV and never really crossed over despite having a real feel for music. Explaining how he would look for a commercial sound, he told Musician magazine in 1983: "I think I'm a musician who writes for people as opposed to being self-indulgent. I have to like it, but it's basically for people. I concentrate on that, giving them what I think they can dance to and what I think they would appreciate in their ears."

Rick James' music was sampled a lot in the '90s. You can hear the "sexy, sexy" bit from "Cold Blooded" on the 1999 Ol' Dirty Bastard hit "Got Your Money."