When I look at photos from Prince, 4 things just stand out to ME as ICONS.

The Trenchcoat

This coat has got to be one of the coolest pieces of Rock apparel, ever. In all its forms (original, super-shiny 1999 version) it just exudes cool. I mean, who else could evolve in image over 4 albums while wearing basically the same coat?!


The Hohner

It's hard to describe the Hohner. It's not as immediately recognizable by non-Prince fans, but to US it's a legend!

The Hohner makes me think EDGE! I can imagine Prince lugging this thing around way before he was popular, playing it in clubs and tuning it himself (before he hired guitar techs).

It was absent for quite a while, but it's been back for years and we missed it. It seems to lend itself nowadays to his more "grown-up" look - which is strange because it also was perfect for his "punk-rock" early years!


The Cloud Guitar

Amazing. I love it in all its variations - especially white/peach (although most here seem to favor the Blue Angel). I can't imagine another artist playing this (not counting Prince bandmembers). It's Prince's guitar, and it's larger than life.

How cool is it that he used the same guitar style for almost a decade while evolving in his own look, and only basically changed the color? In almost every other picture I see of Prince performing, it's with the Cloud. It's instantly recognizable and is associated with Prince's most successful and most creative period. I hope to see him start using this again!




This is the one that actually IS an Icon! Regardless of how you feel about the name change (it will undoubtedly bring up negative connotations for some time) the actual art symbol itself is 100% Prince. It's on everything, from jewelry to vehicles to an actual album with the name.




I chose not to include the Symbol/Habibi as one of MY favorite icons. I am not saying that it isn't an icon, but I don't get that nostalgic reaction to the Symbol guitar itself (but I love the music played on it . . .)

What are your favorite icons?

i've always thought was way cool. and i loved that he had the balls to change his name to an unpronouncable symbol...it may have been stupid but it was brilliant. does that make sense?

sallysassalot said:

Makes perfect sense to me...

"There's a very fine line between clever and stupid." - David St. Hubbins

sallysassalot said:

Wow , finally someone who agrees with me, though I never found the namechange stupid at all. Takes balls to do that, and I admire his courage and vision for doing this. In the end, it all worked out, even if most people think otherwise.

Not many people have done this before, except for Cat Stevens ( Yusuf Islam) or Carlos Santana ( Devadip )...and Prince is the only one who chose an unpronouncable symbol. And I like the weird numerology aspect behind it all that seven years and cycles thing) and what the symbol stands for.

Some say it was about his contract with WB, others think it was a spiritual decision, I think it´s both...

Se7en said:

I love the Hohner, no doubt.

I also like the Cloud, it´s a trademark Prince guitar, probably the most iconic of them all, but I´d rather see the original peach or white or babyblue ones return again instead of the darkblue or black ones.
And I don´t like the idea of selling those fake copycat Schecter guitars...it seems they even look slightly different from the original, too.

The symbol/Habibi guitar is cool, but I always felt like there´s something missing because it doesn´t have that bar above the arrow part, which is normal because otherwise you can´t play that thing, but still...


And , having seen him use the "original" symbol guitar during the " Ultimate Live / Gold Experience " tour in the mid nineties, I feel like Habibi is not the real deal. What´s up with that tremolo bar ?

The old one also looked a bit different too. Anyway, cool guitar. The white one and the balck one from the mid 9ß´s also looked cool.

The yellow suit from D&P/Sexy MF era stands out in a lot of people's minds I think.

sallysassalot said:

I agree. I have a solid gold one made for me. People LOVE it. I've had so many offer for this thing that you would not believe it. I'll never give it up though. I want to get a white gold one made also.

The Hohner is cool because it represents how though Prince may change, but he doesn't completely abandon those things that made him what he is. And the telecaster is the cool indie guitar of the moment, so once again Prince is ahead of the curve. Maybe the Strat is due for a comeback in five years.

Not as iconic, but I liked the idea of the gun microphone.

And to move away from visual icons, "OOUUAHHHH!"

the alphanumeric text i reckon is pretty iconic

Don't forget the heels!