I mean he suddenly went from experimental jazz to weak-ass lite R&B in a deliberate attempt to be commercial... Don't you think that if this was any other artist the cries of "sell-out" would ring throughout the land?

i think of 'rave' as R&B lite. i think of 'musicology' as more of prince impersonating a prince tribute band.

MrSquiggle said:

Naw...firstly, he's been around WAAAAAY too long to be accused of selling out now. He's been in and out of popularity throughout his entire career, moving in and out of commercial efforts (Batman, Diamonds and Pearls, Emancipation, Rave, Musicology) and experimentation (Around the World in a Day, Parade, Lovesexy, The Rainbow Children). He's just in the middle of a more commercial effort, and he's admitted as much in interviews. He said (not an exact quote, but darn close) that Musicology was never meant to be anything deep, just a few fun tunes on a single disc.

After spending 2001-2003 in relative obscurity unless you're a real follower, Musicology is as much an experiment for Prince as anything else. You can't call it a sellout when he recorded the disc on his own, shopped it around, found a distributor, and marketed it mostly on his own through touring. Exactly who would that be selling out to?

thank goodness for "sell-outs" otherwise most people would never know the joy of hearing their music -- i think it's kinda cool Prince went commercial with this album... we all had fun, didn't we? and now my ma loves him, and my bro loves him, my friends at work, my neighbor, and even my neighbor's dog. see, it ain't so bad.

Making a commercial album is not a sellout. Thankk god he didn't rlease more boring crap like NEWS that almost nobody wants to hear.

Do people forget he is a pop artist?

He didn't sell out musically. There's not much on Musicology that's really radio friendly. It's surely the most lifeless and uninspired album of his career in my opinion.

I am sure that Prince knew that this record was a commercial dud, but that it could fill the need of the experimental marketing he had in mind for the tour. He was intending to "give it away" all along. The CD/songs didn't make those sales numbers. The marketing did.

Sure, Prince could have charged more for the tickets on the tour and sold the CD retail only, but this way, the record wasn't labled a "flop". And we all know that it would have tanked.

Now he gets the numbers that are needed for future distribution deals, and he gets paid a king's ransom for an extremely well done tour.

It is his livelyhood, so he may as well make as much as he can at certain points along the way to finance his other projects. We certainly can't blame him for that.

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[Edited 1/14/05 19:31pm]

prince sold out when he signed with warners as a kid and released "for you".

he never had "indie cred" or "street cred" or whatever-the-frak-kinda cred.

he wanted to be a pop star. he became a pop star. he became disillusioned with the music industry, and has been trying different approaches to releasing his music. but he still wants to be a pop star (by his definition). daddy wants his bling and he wants his front row seats at all the awards shows.

prince was never in fugazi. i doubt he even knows who fugazi are.

Anxiety said:

Ian MacKaye told me once that Prince is a huge fan. Prince wanted to do a cover of Waiting Room, but Ian said no. Prince was hurt badly by this experience.

squirrelgrease said:

you know, if ian mackaye had boobies, i mighta taken the bait for a second.

Anxiety said:

Prince had to settle with working on No Doubt's "Waiting Room"...

Most of the time when people who accuse other people of 'selling out' don't even know what 'selling out' means.

In the words of Morris W. O'Kelly, a sell out is a person who does overt harm to his race and disregards the overwhelming repercussions in a premeditated way. For example, a drug dealer.

Define selling out. Many thought that "Purple Rain" was selling out. He was making the MPLS sound more digestable for the masses. As long as Prince does whatever he wants I don't think it could be called selling out. He is one of the few really successful artists who rarely sacrifice their art for $$$$$. He ain't doing Pepsi commercials yet.

He goes back & forth. No he didn't sell out! The great thing about Prince is usually a year later he gives you a whole new product/style.

You know what the word "Sell-Out" means....It means someone had an opportunity to make a hell of a lot more money and took it. That is what we as humans all work for. Please, give me the chance to "Sell-Out". I have bills to pay.

DarkKnight1 said:

Hmm.....I don't know if he's selling out. I think at this point in his career he's just not trying to compete with today's artist so he's making straight forward music (traditional sounds).

Even todays pop garbage is better than Musicology.

PurpleKnight said:

I'd have to believe that Prince somehow compromised what he wanted to express before I would consider a popular commercial success a "sell-out".

I think if Prince wanted to sell out, the album might have sounded a lot more commerical. I think that "Musicology" was pretty light and that he should have went more toward the expermimental stuff he was working on but I also think that "Musicology" was something that he wanted to do, something that for the most part was softer, had a groove and was "safe" for the kids. I think if he would have done something that was more hard or at least more concentrated musically and with a better theme, he would have actually got more kids to listen and not just his old fans.

EvilWhiteMale said:

As much as you hate, what is your favorite, or let's call it least awful, track on "Musicology"?

MrSquiggle said:

to me musicology sounds like an album that prince put together quickly from material he had in the vault after he surged in popularity following his 2004 hall of fame inaugural

EvilWhiteMale said:

The fuc are you talking about?









You must not own a radio.

skywalker said:

Yeah, but actually he kinda did. Remember, he wrote "Uh-Huh" for Ray Charles, which became the whole "You Got The Right One Baby" ad campaign for Pepsi.