Let's leave aside discussions of his (incredible!) influence on music and the music industry for a while, and touch on something that doesn't get brought up often: our vocabulary and pop culture as a whole.

How many times do you see sly (or not so sly) references to Prince in movies, TV, or music? The Simpsons, Shaun of the Dead, and a surprising number of rap songs reference him, to name a few.

Then there's there's the title, "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince." Though I know this was not a label of his choosing, everyone knows who it refers to anyways. Variations of it have worked their way into pop culture, and as such, have become a part of our vocabulary. It's being used both as a nod to the wee purple imp, and as a more fun way of saying "Well, it used to be called X but now it's called Y."


-When the arena in my city was sold by it's original owners (Skyreach) and awaiting it's new name and owners, it was called by the local media "The Building Formerly Known as Skyreach". Some years after the fact, some people still know it by that.

-A local youth group as a whole created a rather cubist-looking portrait of a man, that had somehow managed to contain a symbol that looked mighty familiar. The credited artist? "The Artists Formerly Known as Young Adults"

-Two years ago a friend of mine (not a Prince fan) decided he should legally change his name. While in the process of picking out a new one for himself he informally went by "The Artist Formerly Known as Kaz". He even went so far as to jokingly invent a Symbol of his very own!


Can anyone think of any other examples of this? Or just times in the media Prince has been referenced, either expectedly or non?

Groovy. I left the post for 2 days and not one reply. I so rock at making threads.

? But his symbol is an exclusive to him and him only, as is the formally known as thing. So thats cool (though not ansering ur question)

Could he still sue for using the symbol without asking?

The "Im gonna party liek its 1999" is still in the popular venacular, even at this past date I hear statements and read them in magazines.

meow85 said:

I live in Northern California, and I remember when the Candlestick Park was changed to 3com, the football announcers jokingly refered to it as "the park formerly known as Candlestick."

DiamondGirl said:

"I'm gonna party like it's...." is all over the place.

Housequake2K2 said:

I work at a museum and as I was researching a contemporary artist, Yinka Shonibare, who uses "African batik" textiles in his work; I found an article about Shonibare entitled, "The Artist Formally Known for Prints"

Also, we have an exhibition on fashion & color and before it opened an academic emailed us b/c she is developing a lecture on the color purple, called "Purple Reign" about the history of the color purple. I thought it was really interesting b/c she said the lecture would discuss "the color's complex association with power, status, spirituality, sexuality, magic, mourning, and perfection." and I wondered how much if anything Prince knew about those connotations (especially the ones I bolded) when he "chose" purple, or was purple simply his favorite color? Sadly, we are not having this woman lecture, but I was dying to email her back and ask if she had considered Prince in her research.

correct name of article edit
[Edited 12/20/05 7:44am]

jone70 said:

- It always intrigued me when it came to Prince/purple association. Because he actually "stole" it from Jimi (who had a famous song called Purple Haze and loved purple also - even the Jimi Hendrix new Digitech wah pedal is purple and yellow) and got more associated to the color than Jimi ever was.

DiamondGirl said:

I brought this subject up on these boards last year....it didn't go very well. I'm glad somebody else brought it up.

It's too bad an artist of his calibre will remembered for stuff like 'TAFKAP' or buttless pants etc.

Ronny said:

Depends on who's doing the remembering.

every other magazine i see "GLAM SLAM" slapped across the page showing the pictures from some Red Carpet event.

Ronny said:

- I agree....guys like Duke Ellington or Jimi Hendrix aren´t remembered for embarassing moments, but for their music.

I'm gone try 2 sum it up:

- princebonics
- fucking beautiful women and trying 2 make them stars
- Carmen Electra
- making some gays more butch compared 2 Prince
- showing the meaning of Chakamad 2 Kevin Smith
- prince.org

meow85 said:

you have to get better understanding of some basic writing skills. You need to "hook" the reader in with the first two sentences or you have lost over half your readers in the first two sentences alone. A good way to hook them is with a powerful statement, or a statements likened to a question. The question really works well because if it is a question within them selves they will need stick around to answer it.

MikeMatronik said:

Yes, it's almost like Prince foresaw the rise in mobile communications and the inherent need to condense one's vocabulary when conversing by text.

U no wot i mean, d'nt U?

Justin1972UK said:

I dissagree on the "foresaw" part. Prince is been "online" before being online was cool. With all that midi computerized crap and in his personal life. He is just been into computers for a long long time.

Justin1972UK said:

He didn't invent it, but he made it popular.