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The end of the symbol era What did you think when  changed his name back to Prince? I remember thinking thank god! The artist stuff was soooo annoying. Some people have speculated Prince did it for media attention but who knows.All I can say is "Prince thank god you are back how was your trip to outer space?" I love Prince but he was pretty looney in the ninties. | |
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I loved it when he used the symbol... Got one tatooed and all  Who else could take a symbol never seen before and make it recognizeable world-wide? He did quite well as far as the marketing of it.. U might not have liked it, but U knew who it stood for.
"If Ur always with me, U never need 2 call me" | |
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Well, I wanted to believe that signafied a creative rebirth, and I wanted to beleive that the best Prince music was just about to be released. But, what actually transpired was a movement that seemed to be earnest, but dwindled into a tired joke of itself and a muddled 7 year dark spot in his career and my interest in him.
There was this sense among some Prince fans like myself, that the Dawn was looming and that the floodgates of brilliant music were about to open and we would finally be rewarded for haveing to put up with movies like GB, and albums like D&P. Boy was I wrong. The albums got progressively worse. To me, it seemed like around 93 to 95, The Dawn truly was in full swing as some of his material then (although not universally loved) was very fierce and clever if not perfect. It was like he was buttering us up for a real stuff. "Welcome 2 the Dawn, playground for the new power generation" songs from the Gold Experience would announce--the anticipation for me was quite high. He even went as far as calling his songs "experiences". What I experienced instead was months delayed shipments of Crystal Ball, a fansite (NPGMC or Love4OneANother as it was called) that criticized it's own fans, promises of brilliant music only to recieve eye-rolling throwaways, and ever more annoying official statments from Prince. The "Open Letter to Madonna" was like the nail in the coffin for me---truly horrible. Other artists simply release duds--Prince had to self-implode his career instead. 1999 came and went, and Prince who could easily rightfully claim that year as his own, failed to capatilize on it. 2004 was a great "comeback" year for Prince, the sustainability of it questionable, but it's sad for me now to watch this man who looks physically 10 years older than just 4 years ago, bill himself as an oldschool "teacher" of young tikes, instead of the rebel artist that he truly is. So, the symbol era is a mixed bag of anticipation, hype, and great dissapointment for me. I walked away from it resigned to making Prince exactly what he is--just another human being, but with a gift. It's like the day you wake up as a kid and realize that your parents aren't truly as invincible as you once thought. | |
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It was mixed - seemed like a wimp-out, but also a relief.
When it started, it was so exciting, it felt like I was in on something really cool - the material from 93/94 was fantastic - and then it just went flacid from there unfortunately. In the end it was good he went back to Prince, there really wasn't anywhere else for him to go with the whole thing. | |
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I didn't care for that music much either, though there were some gems here and there. There was a time when you just couldn't wait for a new album to come out because you knew it was going to be totally different than anything you'd heard before and was going to rock your mind.
I felt this way after: -PR and was rewarded with AWIAD. -AWIAD and was rewarded with Parade -Parade and was rewarded with SOTT -SOTT and was rewarded with Lovesexy Hardly a bad run. Prince said in a radio interview sometime in 2004 that we shouldn't be misled, he did it simply to get out of his WB contract. He thought they would be so frustrated with trying to market him that they'd buckle. And on some level we were robbed of years of getting what could have been really inspiring music. I think he put out the mediocre stuff because that's the only music he wanted WB to own. So post-sign he may have lost the momentum that we'd become accustomed to. Now it's a different ride, but it's still fun. Come here, babe.. yeah... | |
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All I can say was that when I saw that Breaking News thing on Mtv pop up I shouted that the era was over and it might've been worth the long waitign for better music | |
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AsianBoi777 said: Well, I wanted to believe that signafied a creative rebirth, and I wanted to beleive that the best Prince music was just about to be released. But, what actually transpired was a movement that seemed to be earnest, but dwindled into a tired joke of itself and a muddled 7 year dark spot in his career and my interest in him.
There was this sense among some Prince fans like myself, that the Dawn was looming and that the floodgates of brilliant music were about to open and we would finally be rewarded for haveing to put up with movies like GB, and albums like D&P. Boy was I wrong. The albums got progressively worse. To me, it seemed like around 93 to 95, The Dawn truly was in full swing as some of his material then (although not universally loved) was very fierce and clever if not perfect. It was like he was buttering us up for a real stuff. "Welcome 2 the Dawn, playground for the new power generation" songs from the Gold Experience would announce--the anticipation for me was quite high. He even went as far as calling his songs "experiences". What I experienced instead was months delayed shipments of Crystal Ball, a fansite (NPGMC or Love4OneANother as it was called) that criticized it's own fans, promises of brilliant music only to recieve eye-rolling throwaways, and ever more annoying official statments from Prince. The "Open Letter to Madonna" was like the nail in the coffin for me---truly horrible. Other artists simply release duds--Prince had to self-implode his career instead. 1999 came and went, and Prince who could easily rightfully claim that year as his own, failed to capatilize on it. 2004 was a great "comeback" year for Prince, the sustainability of it questionable, but it's sad for me now to watch this man who looks physically 10 years older than just 4 years ago, bill himself as an oldschool "teacher" of young tikes, instead of the rebel artist that he truly is. So, the symbol era is a mixed bag of anticipation, hype, and great dissapointment for me. I walked away from it resigned to making Prince exactly what he is--just another human being, but with a gift. It's like the day you wake up as a kid and realize that your parents aren't truly as invincible as you once thought. WOW! Thats deep. Thanx..... 1999 came and went, and Prince who could easily rightfully claim that year as his own, failed to capatilize on it. 2004 was a great "comeback" year for Prince, the sustainability of it questionable, but it's sad for me now to watch this man who looks physically 10 years older than just 4 years ago, bill himself as an oldschool "teacher" of young tikes, instead of the rebel artist that he truly is.
Good point. I wondered about him calling himself a teacher and shit! I too was kinda sad that Prince now thinks he is a legend and thus stop trying to be creative and make something good 4 the pop charts. I know u read that as something else, but I agree with u fully anyway. | |
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altavista said: I think he put out the mediocre stuff because that's the only music he wanted WB to own.
This is the image Prince gives - the "contractual release only" stuff - it's smoke and mirrors. I do believe when compiling material for albums like Come, C&D and OF4S that he intentionally made these releases short - they're like vinyl albums in length. And yes, he decided not to included certain material - but I don't think it's because he was storing greater stuff for the end of his contract - that was just Prince's hyperbole at the time, because we never did see anything pant-wettingly fantastic in 1996 when he got his "freedom" - we got Emancipation. 
The only record I've seen from Prince since splitting with WB, that made me think he can still surprise us, is The Rainbow Children. I do think when sufficient time has passed, that the will be looked upon differently than it is now - I don't think it will be so harshly criticised in the future, maybe just looked upon as a natural dip that artists of Prince's length in making music take along their career path.
ยป NouveauDance [Edited 1/3/05 17:01pm] | |
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I was sad. I mean the symbol stuff was abit confused to me but exodus was one of his greatest album to me as gold is. A creatve peride overall. I was desapointed Prince went back to the mainstream. But I guess the symbol stuff had to do with mayte and this time is now over... | |
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First of all, great thread! 
For me, well I became a fan around 1998/99 (I was 16) when he was still known as . When he changed it back to Prince I was, if anything, a little dissapointed. I kind of liked the dream that he was this great "undiscovered genius" lurking in the shadows of Minneapolis that I just happened to find. It's a gratifying feeling when you find something in your life that everyone else thinks is crazy, but you know is right. When he changed his name back to Prince it was like saying "Ha ha - You all fell for it - I was only doing it to get out of my stupid contract". I guess I felt a little betrayed after his continuing insistance that he changed it for "spiritual reasons". Now though when I look back I'm glad he did change it back. Since then, even though he's still a little overly religious, there's this sence that he's on the right track again. People are starting to remember just how much a genius he really is. Back in 1999 if you said you were a Prince fan, people would think you were strange. Now, people seem to be more hip to it, even if they aren't fans themselves.Toejam @ Peach & Black Podcast: http://peachandblack.podbean.com
Toejam's band "Cheap Fakes": http://cheapfakes.com.au, http://www.facebook.com/cheapfakes Toejam the solo artist: http://www.youtube.com/scottbignell | |
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thesexofit said:[quote] WOW! Thats deep. Thanx..... 1999 came and went, and Prince who could easily rightfully claim that year as his own, failed to capatilize on it. 2004 was a great "comeback" year for Prince, the sustainability of it questionable, but it's sad for me now to watch this man who looks physically 10 years older than just 4 years ago, bill himself as an oldschool "teacher" of young tikes, instead of the rebel artist that he truly is.
Good point. I wondered about him calling himself a teacher and shit! I too was kinda sad that Prince now thinks he is a legend and thus stop trying to be creative and make something good 4 the pop charts. I know u read that as something else, but I agree with u fully anyway. U took me seriously?  | |
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AsianBoi777 said: thesexofit said: Good point. I wondered about him calling himself a teacher and shit! I too was kinda sad that Prince now thinks he is a legend and thus stop trying to be creative and make something good 4 the pop charts. I know u read that as something else, but I agree with u fully anyway. U took me seriously? Never take AsianBoi seriously! Goodnight, sweet Prince. | |
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altavista said: I didn't care for that music much either, though there were some gems here and there. There was a time when you just couldn't wait for a new album to come out because you knew it was going to be totally different than anything you'd heard before and was going to rock your mind.
I felt this way after: -PR and was rewarded with AWIAD. -AWIAD and was rewarded with Parade -Parade and was rewarded with SOTT -SOTT and was rewarded with Lovesexy Hardly a bad run. Prince said in a radio interview sometime in 2004 that we shouldn't be misled, he did it simply to get out of his WB contract. He thought they would be so frustrated with trying to market him that they'd buckle. And on some level we were robbed of years of getting what could have been really inspiring music. I think he put out the mediocre stuff because that's the only music he wanted WB to own. So post-sign he may have lost the momentum that we'd become accustomed to. Now it's a different ride, but it's still fun. The albums you just listed, compared to the quality of the earlier ones, were reason enough for Warner Bros. to either put their foot down or put him out in the mid 1980s. By the 1990s, they had created a monster and had to deal with it. They should have told him in the mid 1980s to leave the Land of Oz and come back to Kansas. [Edited 1/4/05 1:07am] Andy is a four letter word. | |
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How about he just made a lot of BAD music in that period. "If you really want something in this life, you have to work for it - Now quiet, they're about to announce the lottery numbers!"
- Homer Simpson | |
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