Alright, so ive got a good friend. We have roughly the same music taste. However, he is kind of turned off by Prince saying "he tries to sound like MJ" (please dont turn this into an MJ vs P thing) So we argued about it, and i told him i would show him some stuff to change his mind.. Do any of you have any suggestions? i was thinking:

1984 First Avenue Birthday Show

Maybe Small Club

and then a cd of Different tracks (suggestions please)

With all due respect, your friend is a fucking idiot. Just make him watch "Purple Rain". Job done.

Put any Prince album and Michael Jackson album back to back. Compare the two superbowl performances. Read your friend the lyrics to Irresistable Bitch. There's very little the two have in common.

[Edited 11/26/13 16:54pm]

Show him a video of MJ playing an instrument.

Your friend is jealous and wants to

Obviously he just doesn't know a whole lot about Prince, don't get all angry nerd on him!

.

Yeah, give him a seletcion of stuff that shows off Prince's versatility and musicianship.

Make her listen to Don't Stop Till You Get Enough then to Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad.

To Beat It then to Let's Pretend We're Married.

To Smooth Criminal then to If I Was Your Girlfriend.

To Jam then to Money Don't Matter 2Night.

To They Don't Care About Us then to Dolphin.

And finally to You Rock My World then to The Work, Pt. II.

You can interchange any of these singles with one of their same album contemporaries, it should work.

If your friend can still see any similarity between Prince and MJ after then it's a lost cause

All they need to see is Sign Of The Times dvd! Forever in my life.... CASE CLOSED!

Prince and MJ are really only similar in that they've both got that James Brown injection of influence. Plus there's obviously a cultural thing too, both having grown up in the same era and socio-political subculture. They would have grown up listening to a lot of the same music. But the JB thing is definitely a major influence on both. But other than that, they're really quite different.

As a long time Prince evangelist to the uninitiated, I've learned not to overwhelm people with too much too early. There has to be an element of him having his own self-discovery of Prince's music. I would start with something small - perhaps get him to watch the 2004 RNRHOF performance of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", or 2006 SNL version of "Fury". Or just give them The Very Best of Prince. Keep it simple

Militant said:

toejam said:

Prince and MJ are really only similar in that they've both got that James Brown injection of influence. Plus there's obviously a cultural thing too, both having grown up in the same era and socio-political subculture. They would have grown up listening to a lot of the same music. But the JB thing is definitely a major influence on both. But other than that, they're really quite different.

As a long time Prince evangelist to the uninitiated, I've learned not to overwhelm people with too much too early. There has to be an element of him having his own self-discovery of Prince's music. I would start with something small - perhaps get him to watch the 2004 RNRHOF performance of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", or 2006 SNL version of "Fury". Or just give them The Very Best of Prince. Keep it simple

Who doesn't?

MJ's most recent look was obviously inspired by Prince's Lovesexy / Batman / Grafitti Bridge era look: the long-ish, straightened hair, 5 o'clock shadow, black leather jacket. Dirty Diana to Prince's Darling Nikki. MJ wanted to BE Prince.

[Edited 11/28/13 6:31am]

MJ wanted to be Prince but ended up as Gary Glitter.

powersoul99 said:

MJ wanted to be Prince but ended up as Gary Glitter.

Do you wanna be in my gang?

NO!!!!!

Militant said:

With all due respect, your friend is a fucking idiot.

I'd add that 'Bob George' should be submitted as evidence, as well.

Step 1 : Turn to your friend and say (as loudly as you can) 'You're an idiot!'

Step 2: Play 'Erotic City'

Step 3: Repeat Step 1

Step 4: Play 'P Control', 'Gold', 'Lovesexy', 'Joy in Repetition' and 'Bob George'

Step 5: Watch as your friend agrees that they have indeed been an idiot

GeminiCalling said:

Step 1 : Turn to your friend and say (as loudly as you can) 'You're an idiot!'

Step 2: Play 'Erotic City'

Step 3: Repeat Step 1

Step 4: Play 'P Control', 'Gold', 'Lovesexy', 'Joy in Repetition' and 'Bob George'

Step 5: Watch as your friend agrees that they have indeed been an idiot

In between steps 4 and 5 show your friend the video of Prince performing 'The Cross' from the Lovesexy Tour.

Why do you feel the need to change his mind?

I don't mind when people don't like Prince. Some friends are interested and ask me about him.

If somebody wants to argue with me about Prince, I don't get their motives.

I love a good discussion about theories, but how can anybody question your taste and love for music?

My best friend does not particularly like Prince. However, sometimes he tells me things as:

"wow, Prince really studied James Brown, didn't he? And I don't mean that in a bad way"

I felt apreciated, because he took the time to watch Prince video's, because he wanted to understand why I love him so much. And by watching the video's he saw that Prince was a great and exceptional musician. Untill then, he was distracted by the authorative character of Prince, and did not judge him on his musicianship.