How important do you think it is for Prince to re-connect to the youth? I always hear people on here say that Prince needs to get with the times and this and that..but I have let quite a few young people hear MUSICOLOGY and most of them always like "Life O The Party" more than any other song on the CD if it means that re-connecting with the youth means that Prince should put out more songs similar to Life O The party , then forget it! I think that the youth demographic is among the most fickle and to me, if I were Prince , I would NOT try to appease anyone other than himself.If record sales fall, so be it. Its his career and no one elses.
What do you think of the assumption that people say that Prince needs to "re-connect to the youth." Can they even recognize what good music is?? Shoot, at 14, 15 and 16 I thought Paula Abdul was the best thing on earth ....your thoughts...
[This message was edited Sat Jul 10 10:35:52 2004 by DigitalGardin]

I don't think Prince should make any special attempt to gain the interest of youth. Those who are listening to Outkast, Neptunes, Alicia Keys and any chart-topper who is influenced by Prince will eventually seek out his catalog. I probably wouldn't have ever sought out James Brown records if it hadn't been for hip-hop samples in the 80s and 90s. I wouldn't have discovered Joni Mitchell if she wasn't referenced so often in Prince's music and reviews for his music. His influence is so prevalent in current music that eventually it'll all come around full circle and he'll reach the youth.

when i was 14 years old, i thought prince was the best thing on earth, so i don't know if i can really say.

Anxiety said:

Was it "him"(his persona and mysteriousness) or his actually music that you liked at 14? Did you understand and appreciate his musicianship at 14?

DigitalGardin said:

HEY! i'm not fickle! i love the whole album..i like on the couch. dear mr man. call my name. and what do u want me 2 do more than life o the party. i don't think PRINCE needs 2 reconnect with the youth. i think the YOUTH needs to reconnect wit prince.

At this point in his career he'd have to water down his music a whole lot, get some popular performers on the album that the mainstream young bucks identify with, give eMpTV videos for singles timely, and have a major label pushing him the right way. A la Supernatural. That's what "get with the times" is code for. And who needs that shit?

The classic catalogs in music are always rediscovered at some point. But his stubborn nature in this area doesn't help him by not collaborating with WB for reissuing remasters.

I'm 15, I love Prince. My brother's 13 and discovered Prince with no intervention from me. He loves him.

DigitalGardin said:

all of the above. ya gotta understand, though, that i grew up in a house full of psychadelic music - my mom was always playin' zappa, beatles, hendrix, janis, and the occasional funkadelic or bootsy album here or there - so when prince came down the pike, it was like discovering the kind of music my mama was pumping in my ears all through my childhood, only he was "new", so prince was someone i could lay claim to - it wasn't my mom's music (which i loved), it was all mine...even though "purple rain" seemed to follow in the same tradition of "axis bold as love" or "let it be", to my ears. so there was a familiarity to it, but there was also a novelty to it that every teenager looks for in their favorite pop star.

ALSO, i grew up in a hick town in indiana, and at my high school, if you didn't listen to hair metal or country music, you were considered an outcast. i hated country and i hated metal, and i didn't feel like faking it to fit in...so prince's prissy/glam persona at the time (1984) was the perfect rebellion against people who looked down on me for not digging dokken or whatever the hell hick music i was expected to like at the time in order to be considered "popular". what better pop star to piss off the prom court with than a guy who was at the top of the charts and didn't give a shit what anyone thought of him?

but i guess at the end of the day, it was all about coming home from class, putting the vinyl of purple rain on the turntable, crankin' that sucker up and playing my mom's drum set along with prince and the revolution every day. that's my most "romantic" memory of getting into prince way back in the beginning - it's a fairly easy album to play drums to, but nothin' beats the fun of playing along with your favorite album and getting to know every part of the music as if you thought nobody could ever get closer to it than your crazy isolated 14-year-old ass.

so, i dunno...i guess it was the persona AND the music, 50/50 - on the one hand, i loved it that prince waved his freak flag high, because it seemed to piss off the people i wanted to see pissed off...on the other hand, prince was the first artist i got into on my own as a kid who i knew was a bona-fide actual genius. before him, i got into the stuff that most kids did at the time - boy george, eurythmics, MJ, olivia newton-john, blah blah blah...and i still love most of those folks, but it wasn't till prince that i not only appreciated a nice, catchy pop song but kick-ass musicianship - i thought that was only possible in my mom's old hendrix and beatles records.

so, i dunno. did that answer anything?

psykosoul said:

U're so on point psykosoul! I think that as long as P's concerts r family friendly he will convert enuff young fans towards his music.

The first time I ever heard a Prince song was in my mom's car when I was VERY little.
I started 2 appreciate him and his music when I was around 12 or 13, when I was able 2 understand. He has an awkward way of attracting the youth...::looks in the other direction:: No, I wasn't only attracted 2 his looks... Well, maybe, but U R forgeting that I was YOUNG, and now I'm OLD, meaning now I can B even more attracted 2 him.... So my point is that I don't think he needs 2 shift his music toward younger people 2 get them 2 like him. He does fine without that.

Prince should do his own thing and if the youth likes it...fine, and if they don't...the hell with them. Like I always say "Don't join 'em....beat 'em!"