Both Sting and Prince are extremely talented in their musical fields...as their separate canons of music illustrate. I don't see why they are being compared at all...

I love the Police and I really like Sting but I don't even think it's close.

Can Sting play guitar, piano, or drums in the same league as Prince? Please..........

As far as the bass goes I've seen Prince do things on the bass that blew my mind. Shoulda heard him at the HOB this past fall. It was nuts!

I just can't see Sting working it like that ever.

SmiggyG said:

I love the Police and I really like Sting but I don't even think it's close.

Can Sting play guitar, piano, or drums in the same league as Prince? Please..........

As far as the bass goes I've seen Prince do things on the bass that blew my mind. Shoulda heard him at the HOB this past fall. It was nuts!

I just can't see Sting working it like that ever.

Well, that's my point, don't you see? There is no basis for comparison. As a musician, Prince wins, hands down... But, that doesn't take away from the great songs that Sting created with The Police or by himself... Why is there even a comparison? It shouldn't even exist...

1725topp said:

Javi said:

1725topp, I love your posts about Prince's lyrics, but I have to disagree with you on this one. In my opinion, the lyrics on "The Soul Cages" are superior to anything Prince has written, and not because they are "more personal", which is something subjective, as you say. They are deep and touching in a way I can't find in Prince. The images are powerful and moving, the songs are lyrically very well connected with each other (it really is a conceptual album) and the music is also coherent with the lyric's tone.

But appreciation of lyrics is something strongly subjective as well, isn't it? Anyway, I agree with you in that Prince's lyrics are far richer than what many people, even his fans, think.

[Edited 2/28/13 1:06am]

I'm cool with us agreeing "that Prince's lyrics are far richer than what many people, even his fans, think." As for our disagreement on Prince's lyrics vs. Sting's lyrics, we both seem to agree that, in the final analysis, the "appreciation of lyrics is something strongly subjective" because Prince's lyrics seem more "deep and touching" to me "in a way I can't find in" Sting, and I love Sting's music and lyrics, especially "Russians." I love the manner in which Prince navigates and blends his exploration of the metaphysical and the physical, as in SOTT, Lovesexy, and The Rainbow Children, in a way that not many dare to do or do as well as Prince. But I recognize that one may not be interested in that navigation. Ultimately, Prince and Sting are great, and, again, I'm just glad that we can agree that Prince’s lyrics have much more depth than many realize.

Maybe a bit of a sidestep as related to the original topic (Prince vs. Sting), but anyway interesting to discus.

If you really mean that any of Prince's lyrics touch metaphysical elements, please elaborate. Maybe you mean "religious" rather than metaphysical.

Not to disvalue your argumentation concerning your points on Prince's lyricism, but I wouldn't call ANY of his stuff metaphysical.

Surely his lyrics are drenched in religion, often linked to sex ... reaching God trough sex. This connection has a lot of depth, though it somehow stays on a dualistic level, almost dogmatic.

I believe that under the influence of Mayte, Prince entered a more New Age understanding of his own Christian belief, only rush back to dogmatism of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

pray4rain said:

1725topp said:

I'm cool with us agreeing "that Prince's lyrics are far richer than what many people, even his fans, think." As for our disagreement on Prince's lyrics vs. Sting's lyrics, we both seem to agree that, in the final analysis, the "appreciation of lyrics is something strongly subjective" because Prince's lyrics seem more "deep and touching" to me "in a way I can't find in" Sting, and I love Sting's music and lyrics, especially "Russians." I love the manner in which Prince navigates and blends his exploration of the metaphysical and the physical, as in SOTT, Lovesexy, and The Rainbow Children, in a way that not many dare to do or do as well as Prince. But I recognize that one may not be interested in that navigation. Ultimately, Prince and Sting are great, and, again, I'm just glad that we can agree that Prince’s lyrics have much more depth than many realize.

Maybe a bit of a sidestep as related to the original topic (Prince vs. Sting), but anyway interesting to discus.

If you really mean that any of Prince's lyrics touch metaphysical elements, please elaborate. Maybe you mean "religious" rather than metaphysical.

Not to disvalue your argumentation concerning your points on Prince's lyricism, but I wouldn't call ANY of his stuff metaphysical.

Surely his lyrics are drenched in religion, often linked to sex ... reaching God trough sex. This connection has a lot of depth, though it somehow stays on a dualistic level, almost dogmatic.

I believe that under the influence of Mayte, Prince entered a more New Age understanding of his own Christian belief, only rush back to dogmatism of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Religion and spirituality are sub-headings of metaphysics as metaphysics is merely the understanding and exploration of the realm of reality that exists beyond the physical, specifically with the attempt to answer what is there beyond the physical and what is “it” like (whatever “it” is beyond the physical). Thus, to engage any religious aspect is to engage the metaphysical, no matter how dogmatic one's approach may be. This understanding of metaphysics and the metaphysical is basic freshman 101, but I'll continue to humor you. Now, setting aside Prince's strict religious quest to know the world that has existed throughout his career, early in his life he was quite willing to mix or amalgamate various religious and secular ideologies in the quest to explore what is there beyond the physical and what is it like, but he was also willing the engage this quest in a purely secular manner. For instance, “Paisley Park’s” notion that happiness and inner peace are internal elements and not at all dependent on external forces is quite gnostic and shows that Prince has spent time thinking equally about understanding the world from both a religious and non-religious manner. Of course, it seems that for Prince everything is about finding completion through a higher power and through human relationships, so in a song, such as "Glam Slam," which is pop metaphysics, the point is to examine the manner in which human beings can create relationships that exist on more than a physical level and examine whether the development of those relationships can lead to an even higher understanding of oneself and the world. So, it would seem that for Prince intellect or an intellectual understanding of the universe without love is meaningless. Even Einstein stated that the purpose of religion should be to serve as the moral guide of science, posing the question of just because science can do something should it. Thus, Prince's notion of the importance of love in knowing and experiencing life can be compared to Octavio Paz’s poem, “Two Bodies,” where Paz asserts that the only thing that keeps our existential life from being meaningless are the human relationships we are able to develop and maintain. (And the most ironic aspect of this discussion or the desire to wrestle religion from the family tree of metaphysics is that existentialism was started because the man considered to be the first existential philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, began wondering what was God’s plan for his life.) So, by basic definition of the term, regardless of how many people wish to wrestle religion from the family tree of metaphysics as well as by Prince's exploration of the metaphysical through non-orthodox religious manners, Prince has and continues to explore metaphysics or the metaphysical.

SoulAlive said:

The comparison game is silly. Sting is Sting.Prince is Prince.It's apples and oranges,anyway.

the first 5 police records are classics and are easily as good as the first 5 revolution records .. that being 1999 thru sign o the times .. which are also classics

sting solo years had as many peaks as lovesexy thru the symbol record

sting never put out total rubbish like prince did tho

sting preserved his legacy better but they were both equally great in their prime

the police did more with three people than prince did with a 13 piece band or 13 of himself in the studio .. very great group

since prince lifted a lot of ideas from his band but didn't let them play on the revolution records ... the solo prince genius arguement just does not hold up anymore .. therefore they are equals

1725topp said:

NDRU said:

1725topp said:

Religion and spirituality are sub-headings of metaphysics as metaphysics is merely the understanding and exploration of the realm of reality that exists beyond the physical, specifically with the attempt to answer what is there beyond the physical and what is “it” like (whatever “it” is beyond the physical). Thus, to engage any religious aspect is to engage the metaphysical, no matter how dogmatic one's approach may be. This understanding of metaphysics and the metaphysical is basic freshman 101, but I'll continue to humor you. Now, setting aside Prince's strict religious quest to know the world that has existed throughout his career, early in his life he was quite willing to mix or amalgamate various religious and secular ideologies in the quest to explore what is there beyond the physical and what is it like, but he was also willing the engage this quest in a purely secular manner. For instance, “Paisley Park’s” notion that happiness and inner peace are internal elements and not at all dependent on external forces is quite gnostic and shows that Prince has spent time thinking equally about understanding the world from both a religious and non-religious manner. Of course, it seems that for Prince everything is about finding completion through a higher power and through human relationships, so in a song, such as "Glam Slam," which is pop metaphysics, the point is to examine the manner in which human beings can create relationships that exist on more than a physical level and examine whether the development of those relationships can lead to an even higher understanding of oneself and the world. So, it would seem that for Prince intellect or an intellectual understanding of the universe without love is meaningless. Even Einstein stated that the purpose of religion should be to serve as the moral guide of science, posing the question of just because science can do something should it. Thus, Prince's notion of the importance of love in knowing and experiencing life can be compared to Octavio Paz’s poem, “Two Bodies,” where Paz asserts that the only thing that keeps our existential life from being meaningless are the human relationships we are able to develop and maintain. (And the most ironic aspect of this discussion or the desire to wrestle religion from the family tree of metaphysics is that existentialism was started because the man considered to be the first existential philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, began wondering what was God’s plan for his life.) So, by basic definition of the term, regardless of how many people wish to wrestle religion from the family tree of metaphysics as well as by Prince's exploration of the metaphysical through non-orthodox religious manners, Prince has and continues to explore metaphysics or the metaphysical.

None of this makes Prince a better lyricist than Sting

If you would read clearly, I was answering someone's request that I clarify what I mean by using the term, "metaphysical" or "metaphysics." In fact, the person was challenging whether I understood the terms "metaphysical" or "metaphysics." So, the post to which you have responded is not my post where I assert that Prince is a better lyricist than Sting. However, if you are willing to do some work and locate the actual post where I make my argument for Prince being a well-crafted lyricist, then we may have something to discuss. Finally, I never said in any of my post that Prince is a better lyricist than Sting. My point was simply to refute those who are asserting that Prince is a poorly crafted lyricist. Reading is fundamental, you know.

Circa '95 at a show at Paisley Prince mentioned how Sting was on stage with him. He said he whisper into Wendy's ear and asked her if he should mess him up on the bass (I'm paraphrasing here) and Wendy told him he should let him be. Given that experience I can safely say that Prince thinks he has superious skills to Sting.

I remember the dialogue because I thought it was such an interesting tidbit for him to share.

Changing from instrumental habilities and lyrics to melodic/songwriting qualities.

Although I do not know Sting's work well enough, only the main hits, I never thought of comparing them.

I see a comparision can be made, at least in my opinion, to other of the greatest names in rnb (Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Sly Stone, James Brown, Jackie Wilson). With all of these I see plenty of similarities and possible comparisions to Prince's work. As well as artists like David Bowie and Kate Bush, who would also transitate through a lot of genres and create their own personal sound, like Prince did. But I cant see the Sting comparison. Could some of you guys who showed knowledge of both Sting's and Prince's work elaborate on it?

NoNameReporter said:

Circa '95 at a show at Paisley Prince mentioned how Sting was on stage with him. He said he whisper into Wendy's ear and asked her if he should mess him up on the bass (I'm paraphrasing here) and Wendy told him he should let him be. Given that experience I can safely say that Prince thinks he has superious skills to Sting.

I remember the dialogue because I thought it was such an interesting tidbit for him to share.

Note he was referencing the show in 86.

i wonder if prince can play bass .. and sing at the same time .. for a whole concert

with all do respect .. singing and playing guitar or piano is way way way easier than singing on the bass

especially the complicated rythms and basslines of the police

sting does this very well as does mccartney

i have never heard prince do both .. especially on a song like erotic city or 17 days with somewhat difficult rythms to keep up with while singing

this is no knock of prince .. i said before they are equal in my mind .. or were equal i should say

it just seems prince bass skills usually last about 2 minutes and its a jam not singing and asside from a couple quick bass runs .. his skills are pretty uninteresting on his bass solos

TrevorAyer said:

i have never heard prince do both .. especially on a song like erotic city or 17 days with somewhat difficult rythms to keep up with while singing

Strange that you mentioned these two songs cause both have very simple repeated bass lines all the way through.

TrevorAyer said:

i wonder if prince can play bass .. and sing at the same time .. for a whole concert

with all do respect .. singing and playing guitar or piano is way way way easier than singing on the bass

especially the complicated rythms and basslines of the police

sting does this very well as does mccartney

i have never heard prince do both .. especially on a song like erotic city or 17 days with somewhat difficult rythms to keep up with while singing

this is no knock of prince .. i said before they are equal in my mind .. or were equal i should say

it just seems prince bass skills usually last about 2 minutes and its a jam not singing and asside from a couple quick bass runs .. his skills are pretty uninteresting on his bass solos

I've seen him play a few shows where he plays nothing but the bass. All at Paisley.

BrazilianOnRaspberryBeret said:

TrevorAyer said:

i have never heard prince do both .. especially on a song like erotic city or 17 days with somewhat difficult rythms to keep up with while singing

Strange that you mentioned these two songs cause both have very simple repeated bass lines all the way through.

yes they do .. but the trick is that with guitar and piano it is pretty easy to play along and sing since neither instrument requires consistant rythmic precision all the way thru .. eg .. prince plays a little rythm guitar thows in some little licks in between lyrics .. same with piano .. but bass is the instrument you need to stay the same, solid and unrelenting all the way thru .. a sliding bass line like 17 days may seem simple but try to hit that slide every single time WHILE singing .. and often the singing contains a lot of rythmic variations .. it is no easy feat to keep that consistant pulse while singing dynamically .. consider the off beat reggae bass lines of the police .. and the fact that sting is singing a dynamic lead over it .. it is pretty impressive to do both at the same time .. i have only witnessed prince jamming on bass but not singing at the same time

NoNameReporter said:

TrevorAyer said:

i wonder if prince can play bass .. and sing at the same time .. for a whole concert

with all do respect .. singing and playing guitar or piano is way way way easier than singing on the bass

especially the complicated rythms and basslines of the police

sting does this very well as does mccartney

i have never heard prince do both .. especially on a song like erotic city or 17 days with somewhat difficult rythms to keep up with while singing

this is no knock of prince .. i said before they are equal in my mind .. or were equal i should say

it just seems prince bass skills usually last about 2 minutes and its a jam not singing and asside from a couple quick bass runs .. his skills are pretty uninteresting on his bass solos

I've seen him play a few shows where he plays nothing but the bass. All at Paisley.

Me too. Surely, Trevor you know that Prince has done shows completely on the bass? Vicki Waiting with Prince on the bass blew my mind.

Now, if Sting can come up with a bass line as good as "let's work" or solo like "days of Wild" I'll be impressed. I've seen Sting live twice, once with The Police. Prince thumps and trumps Sting at live playing.

NoNameReporter said:

Circa '95 at a show at Paisley Prince mentioned how Sting was on stage with him. He said he whisper into Wendy's ear and asked her if he should mess him up on the bass (I'm paraphrasing here) and Wendy told him he should let him be. Given that experience I can safely say that Prince thinks he has superious skills to Sting.

I remember the dialogue because I thought it was such an interesting tidbit for him to share.

He is known for this type of thing. Have just been flicking through: LOVE, DEATH & DURAN DURAN

IN THE PLEASURE GROOVE by JOHN TAYLOR

He mentions an impromptu performance at the Roof Gardens in Kensington after a Lovesexy show. Jonh said no - as he knew better - to joining Prince on stage, Eric Clapton said yes... I believe there was another incident in 1986 in London when Sting took the bait.

rap said:

NoNameReporter said:

Circa '95 at a show at Paisley Prince mentioned how Sting was on stage with him. He said he whisper into Wendy's ear and asked her if he should mess him up on the bass (I'm paraphrasing here) and Wendy told him he should let him be. Given that experience I can safely say that Prince thinks he has superious skills to Sting.

I remember the dialogue because I thought it was such an interesting tidbit for him to share.

He is known for this type of thing. Have just been flicking through: LOVE, DEATH & DURAN DURAN

IN THE PLEASURE GROOVE by JOHN TAYLOR

He mentions an impromptu performance at the Roof Gardens in Kensington after a Lovesexy show. Jonh said no - as he knew better - to joining Prince on stage, Eric Clapton said yes... I believe there was another incident in 1986 in London when Sting took the bait.

Sounds like Prince thinks that Sting has skills...

skywalker said:

Now, if Sting can come up with a bass line as good as "let's work" or solo like "days of Wild" I'll be impressed. I've seen Sting live twice, once with The Police. Prince thumps and trumps Sting at live playing.

You could argue that the bass line to 'Walking on the Moon' probably trumps any Prince bass line, in terms of recognizability. 'Beds Too Big Without You' is another fantastic bass line from Sting. 'Cant Stand Losing You' ... 'Voices Inside My Head' all great bass lines.

NoNameReporter said:

Circa '95 at a show at Paisley Prince mentioned how Sting was on stage with him. He said he whisper into Wendy's ear and asked her if he should mess him up on the bass (I'm paraphrasing here) and Wendy told him he should let him be. Given that experience I can safely say that Prince thinks he has superious skills to Sting.

I remember the dialogue because I thought it was such an interesting tidbit for him to share.

I'm still mad at Sting because he didn't show up at the concert I went to in 1988...