Every time I hear the song “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke et al., I hear a perfect cross between “Kiss” by Prince and the Sheena Easton hit “Strut” by Charlie Dore. I see B.L. as the love child of those two earlier pop classics, straddling the artfully blurred lines between homage and appropriation.
Part of the fun of pop music is recognizing this sort of influence — a song that is certainly not a copy (we aren’t talking about “He’s So Fine” and “My Sweet Lord”), but that clearly channels some piece of the soul of one or more earlier works.
These three songs, in particular, seem to form a perfect trinity of commentary on the eternal ritual of power and lust between the sexes. with “Kiss” as the father, “Blurred Lines” the son, and “Strut” most definitely the holy spirit.