Those who expected Purple Rain 2 and swam in confusion when Around the World in a Day was released and those who went out and bought the new Prince album and didn't think twice that it was different.

Many people feel like Prince lost his way with ATWIAD and Parade and really, he never even skipped a beat. Prince reminds me of the Lawnmower man in those days. For those not familiar with the Lawnmower man, it's a Stephen King story about a retarded lawnkeeper who receives some treatment from a scientist and becomes smart.....but smart to the point where he start tapping into Godhood. That is what Prince reminds me of in this timeperiod.

• Dirty Mind
  
• Controversy
  
• 1999
  
• Purple Rain
  
• Around the World in a Day
  
• Parade
  
• Sign O The Times
  
• Lovesexy

Now that is one hell of a lineup Each album distinctly different from the rest, different from the one before it and different from the one that followed, growing in his brilliance album after album.
We witnessed creative genius unfold before our very lives folks Now I realize that all Prince fans aren't going to like every single thing Prince has done. There are songs I don't like from each album. Partyup, JackUOff, Free, International Lover, Baby I'm a star, Venus De Milo or beautiful night....my life wouldn't crumble if I never heard these songs again. But there is so much flavor and so much color and so much life in all these albums.

To me, Prince having the nerve to serve up ATWIAD and Parade in the middle of Purple Rain & Sign made the buffet all that much more delicious. How boring to have meat and potatoes. What about side dishes and salads? 2-course meals, while filling, are not as satisfying as a feast. I feel like you can tell what kind of Prince fan someone is if they jumped ship when ATWIAD was released. I think more often than not, you're talking to a fairweather fan.

And yes I exclude Dewaliz from my assessment Some fams are simply too fabulous to care what they think about ATWIAD and Parade



Thoughts?

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[Edited 4/12/06 9:58am]

Here's a thought: I was seven years old when ATWIAD came out and don't fit into either one of your camps, you thoughtless, elitist bastard!

FunkMistress said:

I'm really speaking about my old ass generation

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Well, otay.

FunkMistress said:

But now that you're old enough to know better, you better not be dissin on ATWIAD and Parade

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

I wouldn't dream of it. They are distinctly exquisite, each in its own rapturous way.

FunkMistress said:

So you like gravy with your meat and butter with your potatoes huh?

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Fresh!

i'm in the pajama camp.

There are really two other camps:
One that enjoys good Prince music, and
One that recognizes the misses in Prince music.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Different and nerve does not automatically mean good.
You want to use that buffet analogy? If I serve you dogcrap at a dinner party - that sure is different and that sure takes a lot of nerve on my part, but is it good?

Maybe some people turned away from Prince not because ATWIAD was different, but rather it is a very weak album. Sure it's different and nervy, but way, way too many weak tracks and only one or two strong ones.

I'm all for different, but I'd prefer something that is a strong album to something that is merely different.

Cloreen said:

Says someone who has Crystal Ball as their avie

OK. Should Prince have just put out Purple Rain volume 5.0? How fuckin boring For Prince to leap from Purple Rain to ATWIAD showed vision and something more than just another pop star. Any lazy fuck could keep putting out the same old shit. Prince explored and did something probably even he didn't expect. ATWIAD is far from weak..... Curious, which 2 songs do you consider to be strong from that album?

The general consensus, I think, is that 80s Prince was vintage Prince, and everything after that was gravy.

It was a remarkable run. The Black Album/Lovesexy saga marked the end of that era. To me, the cancellation of The Black Album was tantamount to artistic castration. He basically disowned his darker, pettier, more human side in favor of the abstract idealism of Lovesexy.

So what was once mysterious ("Am I black or white / Am I straight or gay") became boring ("I know from righteous / I know from sin"). The searching Prince ended, and the knowing Prince began. He was now in the know. He said so. Eye No!

Which is the death of genuine creativity.

padawan said:

If you are talking about the pop fans that had only recently discovered him and then dropped him because he totally went off in a different direction, I agree with you. Those people might have wanted another "Purple Rain" type album, Prince didn't deliver, and they dropped him. Those were definately casual fans.

However, people love to forget about Prince's huge R&B following that he had for years before "Little Red Corvette" or "Purple Rain". These people had followed Prince for years and were very much into him for his particular sound and style that set him apart from the rest. For that group of fans that dropped him when he went off in a different direction, I don't see them as casual fans at all. He stopped giving them what they had been loving for years (not just one album), and they said the hell with him.
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[Edited 4/11/06 14:29pm]

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

First thought: Since ATWIAD came out all bets were off really. One could and should expect a smorgasboasrd of musical tastes there on out. It is why I don't have an issue with his albums in general. They are all very different betwenn and within. People forget that he has many musical ranges/genres he likes to dabble in. ATWIAD and Parade broke him fromthe Funk mold and becomeing a Hendrix/Brown clone (not that that's bad) and thusly creating his own mark and sound that seperated him out from the pack and because of this, HE is now being compared to. I think that period in his life was important, because with out those 2 albums, we may never have gotten to Sign of the times...which I think is just an extension of Parade and an indication of where he was headed musically at the time.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

You lost me after you said you didn't like Venus De Milo. That's just crazy talk right there

vainandy said:

I've been a fan since 79

vainandy said:

Honestly dawg, people should have known what was up after P did Prince, Dirty Mind and Controversy. Those albums didn't just cater to an R&B crowd. I understand people are going to like what they like, but to drop a dude for good based on one album sounds exstreme and just plain 'ol dramatic for drama's sake. I don't wanna make any judgements, but based on your description, the folks you speak of sound nothing more than narrow-minded.

Rogue588 said:

I didn't say I didn't like it. But I could go the rest of my life without hearing it again and it wouldn't be tragedy, unlike never having ATWIAD or Parade.

Rogue588 said:

Venus is like icecapades!

ufoclub said:

I guess I was trying to relate to those who felt lost or jumped ship or veered left with ATWIAD I like the song but if I had to cut one from Parade, that would be it

OdysseyMiles said:

Especially since New Wave was such a prominent force on all three albums

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

whoops, I meant Alexa De PAris the bside....

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Of course not. Instaed of PURPLE RAIN VERSION 2.0 or the AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAY debacle that we got, maybe I would have liked a strong album of songs that demonstrate a quality of cohesiveness throughout an entire album (instead of the disjointed crap that we got).

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

No, it showed a guy who was way full of himself at the time and he thought even his farts were artistic masterpieces that should be shared with the world. Prince should have been reined in after PURPLE RAIN a bit. By whom, I have no idea. Perhaps himself, don't you think?

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

I always thought "Pop Life" was brilliant and "America" is a strong track.

Cloreen said:

I hate ATWIAD but I like Parade.

padawan said:

Very well put. Altough the searching Prince sneeks up from time to time. Even on Lovesexy, Anna Stesia starts off questioning and then ends up knowing. But the "Where is my love life? Where can it be? There must something wrong with the machinery" seems to be all but gone for now. I hate to say it, but let's hope for some kind of crisis soon.

I guess you can call me crazy but I loved Princes music from the very beginning. I have every last album he has ever released here in the states. With the exception of Crystal ball and even the Black Album I have found much pleasure in all of the albums. So I guess I am in the die hard true blue Prince Camp.

M.E.

OdysseyMiles said:

Indeed. In reality, Parade and SOTT both had sales figures similar to 1999 (before PR was released and the hype helped it finally hit double platinum status). It's pretty obvious that Prince gained and then lost 7+ million 'temporary' fans between the summer of 84 and the middle of 85. However, if he lost any of the million+ core following he had in the US, they were obviously being replaced at an equal rate during 86 and 87. It wasn't until LoveSexy that he had a really disastrous showing.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

OdysseyMiles said:

I would think "Bambi" would have given people a pretty good clue that things were not just gonna be RB by the numbers.....