Still room 2 grow never stop learning,wise one!

fluid said:

Evidently 'Prince' is just as hard to pronounce (and spell) as was the symbol.

The biggest difference is that "Purple Rain" exploded onto the WORLD. It was his induction into superstardom, and the lyrics tell the story of what it took to get there.

It's an intense record. He starts off as a preacher man, declaring that he's alone, his woman is cheating on him, he wants to die. He finds love, but is shattered by it. He mopes around, degrades himself and others. Then he reinvents himself as something beyond human, he's God, he's a dove, he's a star, and he takes you home with his great apology: Purple Rain.

He has not apologized since. Maybe "In This Bed Eye Scream."

3121 sounds like he's heading in a more confessional tone. He sounds human again.

The differences, well let me tha 1st 2 start.
Purple rain was released when he was still on the ascendant, and possibly still trying to prove himself to a general audience. 3121 is at a point where hes doing things that amuse him and his hardcore fans.
Purple Rain promoted a movie, 3121 has only churned out one OK video being Black Sweat.
Prince in 1984 was more immature with his lyrics, mostly noisy rock and funky sex songs (not that there is anything wrong there), and he was messing around with his band mates getting influences and stuff. Now his songs are funkier but more mature sounding restrained.
Prince in 84 at age 26 was more energetic than he is 48. All the stage leaping and diving, he dosent do it now.
And his clothes are more restrained, no make up now except maybe foundation, no ruffled shirts or outfits a figure skater or Zorro would wear.

The biggest difference, Prince in 1984 was trying to be everything to all people, Prince in 2006 is being himself.

skywalker said:

What a great post. On of my favorite things about Prince is Dirty Mind Prince was not the same as Purple Rain Prince and Lovesexy Prince wasn't doing the exact same thing as Purple Rain Prince...but you're right...he doesn't seem to be THAT different than the man I grew up idolizing...he's still funny, charming, sexy and sensual...and his music is still POWERFUL!

tane1976 said:"....no make up now except maybe foundation..."

What? Dude wears quite a bit of make up now. Foundation, eye makeup, etc.

He's is better now because he gotten better at his craft.

skywalker said:

this deserves to be put on the front page.
excellent post.

muirdo said:

He was better back in 84. He didn't limit himself like he does now.
He had a lot more edgey and ground breaking music back then.
Now he doesn't want to do anything that the great jehovah wouldn't approve of.

He may be a better person now but the music is definately not better.
He neds to lose the hornz and put out a full force hard rock cd.

elbug said:

bigsexy said:

yeah i know.

elbug said:

Does he play Warcraft?

ufoclub said:

not the same way I do

twister6 said:

his friends r on the slightly slower side if ya know what I mean

twister6 said:

prince's friends? I suspected so!

84 may have been his commercial peak,but he hit his stride during the 86-88 period.so much quality music.most of his vault comes from that period.not to mention sign'o the times his best lp.the black lp.the dream factory and crystal ball almost lps.and the emergence of camille(god bless him).i think his output now is just ok.it's like he's holdin back.lookin at how he did that no doubt song....which was awesome and fresh sounding and how his records sound like throwbacks.he does much better pushin the envelope musically.he's not letting loose like we know he can.

How far is he going to get into this JW thing. IS he going to cuss anymore.? Are any of his songs freaky now? I mean all the major stars went through changes, Michael's house got radied he got married and had kids. Madonna changed,went Kabbalah,and had kids. Whitney exposed he life with COccaine.Prince got screwed by Warner Bros,changed his name,and became a Jehocahs Wittness.

What more could go on?

Purple Rain was all about the vagina and dihydrogenated monoxide.

3121 isn't even about boobs or anythink remotely drinkable.


But 3121 is actually not half bad.

rudeboynpg said:

I don't even understand why this lyric needed to be changed. Whore isn't a swear word.

On the musical side, after "Purple Rain", Prince changed his style from making 1980s modern to futuristic music to making retro 1960s to 1970s music. He's played around with new things that came along such as rap, hip hop, and house but he basically didn't stray too far from and always came back to the 1960s or 1970s retro mode with the horns. Small glimpses of the "old Prince" would show up from time to time such as the drum machines or synths every now and then but they were kind of pushed to the background with the retro feel dominating the songs.

On the lyrical side, I have seen him changing little by little religiously though. From subtle references to religion to downright obsessive sometimes. However, being Prince, he still wants his cake but wants to eat it too. I've noticed he still gets sexual in his lyrics but now it's confined to being monogomous. He still pushes those lyrics to the limit that he can without crossing over the line to piss his religion off. It's like he wants to be nasty but has chains confining him. Lyrically, this new era is more of a "slave" era. I guess they don't call a wife an old ball and chain for nothing.
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[Edited 4/25/06 3:46am]

vainandy said:

"On the musical side, after "Purple Rain", Prince changed his style from making 1980s modern to futuristic music to making retro 1960s to 1970s music. He's played around with new things that came along such as rap, hip hop, and house but he basically didn't stray too far from and always came back to the 1960s or 1970s retro mode with the horns. Small glimpses of the "old Prince" would show up from time to time such as the drum machines or synths every now and then but they were kind of pushed to the background with the retro feel dominating the songs."



Not to rehash an old discussion but.....

I would say that Prince's actual songwriting style from 1985 onwards didn't change, simply his instrumentation/production. He used less synths and more "real", organic, instruments. Granted, that changed the whole feel of his sound. Synth horns became real horns that was "retro" to you. Besides, that 80's keyboard sound was quickly becoming retro itself, not futuristic or modern.

I agree with you totally on that. Lyrically, he didn't really change too much. The drastic change was the music.



The synths didn't go out of style until the extreme late 1980s. Actually, I would probably say I started hearing a change in music around 1989 when house music came above ground and the general public started categorizing it as "dance". When that died down, then the gansta rap took over.