In response to the thread in which the fall of Prince's popularity was discussed, ( http://www.prince.org/msg...&tid=10991 ) I would like to start a new thread to talk specifically about 90's Prince music and what we have today.

First off, I think none of us here would question the brilliance of the work he's done in the late 70's and 80's. This is not even a topic - we are all on the same page, I think.

Regarding his supposed fall from grace and popularity discussion, a lot of people on here I noticed were taking shots at Prince's music in the 90's - calling most of it "filler" material. This is the biggest BS. When TheGoldExperience dropped... most of you were wetting your pants calling it the next "Purple Rain"... Before NewPowerSoul hit the stores, all I heard on newsgroups was how "Mad Sex" was the hottest Prince song ever. I don't even wanna get into Emancipation because all of you know that you were in musical bliss when you were blessed with not one... but 3 discs. Very few people complained back then. And now, you all have nothing better to do but take stabs at music you were running to tell your friends about back when it was hot.... did I forget RAVE in2? --- the "commercial return of Prince" ; "Hot Wit U, a guaranteed top 10 hit"

Please... it makes me sick. The only album I can think of that had people discussing both negative and positive aspects about has been TheRainbowChildren Other than that, most of you were sweating EVERY SINGLE LP that the man has released around the time it dropped. If you say you didn't, you are most likely lying.

This is predictable routine of the people i speak of:
- Album drops
- you get excited and rave and rave and rave
- a year passes and new album announced on horizon
- you start dogging the old album while getting heated over the new work.

This is an ongoing cycle. And it is pathetic and useless.


Bottom line is this. The reason why you are all here is because Prince is still awesome. If he had truly lost it, none of you would be spending time writing about it. So stop trying to be smartasses and think you know a thing or two because you are comparing Come to Lovesexy . There is no comparison. Each album is its own seperate entity. Lets leave it at that. Prince has NOT regressed... in fact he's only getting better. Why does everyone look backwards?

And about popularity... who gives a sh*t? Is this junior high school? Prince is still a badass. You know it. I know it. End of story.

Amen Rich! Praise the Kriheli!

right on derek. we know the deal.

I think that,in the 80s',we were spoiled by Prince's excellent albums.In the 80s,we had kickass albums like 'Dirty Mind','1999' and 'Sign O The Times' to enjoy.So,when he gives us mediocre albums like 'Come' and 'Chaos and Disorder',we get pissed and say that he's over.

I think a case can be made for Chaos&Disorder. It appeared to be a throwaway album. And even that was somewhat movin' people. Come is anything but mediocre. Thing is... did you call Come mediocre when it first dropped? Not many did. Its dark. Its masterful.

I wasn't that crazy about 'Come'.There were a few cool tracks,but I knew that Prince was holding back.

PREACH IT!

In total agreement with rkriheli.

As for Come, I didn't find it masterful when it dropped. Little did I know how after a year of time it would start growing on me to the point where I now think it's absolutely brilliant. None of Prince's albums ever took so much time to marinade before kicking my ass back in the 80s like Come or Chaos did. Perhaps Prince was truly ahead of his time with these two albums.

Allow me to respectfully disagree.



I can't pretend to have a gauge on the overall sentiment of the folks on this site. I prefer to use the folks around me (rabid Prince fans) as a more accurate barometer of the sentiment of various releases.

I think initial excitement over new releases is normal, even expected. When you have an artist as celebrated as Prince with a following as diehard as his fans tend to be, excitement and overstatement are par for the course. I rarely, if ever, annoint an album a bust or a classic after an initial listen. Or even two or three. Time generally tells the tale. With that said, I think any restatement of what his 90's releases amount to is very fair.



I absolutely admit that I eagerly await every Prince release, good or bad. And I do get excited with each approaching release date. But it has nothing to do with the quality of his 90's material. It has everything to do with the fact that I'm a longtime fan who fondly recalls an era when Prince's music was virtually unparalled by any other artist of his time. It has to do with the fact that as uneven a release as 'Emancipation' was, there were some great individual tracks. As uninspired as much of the material on 'Graffiti Bridge' was, he can still drop gems like 'Joy In Repetition' and 'The Question Of U' to remind of why you still wait with baited breath. And in between tepid, vapid crap like 'New Power Soul' and 'Symbol' he will manufacture absolute wonders like 'The Truth' and 'The Rainbow Children'.

This is what drives my excitement.

I'm a fan. Always have been. Always will be.

P.S. rkriheli: Your site is pretty tight. Nice layout.
[This message was edited Mon May 6 9:21:58 PDT 2002 by violator]

DavidEye said:

Eye felt the sameway when eye first heard the CD!

Paisley said:

i liked "come" right away....."papa", "dark"....i liked that the cd had a darker sound to it.....it seemed poetic.

as far as what "rkriheli" said, i would have to agree...everytime a new prince cd comes out we all go nuts talking about how great it is. it's only after some months that we start picking it apart and comparing it to his past works....you are right on with your comments!

peace.