I used 2 wonder around 82-85 that Brown Mark was in a great spot 2 be playing bass with P. Especially in 83-85 period. Dez had just left, so now he's the only other brother besides P up on stage. U know he must have been getting women throwing themselves at him, because they couldn't get 2 Prince and he played in the band. Mark was only 18 when he joined with P in 81. He joined at the perfect time in P's career, during Controversy. Just when P was starting 2 take off. He was there during Prince's rise 2 fame during 1999 and when P hit the big time during Purple Rain. On a lot of levels, Mark had 2 be on cloud nine. 2 be able 2 say that u played bass in Prince's band during that time was ultra cool. And Mark had great bass lines to thump during that period as well, so it had 2 be fun as a musician. He was in a high profile position on stage, right up front. Sure, P dogged him out in Purple Rain by not having the brother utter a single word. I always thought that strange as hell. He was there at least 2 years b4 Wendy set foot on stage and Wendy had a grip of lines in the movie. Oh well, Mark was still in a killing position at that point. 2 play during the Purple Rain tour 2 all those maniac fans all across the country had 2 be great.

yes he was in great place. very underrated. Prince hasn't fully recovered w/finding a suitable replacement yet. Funny Prince dogged him yet can't help but 2 sing his praises now. He will always be one of my most influential bass players. Would have been interesting to hear him on the Madhouse,Sign and after party gig stuff.

I STILL SAY HE'S THE BEST BASS PLAYER PRINCE HAS HAD.....THOUGH I LIKE RHONDA!

In the famous Rolling Stone Interview (I think the one with the cover from Raspberry Beret), Prince said if Brown Mark wasn't in the band he'd "eliminate bass from his music."

Mmmm hmmm.

Very under rated muso and a really down to earth guy.. why was he the only revolution band member not to get a speaking part in purple rain...

That sux!

MamaLisa said:

YEP.

BlaqueKnight said:

Yeah, and hella underrated. Last I head, Mark had left the music biz all together. That's a drag. I remember seeing him on Soul Train fronting his new band doing "Next Time" from his first solo album. I think if he had not worried about what P had done or was doing, Mark could have been very successful. Like mentioned, he was a good producer and great musician. I think he should have slanged the hell out of his bass on his solo albums and even had more rock guitar on it. Like he did 4 Mazarati. I think he let P get in2 his head a little bit. Just like Jessie. Jessie tripped on the fact that people were always comparing him 2 P, so in a way, it crippled some of what I think Jessie was really capable of doing. Only here recently does Jessie put a lot of guitar on his albums. On Jessie's 1st album, he hardly had any guitar at all. And we he did, it was buried low in the mix.

Are you experienced? Well, I am.
Jimi Hendrix

Brownmark is EXTREMELY underrated as a bass player period. I remember P saying that if Brown couldn't be in his band then he would eliminate bass from ALL his music well.....

He didn't.

Because of that, i feel his funkiness has been eliminated somewhat as no one in P's timeline was or will ever be as funky as Mark Brown period. Sonny was cool but Brownmark just had this chemistry with P's music. No one could play with the attitude of P and then some. there was a post about him playing on the breakdown of "Baby I'm a star" live on the video not too long ago. If anyone heard that (which i did) they would change their minds about who is the baddest Prince bass player. I like Rhonda (no disrespect) but she could N E V E R put it down like Brown. It was also weird seeing Graham up there with P. The chemistry was just weird up there. As bad as Graham is, it just didn't feel right to me hearing him play P's music. I'm sure some of you will disagree but i just call it as i see it. G O D bless you ALL

Bran

p.s. Brownmark IS THA MAN

brante said:

Agreed 100%