Genesia said:

I'll let you in on a little secret that you will learn eventually. It doesn't matter what your chronological age is - in your head, you're always 25 years old. Sure, you know more now than you did then (hopefully). But in terms of your ability to love and have fun and feel happiness and sadness, you're always that young person you were.

The rude part is when you pass a plate glass window or a mirror, and you catch a glimpse of someone you'd swear was your mother (or father) - and it turns out, it's you.

That...and the way the bones in your feet sound like Rice Krispies when you get out of bed in the morning.

I enjoyed that! Haha. Yes...and when you work all day in the garden and it now takes you two days to recover from the unexpected aches

Funny, because 30 passed, 40 passed, and even 45 before someone else called attention to my age (a doctor) and I really noticed. Age in numbers really is a socially/culturally biased construction and it seems to be worse now than when I was considered young. But staying young for yourself is really what is at issue and not how other people perceive you...and I think that Prince has done pretty well in both areas. Just an observation...

Does anyone else remember when Andy Allo appeared on the scene, and suddenly someone called DennisMark began posting endless, gushing, fawning messages about her all over the forums?

That.

Genesia said:

I'll let you in on a little secret that you will learn eventually. It doesn't matter what your chronological age is - in your head, you're always 25 years old. Sure, you know more now than you did then (hopefully). But in terms of your ability to love and have fun and feel happiness and sadness, you're always that young person you were.

The rude part is when you pass a plate glass window or a mirror, and you catch a glimpse of someone you'd swear was your mother (or father) - and it turns out, it's you.

That...and the way the bones in your feet sound like Rice Krispies when you get out of bed in the morning.

^^
Beautiful the parents observation...

If someone has the same impact as Prince did to popular music in the 80s? I think not. James Brown, Prince, MJ, Sly Stone, Joni Mitchell, Aretha Franklin, Donny Hathaway, Otis, Stones, Zeppelin are all great talents of an apparently extinct magnitude. I think since even earlier, in the 90s, there HASN'T came around ANY talent near them. So that it seems the impact that Prince or any others of this kind had is not gonna happen again any soon.

Maybe the likes of Fiona Apple, Lauryn Hill, André 3000, Bjork and Beyoncé got the closest, but not on the same level.

But some people are kind of following Prince's steps. I agree with Cee Lo Green, who is very talented, and I'll also add André 3000.

Who is Gabi Wilson? That Sweet Thing cover is actually pretty cool.

[Edited 6/14/12 12:11pm]

Well i'm 17 and in a band and Prince to me is just an absolutle inspiration. He really is in a league of his own and no matter how good i get i'll never be at the level he is, which is awesome because that means i will always have something to aspire to! Check out my band's cover of Purple Rain and leave some feedback! http://prince.org/msg/15/379711 (copy and paste this link because the hyperlink takes you to the wrong thread)

[Edited 6/15/12 16:12pm]

BrazilianOnRaspberryBeret said:

Who is Gabi Wilson? That Sweet Thing cover is actually pretty cool.

[Edited 6/14/12 12:11pm]

wow, yes just checked her version of Falling. Apparently she has a record deal with Sony.

Yippee...there is lots of talent on the planet! I just worry when they start so young and are emotionally and mentally under-developed.

Look no further than Tumblr to see teenagers gushing over Prince as if they were born in 1972 and not 1992.

skywalker said:

I am a high school teacher. I teach just a few miles north of Minneapolis. I tell you something about cultural impact on teens today.

Teens today don't have anyone that means as much to them, as Prince/Michael/Madonna/U2 meant to teenagers in the 80's, or what 2pac and Nirvana meant to teens in the 90's.

Don't get me wrong, the teens today really are into current music, but the entire pop culture landscape is very disposable and fleeting. As popular as someone like Lil' Wayne or Lady Gaga are, teens today have about 1000 other things to distract them. They don't cling to these idols the way teens did in the past. Maybe it's because of social media, free music/videos quickly downloaded to an iphone, or the death of MTV promoting artists...whatever.

The point is that no one is making cultural impact on teens like artists of the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's because people aren't all fed the same images/music/videos from the same few sources. Nowadays teens can lose themselves into very narrow, easily accessable, niches in pop culture. They don't have to do the modern day equivalent of listening to Bruce Springsteen, Boy George, and Stevie Nicks just to get to their fav Prince song. They just download the song/video instantly.

Now, as far as me feeling old? Nope. Prince is, like all great art, timeless.

The students at my school appreciate/dig Prince as much as my generation (as teens) dug James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, The Doors, George Clinton, and The Rolling Stones. The stuff that came before that is art. Meaning, they recognize the talent, and his songs can hit them the way they hit you when you first heard it.

I mean, I was a toddler when Controversy came out. You didn't have to be a teen to dig the everloving shit our of it.

[Edited 6/9/12 21:27pm]

I totally agree!

Genesia said:

I'll let you in on a little secret that you will learn eventually. It doesn't matter what your chronological age is - in your head, you're always 25 years old. Sure, you know more now than you did then (hopefully). But in terms of your ability to love and have fun and feel happiness and sadness, you're always that young person you were.

The rude part is when you pass a plate glass window or a mirror, and you catch a glimpse of someone you'd swear was your mother (or father) - and it turns out, it's you.

That...and the way the bones in your feet sound like Rice Krispies when you get out of bed in the morning.

Honey, I'll be whoring all up in the nursing homes. Pressing the buzzer for the men to come give me a sponge bath and sporting an erection while they give me one. John Travolta won't have shit on me!

Genesia said:

I'll let you in on a little secret that you will learn eventually. It doesn't matter what your chronological age is - in your head, you're always 25 years old.

Very true. Even thought im close to 20 years removed from age 25, mentally, i still feel like a youngster. My grandmother is almost 90 and her personality is that of someone 30 years her junior. Her mother is almost 106 and shes doing good so age is truly only a number.

The rude part is when you pass a plate glass window or a mirror, and you catch a glimpse of someone you'd swear was your mother (or father) - and it turns out, it's you.

When i shave, i look fairly young. People say i look like a man in his early 30's. Now if i go a few days without shaving, i look like grandpa's, grandpa. Physically though, the aches and pains are there.

As far as someone today having the same cultural impact that prince had on my generation. Good question.

Im not even going to mentioned people like Lil Wayne or most of today's rappers in the same breath as prince. That would be an insult.

I admit that im out of touch with most of today's popular music. To my ears, most of it sounds bland, generic, soulless, unoriginal and, overly process. Popularity wise though, there are a few people that have come close to matching the popularity prince had back in the day.

Lady gaga is one. She sells a lot of records, shes interesting, she has a freaked out fan base(like prince did)and shes somewhat creative. Personally im not into her music but a lot of people are so i guess that counts for something.

A few people mentioned Cee lo. He is creative, talented, and freakish(in a good way)so i would have to give him his props. His voice kinda annoys me though. He getting there but he'll never be on par with prince. The thing is, there are people out there that have bits and pieces of prince but none have the whole package(raw talent,discipline dedication,creativeness,ect)

Prince is such a unique talent hes one of the best, ever.

I'll have to agree. Lady Gaga is innovative and has set a mark in her generation. She would bring together pop influences, as Madonna, Queen, Europop, electronic genres, in a mixture that has become her very own, thus, innovative and remarkable. She may not be, and she certainly isn't, of the same groundbreaking talent as those people from other eras (such as Prince), but I'll give her credit for what she's doing for her time. Another person who mixed past genres (classic soul, 60s Motown) and brought her own vision for her generation was Amy Winehouse.

[Edited 6/18/12 19:22pm]

BrazilianOnRaspberryBeret said:

I'll have to agree. Lady Gaga is innovative and has set a mark in her generation. She would bring together pop influences, as Madonna, Queen, Europop, electronic genres, in a mixture that has become her very own, thus, innovative and remarkable. She may not be, and she certainly isn't, of the same groundbreaking talent as those people from other eras (such as Prince), but I'll give her credit for what she's doing for her time. Another person who mixed past genres (classic soul, 60s Motown) and brought her own vision for her generation was Amy Winehouse.

[Edited 6/18/12 19:22pm]

Yep, that chick had a good voice.

Such a loss.

BrazilianOnRaspberryBeret said:

I'll have to agree. Lady Gaga is innovative and has set a mark in her generation. She would bring together pop influences, as Madonna, Queen, Europop, electronic genres, in a mixture that has become her very own, thus, innovative and remarkable. She may not be, and she certainly isn't, of the same groundbreaking talent as those people from other eras (such as Prince), but I'll give her credit for what she's doing for her time. Another person who mixed past genres (classic soul, 60s Motown) and brought her own vision for her generation was Amy Winehouse.

[Edited 6/18/12 19:22pm]

I'd have to disagree with that slightly and say it was Mark Ronson. He's the funk n soul master behind Back to Black. Always go to write Black in Black which coincidentally is in my top ten albums of all time. ACDC, guitar riff gods.