Prince's body of work is phenomenal. Albums, such as, Dirty Mind, 1999, Parade, SOTT, revealed an artist unparralled by his peers in vision or ability. However, as magnificent as i believe his work to be, can any of Princes albums be considered 'classics' in the wider social sense than that of mere fan appreciation? Or does deep appreciation for Princes albums come from having a wider understanding of his abilities? i.e watching his continual growth through the 80's, his work ethic, his musicianship etc.

I guess it depends on your perspective. For most 'casual' fans - i.e., music geeks in general - Prince's 'classic' albums usually tend to be Purple Rain and Sign 'O' the Times. Nothin' wrong with that. But I think among fans, we get so burned out on the popular 'classics' that our classic Prince albums tend to be a little more obscure to other folks.

Anxiety said:

Very True. Are any of Prince's considered classic though? You never seem to hear them mentioned that often in wider circles. Is Prince a cult superstar?

PRNelson said:

I don't think he is more than anyone else. I mean I am a very casual fan of The Rollingstones. I can name a few of their albums, but I definitely wouldn't be able to tell you what the "classics" are as well as a hardcore stones fan could. t's the same with Prince.

skywalker said:

I understand you, but there are albums which have the general concensus of being a 'classic' i.e Sgt Pepper, Exile on main street. Also, the public have a tendancy to regard acts like the Stones to be great even if they have never heard an album of theirs. I don't feel that Prince shares that level of mass appreciation.

As excellent as 'Sign O The Times' is (not my fave album by a long shot, but there's no arguing about the genius of it all), I believe that Purple Rain is probably the only Prince album that the casual music listener would consider a classic.

Mainly because it's full of Prince's most commercial and accessible music to date, and that's a big sway in how the masses judge a 'classic' album. Of course, there are great songs there, but no matter how much we see (insert your own fave songs from PR here) as the best songs on the album, I think that most non-fans hear the instantly singable, epic title track, and that makes it for them. Even if they only have a reasonable liking for the majority of the album, it only takes one or two absolutely stunning tracks for the listener to forgive the rest of the album. The fact that it's also the most well-known of Prince's works makes it more likely to be seen as a classic.

It's like with any artists who've at some stage sold a few million copies of a single record, the fans will always champion a more obscure album than the casual listener, simply because they will have spent more time listening to the rest of the artist's work and will have an appreciation for albums that the rest of us would lost interest in after only one listening, simply because those artists may not be to our taste. Ask any Beatles fan which album is their finest and they'll inevitably come out with a different answer than any of us would. Same for Rolling Stones, U2, Queen, etc etc. And that hint of musical snobbery would be there, as it is with us, when a non-fan points out their favourite album.

Enigmoid said:

I kind of disagree. As someone mentioned above, many people consider certain albums classic when they have never heard them. There are many factors that go into determining what is deemed a "classic." Some of them you have mentioned. But critical acclaim and general public awareness of that acclaim figure into it prominently as well.

Take SOTT for example, It had some significant hits on it, including the title track. Prince got airplay from that album for about a year or so. Each of the songs that charted (w/exception of IIWYG) were "singable," accessible, crossover hits, so as to allow the album to filter into the public consciousness, even if it didn't spur them to pick up the double record in the store. With the Grammy nominations and the end-of-year lists, people recognized that Prince had created a truly great album, even if they didn't buy it, because, as you mentioned, the evidence was there in the singles.

But with Prince, it's a little different. SOTT became a classic, in some part, because of the string of commercial "failures" of the next 15 years or so. Suddenly, every album until Musicology was (mostly) unfavorably compared to, Dirty Mind, 1999, Purple Rain . . . and SOTT. The fact that people didn't like his subsequent stuff caused them, almost by default, to embrace SOTT for its virtues.

Then of course, there is the fact that the perception of the album has endured with time. For the last 15 years or so, SOTT has made most "all-time great" lists. And it seems more "casual" fans (non-Princophiles) have gradually mentioned SOTT in the conversation about Prince.

Perception is reality, especially when it comes to popular music.




Yeah, that exists, somewhat. This usually happens in a conversation with a fan who allegedly is a "huge" Prince fan. That's when I give into temptation and start my Prince nerd bag. 7 out of 10 times, I usually expose them as a casual fan who merely owns "Hits/B-Sides" when I start talking about Lovesexy or The Gold Experience and receive blank stares in return. But with a casual fan, I try to find out about their favorite groups as well, so I can learn more about their faves and there is some level of mutual ignorance there.
[Edited 12/29/04 11:44am]