gandorb said:

During the Purple Summer of 1984, he was an absolute phenomenon in the US. He was by far the most popular star of any stripe. His movie was an unexpected smash, his concerts were selling out in minutes, his music was booming out of cars driven by all sorts of people anging from suburbanite teenyboppers to businessmen to folks from the hood, had two #1 singles including the most popular song of the year ("Doves"), had massive critical acclaim for his music, and his album was on it's way to set a record for the most consecutive weeks at #1. Before then, he had an increasingly positive buzz that was quite loud by the time 1999 caught on. After then, droves of Purple Rain fans abandoned him due to his refusal to make Purple Rain #2 and a variety of well documented PR issues. However, he maintained a large dedicated following during the 80s that got his artistic and musical integrity.

3y3no said:

I ask because nowadays and even when he was still with us, it seemed like a niche thing to be a Prince fan. I never heard a lick about him EVER, and i don't know why...Why wasn't he more popular? Even after all of the scandals that Michael Jackson had, he still remains insanely popular today. I don't say that to disrespect Prince or say that MJ was/is better, but because i don't see why Prince wasn't/isn't on that same level of popularity. So, it just left me wondering; How popular was he in his prime? Was he on the same level of MJ? Bigger?...

The Purple Rain soundtrack was #1 for 24 consecutive weeks if that gives you an idea of how popular Prince was. Only 5 albums in history spend more weeks at #1, I'm not sure if all 5 spent those weeks consecutively or not.

Pretty much only Michael Jackson was more popular.

He was bigger than MJ back in '84-'85.

I remember an article about Michael Jackson that was published in a late 9183-early 1984 issue of Time magazine. For you young 'uns, that magazine was the most popular source of information in the country back then. Being written about in Time magazine was the top of the top.

Anyway, the author's article stated that even though Michael Jackson had set all kinds of records with Thriller, the kids in America were already onto the next big thing - an androgynous multi-instrumentalist named "Prince" who had a movie about to be released.

Prince was big before he was BIG.

In Europe (Belgium where I am from) Prince received quite some airplay when the single 1999 was released in Europe and the UK back in 1982.

I remember that. A girl from school who was two years older than me, told me about this awesome american artist and about the song '1999' being so great to dance to.

On our way to school we sometimes listened to a transistor radio in the back of the schoolbus, and when '1999' came on through the bad transmitting, we went crazy and I was a fan forever (and not alone).

-

It took again a year and a half, and suddenly there was 'When Doves Cry'. And from that spring in 1984 up until 1990-1992, Prince was everywhere in Europe. I mean super HOT !

Even loads of serious magazines, newspaper articles, teenage music magazines were filled with all things purple.

Radio DJs all getting excitited with every new release and giving it always loads of airplay.

Even having Prince days organised on radio stations, playing P and related stuff a lot.

Studio Brussels, a Belgian Radio station, as well as Radio Veronica in Holland, and Radio 21 for the french market were all about Prince and related, all the time when something new came around.

There wasn't much video yet (Just MTV), but man, in the disco's I remember even Erotic City was played throughout the late 80s all the time. One of the few disco-danceable Prince songs with of course '1999'. When Doves Cry was played in the discos, but wasn't very easy to dance to.

Good discotheque stuff though, people always went mad when Prince was played, even screaming and running to the dance floors ! Floors were packed ! (...with highlights as Scritti Politti and Talking Heads as well... Rarely heard Michael Jackson songs in the disco's over here at that time though as I come to think of it... I might've been very prejudiced though ...)

People even got out in the weekends somehow dressed in that crazy purple style with juwelry and all, some even dressed as Prince. I had my jacket tranformed in the PR style as well.

-

Purple Rain the movie was huge in theaters, the album was played everywhere.

The movie even got a repeat now and then in the following years.

Around The World In A Day was a mediocre release to many, but still it got more attention than anything else. Because the expectations after PR were so high. Raspberry Berret was all the time on the radio as far as I remember. Pop Life too. Even She's Always In My Hair got big airplay on the french Radio 21, often back to back with Sexomatic by The Dazz band.

-

Parade really did it big time too. Kiss was played over and over and over. Although the movie came out relatively late, it cooled down a bit. Still... the hits kept on getting airplay.

Whenever there was something new to be released by Prince, they announced it on the radio as the biggest thing around ! I've recorded it all on cassettes. I still have 'm. All this radio talk and DJ singles especially made to get the crowd longaing and wanting more.

Man Prince wasn't only cool, he was fucking hot !

-

Sign O The Times even blew up the whole thing big once more. I remember when it was released, on some radio programs they spend two full days on playing it, discussing it, etc. The single was huge on the radio.

The Cross and random tracks from the album, as well as b-sides got loads of radio attention. And when the movie came out, I remember i was in a full theater and people were getting out of their chairs and started dancing ! Saw that movie twice in one week. Everyone danced like crazy, and shouted and gave a round applause at the end of the movie.

-

Then The Black Album was announced and cancelled, it was again a myserious highlight for radio stations and news freaks.

It first started of in Germany; some hot young German radio station got a hold of one of the undestroyed copies and played it non-stop the second week of December 1987, I remember it so well (since i wrote every date and info on my cassettes)

Although it wasn't announced that they were going to play it. But after that night show, news spread fast all over Europe. Keep in mind that there was no internet in those days ... !

Then several Dutch and Belgian and French radio stations played the album in its entirety on several late night shows. With DJs often mixing in jingles over the tracks to avoid bootlegging ... which of course happened anyway.

I payed 5000 Bfr for my first bootleg vinyl copy in 1989. (something like € 125 now) It was a very bad pressing, but man I had people coming over to my room to see and hear it.

Quite after that there was even a (German or French) band who entirely covered the black ablum and released it. Even these songs were played on some radio stations here in Belgium, Holland and Germany.

-

The Batman soundtrack and wonderful single Batdance again made him big.

The huge Batman logo bilboard sings without any information, weeks before any release made Prince hot again. Batdance was bizarre and made people talk about Prince again. All over the radio stations, and since PTV was bigger than ever, Prince's video's got a lot of attention as well. Although Michael Jackson always aimed higher with his video's. But his output was limited.

But for the serious music lovers back then, Prince has always been around in central Europe up to that point.

When Grafitti Bridge was annouced and released, it all cooled down a bit. Even the movie got a unnoticed release. (Because of UTCM flopped somehow i guess...) That release even damaging the great Purple Rain movie somehow a bit. Prince all of a sudden became weird, but the old tunes/hits remained hot on radio and in disco's.

-

His concerts always were a blast, and sold out very fast. I did see him perform live at least 30 times all over Europe. People got crazy to see him live and were willing to pay dazzling money to get tickets.

-

Michael Jackson of course was wihtout a doubt big too. But during that time, Prince was as big as, if not bigger. Simply because his output was alwyas so surprising and fast. Michael Jackson had a great marketing machine behind him. Also his need for that particular army-style as a public image and style, and of course his bigger than life video's made him more popular by the masses.

Prince had sex and mystery and huge craftmanship live and on record, and that kept him big with music lovers and people searching for the new.

Michael Jackson somhow was most loved by 12-15 year olds.

Prince was popular still as well as bizarre because of his undiputed mix of sex and believes. Which was intrigueing and very appealing to most Europeans, so therefor very exciting and daring.

-

So sure, Prince was BIG for several years. Maybe not in sales, but surely on radio, on TV, in magazines and newspapers.

Controversy, mystery and music were the words that kept him big here for quite a while.

-

In the nineties there were ups and downs. D&P did very well, reached some buzz again in Europe.

Overall his concerts were the most important thing in Europe after that.

Release came and went, sales got down, But if Prince was up to something, there was always news to be found and heard.

[Edited 3/5/18 13:21pm]

He was selling out stadiums in Scotland in the 90s, that's all I can tell you. I adored him and so did a gazillion other people in the UK. But I'm guessing that a lot of other fans may have been like me in that I didn't understand what the hell was going on with him and all the symbol stuff. At the time, I thought he was losing the plot (fuelled by alll the shit the media was writing about him, suggesting he was as mad as a bucket of spiders, all that... that fame had gone to his head... but I still didn't think he'd lost the plot as much as Michael Jackson. I mean, at least Prince wasn't buying pet chimps and sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber). Of course, hindsight is a wonderful thing. Everything he did in his 'Artist formerly known as' era now makes perfect sense; just wish Prince had made it crystal clear at the time what he was doing instead of being so damn mysterious about it).

Anyway, when he started selling all his music online and you couldn't get it in the shops any more, that cut me out of the equation for quite a while because I didn't have a computer and I wasn't getting any news. I knowwwww, right? Can you imagine not having the internet? Can you imagine having to shlep to the 'wrecka stow' for your music?

So, while Prince was ahead of the curve in so many ways, I believe it also lost him a lot of fans because they didn't know how to get hold of his music. It was only once he started giving away albums with newspapers here in the UK that I picked up with him again and really only in the last couple of years before his death that I started having his music on heavy rotation again on Spotify. Then, one day - pouf! All my Prince playlists were gone. Whaaaaat?! So it's entirely because of him that I switched to Tidal. I'd never have done that had it been any other artist, let me tell you!

I was devastated by his death because I thought the new music he was putting out was awesome. I had just fallen in love with him all over again and was so looking forward to hearing what was going to come out of Paisley Park with his new Mono Neon collaboration - those little snippets of their grooves on his Princestagram were so damn phonky!

So. Yes. In my mind, he was colossal. He ploughed his own furrow and broke new ground in the music industry. And he would perhap seem more popular to you had he not rebelled against the system an done his own thing.

For me, Michael Jackson was a good entertainer. But Prince was EVERYTHING: a singer, a dancer, a multi-instrumentalist, a bandleader, a rule-breaker, a true creative... and no one has come along since who has had his breadth and depth of artistry, determination and talent. I live in hope...!

gandorb said:

Poplife88 said:

gandorb said:

During the Purple Summer of 1984, he was an absolute phenomenon in the US. He was by far the most popular star of any stripe. His movie was an unexpected smash, his concerts were selling out in minutes, his music was booming out of cars driven by all sorts of people anging from suburbanite teenyboppers to businessmen to folks from the hood, had two #1 singles including the most popular song of the year ("Doves"), had massive critical acclaim for his music, and his album was on it's way to set a record for the most consecutive weeks at #1. Before then, he had an increasingly positive buzz that was quite loud by the time 1999 caught on. After then, droves of Purple Rain fans abandoned him due to his refusal to make Purple Rain #2 and a variety of well documented PR issues. However, he maintained a large dedicated following during the 80s that got his artistic and musical integrity.

You hit it on the head. 84 was his year in the states. He was all over the radio with Purple Rain, but also Sheila E, Chaka (I feel for you), Sheena Easton...I remember being shocked hearing Erotic City on the radio and the DJ saying it was 'funk' not 'fuck' and we all knew better. Then he released ATWIAD and lost the masses...but he was still relevant, I would say, until Lovesexy and the nude album cover. A lot of people thought he lost it with that one...but it was the states and we're so uptight...I do remember being glad he was killing it in Europe. [Edited 3/5/18 15:43pm]

Yeah, though I'd go back and say that 1999 was actually a a fairly big thing--I mean, once the singles started hitting they made an impression. I'm speaking from a pop standpoint--I lived in an almost completely white, fairly rural area. I lived in the biggest town and there were officially less than ten thousand people in it at the time. So you had to be pretty mainstream to be getting noticed--and 1999 is what we listened to on the bus for school trips. Then 1984-1985 and even into 1986--if it wasn't Prince-made, it was people wanting to be Prince, it seemed. Yeah, people weren't necessarily long-term fans after Purple Rain was over... I only knew of 3 or 4 other "fans" in my high school--but he was still fairly big. Now, yeah, he pretty much disappeared after Lovesexy from the general consciouslness. Alphabet Street happened, but I don't think most people noticed. And you couldn't buy the album in Wal-Mart, and after that point I had to wait to travel a hundred miles away to a bigger city to pick up a lot of Prince productions.

I think you really have to differentiate between the US and the rest of the world.

I'm talking from a European perspective. I grew up musically in the 80s and loved Prince (I still do, always will). He was definitely well-known (everybody could name a few of his songs) but not very popular in terms of people's tastes here.

In my teen years, I only ever met one other person who was really into Prince - to the point of buying his albums; we became friends through Prince and always felt like the odd ones out. Most people of our age liked the greatest hits such as Purple Rain, Kiss or Sign O the Times, but would not really call themselves 'fans'. They were fans of the British new romantic groups (Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Wham! were really huge in Europe in the 80s, they easily eclipsed MJ); the ones in their late teens or twenties liked U2, Simple Minds, Depeche Mode or the megastars such as Madonna, Springsteen and to a lesser extent, Jackson.

I never really cared to be honest, I don't mind whether everybody loves Prince or not - I have his music, that's enough for me.

[Edited 3/6/18 1:43am]

I'm from 1970 and the Netherlands. Prince started getting a buzz from 1999 and when Purple Rain exploded, he was the shit. There were people more popular in particular circles (Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, to name but two), but Prince was respected and popular in all circles.

.

From 1984 to 1988 or so, he was the one against who everything else was measured.

.

After that, he became the "very versatile and important musician from the 80's" to a large extent. But he was always respected in pretty much every group. Case in point was an interview around 2010 with Bennie Jolink, the lead singer and guitar player in the band Normaal, a party band for the Dutch version of Rednecks, completely unrefined, but fun and full of energy. (they were known for having roughly as much beer thrown towards the stage as was drunk by the audience, which was lots) They, as a band, were as far removed from the audience you'd expect to be into Prince. Anyway, in the interview, Bennie mentioned something along the lines of "I never really understood or appreciated all the genderbending madness of that midget, but I am dead jealous of how he can play guitar!"

If you were in middle school in 1989, then "Batdance" was possibly the greatest thing that had ever happened. Even to this day, no hit song has ever sounded like it - and it was everywhere. I remember being jealous of my friend because he had the cassingle with "200 Balloons" on it, and I loved that song. Then we'd go see the movie and think it was the coolest thing whenever a part from the song was on the screen. I also had to ask my mom what an enema was.

skywalker said:

-

Current pop music now is ALL a niche thing compared to the 80's. There are SO many options that listeners can easily ignore entire genres of music, let alone individual artists.
Back in the 80's we basically got our exposure to musicians/artists through the radio and MTV. So everyone was exposed to EVERYTHING. You had to sit through Phil Collins, Billy Ocean, and Def Leppard to get to a Prince video. Nowadays, music is more divided and niche than it ever has been. I am a teacher and kids these days care more about youtube than music. They don't LOVE their music the way kids did in the past.

[Edited 3/3/18 12:58pm]

Spot on!

Back then we had no choice: our only possible exposure to music besides listening to records was either listening to the radio or watching music TV channels: the result was that for one song you loved you had to watch/hear 5 you tolarated and 4 you hated. How boring those last ones were! If I was 16 today I guess I'd just check music on YT or Spotify, try and listen to a zillion stuff and only stop on what I like. IDK which is best. We were forced to listen to things we wouldn't listen but I wouldn't say that it made kids particularly open minded when it came to music, people were maybe more into genres than now and would generally disdain what was out of their favorite genres.

.

IDK whether kids care less about music today. What I remember is that, for the Xers/Yers we were, the music we listened to was very much a part in defining our identity, clothing style and attitude towards life, and all of it because music was still something of an act of rebellion, with a strong generation gap between the "gentle" music our parents liked and the wild things we listened to. I'm not sure kids today have such a strong need for finding a counter-culture in order to differentiate themselves from the pre-hippies society. When your parents used to listen to gangsta rap, take drugs and sleep around when they were your age, I'm not sure they're anything left to rebel against I would suspect the relationship your students have with music might be very much connected to this, maybe more than the change in media exposure.

francesco72 said:

I think you really have to differentiate between the US and the rest of the world.

I'm talking from a European perspective. I grew up musically in the 80s and loved Prince (I still do, always will). He was definitely well-known (everybody could name a few of his songs) but not very popular in terms of people's tastes here.

In my teen years, I only ever met one other person who was really into Prince - to the point of buying his albums; we became friends through Prince and always felt like the odd ones out. Most people of our age liked the greatest hits such as Purple Rain, Kiss or Sign O the Times, but would not really call themselves 'fans'. They were fans of the British new romantic groups (Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Wham! were really huge in Europe in the 80s, they easily eclipsed MJ); the ones in their late teens or twenties liked U2, Simple Minds, Depeche Mode or the megastars such as Madonna, Springsteen and to a lesser extent, Jackson.

I never really cared to be honest, I don't mind whether everybody loves Prince or not - I have his music, that's enough for me.

[Edited 3/6/18 1:43am]

To be honest, all in all it was hard to find so many people who were really into a single artist. You had the occasional hardcore fan for every artist/band from Prince to MJ to U2 to Depeche Mode to Kate Bush to The Cure to Metallica to You-name-it. You'd find more people who were into a genre like the new romantics or goth or reggae or whatever, but it's not like half the school were hardcore fans of the same artist at any given point (save maybe the mass hysteria pre-teen girls could have for, say, Wham! or News Kids On The Block for a year or so).

.

So evidently it was not so easy to meet other hardcore Prince fans, and I'm sure that's true even for the US in 84 because while 20 million kids may have bought Purple Rain, 15 millions of them didn't even have 1999, let alone the earlier albums or side projects.

.

What was more common in Europe was to meet people who had purchased one Prince album or single, or simply people who knew and dug a half dozen songs even if they didn't own them. As you said, most people save a few anti-Prince fascists more or less liked the most known hits. I mean seriously, if you'd play Kiss at a party every one would recognize it and dance on it. In France, it was virtually impossible to meet a kid who wasn't even remotely familiar with the songs 1999, LRC, LGC, WDC, PR, RB, Kiss, G&B, SOTT, A St. or Batdance.

For those who loved Pop/Rock, R&B, Urban radio - Prince & MJ ruled radio in the mid-80s. Once the movie Purple Rain hit, it put Prince right up there with MJ. They were both considered royalty as they inherited the names "King of Pop" (MJ) and "His Royal Badness" (Prince)

Prince was poipular. Remmeber that one saying that Prince had sung on the song: KISS! Act your agee and not your shoe size. Well, the first time I heard it back in the '80's. All of the kids were saying act your age and not your shoe size. Once I found out that Prince had said that in his song. If somene was not acting right. I would say: remember what Prince had said: Act your age and not your shoe size. Back in the '80's there was this rumor of the big trio! Madonna, Michael Jackson and Prince. Back then I did not understan why. Until some years later. These 3 artists are all born the same year. But, Prince was more popular than the other 2. Because Prince had done things differently than other artists have all done in the past. Prince always outshine MJ in the '80's. Once Prince had found out that MJ brought out the song: Thriller back in '83. The Purple One wanted out top MJ. Which he did! The summer of '84 was Prince's year! The album and movie made Prince well known as an international mega star!

Prince was the most popular act in 1984 period. He remained popular through the symbol album. However, Michael Jackson non-threatening approach appealed to the masses-making him more popular (like Elvis). All you have to do is see the American music award of special achievement in 1990 on video and hear the response from that audience when Prince tries to speak over the screams.

3y3no said:

I ask because nowadays and even when he was still with us, it seemed like a niche thing to be a Prince fan. I never heard a lick about him EVER, and i don't know why...Why wasn't he more popular? Even after all of the scandals that Michael Jackson had, he still remains insanely popular today. I don't say that to disrespect Prince or say that MJ was/is better, but because i don't see why Prince wasn't/isn't on that same level of popularity. So, it just left me wondering; How popular was he in his prime? Was he on the same level of MJ? Bigger?...

fame and how well he still sold were two different things. from the album Prince to 1999 he was gaining audience and or critical favor, however, he could still be classified as underground or cult artist even though people knew of him, most people thought of him as some wierdo. He did get attention even if people didn't listen to his music. Purple Rain was his moment, he exploded everywhere but that period was only about a year or so, and he did a lot of things to truncate that level of fame because he plainly just didn't like it. He cut short the PR tour, he also balked at doing things superstars have to do just for image like the We are the world debacle. His behavior may not have turned off his fans at the time of the ama of 85 but it definitely influenced how the general public saw him. He further alienated his audience with the innaccessible ATWIAD, he did it on purpose, he only wanted the fans he could challenge. each successive album sold less and less up to the point of lovesexy barely going gold, hence he went full circle to his dirty mind status at least saleswise. the difference was, he could still go on major tours like he did with lovesexy and he also had so much talent he could turn out commercial stuff whenever he wanted to, the businessman came out at times like Batman and Diamonds And Pearls which sold very well. but honestly, i don't think he was ever truly thought of as anything other than an oddity, even by many people who loved the PR era, it was only during the musicology era that he was given status of legend and fully accepted while he still dropped jaws in some of his performances. dude had so many layers to his talent, no one else could have survived all the machinations that he pulled without it.

he could have been bigger if he chose to, if he wanted to take the shit he would have had to take, would have been a weaker man, and he could churn out pop music at will in those days but he chose to go the more individualistic, iconic and artistic route, thank god. I'd rather have parad, sott, attwiad than 1999 and purple rain 2 even though those would have been great too.

By 1987 I was in highschool and he was way more popular than any other musician in Holland.

As a huge fan of both MJ and Prince I saw Prince become huge after 1986 or so and even overshadow MJ's popularity among everyone in school.

JorisE73 said:

By 1987 I was in highschool and he was way more popular than any other musician in Holland.

As a huge fan of both MJ and Prince I saw Prince become huge after 1986 or so and even overshadow MJ's popularity among everyone in school.

Even in England Prince won best international artist over MJ in the 90's.

As someone who graduated HS in 1984 and college in 1990, I feel qualified to comment.

MTV was making or breaking artists, first of all. It was a novelty and ALL it was played was music, which might be hard for younger folks to understand. you could watch TV AND listen to music. Around this time, it was The Police, U2, Springsteen, Madonna and Michael Jackson. Then several sort of "flash in the pan", lower tier or lesser known acts like Wham, Culture Club, Thompson Twins, The Cars, Adam Ant and Men at Work. Plus some oddly placed classic and older acts like Bowie, 38 Special, Journey, ZZ Top, the Stones, Genesis, Elton John, Talking Heads and Rush who embraced the medium and reached a younger and wider audience.

But MTV was KING. Make no mistake about it. Prince came around at exactly the right time - bringing the music, the visual element and, yes, the sex - culminating in the perfect storm of Purple Rain which had all 3 elements in spades (the look, the sound and the erotic). 1999, LRC and MTV brought him a huge crossover white audience (including myself) and, for a while, Prince and MJ were the only black artists featured on the channel. I honestly think that without MTV, Prince would not have become the star he did; but NO ONE shined brighter than he did in 1984. He had the added benefit of being called out by censors and the PMRC as well, which gave him an edge and made him "cool".

His shit was EVERYWHERE and he whooped Bruce, MJ and Madonna at their own game for a while. It's almost impossible to underestimate what MTV brought at that time.

Of course, with the added visual element that MTV brought, came a homophobic backlash for the more androgynous musical acts - which eventually gave way to the sort of categorization of music that you saw in record stores (R&B, Rock, Pop, New Wave and metal) and, unfortunately, A LOT of "drawing boundaries" and such around whether or not someone was a "fag". This led to MTV showcasing more metal acts and ultimately a lot of hip hop and rap too. The "artsy", college stuff like The Cure, Love & Rockets, the RHCP and R.E.M. was shown later at night on a show called "120 Minutes".

America's preoccupation with homophobia and their hang ups about sex, along with not really wanting to be challenged musically, saw Prince fade from the PR heights, but really after what he did, there was no where else to rise. By the time "Lovesexy" came out, the U.S, was STILL not ready for an androgynous black male in heels now but naked surrounded by flowers on an album cover and I can tell you FOR A FACT, that by then his image was costing him fans, many of whom were among his black audience who turned to the harder sounds of Public Enemy and the agressive, more masculine sounds of urban rap. The white kids gravitated towards metal, lots of which was more androgynous and make up laden than Prince (Poison, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi).

So after a while, you had top 40 being played most of the time, Headbanger's Ball and Yo! MTV Raps for the metal heads and urban audience, then "Liquid television" and "120 Minutes" for the aternative crowd

Over time, the channel became more and more about image than music and now it isn't about music at all. For a while, it was a marriage of image AND music, which Prince possessed in spades. I got turned on to a TON of stuff I never would have found had it not been for MTV (the Cure, Fishbone, Faith No More, RCHP, Love and Rockets, Talking Heads, The Cult, Peter Gabriel, Eric B And Rakim...) and Pricne was the crown jewel.

Sorry for the essay and making this about MTV but that REALLY was THE essential ingredient in Prince's success in the 80's - at least from 1999 through Parade.

So, to answer your question, he was ENOURMOUSLY popular but widely polarizing, especially as more people got to see him and learn about him. He turned a lot of people off, especially homophobes. Then in 1990 he showed MTV and the rest of the world his ass. Symbolic. After that, he became (as some journalist once put it) "The World's Most Famous Underground Artist". I think I liked it better that way - and his longevity legitimized my musical tastes to a point where I felt strangely vindicated for knowing he was the real deal early on - but after, say, Batman or D&P, you really had to WORK to be a fan. You had to chase him.

For most of the 80's, you just had to turn on the TV or the radio. Shit, for a while, DJ's were spinning B-SIDES and Erotic City, SAIMH and 17 Days were on the radio. That's Beatles, Stones and Elvis territory.

PeteSilas said:

he could have been bigger if he chose to, if he wanted to take the shit he would have had to take, would have been a weaker man, and he could churn out pop music at will in those days but he chose to go the more individualistic, iconic and artistic route, thank god. I'd rather have parad, sott, attwiad than 1999 and purple rain 2 even though those would have been great too.

Agree with this, but he would have sacrificed his longevity and I think the music would have suffered.

In 1984, there hadn't been anything that big since The Beatles or Elvis. Thriller was close but lacked the certain edge, sexuality and danger that made Prince so enticing. My fucking parents liked Thriller and MJ. Prince was dangerous and strange.

The new breed leader. The Rude Boy. I found 1999, delved into his back catalog, then bought everything he created; never looked back and never regretted it. What a great ride.

And he permeated, as someone else pointed out. He had The TIme, Shelia E, mulitple copycats and his songs were EVERYWHERE, even if people didn't know it. Cindy Lauper, Mellencamp, Bangles, Sheena Easton, Sinead, Joe Cocker, Stevie Nicks...they were all playing his songs.

God, I miss this man.

Sorry for the double post and all these words.

TXfan said:

herb4 said: