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Reply #90 posted 04/29/14 8:09pm

728huey

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I heart prince and believe he may be the greatest rock musician of all time, but songwriter? Not so much. hmph! Besides Dylan, Lennon & McCartney and Leonard Cohen, what about Bruce Springsteen, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Carole King, Joni Mtichell, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Van Morrison, Neil Diamond, and even Randy Newman?

typing

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Reply #91 posted 04/29/14 8:47pm

sovembol

I was pleased to see Kris Kristofferson on this list.. He doesn't have the best voice, but that man has written some amazing songs. Very underrated.

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Reply #92 posted 04/30/14 4:14am

funkaholic1972

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Empress said:

TrevorAyer said:

cant believe bob marley is ranked so low .. jesus what has the world come to .. for all prince greatness he never touched bob marley

Totally agree!

Yep, Bob Marley would deserve this title more than Prince, he wrote many classic songs with deep and meaningful lyrics.

Prince would definately be the "Greatest One Man Band of all time" though IMO. But that is not what this poll is about.

RIP Prince: thank U 4 a funky Time...
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Reply #93 posted 04/30/14 4:19am

funkaholic1972

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blackbob said:

funkaholic1972 said:

I ain't gonna vote for Prince! Although I love him dearly I just don't consider him the greatest songwriter of all times, he wrote too many clunkers and has watered down his songwriting legacy that way. I believe Stevie Wonder would be more deserving of this title.

i admire stevie wonder greatly but how many great songs has he written in the last 30 years ?...he had his great run of albums in the 70s the same as prince did in the 80s...i would say prince is the better songwriter because he has a little bit more variety than stevie did...every artist has their golden period but for some reason prince is attacked more because he isnt writing when doves crys anymore..?...when was the last time stevie wrote a superstition calibre song..?

Agreed with the last 30 years concerning Stevie. But unlike Prince stevie only released about 3 albums during that period of time, which -admittedly- weren't classics like his 70's work, and has thus not diluted his legacy as much as Prince has done.

-

Of course Prince has written quite a few very good songs (mainly in the eighties and early nineties), but overall his output hasn't been as strong as Stevie's, or Bob Marley's, or Lennon&McCartney's output. IMHO of course... wink

RIP Prince: thank U 4 a funky Time...
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Reply #94 posted 04/30/14 4:20am

funkaholic1972

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Genesia said:

V10LETBLUES said:

this is fan masturbation


Yup - a big ol' prince.org circle jerk. lol

falloff

RIP Prince: thank U 4 a funky Time...
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Reply #95 posted 04/30/14 5:35am

Shawy89

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Lol. Delusional fans. Grow up already, Prince is not, was never and will never be the greatest songwriter of all time, I'm beginning to doubt he'd even crack the top 15... Seriously, guys, ain't it enough that he is a respected musician all over the globe, between all music listeners (not all of them, though)? He's known to be a great guitarist, great musician, great dancer... He's just not the best.. He ain't no Marvin Gaye, he ain't no James Brown, he damn sure ain't no Lennon McCartney and if he was better than them (good joke) he'd have shown it in his work, but at his best Prince can write a ballad with different characters and unique storytelling... (I consider Sign o the Time (song) his best song lyrically and it's not a ballad anyway)... Lennon-McCartney / Bob Dylan are class songwriters, Prince.... he isn't there... simple as it is.

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Reply #96 posted 04/30/14 7:50am

chewymusic

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Shawy89 said:

Lol. Delusional fans. Grow up already, Prince is not, was never and will never be the greatest songwriter of all time, I'm beginning to doubt he'd even crack the top 15... Seriously, guys, ain't it enough that he is a respected musician all over the globe, between all music listeners (not all of them, though)? He's known to be a great guitarist, great musician, great dancer... He's just not the best.. He ain't no Marvin Gaye, he ain't no James Brown, he damn sure ain't no Lennon McCartney and if he was better than them (good joke) he'd have shown it in his work, but at his best Prince can write a ballad with different characters and unique storytelling... (I consider Sign o the Time (song) his best song lyrically and it's not a ballad anyway)... Lennon-McCartney / Bob Dylan are class songwriters, Prince.... he isn't there... simple as it is.

there it is. lock

smile

"Hyperactive when I was small, Hyperactive now I'm grown, Hyperactive 'till I'm dead and gone"
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Reply #97 posted 04/30/14 8:31am

Militant

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moderator

The poll disagrees with you. :lol:

Prince is #1.
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Reply #98 posted 04/30/14 9:10am

Pueroda

YAY!!! Prince #1...voters speak louder.

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Reply #99 posted 04/30/14 9:43am

Militant

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moderator

Wow, Tori Amos has jumped into the Top 10. That's good. I like her a lot. Helluva songwriter.
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Reply #100 posted 04/30/14 9:44am

UmustB

I totally agree for those amongst us that are truly re cog nized! There are others that are amazing that will never be truly heard - un fortunatley!


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Reply #101 posted 04/30/14 10:41am

TrevorAyer

Militant said:

The poll disagrees with you. lol Prince is #1.

they should poll coke or an avacado and see which food is the best of all time

pretty sure coke would win even tho it will give you cancer

glad we resolved this .. listening to prince gives fans cancer .. you will find yourself addicted no matter how many shitty illness inducing ingrediants he throws in .. you will crave more and more and try to convince everybody to love him as much as you do even tho his music is killing you from the inside out .. people are dumb

prince is good for what he did .. not what he does .. and i have serious doubts he could write a hit without stealing from other talents .. unfortunately the past 20 years have proven this fact true

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Reply #102 posted 04/30/14 11:03am

Marrk

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Militant said:

BobGeorge909 said:
Militant, weren't u the one saying MJ's come together is better than the Beatles...? Snicker snicker...
Yes, and I stand by it. The musicianship is tighter, the groove is harder, and the vocal performance is better. MJ slayed it. Just like Jimi made "Watchtower" better.

You can't talk about MJ here, take it to the MJ sticky. Luv4u is slipping! smile

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Reply #103 posted 04/30/14 12:04pm

BobGeorge909

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Marrk said:



Militant said:


BobGeorge909 said:
Militant, weren't u the one saying MJ's come together is better than the Beatles...? Snicker snicker...

Yes, and I stand by it. The musicianship is tighter, the groove is harder, and the vocal performance is better. MJ slayed it. Just like Jimi made "Watchtower" better.


You can't talk about MJ here, take it to the MJ sticky. Luv4u is slipping! smile


Hey...its fine by me...as long as opinions stay opinions and facts stay facts.
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Reply #104 posted 04/30/14 1:51pm

Darshy

Just as Pink Floyd are the most overrated band ever, so too is Bob Dylan the most overrated songwriter. Really, its about time these turgid, plodding misery-guts of musicians are brought down a peg or too. Definitely wouldn't be played on my desert island. I'd rather throw myself to the sharks. As for Lennon & McCartney....Yellow Submarine anyone, Hey Jude zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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Reply #105 posted 04/30/14 4:08pm

steakfinger

Darshy said:

Just as Pink Floyd are the most overrated band ever, so too is Bob Dylan the most overrated songwriter. Really, its about time these turgid, plodding misery-guts of musicians are brought down a peg or too. Definitely wouldn't be played on my desert island. I'd rather throw myself to the sharks. As for Lennon & McCartney....Yellow Submarine anyone, Hey Jude zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Arms of Orion, anyone? Grafitti Bridge? Jughead?

Your comment is meaningless.

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Reply #106 posted 04/30/14 4:34pm

ufoclub

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Marrk said:

Militant said:

BobGeorge909 said: Yes, and I stand by it. The musicianship is tighter, the groove is harder, and the vocal performance is better. MJ slayed it. Just like Jimi made "Watchtower" better.

You can't talk about MJ here, take it to the MJ sticky. Luv4u is slipping! smile

lol

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Reply #107 posted 05/01/14 8:24am

delirious

First of all - Lenon and McCartney are two people - so listed them together as "best songwriter" (singular) is a little strange but I digress...

I think a lot of you are focusing more on just lyrics - if it was "best lyricist" I think Prince would probably fare a little worse. However, best songwriter should take into account melodies, structure and of course DIVERSITY - this is where Prince ranks very high.

Prince has covered Soul, Rock, R&B, Funk, Gospel, Jazz, New Wave, Punk and even mixed in Egyptian and other world music elements. He has also come up with a huge amount of original melodies. Prince has also written songs from many points of view (male, female, alien, religious, non-religious and on and on).

Ask yourself what an Egyptian/Dance/Funk song composed by Bob Dylan or Bruce Springsteen would sound like. Most people, whether they are informed about these artists musically or not, tend to think that most Springsteen and Dylan songs (just using these guys as an example) sound realtively similar musically - you will have guitar, drums, bass and piano and maybe every now and then mix in some new musical element.

With Prince you could get a harpsichord, no bass, many different tones, sounds and techniques coming from the guitar, many different bass lines from ascending to decending and on and on - you get someone who is really putting some effort into creating a new sound to go along with the story he is telling. This is part of songwriting in my opinion and I think a lot of people see this in Prince's music which is why he ranks pretty highly in these polls.

I see Tori Amos is now moving up the charts and again she represents someone who has a very similar technique. As a matter of fact, Tori has listed Prince as one of her all time favorite artists who has had a huge influence in her life as a composer. She ranks Purple Rain as her favorite album and talks about Prince quite frequently in interviews. Here is just one example:

http://www.rhapsody.com/blog/post/from-the-vault-on-the-record-with-tori-amos

Anyway I am just stating my opinion and trying to add something to the conversation and I do agree Prince probably needs to be better as a lyricist...

Cheers!

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Reply #108 posted 05/01/14 8:28am

V10LETBLUES

Militant said:

Wow, Tori Amos has jumped into the Top 10. That's good. I like her a lot. Helluva songwriter.


she is #1 as of the time of this post lol

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Reply #109 posted 05/01/14 8:29am

luvsexy4all

steakfinger said:

Darshy said:

Just as Pink Floyd are the most overrated band ever, so too is Bob Dylan the most overrated songwriter. Really, its about time these turgid, plodding misery-guts of musicians are brought down a peg or too. Definitely wouldn't be played on my desert island. I'd rather throw myself to the sharks. As for Lennon & McCartney....Yellow Submarine anyone, Hey Jude zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Arms of Orion, anyone? Grafitti Bridge? Jughead?

Your comment is meaningless.

so ..no one else has written subpar songs like the prince songs u mentioned?

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Reply #110 posted 05/01/14 11:49am

Dalia11

Prince is one of the Greatest song writers of all time! Then he also produces and does all the other technical stuff that is involved with making music. Plus, he sings and plays more than 10 instruments. Not too many people can do a- l- l -that! prince
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Reply #111 posted 05/01/14 8:47pm

Astasheiks

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Show "Nough, Amen!

[Edited 5/1/14 20:47pm]

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Reply #112 posted 05/03/14 12:18am

BlackCandle

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"Purple & Gold", people, "Purple & Gold"...
"Had to get off the boat so I could walk on water..."
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Reply #113 posted 05/03/14 10:49am

McJagger

Done!

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Reply #114 posted 05/03/14 7:12pm

kewlschool

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BlackCandle said:

"Purple & Gold", people, "Purple & Gold"...

Although, not a great song, it is at the same level as most collegiate and professional football fight songs.

I thought it was just terrible when it first came out, until it was compared to other fight songs for football teams. It's rather standard sound and presentation as most the other fight songs.

99.9% of everything I say is strictly for my own entertainment
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Reply #115 posted 05/03/14 10:30pm

fantasticjoy

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I can't believe people are trying to discredit Prince for being one of the greatest song writers. The man was a songwriting machine back in the day. He's had some solid albums, while at the time had b sides that were classics , and albums with other artist performing his material all at the same time period.
I think he's underrated as a song writer. In my opinion he's the greatest song writer of all time. I don't disagree there are others who are great as well, but Prince deserve to be in the place within the top best. You can't deny that hardly anyone has been as diverse as him or done a good job at it.
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Reply #116 posted 05/03/14 11:58pm

Vannormal

Why ?

Prince isn't the greatest songwriter of all time...

He's just a good songwriter who's very prolific.

He's no Lennon, nor a McCartney, or even a Glimmer Twin duo, or a Cohen.
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves. And wiser people so full of doubts" (Bertrand Russell 1872-1972)
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Reply #117 posted 05/04/14 12:14am

funkomatic

Pretty sure that a lot of people who replied to this thread actually don't know what the term songwriting really means.
[Edited 5/4/14 0:16am]
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Reply #118 posted 05/04/14 12:22am

Vannormal

Prince wrote a lot of good music, some great lyrics too. But he isn't the greatest lyricist there is now, is he ?

But, again, funk songs with personal lyrics like When Doves Cry, or Head, Sister are great to me and probably loads of others, but that doesn't make him the great songwriter to me.

I believe Sign O The Times is great. Simple great music, lyrical wise it's perfect. Cause it was able to grab the zeitgeist so perfectly back in '87. No one else was able to do that in a couple of minutes.
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves. And wiser people so full of doubts" (Bertrand Russell 1872-1972)
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Reply #119 posted 05/05/14 4:38am

milesb

If this poll had any credibility (discounting the fact that probably only hardcore fans of each artist are voting), then it lost it for me by labelling Prince in the genre of:

Hip hop music, Synthpop, New Wave

hmmmm

although the 'genres' for the the other artists seem like a fair description

My password is what
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Forums > Prince: Music and More > Vote for Prince as the Greatest Songwriter of all time!