When I became a Prince fan, I was more drawn to his 90s and 00s input than his more commercially successful 80s stuff.

Don't get me wrong. I love Dirty Mind, 1999, Purple Rain, Under The Cherry Moon, Sign O' The Times and Batman.

It's like with Michael Jackson, I tend to like the less known, less mainstream music of an artist. When an artist gets too mainstream and popular, I don't tend to listen to their songs and just stick to their "underground" music. With Michael Jackson and Madonna, I like their less known, less radio-friendly stuff.

Prince released a lot of great stuff in the 90's. If you can find substance in under-appreciated art, I don''t see that as a negative thing.

bluegangsta said:

Prince released a lot of great stuff in the 90's. If you can find substance in under-appreciated art, I don''t see that as a negative thing.

A fair amount of people prefer the 90's stuff for whatever reason. To say it's less "mainstream" or "radio friendly" is questionable at best though, most people prefer the 80's stuff because it's more experimental than the 90's music, which is usually a bit more polished and genre-lead.

[Edited 7/26/15 5:08am]

Not at all!! The 90s stuff is what made me a fan. It blows away the 80s material in my book. I still to this day like his 90s output the best.

SoftSkarlettLovisa said:

It is. Very. Odd.

That doesn't mean his 90s music is not worthy, he did many terrific songs and quite a few decent albums, but his seminal work is in the late 70s and 80s so liking his 90s work better is like preferring Stevie Wonder's 80s work to what he did in the 70s.

Prince's 90's work is good, but it comes nowhere near his 70's/80's material! The competition level in the 80's was tough and brought out the best in Prince's music. There was no-one in the 90's to really push Prince to make top draw music. Prince has been on cruise control since then. Don't get me wrong, he's has put many gems since, but nothing like the 80's

joyinrepetition said:

I see it more as, the competition/inspiration was there to find, he just didn't really give much of a fuck any more. At least not anything other than $$$ and boning. Live shows were still bangin' though.

It could also be generational. If you grew up to Diamonds and Pearls, Love Symbol, and The Gold Experience instead of 1999, Purple Rain, and Sign O' the Times then that's where your heart was at the time music-wise. Therefore you would prefer the 90's music.

I like both the 80's & 90's music.

rusty1 said:

joyinrepetition said:

Prince's 90's work is good, but it comes nowhere near his 70's/80's material! The competition level in the 80's was tough and brought out the best in Prince's music. There was no-one in the 90's to really push Prince to make top draw music. Prince has been on cruise control since then. Don't get me wrong, he's has put many gems since, but nothing like the 80's

100% correct

yeah ^^^^ this!

prince needs..... an arch musical nemesis!

SoftSkarlettLovisa said:

When I became a Prince fan, I was more drawn to his 90s and 00s input than his more commercially successful 80s stuff.

Don't get me wrong. I love Dirty Mind, 1999, Purple Rain, Under The Cherry Moon, Sign O' The Times and Batman.

It's like with Michael Jackson, I tend to like the less known, less mainstream music of an artist. When an artist gets too mainstream and popular, I don't tend to listen to their songs and just stick to their "underground" music. With Michael Jackson and Madonna, I like their less known, less radio-friendly stuff.

Based on the opening sentence, it sounds like you became a fan in the late 90's.
So it is obvious that the newer (then current) material would've grabbed you more than the already dated 80's stuff.
I say dated because if you didnt live through the 80's then you probably wouldn't be able to relate to the rare sound that P was creating during that period.

Its like the newbies from this decade that have no interest in the 1st five albums because they sound cheesy and something that "my parents would've listened to".

P's best work is from the 80's but I can understand why you wouldnt get it.

Let me guess, you're around 30 years old.

since i was introduced to his music in the early 80's ..im tired of it..id rather hear his 90's

I was introduced to all the 80's classics between 89 and 91 (as late as 93 for certain hard to find side projects) so it didn't sound outdated to me at all, particularly since I always had a thing for the 80's, but it's true that "my" Prince isn't the Prince of PR or SOTT, because I wasn't there. "My" Prince really begins with D&P, the first album I anticipated, and then I literally grew-up with him. I was 14 when DéP was released, 20 when Emancipation got out, 25 when TRC was released. Those years were my formative years and despite my passionate love for the classic albums, the material that was released in the 90's is the material I remember when thinking of my late teens and early 20's. It's an entirely different kind of emotional involvement and in that sense I think I now have a somewhat nostalgic preference for Prince's 90's and early 00's music, even though I had and still have a passion for the 80's stuff. The 80's stuff reminds me mostly 1990-91, when I was discovering it and buying all those albums one after the other, or 92 and 93 for the side projects I got a bit later. But then if I think of any later period of my life, I think immediately of its contemporary Prince album. For me 1991-92 is first and foremost D&P, 1992-93 is , then the name change and Come and so on and so on...

callimnate said:

SoftSkarlettLovisa said:

When I became a Prince fan, I was more drawn to his 90s and 00s input than his more commercially successful 80s stuff.

Don't get me wrong. I love Dirty Mind, 1999, Purple Rain, Under The Cherry Moon, Sign O' The Times and Batman.

It's like with Michael Jackson, I tend to like the less known, less mainstream music of an artist. When an artist gets too mainstream and popular, I don't tend to listen to their songs and just stick to their "underground" music. With Michael Jackson and Madonna, I like their less known, less radio-friendly stuff.

Based on the opening sentence, it sounds like you became a fan in the late 90's.
So it is obvious that the newer (then current) material would've grabbed you more than the already dated 80's stuff.
I say dated because if you didnt live through the 80's then you probably wouldn't be able to relate to the rare sound that P was creating during that period.

Its like the newbies from this decade that have no interest in the 1st five albums because they sound cheesy and something that "my parents would've listened to".

P's best work is from the 80's but I can understand why you wouldnt get it.

Let me guess, you're around 30 years old.

I'm 27. I became a fan when I was 16, way back in 2004. So that could explain it. lol