independent and unofficial
Prince fan community
Welcome! Sign up or enter username and password to remember me
Forum jump
Forums > Prince: Music and More > Prince Dance my life away
« Previous topic  Next topic »
  New topic   Printable     (Log in to 'subscribe' to this topic)
Author

Tweet     Share

Message
Thread started 11/06/16 9:22pm

Poorlovelycomp
uter

Prince Dance my life away

After 3 albums of songs primarily about relationships Prince's writing began to focus more on his social and political views as well as his own immortality.In the 80's he was one of few artist who could take a topic like the apocalypse and make it a danceable pop song.I would think Prince is one the few artist to be able to pull that off. do you agree? any thoughts?
[Edited 11/6/16 21:31pm]
"love's the only drug we do in here"-Prince
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #1 posted 11/06/16 11:00pm

TrivialPursuit

avatar

Prince addressed politics by Dirty Mind, and sexuality on Prince.

There was a good deal of anti-war songs in the 80s that were dance songs. "Electric Avenue" by Eddy Grant, "Another One Bites The Dust" by Queen, "99 Red Balloons" by Nena being early examples, as the music scene started to change. They were big hits, and dance songs.

It was really the mood at the time. With new technology like synthesizers and drum machines, artists felt a new liberation in music. Punk also lent to a freedom in lyrics that people hadn't quite felt in a good decade or more. People often dismiss the 80s as cheesy, but the fact is the 80s are still so popular is because they delved into new sounds, technology, and addressing social issues.

Jimmy Carter was doing little about the Iran hostage crisis (which went on over a year if memory serves), the Cold War was still in full swing (well before "tear down this wall" was even considered), and plenty more showed up in the lyrics of songs. Prince definitely hit a nerve with his lyrics in stuff like "1999", "Partyup", "Ronnie Talk 2 Russia" (another Reagan reference to the Cold War), "Annie Christian", and so forth. Most were danceable, some weren't. I'm glad he took a bold move in those areas like other artists did and put politicians etc on blast.

"eye don’t really care so much what people say about me because it is a reflection of who they r."
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
  New topic   Printable     (Log in to 'subscribe' to this topic)
« Previous topic  Next topic »
Forums > Prince: Music and More > Prince Dance my life away