khill95 said:

I'm new to the Prince fandom. I'm 21, have always liked Prince's music, but didn't become a SERIOUS fan until right before his passing. Only then I discovered that he wrote all his music and played all his instruments, I just thought he was a guitar guy up to that point(you can only imagine the thrill I got of seeing Prince behind a drum set, being a drummer myself!!). Then when he passed, and a lot of his performances and songs started going up on Youtube, it was like a door that opened to a whole new world of music. The thing I'm wondering is, when he was alive, why didn't he get credit when it was due?? Growing up, I only ever heard his 80s songs on the radio. I'm talking about the big hits like the Purple Rain stuff, the 1999 stuff, Kiss, etc. I had no idea Sign o the Times or Lovesexy existed. No idea that Diamonds and Pearls or Musicology existed. No idea that he released an average of an album a year. I feel like if I knew about this stuff, I would've hopped on the Prince train a LOOOONG time ago.

Anybody else feel like this?

Holy shit no way I'm in the exact same boat. I'm also 21 and only got into prince maybe 4 or 5 months before his passing. I had only known songs like 1999, Kiss etc., but though I liked them I'd never really understood the scope of his talents and song writing skills an so on (being a guitarist I had heard he was great but all his hits dont really have that prominant guitar moments). It was only when I was watching an interveiw with D'angelo where he mentioned princes name like 13 times or something and I was like right I'm buying a Prince album now. Cut to now and I have like 300 or so songs on my iPod. I too am sad that I wasnt a fan sooner, and also just missed out on tickets to see him when he was in Australia a few months ago Anyways that's so cool I've found someone with what sounds like the same experience I'm having. I wonder if there are like heaps of younger fans like us going through all this haha

H

[Edited 10/31/16 17:14pm]

dacca said:

Holy shit no way I'm in the exact same boat. I'm also 21 and only got into prince maybe 4 or 5 months before his passing. I had only known songs like 1999, Kiss etc., but though I liked them I'd never really understood the scope of his talents and song writing skills an so on (being a guitarist I had heard he was great but all his hits dont really have that prominant guitar moments). It was only when I was watching an interveiw with D'angelo where he mentioned princes name like 13 times or something and I was like right I'm buying a Prince album now. Cut to now and I have like 300 or so songs on my iPod.

I too am sad that I wasnt a fan sooner, and also just missed out on tickets to see him when he was in Australia a few months ago Anyways that's so cool I've found someone with what sounds like the same experience I'm having. I wonder if there are like heaps of younger fans like us going through all this haha
edit: Sorry if it turns out I posted this twice I'm not sure the first time worked

No Problems...it is worth Posting TWICE..

THrilled to have you here.....Especially love that the Guitar brought you here...

Im also in Australia...Have you heard of Harts....?

Prince took him under his wings a few years back...

http://fasterlouder.junkee.com/harts-one-morning-i-got-a-call-and-it-was-prince/840071

Lovejunky said:

dacca said:

Holy shit no way I'm in the exact same boat. I'm also 21 and only got into prince maybe 4 or 5 months before his passing. I had only known songs like 1999, Kiss etc., but though I liked them I'd never really understood the scope of his talents and song writing skills an so on (being a guitarist I had heard he was great but all his hits dont really have that prominant guitar moments). It was only when I was watching an interveiw with D'angelo where he mentioned princes name like 13 times or something and I was like right I'm buying a Prince album now. Cut to now and I have like 300 or so songs on my iPod.

I too am sad that I wasnt a fan sooner, and also just missed out on tickets to see him when he was in Australia a few months ago Anyways that's so cool I've found someone with what sounds like the same experience I'm having. I wonder if there are like heaps of younger fans like us going through all this haha
edit: Sorry if it turns out I posted this twice I'm not sure the first time worked

No Problems...it is worth Posting TWICE..

THrilled to have you here.....Especially love that the Guitar brought you here...

Im also in Australia...Have you heard of Harts....?

Prince took him under his wings a few years back...

http://fasterlouder.junkee.com/harts-one-morning-i-got-a-call-and-it-was-prince/840071

Fuck I just realised theres a second page,
but yeah I was at a harts gig like a month ago haha hes great

[Edited 10/31/16 17:11pm]

Lovejunky said:

dacca said:

Holy shit no way I'm in the exact same boat. I'm also 21 and only got into prince maybe 4 or 5 months before his passing. I had only known songs like 1999, Kiss etc., but though I liked them I'd never really understood the scope of his talents and song writing skills an so on (being a guitarist I had heard he was great but all his hits dont really have that prominant guitar moments). It was only when I was watching an interveiw with D'angelo where he mentioned princes name like 13 times or something and I was like right I'm buying a Prince album now. Cut to now and I have like 300 or so songs on my iPod.

I too am sad that I wasnt a fan sooner, and also just missed out on tickets to see him when he was in Australia a few months ago Anyways that's so cool I've found someone with what sounds like the same experience I'm having. I wonder if there are like heaps of younger fans like us going through all this haha
edit: Sorry if it turns out I posted this twice I'm not sure the first time worked

No Problems...it is worth Posting TWICE..

THrilled to have you here.....Especially love that the Guitar brought you here...

Im also in Australia...Have you heard of Harts....?

Prince took him under his wings a few years back...

http://fasterlouder.junkee.com/harts-one-morning-i-got-a-call-and-it-was-prince/840071

Are you a long time fan?

dacca said:

Lovejunky said:

No Problems...it is worth Posting TWICE..

THrilled to have you here.....Especially love that the Guitar brought you here...

Im also in Australia...Have you heard of Harts....?

Prince took him under his wings a few years back...

http://fasterlouder.junkee.com/harts-one-morning-i-got-a-call-and-it-was-prince/840071

Are you a long time fan?

Yes Darling..Im OLD.......

Lovejunky said:

dacca said:

Are you a long time fan?

Yes Darling..Im OLD.......

Haha thats cool Were you able to see him live?

I always loved his music and I even listened to songs from the Graffiti Bridge album on Spotify last year when his music was still on Spotify. Since April, I'm a hardcore fan I forgot about how amazing he his!

blissfulillusion00 said:

I always loved his music and I even listened to songs from the Graffiti Bridge album on Spotify last year when his music was still on Spotify. Since April, I'm a hardcore fan I forgot about how amazing he his!

He's unreal hey

dacca said:

Lovejunky said:

Yes Darling..Im OLD.......

Haha thats cool Were you able to see him live?

No..I never managed to conquer the Ticketmaster Game.. (thats a whole nother story)

mynameisnotsusan said:

Australia up in this org

Haha everyones coming out of the woodwork

petalthecat said:

Ahh so many unheard gems to discover..kinda makes me jealous Its never too late to enjoy someone's music. I discovered people like The Doors, Jimi and Bob Marley long after they had left us. Music lasts forever.

sonshine said:

Welcome! You give me hope for the future altho your comments about your peers is distressing. But i have sons around your age so i know what its like to get them to listen to Prince. Despite my undying devotion they are only casual fans. They are either too narrow in their tastes or too influenced by the current trends in music. One son likes classic rock and is only aware of a handful of P's songs (the big hits). The other son is into rap, but enjoys's (or tolerates) the lesser known songs and albums he hears with me. My 3rd son gets P the most and has even bought some of his records besides PR and 1999, but his musical interests are vast so he does not dwell on any particular artist in general . Anyway glad you are here. The more the merrier. I'm sorry you didn't know him sooner. Since he didn't allow his stuff on YT he didn't receive the attention and recognition he deserved. Most people are perplexed by my Prince obsession. His records were not always promoted or distributed properly. He rarely gets played on mainstream radio even tho he has a ton of songs that could have been hits. He obviously didn't care about that enough to change his controlling ways. Sometimes I feel he was a bit of a snob too with his "real musicians playing real music" mantra, but that's also what I love about him. He was genuine and he was massively talented. Way beyond all the others in his field. Thanks for joining the org!

Though some of the attention span stuff is definately true, I think there are people out there like OP and me (I'm 21) that see the talent and musicianship when given the chance, and I think is true for people of all ages. I beleive the main problem is that to people my age, he receives so little exposure compared to people like Jimi and Stevie etc online (finding his music can at times be damn near impossible), and on the radio. I think part of it also is that there is also a stigma surrounding prince especially for males, because he was a dude that wore high heels and military coats and lace gloves, that I think might effect the way younger people listen to him which is a shame. Although I overheard a younger relative playing adore the other day so I'm glad my fandom is influencing others haha

[Edited 10/31/16 19:36pm]

[Edited 10/31/16 19:41pm]

dacca said:

petalthecat said:

Ahh so many unheard gems to discover..kinda makes me jealous Its never too late to enjoy someone's music. I discovered people like The Doors, Jimi and Bob Marley long after they had left us. Music lasts forever.

Yeah I guess that's true but I'll be discovering new songs knowing I'll never see them live, and prince fans always talk up how good he was live and from what I've seen on YouTube and whatnot thats definitely a shame. But hey you're right at least the music itself lasts forever and tbh im glad I stumbled upon him at all considering how inaccessible he is to new generations like me.

GimmeThat said:

dacca said:

Yeah I guess that's true but I'll be discovering new songs knowing I'll never see them live, and prince fans always talk up how good he was live and from what I've seen on YouTube and whatnot thats definitely a shame. But hey you're right at least the music itself lasts forever and tbh im glad I stumbled upon him at all considering how inaccessible he is to new generations like me.

He was amazing live for sure! But we are all left with just the recordings now, and it's nice that you're still discovering them. Enjoy the journey!

Cheers

calhounlovejoy said:

My apologies if this has already been said. I didn't read all of the answers. I think the reason why you hadnt heard about all the albums is due to the way your generation is exposed to music, compared to how my generation was. Prince was really protective about what was posted on the Internet, like YouTube, and wasn't a fan of internet radio. I often wondered how younger people would ever know about him, because all of us older folks had already experienced his magic, and I assume most 21 year olds go to YouTube or Spotify. I remember reading how Questlove from the Roots would always try to get Prince to put more on the Internet for younger generations and even taught a class about him at New York University. All of this about Prince, sticking with his vision is one more reason that he is my absolute hero. There was no one like him, a virtuoso on countless instruments, carving his own path rising above poverty and prejudice, bringing people of all backgrounds together in radiant love. I'm so thankful to have shared the planet the same time he did.

Yeah I reckon this is spot on.

Lovejunky said:

dacca said:

Graycap23 said:

Lucky u.....I wish I could discover an artist of Princes talent in 2016. Welcome, better late than never.

Look up Harts if you havnt already he was invited to paisley park by Prince and his new album is pretty great and i think he has the potential to be like Prince. I'd also put D'angelo as close to being on Prince's level.

dacca said:

khill95 said:

I'm new to the Prince fandom. I'm 21, have always liked Prince's music, but didn't become a SERIOUS fan until right before his passing. Only then I discovered that he wrote all his music and played all his instruments, I just thought he was a guitar guy up to that point(you can only imagine the thrill I got of seeing Prince behind a drum set, being a drummer myself!!). Then when he passed, and a lot of his performances and songs started going up on Youtube, it was like a door that opened to a whole new world of music. The thing I'm wondering is, when he was alive, why didn't he get credit when it was due?? Growing up, I only ever heard his 80s songs on the radio. I'm talking about the big hits like the Purple Rain stuff, the 1999 stuff, Kiss, etc. I had no idea Sign o the Times or Lovesexy existed. No idea that Diamonds and Pearls or Musicology existed. No idea that he released an average of an album a year. I feel like if I knew about this stuff, I would've hopped on the Prince train a LOOOONG time ago.

Anybody else feel like this?

Holy shit no way I'm in the exact same boat. I'm also 21 and only got into prince maybe 4 or 5 months before his passing. I had only known songs like 1999, Kiss etc., but though I liked them I'd never really understood the scope of his talents and song writing skills an so on (being a guitarist I had heard he was great but all his hits dont really have that prominant guitar moments). It was only when I was watching an interveiw with D'angelo where he mentioned princes name like 13 times or something and I was like right I'm buying a Prince album now. Cut to now and I have like 300 or so songs on my iPod. I too am sad that I wasnt a fan sooner, and also just missed out on tickets to see him when he was in Australia a few months ago Anyways that's so cool I've found someone with what sounds like the same experience I'm having. I wonder if there are like heaps of younger fans like us going through all this haha

Hi there,

I discovered Prince after watching the SOTT film on VHS as a 12 year old in the early 90s. I was dimly aware of James Brown but I'd never seen anything quite like it, and by 14 I was a borderline obsessive. I quickly acquired his back catalogue (more or less chronologically) before collecting live shows and bootleg material. I remember deeply regretting the fact that I'd never experience Prince when he was at his most raw and subversive in the early eighties, that I'd never attend the SOTT Tour in person and so on. I could say this about a lot of artists – I would have loved to have seen James Brown in the 60s or 70s, Jimi Hendrix in London, Parliament-Funkadelic at their height, Miles Davis... It's a real shame that you'll never experience Prince live, but it's just one of those things... the main thing is that you've discovered something great.

Apart from Prince's body of work itself, one of the things I'm most thankful for is the fact that Prince led me to so much music that I couldn't be without. His musical references and influences are so eclectic that he functioned as a veritable encyclopedia of modern music for me as a teenager. Everything from James Brown, Sly Stone, the whole P-Funk movement (another vast creative world to fall into) to Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush. I started listening to Miles Davis because of his association with Prince, which in turn led me to Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Hermeto Pascoal, Cecil Taylor, Evan Parker. Not to mention the Blues (Robert Johnson, Skip James, Son House). You could argue that everyone's musical journey has to start somewhere, but I think that the sheer variety and eclecticism of Prince's music encourages open-mindedness in his listeners. I mean, his run of 80s albums is extraordinary – every one is different and separated by a mere year. I listen to pretty much everything now and as I said, it can all be directly or indirectly traced back to discovering Prince as a kid.

With regard to his lack of cultural presence in recent years, I think it's partly due to the critical response to his post-80s work and partly his own doing. There's no point reigniting the old debate regarding the former (I'm afraid that I'm one of those fans who were less enamoured with his later studio work). Even in the 90s few of the arty kids were listening to Prince. I seemed to get a lot of stick whenever I told anyone that I was a Prince fan (mostly based on ignorance it should be said). My friends at that time were either listening to alternative rock (Beck, Radiohead etc) or the emerging “IDM” scene (Aphex Twin, Autechre... which I loved). They associated Prince with stuff like “Diamonds and Pearls” or “The Most Beautiful Girl In The World” which, despite being fine songs from a mainstream pop perspective, can hardly be considered edgy or particularly interesting from a creative point of view. To counter this, I'd play people stuff like the original version of “Tick, Tick Bang”, “Erotic City”, tracks from “1999”, “The Black Album” or “The Undertaker” set. A few were converted, but nearly all conceded that there was more to Prince than they'd thought.

On the second point, his attitude to YouTube was obviously a massive miscalculation. I understand not wanting studio tracks being made available for free, but allowing old concert footage could only have strengthened his reputation and won him new fans. As you say, he was virtually completely absent to whole generations of young listeners and was simply swept aside by the huge cultural changes that were taking place. In the end however, he seemed quite content to market his material to a relatively small group of core, die-hard fans. Ultimately, I'm not sure that this kind of hermetic environment is particularly healthy for an artist... but I'm digressing. Of course, every now and then he would remind the world how extraordinary he was with something like the Super Bowl performance, but considering all of the above, it's completely forgiveable that young music lovers only have a limited awareness of what Prince was all about. x

[Edited 10/31/16 23:07pm]

P.S. If you haven't already done so, buy the "Sign O' the Times" movie immediately. It's lip-synced (from one of the greatest live performers we've ever seen!), microphones disappear and reappear inexplicably, but it still manages to be a masterpiece.

fen said:

dacca said:

Holy shit no way I'm in the exact same boat. I'm also 21 and only got into prince maybe 4 or 5 months before his passing. I had only known songs like 1999, Kiss etc., but though I liked them I'd never really understood the scope of his talents and song writing skills an so on (being a guitarist I had heard he was great but all his hits dont really have that prominant guitar moments). It was only when I was watching an interveiw with D'angelo where he mentioned princes name like 13 times or something and I was like right I'm buying a Prince album now. Cut to now and I have like 300 or so songs on my iPod. I too am sad that I wasnt a fan sooner, and also just missed out on tickets to see him when he was in Australia a few months ago Anyways that's so cool I've found someone with what sounds like the same experience I'm having. I wonder if there are like heaps of younger fans like us going through all this haha

Hi there,

I discovered Prince after watching the SOTT film on VHS as a 12 year old in the early 90s. I was dimly aware of James Brown but I'd never seen anything quite like it, and by 14 I was a borderline obsessive. I quickly acquired his back catalogue (more or less chronologically) before collecting live shows and bootleg material. I remember deeply regretting the fact that I'd never experience Prince when he was at his most raw and subversive in the early eighties, that I'd never attend the SOTT Tour in person and so on. I could say this about a lot of artists – I would have loved to have seen James Brown in the 60s or 70s, Jimi Hendrix in London, Parliament-Funkadelic at their height, Miles Davis... It's a real shame that you'll never experience Prince live, but it's just one of those things... the main thing is that you've discovered something great.

Apart from Prince's body of work itself, one of the things I'm most thankful for is the fact that Prince led me to so much music that I couldn't be without. His musical references and influences are so eclectic that he functioned as a veritable encyclopedia of modern music for me as a teenager. Everything from James Brown, Sly Stone, the whole P-Funk movement (another vast creative world to fall into) to Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush. I started listening to Miles Davis because of his association with Prince, which in turn led me to Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Hermeto Pascoal, Cecil Taylor, Evan Parker. Not to mention the Blues (Robert Johnson, Skip James, Son House). You could argue that everyone's musical journey has to start somewhere, but I think that the sheer variety and eclecticism of Prince's music encourages open-mindedness in his listeners. I mean, his run of 80s albums is extraordinary – every one is different and separated by a mere year. I listen to pretty much everything now and as I said, it can all be directly or indirectly traced back to discovering Prince as a kid.

With regard to his lack of cultural presence in recent years, I think it's partly due to the critical response to his post-80s work and partly his own doing. There's no point reigniting the old debate regarding the former (I'm afraid that I'm one of those fans who were less enamoured with his later studio work). Even in the 90s few of the arty kids were listening to Prince. I seemed to get a lot of stick whenever I told anyone that I was a Prince fan (mostly based on ignorance it should be said). My friends at that time were either listening to alternative rock (Beck, Radiohead etc) or the emerging “IDM” scene (Aphex Twin, Autechre... which I loved). They associated Prince with stuff like “Diamonds and Pearls” or “The Most Beautiful Girl In The World” which, despite being fine songs from a mainstream pop perspective, can hardly be considered edgy or particularly interesting from a creative point of view. To counter this, I'd play people stuff like the original version of “Tick, Tick Bang”, “Erotic City”, tracks from “1999”, “The Black Album” or “The Undertaker” set. A few were converted, but nearly all conceded that there was more to Prince than they'd thought.

On the second point, his attitude to YouTube was obviously a massive miscalculation. I understand not wanting studio tracks being made available for free, but allowing old concert footage could only have strengthened his reputation and won him new fans. As you say, he was virtually completely absent to whole generations of young listeners and was simply swept aside by the huge cultural changes that were taking place. In the end however, he seemed quite content to market his material to a relatively small group of core, die-hard fans. Ultimately, I'm not sure that this kind of hermetic environment is particularly healthy for an artist... but I'm digressing. Of course, every now and then he would remind the world how extraordinary he was with something like the Super Bowl performance, but considering all of the above, it's completely forgiveable that young music lovers only have a limited awareness of what Prince was all about. x

[Edited 10/31/16 23:07pm]

Its interesting that you point out that he wasnt all that relative in the 90s which makes sense. I consider it a bit of a shame he isnt often mentioned in the same breath as classic rock musicians like Hendrix, the beatles, the stones, nirvana etc when he could basically run rings around all of them (imo haha).
Your last point is really interseting too, I really hope he becomes more accessable then he was before his death.
Thanks for sharing

[Edited 10/31/16 23:58pm]

khill95 said:

I'm new to the Prince fandom. I'm 21, have always liked Prince's music, but didn't become a SERIOUS fan until right before his passing. Only then I discovered that he wrote all his music and played all his instruments, I just thought he was a guitar guy up to that point(you can only imagine the thrill I got of seeing Prince behind a drum set, being a drummer myself!!). Then when he passed, and a lot of his performances and songs started going up on Youtube, it was like a door that opened to a whole new world of music. The thing I'm wondering is, when he was alive, why didn't he get credit when it was due?? Growing up, I only ever heard his 80s songs on the radio. I'm talking about the big hits like the Purple Rain stuff, the 1999 stuff, Kiss, etc. I had no idea Sign o the Times or Lovesexy existed. No idea that Diamonds and Pearls or Musicology existed. No idea that he released an average of an album a year. I feel like if I knew about this stuff, I would've hopped on the Prince train a LOOOONG time ago.

Anybody else feel like this?

Would like to add to the welcome from other Orgers.
I would just say that Prince is kinda 'hidden from view' to a large extent this century since he kinda of abandoned the heights of screaming superstardom circa Purple Rain in 1984 which exploded as much as he'd expected but then to a degree he didn't.
Having achieved huge success, what he really was scared of was losing respect for his artistry and musicianship and to a huge degree, this is exactly what has since occurred because once you reach the celebrity columns as he did back then, what the critics are saying about you (which was all good up to and including Purple Rain) falls by the wayside.

What Prince knew is that he had developed a core fan-base not that concerned with his celebrity but with his artistry and he proceeded to go full steam ahead on that even if they couldn't quite keep up.

Eventually though even his record company couldn't keep up with his productivity and pace and as a dispute developed, Prince developed his own independent label, NPG which pioneered the online space for releases and allowed him to put out what he wanted profitably but relatively quietly, earning the lion's share on retail price. That meant that 'success' for Prince was more in keeping with his muse and pace and he tended to make a bid for profile only when he wanted, which doesn't compute with the celebrity-obsessed. He was very private and most of the stories about him continue to be made up either by publicists or journalists in the absence of activity the paparazzi can attend (although Prince was no slouch in manipulating that when he was in the mood for a swagger)

So, to sum up, he had the high-ground profile, being with Madonna, Springsteen and Jackson, one of the principal artists of the 80's but as the media and then his label ceased to be helpful to his artistry, he became less and less interested in maintaining the high-ground, so that in more recent times, he did face a few problems in getting 'coverage' back in the media.

However, he pulled this off spectacularly on occasion in the past decade with huge record and tour sales and headlines around controversial but spectacularly successful distribution/earning methods. Since 2014, he essentially 'rebooted' himself with a new band, new deals, new tours and four albums which definitely pumped his ailing rep right back up the critic and sales charts.
It's especially sad that he re-visited the media high-ground only upon passing.

But the short answer to your question might be that I think Prince would have said something like:

'The A List is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't wanna live there'



ENJOY THE ORG!

[Edited 11/1/16 1:43am]

XSX said:

Would like to add to the welcome from other Orgers.
I would just say that Prince is kinda 'hidden from view' to a large extent this century since he kinda of abandoned the heights of screaming superstardom circa Purple Rain in 1984 which exploded as much as he'd expected but then to a degree he didn't.
Having achieved huge success, what he really was scared of was losing respect for his artistry and musicianship and to a huge degree, this is exactly what has since occurred because once you reach the celebrity columns as he did back then, what the critics are saying about you (which was all good up to and including Purple Rain) falls by the wayside.

What Prince knew is that he had developed a core fan-base not that concerned with his celebrity but with his artistry and he proceeded to go full steam ahead on that even if they couldn't quite keep up.

Eventually though even his record company couldn't keep up with his productivity and pace and as a dispute developed, Prince developed his own independent label, NPG which pioneered the online space for releases and allowed him to put out what he wanted profitably but relatively quietly, earning the lion's share on retail price. That meant that 'success' for Prince was more in keeping with his muse and pace and he tended to make a bid for profile only when he wanted, which doesn't compute with the celebrity-obsessed. He was very private and most of the stories about him continue to be made up either by publicists or journalists in the absence of activity the paparazzi can attend (although Prince was no slouch in manipulating that when he was in the mood for a swagger)

So, to sum up, he had the high-ground profile, being with Madonna, Springsteen and Jackson, one of the principal artists of the 80's but as the media and then his label ceased to be helpful to his artistry, he became less and less interested in maintaining the high-ground, so that in more recent times, he did face a few problems in getting 'coverage' back in the media.

However, he pulled this off spectacularly on occasion in the past decade with huge record and tour sales and headlines around controversial but spectacularly successful distribution/earning methods. Since 2014, he essentially 'rebooted' himself with a new band, new deals, new tours and four albums which definitely pumped his ailing rep right back up the critic and sales charts.
It's especially sad that he re-visited the media high-ground only upon passing.

But the short answer to your question might be that I think Prince would have said something like:

'The A List is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't wanna live there'



ENJOY THE ORG!

[Edited 11/1/16 1:43am]

Most excellent insight

Love the Prince so much....

and Yeah once he reached that pinacle, it became less about the Name Fame and GLory and always about the Artistry and freedom of expression....

So much Respect for Our Prince, for this and many other reasons...

He was definately NOT a fame WHore....

dacca said:

khill95 said:

I'm new to the Prince fandom. I'm 21, have always liked Prince's music, but didn't become a SERIOUS fan until right before his passing. Only then I discovered that he wrote all his music and played all his instruments, I just thought he was a guitar guy up to that point(you can only imagine the thrill I got of seeing Prince behind a drum set, being a drummer myself!!). Then when he passed, and a lot of his performances and songs started going up on Youtube, it was like a door that opened to a whole new world of music. The thing I'm wondering is, when he was alive, why didn't he get credit when it was due?? Growing up, I only ever heard his 80s songs on the radio. I'm talking about the big hits like the Purple Rain stuff, the 1999 stuff, Kiss, etc. I had no idea Sign o the Times or Lovesexy existed. No idea that Diamonds and Pearls or Musicology existed. No idea that he released an average of an album a year. I feel like if I knew about this stuff, I would've hopped on the Prince train a LOOOONG time ago.

Anybody else feel like this?

Holy shit no way I'm in the exact same boat. I'm also 21 and only got into prince maybe 4 or 5 months before his passing. I had only known songs like 1999, Kiss etc., but though I liked them I'd never really understood the scope of his talents and song writing skills an so on (being a guitarist I had heard he was great but all his hits dont really have that prominant guitar moments). It was only when I was watching an interveiw with D'angelo where he mentioned princes name like 13 times or something and I was like right I'm buying a Prince album now. Cut to now and I have like 300 or so songs on my iPod. I too am sad that I wasnt a fan sooner, and also just missed out on tickets to see him when he was in Australia a few months ago Anyways that's so cool I've found someone with what sounds like the same experience I'm having. I wonder if there are like heaps of younger fans like us going through all this haha

YES. I'm not alone! I don't think there's heaps of us sadly well at least not here in america, I don't know about Australia. I think the only younger fans here are either related to the OG fans or REAL music fans and musicians. But that's so cool that you're into him as well! What's your favorite album so far?

dacca said:

fen said:

Hi there,

I discovered Prince after watching the SOTT film on VHS as a 12 year old in the early 90s. I was dimly aware of James Brown but I'd never seen anything quite like it, and by 14 I was a borderline obsessive. I quickly acquired his back catalogue (more or less chronologically) before collecting live shows and bootleg material. I remember deeply regretting the fact that I'd never experience Prince when he was at his most raw and subversive in the early eighties, that I'd never attend the SOTT Tour in person and so on. I could say this about a lot of artists – I would have loved to have seen James Brown in the 60s or 70s, Jimi Hendrix in London, Parliament-Funkadelic at their height, Miles Davis... It's a real shame that you'll never experience Prince live, but it's just one of those things... the main thing is that you've discovered something great.

Apart from Prince's body of work itself, one of the things I'm most thankful for is the fact that Prince led me to so much music that I couldn't be without. His musical references and influences are so eclectic that he functioned as a veritable encyclopedia of modern music for me as a teenager. Everything from James Brown, Sly Stone, the whole P-Funk movement (another vast creative world to fall into) to Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush. I started listening to Miles Davis because of his association with Prince, which in turn led me to Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Hermeto Pascoal, Cecil Taylor, Evan Parker. Not to mention the Blues (Robert Johnson, Skip James, Son House). You could argue that everyone's musical journey has to start somewhere, but I think that the sheer variety and eclecticism of Prince's music encourages open-mindedness in his listeners. I mean, his run of 80s albums is extraordinary – every one is different and separated by a mere year. I listen to pretty much everything now and as I said, it can all be directly or indirectly traced back to discovering Prince as a kid.

With regard to his lack of cultural presence in recent years, I think it's partly due to the critical response to his post-80s work and partly his own doing. There's no point reigniting the old debate regarding the former (I'm afraid that I'm one of those fans who were less enamoured with his later studio work). Even in the 90s few of the arty kids were listening to Prince. I seemed to get a lot of stick whenever I told anyone that I was a Prince fan (mostly based on ignorance it should be said). My friends at that time were either listening to alternative rock (Beck, Radiohead etc) or the emerging “IDM” scene (Aphex Twin, Autechre... which I loved). They associated Prince with stuff like “Diamonds and Pearls” or “The Most Beautiful Girl In The World” which, despite being fine songs from a mainstream pop perspective, can hardly be considered edgy or particularly interesting from a creative point of view. To counter this, I'd play people stuff like the original version of “Tick, Tick Bang”, “Erotic City”, tracks from “1999”, “The Black Album” or “The Undertaker” set. A few were converted, but nearly all conceded that there was more to Prince than they'd thought.

On the second point, his attitude to YouTube was obviously a massive miscalculation. I understand not wanting studio tracks being made available for free, but allowing old concert footage could only have strengthened his reputation and won him new fans. As you say, he was virtually completely absent to whole generations of young listeners and was simply swept aside by the huge cultural changes that were taking place. In the end however, he seemed quite content to market his material to a relatively small group of core, die-hard fans. Ultimately, I'm not sure that this kind of hermetic environment is particularly healthy for an artist... but I'm digressing. Of course, every now and then he would remind the world how extraordinary he was with something like the Super Bowl performance, but considering all of the above, it's completely forgiveable that young music lovers only have a limited awareness of what Prince was all about. x

[Edited 10/31/16 23:07pm]

Its interesting that you point out that he wasnt all that relative in the 90s which makes sense. I consider it a bit of a shame he isnt often mentioned in the same breath as classic rock musicians like Hendrix, the beatles, the stones, nirvana etc when he could basically run rings around all of them (imo haha).
Your last point is really interseting too, I really hope he becomes more accessable then he was before his death.
Thanks for sharing

[Edited 10/31/16 23:58pm]

Sadly you're right about the running rings around them comment. After listening to P for a while now, a lot of other music seems kind of bland, except for artists that are unconventional like him like Bowie.