A lot of our boy's music can certainly fit into the alternative/progressive rock format. Some of his early influences have been 80s New Wave. He's also an obvious influence on a lot of artists who are considered "alternative" or "prog rock" these days. Hell, Prince is more "indie" than all of them!

So why does he get no love on alternative/prog rock radio stations? In Toronto, the alternative radio station, The Edge, plays a heavy dose of Lenny, Beck, and even Outkast. But no Prince. I know you're gonna say "who cares about mainstream radio?"... but this is not mainstream radio... well, at least not top 40.

any thoughts? maybe I'll send The Edge (the station, not the guitarist) an email about this...

i think Prince has destroyed his alternative image by also putting out conventional top 40 pop songs that everyone knows... like 1999, Cream, Diamonds and Pearls...

If Prince only put out stuff like Joy in Repetition or Undertaker.... then maybe...

who knows... its all abstract and timely.

ufoclub said:

- Exactly! I feel frustrated when I see people respecting artists influenced by Prince, but not Prince. All my ´alternative´ friends love Beck, but they despise Prince. But in this case, we all must admit that Prince made a very poppish image of himself, and some songs were extremely sugary and commercial...

You make a great point and a great question...

I think part of the reason that Prince's gets no play there is because of his image... Prince is a freak and being a freak is good...

Radio like that is super conservative... conservative in a rock and roll kinda way not in a church way.

really though, Prince could be played on all formats... his catalogue hints at a lot of things...

A song like Sister is or should be considered punk rock

mrmarcus said:

never thought about it b-4 but yeah why not. some of his stuff could be played on alternative radio.

mrmarcus said:

I've wondered this about The Edge before. I listen to this station when I can and there really isn't any reason Prince wouldn't fit into their format.It certainly isn't a conservative station by any means. I'm gonna send an e-mail too.
[Edited 1/13/06 2:30am]

Fuck 'em all! Listen to us!

mrmarcus said:

Because they are to far up their own a****s.

Most people dismiss Prince as an old 80's throwback yet these are the same people that can talk about The Beatles or Bob Dylan till the cows come home.

Play Lenny Kravitz and Outcast and tell us that these peeps have been influenced by Jimi Hendrix or Velvet Underground (Notice Prince is barely mentioned!!)

Maybe if they started playing vintage Prince then everyone else would realise that the rest was pretty ordinary and bland in comparison.

The Edge .. as in cutting... don't make me laugh it sounds more middle of the road than Top Of The Pops...

pepper7 said:


Prince is never mentioned and it's sad. If it weren't for Prince, there would be no Lenny, and Outkast would just be another hip hop group. even 90s Prince has alot of music that fits the format... notably Come (Loose, Papa). but vintage stuff like When You Were MIne, Sexuality, Annie Christian, most of ATWIAD and Parade, and a shitload of b-sides are as "new wave" or "art rock" as the best of them!
[Edited 1/13/06 18:09pm]

3NineteeN04 said:

I think it's more to do with music snobbery than money.

In a sense Prince will always be classed at pop such as "Kiss" and "1999".

Also don't forget he wrote one of the all-time greatest love ballads "Nothing Compares 2 U".

Because of this some people put him in the same class as Lionel Ritchie. (Even though I'm a fan of Lionel too). But he's seen as cheesy and "middle of the road".

I also get annoyed because the music magazines and radio stations call Prince a genius but you ask them why and they don't know.

I suppose some of it is because Prince represents everything that the pop world and media industry are not.

Princes music would probably inspire you to look for more spirituality in your life and less superficiality.

what alternative rock songs has prince released that got any type of airplay?
some of his best were never released -- "i like it there" e.g.

Part of this is Prince's fault. He has a way of alienating people. I'm all for his independence and all that. But he should've pimped Warner Brothers while they were pimping him. He could've gotten the push from the label he needed to crack the alternative/pop rock stations. But he lost sight of the big picture and chose the wrong form of protest. Consequently, he's been virtually blackballed.

mrmarcus said:

Here in Belgium we have Studio Brussel, a former alternative youth station, but they 're trying to be more diverse now. But: they still play Prince once in a while. Some of the presentors are known to be huge Prince fans, and they play his songs, but not in the popular shows, more during daytime. I can live with that. They don't play much recent songs though, I didn't hear Te Amo Corazon, but they did mention it in their 'pop nieuws'.

mrmarcus said:

Excellent Post. I believe a lot of what's going on is the inherent racism and segregation that is what apartheid American music programming is about. They'll allow a few black acts to be included into what the "elite" considers musical art but otherwise they cannot get past certain categories and constrictions. What is more indie, quirky and alternative than Parade, Sign O the Times, or his current internet experiments. Beck has stated his love for Prince and has obviously been influenced by him ("Debra"!!) REM once stated that Prince is the true alternative artist. Rock has been broken down along compartmentalized "genres" for marketing purposes. All black artists are ghettoized as "Urban" and not respected by the critical elite. Missy Elliot, Meshell Ndegeocello, Erika Badu, and Prince are obviously "alternative" artists but you would never see them getting the gushing reviews and alternative airplay like overrated artists such as Beck, White Stripes, Radiohead, etc..

jayARDAHB said:

Yes and a song like Sister could turn some pruddish people off to anything else he's ever done

The question of why his music hasn't been played much on rock and alternative stations is perplexing, especially knowing how extensive his music catalog is. Which is why I was extremely suprised and equally confused when our local alternative rock station decided to have the single Musicology on constant rotation last year. I didn't get that one at all.

jdcxc said:

I think its' more like inherent "stupidity".

What is alternative music anyway ??

It seems to be massive trend now to be "alternative". But sometimes I think that musicians are being alternative for the sake of it.

An album like "Dirty Mind" sounds like it was produced in Prince's bedroom. It even sounds like a demo tape and you're getting to hear it !.

But now bands and musicians try to deliberately create that raw and edgy sound. And because of that there is an element of falseness to it.

I think maybe radio stations just don't know how to judge music. They don't know what it is they are looking for that people will want to listen to.

It's like when you hear NEW bands being raved about because of the way they record their music or their musical influences...

All these bands have to say is they grew up listening to John Lennon and they are somehow elevated to a credible music status ..

Diananeith said:

This is exactly my point about radio dj's stating how "great" Prince is but they don't seem to know a God damn thing about him !!

"Well we know Prince is good....so we'll play Musicology!!";

I've got friends who consider themselves real music heads. When I tell them I'm a huge Prince fan they normally grown and pull a cringy type face.

isadora said:

I heard it just yesterday

That's where you hear Prince in France - on the alternative stations.

Beck's funk/pop is also taken as being a sarcastic ,tongue in cheek attitude. Prince is usually taken as sincere.
[Edited 1/16/06 9:18am]