So, does he? ...based on his early performances, specifically the Dirty Mind tour? His attitude, wild appearance, chaotic guitar riffs, lyrical subject matter, etc.

What y'all think??

Let's be honest, real punkers would have kicked his ass.

2freaky4church1 said:

Name names then. Not the punkers of today, y'mean?

For what?

When Doves Scream?

Prince has absolutely nothing to do with UK punk rock.

Snap said:

I think that pic of Prince is simply delicious . Thanks for posting it Snap .

Prince was very interested in the punk rock thing going on at the time, so, Snap, I do see your angle here.. I think it was Dez's book that shed light on the fact that it WAS a big influence on Prince.
But, does he deserve a place in punk rock history.. probably not..

That pic is awesome

All those years ago all I listened to were British punk or ska bands. Everything not punk was watered down and weak and not worth a listen. Everything, that is, except Prince.

I instantly appreciated the "Rude Boy" pin he wore on the cover of DIRTY MIND. Prince truly did have that punk thing going in his general attitude and his approach to music. He was definitely on "our" side. He was a punk as much as Joe Strummer was.

Obviously, Prince did more than just hammer out three chord buzz-saw guitar songs. The guy was a serious musician; not many punks were. But attitude-wise Prince was one of the good guys.

Does he deserve a spot in punk rock history? No, but if Miles Davis is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, then who knows?

He deserves an honorable mention.

Simple answer : Absolutely not. Punk is one of the few genres of that era in which Prince shouldnt get a mention.

Punk was essentially over by the time Dirty Mind came out anyway, sure there were some Punk acts still playing, but the movement was already dead.
Because of the impact of Punk on music and the industry, some people see it as being bigger than it ever was, in truth, Punk was a small movement based almost exclusively in London, and was over in a couple of years, as it should have been.

Sidenote : I do however believe Frank Zappa should be credited with inventing Punk 8 years before the London movement, with the 1968 track "Flower Punk", the rhythm, attitude and hell even the song name are all straight up Punk.

p0et said:

Absolute bollocks. Punk was originally a New York -based phenomenon and the London acts just followed them. However, the original punk music of the New York scene was quite different from what for instance The Sex Pistols sound like, in fact it had a lot more to soundwise with New Wave that followed it. Furthermore punk wasn't dead by the early 80s, you just had it transformed into a lot of local acts playing the music on an international scale. And of course HC just properly started forming around the late 80s in the same circles.

Perhaps one day When Doves Scream will get its due...

Novabreaker said: