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Without Purple Rain do you think Prince would still be the legend he is today? Do you think his other material is enough to have kept him in the spotlight for decades?
Sorry if this has been asked a million times. | |
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Artistically, of course. Prince has so much other genius material, that it would have solidified him as a legend.
Professionally? Not a chance. Purple Rain was huge commercially and influenced an entire generation of copycat acts (most pretty awful). Without Purple Rain, only devout fans would have cared to come out and see SOTT or LoveSexy tours.
Overall, I'd say that Prince played his cards well all the way up to the Symbol years. | |
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Why is the question even being asked? | |
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Why does any question get asked? Call it curiosity or just a general 'what if?', or maybe it's just to stimulate conversation. Is it really that big a deal that the question got asked? | |
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Not at all.
The PR era/movie/album/tour took Prince to SuperStar level | |
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I asked a similar question a few years ago. No, he would not be the superstar he is today. Not that I'm turning this into an MJ discussion, but without Thriller, he wouldn't have been the megastar he turned out to be either. Purple Rain was Prince's Thriller. It put him up there with the Beatles for period of time. Meaning, they're the only artists to have had a hit movie, single and album, all at the same time. Look at the awards. Grammys, and an Oscar. The anthem that every concert goer wants to hear. The sound that became the mpls sound. The doors it opened for him, in terms of working with other artists, calling a lot of shots with his career with WB. I highly doubt he would've been inducted in the RRHOF his first time on the ballot, with purple rain under his belt. Not to mention the money that era has generated for him. It made Paisley Park possible, which gave him more creative and musical freedom and inspiration. Not saying he wouldn't have been a star, but it would have drastically changed the course of his career and legacy. | |
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No, it's not a big deal so don't get shirty. Surely some things are so obvious that we don't really need to ask? You knew the answer before posting, yes?
No1 album, No1 single, No1 film. It goes without saying that Purple Rain propelled him to mega-stardom.
I just couldn't imagine Mouth wearing a t-shirt with the cover of Lovesexy on the front. "Goonies never say.... seriously Mouth why've you got some naked guy on the front of your t-shirt?"
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Purple rain Is to Prince what Thriller is to Michael Jackson...
In my opinion... SOTT It's better. If he Didn't Become famous with PR, He Would with SOTT | |
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Commercially though, SOTT was not a hit (critically or in the charts)... It's seen as a classic now, but it certainly wasn't then. If Purple Rain had not hit, then I doubt Warners would have even let him release a double album... Formally known as Mr_Nos on Housequake
Hate is such a strong word, I'm just disillusioned... | |
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No need to accuse, I'm not getting shirty just replying to your post.
It wasn't about knowing the answer but getting other people's opinion and starting a conversation. Isn't that what these forums are about? | |
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Everything Prince did up to Purple Rain was for Purple Rain star status
everything he did or didn't do after that was aftected by Purple Rain | |
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No, not at all. These forums are for flame wars, bitching, religious arguments, pictures of Prince in his underwear and a place for Imago to be free. Any posts must have already been asked back in the founding days of the Org else they will be deemed revolutionary and locked. And so on. | |
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I stand corrected. My apologies | |
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sounds like personal perception and interpretation | |
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You statement is correct: It wasn't about knowing the answer but getting other people's opinion and starting a conversation. Isn't that what these forums are about? | |
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No problems. So, no, without Purple Rain, Prince would not have become the megastar he did. Nothing else in his body of work contains such a large, concise project with such huge mass-market appeal. Right time, right place, right product. Simple as that really. | |
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I'd go so far as to say that without purple rain .. the movie .. prince would be EVEN MORE successful.
Why? Because he would have kept trying harder. PUrple Rain afforded prince a lil too much ego and opportunity to record anything and everything. Quality control went out the window and even tho there was great stuff up to sott .. clearly it was all leftovers from when he was trying harder. Lovesexy was done in what ... 2 weeks .. and it shows. From that point on it was more about playing with gadgets than crafting a song that will blow peoples minds. Batdance anyone?
It's fair to say PUrple Rain ... the Movie .. ended Prince career... still its a great movie .. wish it came out and was only mildly successful .. then we could have the movie and have a prince who gave a crap about good music ..
Imagine the last 20 years of genius music that all prince fans loved but the general public never quite got into, instead of 20 years of drivel that prince thinks is good because he is so rich doesn't matter if anyone else likes it. Imagine being a prince fan without the shame associated.
What if PR never went platinum, never had a number one, and instead of spoiled brat prince we got aged gracefully mature prince .. what if he wrote an album about something other than chocolate handles and underage puss .. what if prince actually remained musically relevant .. damn u purple rain u make it hurt so good .. most importantly .. what if prince never had the ego or cocky overconfidence to start rapping .. how many great songs would not have been ruined? what if prince couldn't afford to fire the revolution? instead of 4 mostly classic records prince could have had 10 or 15.
oh well | |
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Nice perspective
Prince definately spent to much time fighting the Purple Reign, which lead him to try to hard to be different from that 1982-1985 Prince | |
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WHAT? So purple rain made him stop caring about music? And what if prince remained musically relevant? I don't even know how to respond to that. | |
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I think / believe Sign 'O' The Times would've assisted P's career to excell if Purple Rain would not have been released. As we all know and thanks to the MTV Generation that he was given HEAVY rotation at the time. Peace ... & Stay Funky ...
~* The only love there is, is the love "we" make *~ www.facebook.com/purplefunklover |
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moderator
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really? alot of people would be criticising prince if he continued to do the 1982-85 thing over and over again.
there is no "shame" assosicated with being a prince fan. Prince is widely respected by critics, other musicians and by the general public.
15 classis records? where are you getting this from? [Edited 7/25/12 9:49am] | |
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My comment was Prince, in my opinion spent a lot of energy fighting the 1999-Purple Rain success (I used Purple REIGN) meaning that successful period, not talking about the music itself.
I'm not saying(nor did I imply anywhere) that Prince should have continued makng 1999/Purple Rain music or that time period | |
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You do know this is a 'what if' thread right? What if Purple Rain didn't happen | |
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In what if threads like this, I try to not look at the albums that came afterward, but they came about because Purple Rain did happen.
I don't know if SOTT would have happened if Purple Rain wasn't made | |
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... we are just speculating, OF4S Peace ... & Stay Funky ...
~* The only love there is, is the love "we" make *~ www.facebook.com/purplefunklover |
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Yeah I know that was part of it for me. "hmmmm would ATWIAD have been created would Parade or SOTT etc"
I'm thinking what might have followed 1999, would he have tried a "concert film like the 2nd Coming again" | |
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well, maybe he'd not have had the same kind of freedom he had afterward, and he might have continued to do more mainstream music, and not alienated his whole fanbase.
But with all things being equal, I Wanna Be Your Lover, Controversy, 1999, Little Red Corvette, Automatic...Prince was already a star. That is how he got a movie to begin with.
And if he did write Kiss & his other subsequent songs even without a Purple Rain, then yes, he is still a legend. Purple Rain actually only had 2 #1 songs on it! My Legacy
http://prince.org/msg/8/192731 | |
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He was already playing arenas for the 1999 tour so he would have done just fine. | |
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Crackrobat said: do you think Prince would still be the legend he is today? Do you think his other material is enough to have kept him in the spotlight for decades?
Sorry if this has been asked a million times. No, I don't think Prince is a legend without Purple Rain. Going from 1999 to ATWIAD would have been just too big a change of direction. I don't think ATWIAD would have been tolerated well by his current fans and he would have most of his momentum from 1999. Things get worse with Parade. Just my opinion. CALL ME A DREAMER 2! | |
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