Do you get fed up of the purple rain gang (me included) harping on about the good old days? Do you think I'm mad in thinking SOTT is the all time classic and the 84-88 period was the greatest output of musical greatness? I was 14 in those days, and I don't think anything will come close.

I love all the 90s stuff, but the gems are more rare.

Can you believe that Prince was not only bigger than Britney in 84-85 but the coolest artist too, filling stadiums the world over?

I'd love to hear your thoughts. I think the pre 84 stuff is great, but not as good, do you feel the same about the pre 90s?

Well...I'm 21...but 1999 and Lovesexy rank as my favorites...Overall I'd say I probably like his 80s material better, but I love his 90s material as well!

oh wow...now this is a kickin question.....

(waits to read responces)

maybe they have all gone to bed?

Well, I'm 22, but I didn't start getting into Prince until 1993.

Personally, I prefer a lot of his 90s work. Although, I tend to listen to more 80s music than 90s. I'm actually not big on 1999 or Purple Rain as much as I am most of the 90s stuff. The exception would be Sign of the Times which I think is every bit as strong as his best 90s work. My favorite albums are Sign, Symbol album, Gold Experience, Emancipation, and Rainbow Children. I hold his music from '93 to '96 really dear, because that was when I was really starting to get into him.

But overall, I think both decades were even in brilliance. The thing that separates it is that in the 80s he really didn't give a damn about making music that sounded contemporary- he defined contemporary as behind ahead of his time with his brilliant music, using sounds and instrumentation that wasn't heard anywhere else. In the 90s, his music (as brilliant as ever) was somewhat less ahead of its time, often harkening back to the 70s, and also incorporating modern influences, such as rap. While many have slammed him for these influences in his 90s work, I think he worked all that in very well, and made "Prince music" even more un-categorized and varied. There are some weak cuts on some 90s albums, but let's face it, there are some weak cuts on the 80s ones too. The song-writing has pretty much been top notch throughout his career so far. Personally, I think the 00's may be Prince's most creative decade yet.

I'm 23, I really like the stuff from 1999 untill Grafitti bridge. but b4 then is really cheesy mostly, just a couple of good cuts. 1 from For you, 3 from Prince. and 2 from Controversy. The rest is real cheeseball, but U can't be mad cuz he was just starting. On the other hand, Diamond's and Pearls is off the Hook, so is . Come is a very dark and heavy masterpiece that always gets understated.(plus I'm a male that really loves eating pussy). The Gold Experience is his second best album to Sign of the Times. Exodus reeks of funk and funny and tighter than a vigin's U know what. Note my Handle. I can I dentify with that material more, not that I don't LOVE the 80's stuff. I listen to that a hell of a lot. It just seems that he had more of handle on writing songs and evoking emotions, simply due to experience. The early stuff has more of a risque sense to it though. Espically all those 12" b-sides like Hello and She's always in my hair.
[This message was edited Wed Mar 20 15:24:08 PST 2002 by toratora69]
[This message was edited Wed Mar 20 15:27:56 PST 2002 by toratora69]

also waiting for reply's like others.

I'm 22 and first got into Prince on the Diamonds and Pearls album. I think that, in general, his 80's output has better crafted songs/melodies (raspberry beret, little red corvette,dorothy parker, when doves cry etc.), whereas his 90s output has more songs which u really want to crank up loud on the stereo (Gett off, cream, My name is Prince, Peach, Pheromone, P Control etc). Not including The Vault and TRC, the majority of his output since 1995 has not been as good, but even an average Prince album still has two or three awesome tracks on it.

i am a 19 year old and i have to disagree with all of the 'older fams' NOTHING is better than the early 90's. Still to this day the whole symbol and gold era was the best. and i will NOT move on that either

Is there a theme? Do we like the era we first heard? Maybe all this talk about the best album is bullshit, we think the best album is the one that stirred the most emotions when we discovered him.

But, saying that, I got into Prince with Purple and ATWIAD, but its the Parade, SOTT, Black and lovesexy era I love most, which ties into my last school days, college and girls!! (boy, did my car see some action to Black and Lovesexy!).

Maybe those albums became the backdrop for the biggest ever changes in my life?

Oh Christ, I sound like my mum with her Beatles albums...

I am 18, I got into Prince when I was 16 and the song that pulled me in was "Little Red Corvette". Also pretty much all of the songs on the Hits albums, since that was the first album I owned by him. I think I listen to music from both eras pretty equally...music from say, Lovesexy, is so different than music from Emancipation, though, that it is almost like they are by two different people. If I had to pick one, it would be his 80s stuff because most of my favorites are from that era.
I wish I had been older than 1 when Purple Rain came out, so I could be a witness to how much Prince rocked the world. I remember a family friend telling me all about the Purple Rain tour she had gone to. She remembered so much from it 16 years after the fact, and she told me with such detail and energy that I knew it had to have been something incredible.
That is so strange to think of him then as being bigger than Britney is now...that just goes to show how the quality of music has gone downhill!! Prepackaged fluff is more successful than real talent, which really is just sad.

Don't forget, he was as big as Britney, but got people backs up like Eminem. Funny to think church groups wanted the Purple Rain banned!

Wasn't it the first album to carry the parental guidance sticker, about 3 months after it came out after the bad press over Darling Nikki?

I'm only 17, and got into Prince about 7 months ago. Since then, I've listened and brought alot of his music, old and new. I love it all, but the older ones are my favorites. A lot of people my age look down upon older music in general, and I don't know why. Old stuff is great.

80's was better.

I'm 24 and I get tired of the older folks banging on about how the 80s were great and everything since D&P has been lacklustre. I wouldn't like to say either was better, just different. Personally I prefer the 90s. That whole era where he was wearing the bandana and kicking ass all over the place...! Too cool!

Besides the older stuff seriously needs remastered.

I'm 25 so I started listening to music intensevely only in the late 80's (around '87-'88).I missed most of the 80s but I know and heard almost everything "popular" of the '90s.
However around '93-'94 I started listening to older stuff (80s and 70's disco) and I have to admit that music was much more powerfull then.Not just Prince but everybody.Even boybands like Duran Duran were interesting to listen to.Who can forget Chaka Khan, Cyndi Lauper, Kate Bush etc.That's even more true when you compare those acts with the manufactured pop of the new millenium.While there are still good artists around (mostly in R&B/Hip-Hop and electronica), my choice would be the '80s.Anyway, Prince still sounds like he's in some year before 1990...

I'm what you would classify as an "oldster". Been Prince fan since early 80's & while the eighties Prince music is great I find the 90's Come/Exodus/Gold Experience time period is my favorite. The music seems warmer. There is a great sense of fun behind it.

If I had to choose a favorite era, it would damn hard to pick between 87-88 and 94-95 (sign, black, lovesexy era and come, gold, exodus era), so for me, the 80s and 90s are about equal in terms of Prince's great music. Yes, I do get tired of people saying he didn't release anything good after Lovesexy or Diamonds and Pearls. Really tired. Because it's far from the truth.

It may be irritating to hear, largely because it seems like this place is inundated with folks who really dig the 90's stuff, but Prince's pre-90's material absolutely BLOWS THE DOORS off of the 90's stuff.

It isn't even close in my estimation.

I'm definitely an 'oldster' . I first got into Prince when 'Little Red Corvette' & '1999' came out, but my favourite periods are practically a tie between 'Sign O' The Times' & 'The Gold Experience'.

micorison requesting radio silence...
[This message was edited Fri May 3 12:50:41 PDT 2002 by micorison]

micorison requesting radio silence...
[This message was edited Fri May 3 12:50:28 PDT 2002 by micorison]

For me the major difference between the two periods is that very few of the 80's albums contained any "crap" at all. Obvious examples would be 'Dirty Mind', '1999', 'Purple Rain', 'Parade', and 'SOTT'.

While roughly half, if not more, of the songs on the any of the 90's albums would be pure "crap". By his standards, of course.

I think 50% of the 90s tracks would have only made B-sides in the 80s. The NPG stuff, half of come, half of Emancipation.

However, I do LOVE the other 50%!

I just can't agree with yall on this. I mean, everyone has their own definition of what crap is. Personally, I find the 90s material to be more emotional and real. In the first half of the 90s, Prince used more real instrumentation, whereas the whole of the eighties was mostly electronic, and synthesizer-laden. I'm a huge fan of real, genuine instruments. Plus, believe it or not, if you're under 25, there's a really good chance that a lot of the earliest Prince material like the Dirty Mind and 1999 albums, sounds downright cheesy. I mean, the stuff grew on me after a while, but the synth stuff sounds so dated to me. In fact, 1999 is one of my least favorite albums of his.

I find more songs on the eighties albums that I don't like as much (they're still all pretty good songs). So many people harp over songs like I Wish U Heaven, All the Critics Love U in New York, International Lover, I Would Die 4 U, Mountains, Let's Pretend We're Married, The Ladder, etc.....these are boring songs. The melodies contained within are largely uninteresting, the instrumentation is boring, other than I would die 4 U, or let's pretend, there is no emotion to be found. These are weak songs. I mean they're not bad overall, but weak. There is more of this in the 80s in my opinion.

I will continue on this crusade too until people stop putting down the brilliant 90s work!!!

Damnit!

jtgillia,

I understand your difficulty in relating to the 80's stuff. There's no question that much of it must sound dated to your young ears.

But your categorization of the 80's stuff as weak is just flat out wrong. None of the 90's albums stand up next to Sign O' The Times, Dirty Mind, 1999, or Purple Rain. There is no better funk in the 90's than that of 'Head', 'Let's Work', 'Irresistible Bitch', or 'D.M.S.R.'. There are no 90's ballads that rank with 'Adore', 'Do Me Baby', or 'International Lover'.

Again, due to your youth, I understand your belief that the 90's stuff is better, but history will not share that opinion.

violator said:

Aye, right. Unless history is written by someone younger than yourself who doesn't have your preconceptions. It's all subjective.

21, fan since 1997.

The problem with Prince's music is that it shimmers, waxes and wanes in my mind. One second I could be swearing blind that his 80s output was better, and then BAM!, a eureka moment places me square in the 90s.

However...

The reason I got into Prince was the first couple of trax off the Hits 1 (later the Hits 2). They sounded so wonderfully dated, it was beautiful (play Dirty Mind to a non-fan) but that's what drew me in. They were so different and cheesy and wonderful. However, as with most Prince music, the more I listened to it the more I lost awareness of how dated it seemed and began to tune into the sound.

That's the thing: The 80s stuff sounds more unique and different to his 90s material, partly because it's further away from us now, but also partly because, in my opinion, he really did use different sounds and methods to his contemporaries. In contrast, Man O War and it's bland ilk sound derivative and generic compared with other songs in its genre.

Another problem we have with his 90s output is that it's all far less consistent. Some years went by with no albums, a rarity in the 80s for Prince, whilst the released albums varied wildly in quality. In the 90s, Prince seemed to be fighting many demons and this affected his work, see Diamonds and Pearls (desire to stay relevant), Rave (same), The Vault (fighting Warner), and possibly his albums after Emancipation (who knows the impact of the death of his son). That's not to say those albums are necessarily bad, but they certainly suffer from alternative and conflicting motives to those concerned purely with artistic ones. In the 80s, Prince was leading the crowd. Much of his 90s material followed it.

Of course, both periods had fantastic music, but I hope his 00s material will be solely about the music and not about reacting to trends or frustrations in the way that consumed much of the 90s.

saxjedi,

Of course it's subjective. It's just opinions. But someone who judges Prince's 80's music to sound "dated" is not necessarily in the best position to judge. I firmly believe that when the little one finally plays his last note and music historians critique his output, the 80's stuff will clearly shine in contrast to the 90's material. Hell, it's dated and it already does! But who knows, maybe this next decade will prove to be better than the 80's stuff. I certainly hope so. 6 or 7 more releases like TRC and he'll be heading in the right direction for certain.

gubbins,

Good post. One of things that strikes me when contrasting the two periods is that in the 80's there was nobody else to listen to besides Prince. Let me clarify. That's not to say that there were no other artists out there making good music. But rather, no one was making better music than Prince. If you were listening to him in the 80's, you were taking in the best music that era had to offer.

However, the same could not be said for the 90's material. There was plenty of other artists who were making better music than Prince and doing it with more consistancy in that decade.

I remember when 'Diamonds and Pearls' came out and Rolling Stone reviewed it. The reviewer was saying that over the years you could say many things about Prince's music. It was eclectic, experimental, challenging. He said, "the one thing you could never say about his music is that it was mediocre. Until now."

Truer words were never spoken.

Rubbish, Diamonds & Pearls is fantastic.