I love Prince clones. In the purple heyday of the 80s, there was a new one coming out of the woodwork every month. I enjoy seeking out the album of the obscure ones - no matter how bad they were. This morning I grabbed my CD from Le Klass called School of Cool. They must be the ugliest, greasiest jheri curl, Merry Go Round/Chess King wearing crew of black dudes trying to be pretty since Ready For The World - only they were not even half as good. As with most Prince clone albums, I enjoy playing "name that Prince tune" with every track on the record as most of them are rip-offs of a groove or a riff or sometimes an entire chorus.

I was reading the liner notes (yeah, I was that bored) and I noticed that - like most Prince clones - they acknowledged everyone except Prince. These guys even had Jesse Johnson, Rick Jamesm and RFTW listed - they even had a shout out to Full Force! I think is it funny how they make such an overt effort to avoid any inference or comparison of their obviously derivative diddies to the undeniable musical genius of Prince.

Anyway, there were not awful. It is fun to listen to if you just want a break from of all your other Prince and associated MPLS Sound records. I always wonder where guys like this are now.

[Edited 3/25/11 9:08am]

[Edited 3/25/11 10:54am]

Even hardcore Dr.Dre and his World Class Wreckin´Cru were Prince clones in the 80s.

With all those ruffled shirts, lace, purple garments and whatnot.

What are "Merry Go Rounds" and "Chess King"? Some sort of collar and a black and white, checkered design?

KoolEaze said:

Even hardcore Dr.Dre and his World Class Wreckin´Cru were Prince clones in the 80s.

With all those ruffled shirts, lace, purple garments and whatnot.

What are "Merry Go Rounds" and "Chess King"? Some sort of collar and a black and white, checkered design?

There were popular shopping mall clothing stores that carried the parachute pants, studded belts, skinny neckties, leather pants, baggies, boots, leg warmers, bandanas, anything with shoulder pads or that zipped up on the side, and all the various new wave crap to pin on your lapels. May have been primary east coast back then - if you are old enough to shop back then

KoolEaze said:

Even hardcore Dr.Dre and his World Class Wreckin´Cru were Prince clones in the 80s.

With all those ruffled shirts, lace, purple garments and whatnot.

What are "Merry Go Rounds" and "Chess King"? Some sort of collar and a black and white, checkered design?

Merry Go Round actually carried the licensed Prince clothing form Purple Rain.

purplenuts said:

There were popular shopping mall clothing stores that carried the parachute pants, studded belts, skinny neckties, leather pants, baggies, boots, leg warmers, bandanas, anything with shoulder pads or that zipped up on the side, and all the various new wave crap to pin on your lapels. May have been primary east coast back then - if you are old enough to shop back then

Sounds awesome!! Anyone got a spare time machine they can loan me for a couple of days!

I wouldn't define Le Klass as Prince clones.

Compare their music to what Prince was doing at the time, they don't sound alike.

NouveauDance said:

purplenuts said:

There were popular shopping mall clothing stores that carried the parachute pants, studded belts, skinny neckties, leather pants, baggies, boots, leg warmers, bandanas, anything with shoulder pads or that zipped up on the side, and all the various new wave crap to pin on your lapels. May have been primary east coast back then - if you are old enough to shop back then

Sounds awesome!! Anyone got a spare time machine they can loan me for a couple of days!

The stores were cool and they made a small fortune off of me and my friends. (LOL)

purplenuts said:

KoolEaze said:

Even hardcore Dr.Dre and his World Class Wreckin´Cru were Prince clones in the 80s.

With all those ruffled shirts, lace, purple garments and whatnot.

What are "Merry Go Rounds" and "Chess King"? Some sort of collar and a black and white, checkered design?

There were popular shopping mall clothing stores that carried the parachute pants, studded belts, skinny neckties, leather pants, baggies, boots, leg warmers, bandanas, anything with shoulder pads or that zipped up on the side, and all the various new wave crap to pin on your lapels. May have been primary east coast back then - if you are old enough to shop back then

Lol. Nice. I guess the biggest fashion icons that everyone wanted to look like or got the most copy cats were MJ, Prince and Madonna. I probably would have been in that store too if I was a teen in the 80's.

laurarichardson said:

NouveauDance said:

Sounds awesome!! Anyone got a spare time machine they can loan me for a couple of days!

The stores were cool and they made a small fortune off of me and my friends. (LOL)

All the cool kids shopped at Merry Go Round. I remember being in awe of that store! I spent every nickel I had there.

MissParkerr said:

laurarichardson said:

The stores were cool and they made a small fortune off of me and my friends. (LOL)

All the cool kids shopped at Merry Go Round. I remember being in awe of that store! I spent every nickel I had there.

P.S. Not that I was "cool" , but my babysitter from elementary school was uber "cool" and she and her friends shopped there, as soon as I was able to buy my own stuff, that's where I went, although I didn't know they had a Prince line!

lavender1983 said:

Lol. Nice. I guess the biggest fashion icons that everyone wanted to look like or got the most copy cats were MJ, Prince and Madonna. I probably would have been in that store too if I was a teen in the 80's.

Don't forget Cosby Show sweaters.

MickyDolenz said:

lavender1983 said:

Lol. Nice. I guess the biggest fashion icons that everyone wanted to look like or got the most copy cats were MJ, Prince and Madonna. I probably would have been in that store too if I was a teen in the 80's.

Don't forget Cosby Show sweaters.

Of course. How could I leave out the biggest fashion icon of the 80's. We get to relive them again with reruns on TV ONE and Centric.

minneapolisFunq said:

I wouldn't define Le Klass as Prince clones.

Compare their music to what Prince was doing at the time, they don't sound alike.

Right - they sounded like what Prince had done years before - as many Prince clones did.

MissParkerr said:

MissParkerr said:

All the cool kids shopped at Merry Go Round. I remember being in awe of that store! I spent every nickel I had there.

P.S. Not that I was "cool" , but my babysitter from elementary school was uber "cool" and she and her friends shopped there, as soon as I was able to buy my own stuff, that's where I went, although I didn't know they had a Prince line!

All I remember is the ruffled shirt - I dont know about a "Prince line". THey had the leather jacket from Thriller - my boy bought a white one and we all thought it was cool as hell.

RFTW may have been Prince clones, but they had some great jams, especially the love songs like Tonight and Love you Down and Slide Over. Great fast jams too besides Oh Sheila, who can forget Digital Display, Mary goes Round, Ceramic Girl, My Girly.

I remember driving from Michigan State University with some friends to see them perform in Detroit in the late 1980's.

[Edited 4/7/11 17:41pm]

I always thought that Bobby Nunn had a Prince quality about his music...especially the song "The Party's Over"...

Jak I Go Wild.

Not ridiculous at all.

A great album but still you play name the Prince song on every cut on this album.

purplenuts said:

KoolEaze said:

Even hardcore Dr.Dre and his World Class Wreckin´Cru were Prince clones in the 80s.

With all those ruffled shirts, lace, purple garments and whatnot.

What are "Merry Go Rounds" and "Chess King"? Some sort of collar and a black and white, checkered design?

There were popular shopping mall clothing stores that carried the parachute pants, studded belts, skinny neckties, leather pants, baggies, boots, leg warmers, bandanas, anything with shoulder pads or that zipped up on the side, and all the various new wave crap to pin on your lapels. May have been primary east coast back then - if you are old enough to shop back then

For my junior prom, I bought a silver lamé cumberbun & matching skinny bowtie from Chess King!

The most ridiculous Prince clone? The one that's been masquerading as Prince for the past 16 years or so.

alexnvrmnd777 said:

The most ridiculous Prince clone? The one that's been masquerading as Prince for the past 16 years or so.

alexnvrmnd777 said:

The most ridiculous Prince clone? The one that's been masquerading as Prince for the past 16 years or so.

TRUE STORY.

good vibes

That group called Exotic Storm and that dude named Clayton Savage.

daytonohioplayer said:

That group called Exotic Storm and that dude named Clayton Savage.

Two of my favs - I actually have their albums and 12" records. Just greasy, jheri curl, MPLS rip offs - I loved them. Exotic Storm was almost clownish in the aping of the Prince sound.

purplenuts said:

I love Prince clones. In the purple heyday of the 80s, there was a new one coming out of the woodwork every month. I enjoy seeking out the album of the obscure ones - no matter how bad they were. This morning I grabbed my CD from Le Klass called School of Cool. They must be the ugliest, greasiest jheri curl, Merry Go Round/Chess King wearing crew of black dudes trying to be pretty since Ready For The World - only they were not even half as good. As with most Prince clone albums, I enjoy playing "name that Prince tune" with every track on the record as most of them are rip-offs of a groove or a riff or sometimes an entire chorus.

I was reading the liner notes (yeah, I was that bored) and I noticed that - like most Prince clones - they acknowledged everyone except Prince. These guys even had Jesse Johnson, Rick Jamesm and RFTW listed - they even had a shout out to Full Force! I think is it funny how they make such an overt effort to avoid any inference or comparison of their obviously derivative diddies to the undeniable musical genius of Prince.

Anyway, there were not awful. It is fun to listen to if you just want a break from of all your other Prince and associated MPLS Sound records. I always wonder where guys like this are now.

[Edited 3/25/11 9:08am]

[Edited 3/25/11 10:54am]

How many decades (and albums and tours and dollars later) did it take Prince to give props to those that influenced him? Really has he ever given much credit to his actual influences? And if dude is such an "undeniable musical genius" why aren't people emulating anything other than 1980-82? And yes I intentionally left out the Purple Rain years because I don't think it was copied musically.

funksterr said:

purplenuts said:

I love Prince clones. In the purple heyday of the 80s, there was a new one coming out of the woodwork every month. I enjoy seeking out the album of the obscure ones - no matter how bad they were. This morning I grabbed my CD from Le Klass called School of Cool. They must be the ugliest, greasiest jheri curl, Merry Go Round/Chess King wearing crew of black dudes trying to be pretty since Ready For The World - only they were not even half as good. As with most Prince clone albums, I enjoy playing "name that Prince tune" with every track on the record as most of them are rip-offs of a groove or a riff or sometimes an entire chorus.

I was reading the liner notes (yeah, I was that bored) and I noticed that - like most Prince clones - they acknowledged everyone except Prince. These guys even had Jesse Johnson, Rick Jamesm and RFTW listed - they even had a shout out to Full Force! I think is it funny how they make such an overt effort to avoid any inference or comparison of their obviously derivative diddies to the undeniable musical genius of Prince.

Anyway, there were not awful. It is fun to listen to if you just want a break from of all your other Prince and associated MPLS Sound records. I always wonder where guys like this are now.

[Edited 3/25/11 9:08am]

[Edited 3/25/11 10:54am]

How many decades (and albums and tours and dollars later) did it take Prince to give props to those that influenced him? Really has he ever given much credit to his actual influences? And if dude is such an "undeniable musical genius" why aren't people emulating anything other than 1980-82? And yes I intentionally left out the Purple Rain years because I don't think it was copied musically.

First of all, it is not that smart as a young artist getting established to be associated too closely with legends that went before you. If you come out talking about them too much, people either reject you for hinting that you are the next James Brown or SMokey Robinson or Sly Stone - OR they expect you to be just like them - which never works whether yo can pull it off anyway. Be it completely planned or not, the positioning, packaging, publicizing and marketing of Prince from FOr You to Purple Rain was legendary - especially when you consider it was prior to the internet age.

Aside from that, no artist is obligated to give props to anyone for influences. But if you want to look at it closely in the case of Prince, the cover of his fourth album does have the name of an artist that influenced him printed in bold letters (find the vinyl record to see JONI as in Joni Mitchell). Watch the Purple Rain tour and tell me that is not a nod to James Brown when he does Baby I'm A Star. In 1988 he had Miles Davis onstage with him at Paisley Park. IN the 80s covered his heroes such as the Temptations and Joni Mitchell in live shows.

In the 90s I saw him read off a list of names of legends to thank them during an award acceptance speech - it was cool that he included Malcolm X, Muhaammad Ali, and Martin Luther King.

Of course, you can not name an artist who shares more with his forefathers: he has given sopngs to Earth Wind and Fire, Miles Davis, and Kid Creole. He has made records with George CLinton, Chaka Khan, Larry Graham, Stevie Wonder, and Mavis Staples. He has invited influential people onstage like Santana and Ron Wood.

purplenuts said:

funksterr said:

How many decades (and albums and tours and dollars later) did it take Prince to give props to those that influenced him? Really has he ever given much credit to his actual influences? And if dude is such an "undeniable musical genius" why aren't people emulating anything other than 1980-82? And yes I intentionally left out the Purple Rain years because I don't think it was copied musically.

First of all, it is not that smart as a young artist getting established to be associated too closely with legends that went before you. If you come out talking about them too much, people either reject you for hinting that you are the next James Brown or SMokey Robinson or Sly Stone - OR they expect you to be just like them - which never works whether yo can pull it off anyway. Be it completely planned or not, the positioning, packaging, publicizing and marketing of Prince from FOr You to Purple Rain was legendary - especially when you consider it was prior to the internet age.

Aside from that, no artist is obligated to give props to anyone for influences. But if you want to look at it closely in the case of Prince, the cover of his fourth album does have the name of an artist that influenced him printed in bold letters (find the vinyl record to see JONI as in Joni Mitchell). Watch the Purple Rain tour and tell me that is not a nod to James Brown when he does Baby I'm A Star. In 1988 he had Miles Davis onstage with him at Paisley Park. IN the 80s covered his heroes such as the Temptations and Joni Mitchell in live shows.

In the 90s I saw him read off a list of names of legends to thank them during an award acceptance speech - it was cool that he included Malcolm X, Muhaammad Ali, and Martin Luther King.

Of course, you can not name an artist who shares more with his forefathers: he has given sopngs to Earth Wind and Fire, Miles Davis, and Kid Creole. He has made records with George CLinton, Chaka Khan, Larry Graham, Stevie Wonder, and Mavis Staples. He has invited influential people onstage like Santana and Ron Wood.

Then why are you moaning in this thread about 'Prince Clones' not giving Prince props?

Second, I knew someone would mention Joni Mitchell. Lord knows when you hear Minneapolis Funk, you can hear the Joni Mitchell folk influence, LOL!!!! Not. I'm talking about his real influences. The Brothas. How long did it take Prince to credit one by name in his album liners? One who isn't from his own inner circle? I'm talking the cats that started funk, soul and r&b.

funksterr said:

purplenuts said:

First of all, it is not that smart as a young artist getting established to be associated too closely with legends that went before you. If you come out talking about them too much, people either reject you for hinting that you are the next James Brown or SMokey Robinson or Sly Stone - OR they expect you to be just like them - which never works whether yo can pull it off anyway. Be it completely planned or not, the positioning, packaging, publicizing and marketing of Prince from FOr You to Purple Rain was legendary - especially when you consider it was prior to the internet age.

Aside from that, no artist is obligated to give props to anyone for influences. But if you want to look at it closely in the case of Prince, the cover of his fourth album does have the name of an artist that influenced him printed in bold letters (find the vinyl record to see JONI as in Joni Mitchell). Watch the Purple Rain tour and tell me that is not a nod to James Brown when he does Baby I'm A Star. In 1988 he had Miles Davis onstage with him at Paisley Park. IN the 80s covered his heroes such as the Temptations and Joni Mitchell in live shows.

In the 90s I saw him read off a list of names of legends to thank them during an award acceptance speech - it was cool that he included Malcolm X, Muhaammad Ali, and Martin Luther King.

Of course, you can not name an artist who shares more with his forefathers: he has given sopngs to Earth Wind and Fire, Miles Davis, and Kid Creole. He has made records with George CLinton, Chaka Khan, Larry Graham, Stevie Wonder, and Mavis Staples. He has invited influential people onstage like Santana and Ron Wood.

Then why are you moaning in this thread about 'Prince Clones' not giving Prince props?

Second, I knew someone would mention Joni Mitchell. Lord knows when you hear Minneapolis Funk, you can hear the Joni Mitchell folk influence, LOL!!!! Not. I'm talking about his real influences. The Brothas. How long did it take Prince to credit one by name in his album liners? One who isn't from his own inner circle? I'm talking the cats that started funk, soul and r&b.

Because there is a difference in naming legends in liner notes as a show of reverance and respect and being promoted or pigeonholed as the next version of a legend.

That you can not hear it doesnt mean it was not an influence. Prince has made her influence obvious - he covered her song live before Purple Rain was released. Find his first interview with Rolling Stone and he makes it plain that Mitchell and Stevie Wonder influenced him. I thought that even the most casual Prince fan knew this.

Prince did all those other things listed above that are greater than liner notes - like working with legends and lendng his clout to their projects. George Clinton was dead after Atomic Dog -I doubt he even had a contract until he was signed to Paisley Park. Mavis Staples' career was helped with by her Paisley projects. These were not huge commercial his but it was quality stuff and helped their exposure - yes, even their appearances in the GRaffiti Bridge film got them out in front of more people and a younger demo than their own core fanbases.

[Edited 4/25/11 11:25am]

purplenuts said:

funksterr said:

Then why are you moaning in this thread about 'Prince Clones' not giving Prince props?

Second, I knew someone would mention Joni Mitchell. Lord knows when you hear Minneapolis Funk, you can hear the Joni Mitchell folk influence, LOL!!!! Not. I'm talking about his real influences. The Brothas. How long did it take Prince to credit one by name in his album liners? One who isn't from his own inner circle? I'm talking the cats that started funk, soul and r&b.

Because there is a difference in naming legends in liner notes as a show of reverance and respect and being promoted or pigeonholed as the next version of a legend.

That you can not hear it doesnt mean it was not an influence. Prince has made her influence obvious - he covered her song live before Purple Rain was released. Find his first interview with Rolling Stone and he makes it plain that Mitchell and Stevie Wonder influenced him. I thought that even the most casual Prince fan knew this.

Prince did all those other things listed above that are greater than liner notes - like working with legends and lendng his clout to their projects. George Clinton was dead after Atomic Dog -I doubt he even had a contract until he was signed to Paisley Park. Mavis Staples' career was helped with by her Paisley projects. These were not huge commercial his but it was quality stuff and helped their exposure - yes, even their appearances in the GRaffiti Bridge film got them out in front of more people and a younger demo than their own core fanbases.

[Edited 4/25/11 11:25am]

Liner notes please? Again Joni Mitchell isn't making Blues, Gospel, Funk, Soul or R&B, so Prince is full of ish saying she is this great influence on him, when 99% of his tunes show a completely DIFFERENT set of influences. He was just trying to sound well rounded while talking to white folks. You are criticizing these kids who are clearly influenced by The Time, Vanity 6 and Prince records of the early 80's, which was the hot sound on black radio at the time, as not giving Prince credit. Prince's first album had a lot of disco on it. Who did he thank in the liner notes for starting disco?

And Prince did not revive Mavis Staples or George Clinton's career. Even if you want to credit him as having done so, it's like 20 albums into his career that he reached out to those artists. You are criticizing guys for not naming Prince that had like one shot.

If anything Prince stole "Erotic City" from a George Clinton jam session. Jacked "Mother Popcorn" from James Brown and mixed it with a sample from "En Vogue" to make "Gett Off" and I don't recall him thanking any of those artists in his liner notes. And this was deep into his career where he had already made a name for himself.