for those of us that have been long time Prince fans and had to defend ourselves for listening to him all these years i think the biggest thing that happened this year was the induction into the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame..from this year on you'll find yourself in less & less discussion about why you are a fan of Prince and find many more people that say "yea Prince he is great"..i think since his induction into the hall his future albums will be much bigger hits than just falling down the charts like a rock like they did in the mid to late 90's ..because things are just different to the public and the media now that Prince is in the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame..he has respect by all now ...

Definitely. Prince has gained a lot of authority among even the "regular folks" - but I guess that happened once even to many other legendary greats. That with time and sustaining your artistic integrity and staying away from the gossip headlines people will grant you that "older statesman of rock" -status. I don't have to defend him all the time or be ashamed of really loving him like used to.

It's either that or it's because I'm 6ft1 and wear combat boots all the time and they're just afraid to fuck with me.