the magical thing about the 80's was the music from prince was raw and something was happening much different from the 70,s or 90,s he just created this whole new sound and world the fact of the matter is there will never be another prince or michaeljackson .The 80,s gave us great visuals lets not forget the time Morris Day is tight.I am 27 and since I was 5 its been the best.

I'm not gonna throw a hissyfit here because it is all just somebody's opinion. But even if a majority thinks that Prince's 80s music is better than the 90s does not make it true. Nothing you say could convince me otherwise.

Wanna compare and contrast?

Dirty Mind, Purple Rain, Sign, and Lovesexy

to me are easily surpassed by:

Come, Gold Experience, Emancipation, and Symbol


The only album in the eighties that has gone unmatched by his 90s albums is Sign of the Times. Symbol Album, Come, Gold Experience, Emancipation, and The Truth are all superior to the rest of his 80s albums in my opinion.

Song for song:

Condition of the Heart- was topped with I Hate U
Adore- matched by The One
Crystal Ball- okay, you got me there....

...but what exactly matches up with She Spoke 2 Me in the 80s? nothing....

How Come u don't call me anymore- was topped with I Love U but I don't trust u anymore

Love 2 the 9s- I can't think of a Prince song in the 80s with two such completely diverse sections within the song that gel together so perfectly

...and finally to match some funk....Head or Housequake was topped by the extended version of Billy Jack Bitch, the funkiest Prince song, with the most impressive instrumentation ever....


Finally, you can give me all the "young ears" junk you want, but just because I'm 22 doesn't mean I didn't spend most of my youth listening to and loving 70s and 80s music, as well as studying classical music. I earned my Music Education degree at one of the top ten music schools in the United States, I'm a chorus teacher, I'm a pianist at church. I've been exposed to a wide range of music far beyond Prince's.

Also, while the 80s stuff is dated, and some of the 90s stuff with its rapping and scratches, the little timeless-sounding music that Prince has created has happened mostly in the 90s and just in the past two years.

jtgillia,

You are correct on one thing, when you say "nothing" anyone could say would change your mind about the comparison between Prince's 80's and 90's music.

Anybody conducting the compare and contrast that you did in the above post is clearly hearing something different than I hear.

Despite the obvious improvements in musicianship and production, Prince's songwriting IMO declined severely on his 90's material.

To each his own. I will always feel the majority of his 90's output was uneven, tepid and mediocre.

Well, that's okay.

Have to agree to disagree, it's all good.

Hey ya'll! Figured I'd chime in on this one being that I qualify as a youngin' (20). It's actually a great question and a hard one to answer. But after some careful evaluation (okay, maybe not careful, it took me a whole 2 seconds, but whatever), I've gotta say I believe the 90's have produced the most substantial work. Obviously SOTT is classic, and nothing has been on that level. But to me the 90's have been much more about music for oneself, rather than music for the masses. He's always been a step ahead, but he was reigned in a bit during the 80's because of being a part of a major label. Now that he's free to make his own decisions, the work has been more sporadic, but the good far outweighs the bad. So to me, when you put Come, TGE, Emancipation, TRC, D & P, etc. against the 80's albums- it's the 90's by the slightest of margins! Of course that's just my opinion.

I dont take it as a personal attack that he sucked more in the 90's..just because I grew up then I still can admit that crap is crap, with a few rare exceptions.

Well, I'm 24 and due to my brother's and sister's fandom, I was exposed to Prince all my life - nearly every album as it was released. With the exception of Purple Rain, I never found the music interesting.

My siblings abadoned Prince around Graffiti Bridge. At the same time, I tried to give Prince a 2nd chance. I still found most of it boring. I can't tell you how many times I tried to listen to SOTT, but ended up falling sleep in the middle of Forever in my Life.

It was until he released "7", that I started to make some kind of connection with the music. After that, I bought D&P and . I was officially hooked.

I appreciate his 80s stuff a more now. I can listen to SOTT all the way through. It's a struggle, but I can do it. Lovesexy kicks butt. Each album now seems to have a few "classics" on it, but in the end, his 90s work reigns supreme for me.

One day, I hope people can move beyond this "x is better than y" BS mentality when it comes to art. Please, as if it were some scientific fact and it sooooo difficult to see otherwise. Let's broaden our minds, shall we?
[This message was edited Fri Mar 22 21:41:19 PST 2002 by Tran]

Redirecting from General Discussion forum to Music: Prince....

Wow! When you said Prince was 'bigger' than Britney that hit me man. I was about 9 years old during that time, and I think those days did rule because he was more commercialized, but it must've been all the hype because it's really the songs that just make him hot all over.
[This message was edited Fri Mar 29 23:01:06 PST 2002 by purpleleaf7]

I'm 24. Personally, I think that Prince didn't lose the plot until 1996.

Admitting, large portions of GB, D&P and even 0(+> are songs I don't like 2 much. But overall, they're still made up out of pretty good songs.

"Come" and "The Gold Experience" [and "The Undertaker"] r still fantastic albums. They sound hard and raw. Kick ass jams and dark funk. Vintage Prince with a new twist.

Even "Exodus" was a very cool album [4get the segues 4 a minute].

But with/just after "Chaos & Disorder" [which could have been a very cool 6 song EP] the music changed so dramatically.

It became this whole 'Emancipation' sound that continued on 'New Power Soul', 'Rave' and even in a large number of trax from 'High' and other stuff that was released on NPGMC. [hypnoparadise, jukebox with a heartbeat etc].

Only breath of fresh air between Emancipation and the wonderful "TRC" was "The Truth".

So for me, only the latter part of the 90's was real crap. And not even all of it.

wow, as violator said- those who prefer the 90s are just hearing things *so* differently.

i'm 28. i think prince's last truly great album was lovesexy. the progression from parade-sign-black-lovesexy fascinates me to this day. it was just... unprecedented. remarkable.

i got into prince with SOTT when i was 13. yes, there's a lot to be said for the nostalgia aspect- or rather, when you first get into somebody's music- especially when you are in your teens- your emotions and feeling of being connected to the music run so high. listening to the "old stuff" can sometimes- if i'm very lucky- send me right back to that intense colourful world in which i first experienced it..

but it's not only that. i got into that stuff then instead of getting into other people's music. why? because it was and is, to my ears, the best, the only, the most vital, the most wonderful, dynamic music out there.

every little blip, bass twang, keyboard doodle on a prince song used to speak to me so directly- i understood his *language*. on DMSR, for instance. the thing was just so solid, so exquisitly put together. i felt he was communicating on a near-perfect level.

since "lovesexy" i have understood his language less and less. i like lots of stuff post-lovesexy, don't get me wrong. but things crept into the prince universe that didn't make much sense to me. strange clumping instrumentation that ruined otherwise good tracks, whereas in the past each element seemed to fit brilliantly into the overall pattern; lyrics that sounded petulant, clumsy, tired; most of all- the SONGS and the IDEAS. just- not as good, no no no. they just started to sound like... songs. sing and dance. not what they once were.

i am pretty much at peace now with the idea that prince has done his best work already, and that he won't reach those heights again. how could he? great artists have their moment of clicking into the zeitgeist and that is where their art shines most brightly. for prince it was the 80s. madonna too. she might be making successful albums now (and she has the canniness to employ fashionably contemporary producers and writers) but what are her albums these days? they're just another choice on the shelf. not the flickery, zeitgeist-defining things they once were. her singles are just songs, not events. same with prince. dylan. bowie. the beatles (look at most of their stuff after they split up, john lennon's work being a notable exception, and with apologies to nep2nes, who i know is into george harrison).

but with prince, the decline has been very sad. not just that his role as cultural touchstone has gone- but that he has been unwilling to admit this and has been, to my ears, trying to mount comebacks from a series of different angles, some of which seem quite desperate.

prince is not the artist he once was.

thus sayeth the 28 year old-timer.
[This message was edited Sat Mar 30 4:53:50 PST 2002 by tiger2]

@ tiger 2: that's it. the sign 'o' the times / lovesexy period is prince at his best.

just listen to the unreleased tracks from that period - i can' t imagine how you can reach that creative output in a period of 2 or 3 years.

Plus: plenty of the so called 90's material was written during that period. Although I must admit that prince created interesting new styles/ sounds in the 90's. Nearly every album sounds different. (Just listen to Come, NewPowerSoul and TRC)

jtgillia said:

Excellent point. The stuff he's putting out now can't be beat for sonic punch. Still, if I had to listen to all of Prince's music without knowing what period they're from, I'd still be picking the gems from the 80s, simply because he was such a risk-taker back then and musically so unpredictably brilliant. Now he's more mainstream...for want of a better expression. Still creative but just not quite as brilliant as his time in the 80s.

I think choice and taste in music can be influenced by time & place, nostalgia and whatever...but since I spent most of the 80s just vaguely remembering Purple Rain from the man, and actually bought his 90s material before digging out the 80s stuff...I'd say in this case it had no influence.

So my vote's on the 80s stuff. I gets most earshare from me. Just too many remarkable tracks that stand the test of time. (would kill for higher quality remasters though!)

im 46 and ashamed to say ive been out of the loop
sence the turn of the century.
i like to buy in bulk and havent been able to ad to my collection.
with him not getting alot of air play, ive always bought
his works, then found my way,
i am taken with the evolutionary process of
[This message was edited Sun Mar 31 11:33:46 PST 2002 by badlad00769]

ok, first off, i'm 21, and have been listening to prince for almost 2 years. i have every album, (some of them twice - tracked "lovesexy" german import, petri dish crystal ball, dirty mind/controversy on one cass). now let me tell you something. the 80's were a bizillion times better than the 90's. wanna know why? prince's downward spiral to insanity (or becoming a jehova's witness, depending on who you ask). want a good example? "new power soul". prince is out of his fucking mind. still is. back then, he was all about having fun. too bad nowadays he won't even try to spell fun without consulting worthless-ass larry.

Well, I'm 18 (I turn 19 on June 7th btw), and I've been a Prince fan since I was in the womb. Literally, my brother had a walkman and he'd put the 1999 album on my mother's belly. My mom took my brothers and I to see Purple Rain, and I lost my mind!!! I wore out the Sign 'O the Times tape so much that it broke when I was 4. So I do remember the good ol days, and you know what? I like Prince better now. I got made fun of as a kid (still do) about being a Prince fan. A lot of boys my age wanted to learn to dunk like Mike, I grew up wanting to do the splits like Prince.

80's music is MUCH BETTER!!!!! I wouldn't say that Prince's music in the 90's was bad OF COURSE NOT!! But real music is just 80's.. much better than 90's!

I guess it's time for an old fart to chime in.

I'm 33 years old and have been listening to prince since the early 80's.

I think that Prince as an individual artist has gotten better, but his music hasn't always reflected that. What I mean is that in the early 80's he himself wasn't the musician he is now, but his music was more creative and he squeezed every drop out of his band. I also think he grew more dramaticaly as a musician during this time. He did all this in an atmosphere of true superstardom.

When the 90's hit, we saw Prince trying recreate himself to appeal to a younger audience, repsond to critics, and fight Warner Bros. Not all of that was his fault, but the result was more rap and pop influenced songs that were very good, but just bit more restrained than in previous years.

He also hurt himself. A very bad Grafiti Bridge Movie hurt sales of a good album and killed any momentum he had garnered from the Batman Soundtrack. And of course this was also during the worst parts of the WB feud, which led to the imfamous name change, which he will never truly recover from IMO.

I'm saying all that to say that I think the 90's were a far more difficult time for Prince than the 80's, and it showed in his music.
[This message was edited Thu Apr 4 11:44:52 PST 2002 by ace316]