NorthC said:

I think you're the one who should stop. All these endless discussions about there being no evidence for the existence of God will lead you nowhere.

You gave up that quickly, huh?

Maybe it's just a question of inspiration. He's hit the spot musically in the 80s, part of the 90s and there are only so many ways to say the same thing.

My impression is that the discussion of whether religion killed his music has more to do with the gap that came after his sexual, rebelious, younger period. We would not be having this discussion if he developped into a sharper lyricist/songwriter or a cutting edge dance/funk artist.

What we often got was a watered down version of the old prince minus the profanity. Instead of a move towards more poignant personal lyrics Prince chose to stay in the safe waters. His adventurous streak is only to be found in his business try-outs and far less in his music.

Old Friends For Sale is the perfect example. The version we know from bootlegs is a fantastic song but the released version is just a love themed thingie. The music didn't really change but he cut away what was the essential strong point of the song; the personal edge.

When it comes to dance music there's no way he could keep ahead of new talent. Younger people have another frame of reference and will be more fluent and daring to experiment on that front. that was a losing battle anyway.

So to me it's not the religion that stifled his music.

It's not Josh (and I'm happy a young guy gets a break at doing what he loves under the wings of a talent like prince). Aside for TRC, Prince playes it safe, or played to the masses, or became a know-it-all preacher. In any case the result is that his music is far less remarkable than it ever was and the exposure het gets mostly comes because of his past glory and status as a live artist. The moment the interviews end and journalists walk out the door the album sales dwindle, if they even kicked of in the first place. And I find that such a shame. But we all make stupid choices at one point don't we

filthyrichyuppie said:

NorthC said:

Shouldn't this be locked or moved to P&R?

TheEnglishGent said:

Yeah, I think we should put this thread out of it's misery. So unless anyone has any objections (if so, feel free to orgnote).......