American Idol? Is this not the man that is against record companies and how they handle artists??? The man who wrote "slave" on his face when he was the highest paid artist in history? the man who changed his name to a symbol so the record companies could not exploit his new works????

and he turns around and goes on the 1# show that makes kids sign up in these types contracts, contracts he's been fighting and warning people for over 15 years?

am I lost here? or did I miss something?????

i wish this thread wouldn't get locked because it's the first dissenting comment i've seen about the AI performance all night, and i think it would make for an interesting side discussion.

ok, i'm gonna post this before i say anything else, cuz the padlock's coming...

You forgot to mention how he put a "flee from idolatry" scripture on his webpage just before appearing on a show called American IDOL!

shhhh

Anx said:

What padlock?

luv4u said:

good point!... (although it's free publicity & a rockin' performance)~
[Edited 5/24/06 20:44pm]

You could've known by now the man is a walking contradiction

duz a man make mistake if a man can only see his fate?

the 'kid' ain't never seein past the garden gate

luv4u said:

Dammit now I forgot my thoughts that I originally posted


and they were good too

I thought it was a great move on Prince's part; he should have appeared weeks ago. It gave him exposure to millions of viewers-- especially younger viewers-- who's not familiar with him and be blown away!!!!!

Dewrede said:

^^ the short version of what I was going to post initially ^^

I guess the only thing you missed was the memo that P is always contradicting himself. It's nothing new.

So, since you consider him a sellout, have you feelings about him and his music changed?

rainbowchild said:

Yes. People seem to forget that the whole game is changing. The market is changing...the music industry is changing. So must the game plan.

BSK3601 said:

I'm going to try not to go on a full on rant here, because I've been a pretty devoted fan for a long time, and because I have more fun enjoying Prince than I do when I'm criticizing him, and most importantly - it's late and I have to work early in the morning, and I shouldn't even be awake right now.

BUT.

I'm scratching my head over the whole AI thing right now. I didn't see it tonight, because I was out with some dear friends, and if I were home, I wouldn't have seen it anyway because I don't watch AI and I didn't hear the rumors about Prince's appearance.

Let me say that regardless of how I feel about his decision to be on AI, I am FIENDING to see a clip! I'm not gonna fake otherwise, because you all know me better than that.

I can't help but feel like David Byrne in that old Talking Heads song: This is not my beautiful Prince! This is not my beautiful badass!

Of course, another lyric to that song is "same as it ever was, same as it ever was..."

But I digress.

Las Vegas? American Idol? Big splashy celebrity parties?

Well, okay. Good for him, I guess. But I feel like Prince has decided to take on the role of schmaltzy megacelebrity while at the same time wanting the rebellious cred of a righteous artist fighting for what is due him.

And I also feel like he's completely separated himself from the anally principled artist who challenged everyone from the industry to his own fans about how they thought about life, politics, fame, the music biz, God, and all the other subjects he's touched upon.

The Prince who spat out that beautiful rant in the middle of "Sexuality" and the spitfire who gave us "The Rainbow Children" and the One Nite Alone tour is all Howard Hughes pre-OCD breakdown with his parties and his entourage of nubile women dancers and his facade of a lifestyle.

It's like 1992 all over again, only not as cool.

Prince is always going to be a bad MF when you put a guitar in his hands. I can never refute that. But I miss the man who could both kick my ass with his musicianship and leave me walking away trying to process what the hell he was talking about, whether I agreed with it or not.

Of course, in his own famously roundabout way, this could be exactly what he's doing right now.

"...same as it ever was...same as it ever was..."

Anyway. Bedtime. I'll read the slings and arrows in the morning.

Hearing about the performance brought to mind
the New York Post 'Page Six' blurb...


http://www.nypost.com/gos.../66397.htm

but I can't hate on the man
Promotion is promotion, and its not like he's never
done it before. I'm just mad I missed most of it

thekidsgirl said:

That was probably his publicist speaking...saying what he has to say. Prince has probably watched every show, from day one...with popcorn!

An artist "sells out" the moment they sign a contract to join the label and Prince has already done this. Might I suggest the song "Hooker With A Penis" by Tool?

Sell out alright. Sell out of 3121 in the record stores in a few days thanks to this performance . Some people need to get over themselves. He in the music BUSINESS. This had to be a business move and not only was it a smart move but thank God Prince decided to do it at all. Besides, he did it HIS way. He didn't duet with any of the contestants, it was just him and it was right before the results. The man did the damn thing and I'm fucking proud of him for getting it right with the promotion of 3121. I hope this is a start of a wild and crazy summer.
[Edited 5/24/06 21:12pm]

People always wish someone else to live in that cramped Ivory Tower...even if they couldn't do it themselves.
[Edited 5/24/06 21:13pm]

purplecam said:

Completely on point.

The Beatles and the Stones were on the Ed Sullivan Show...which, including having some stellar rock performers, had some of the cheesiest vaudville-type acts on the face of the planet..lol ...American Idol is, in it's own way, becoming a modern-day version of the Ed Sullivan Show.

Anx said:

We all should know Prince goes through phases and distinct eras - it could be argued the phase from Musicology to the present so far IS one of those distinct eras that Prince seems to design for himself, and like any of his era it is only a matter of time before it mutates into something entirely different and contradictory. Because Prince has ALWAYS been very contradictory, saying one thing and then later doing the opposite, and that is one thing that keeps him fascinating as an artist and an individual. He's gone from 'in your face swear your ass off' to 'saintly non curser' to 'indie artist railing against record companies' to 'commercial sell-out'! It wouldn't surprise me at all if in a few years Prince went back on everything from the last few years and did an anti-religion concept album swearing his head off again! You just never really know what is going to come from Prince next.

What I'm saying is, perhaps this IS a 'role' Prince has adopted. If you look back, the Musicology 'hits' tour and the celebrity only parties at his house and the commercial sounding 3121 to expensive gigs at Las Vegas all point to him going through an era that is concerned with fame and money in exactly the same way that previous years wasn't! So we shouldn't be too shocked that Prince has chosen to do the sensible business choice and appear on Idol at all - all the signs were there.

Sell out? Maybe. But it's just a phase before the next one, and the one after that.

But perhaps we all take the philosophy and politics behind the music far too seriously. At the end of the day, it's a commercial artist trying to promote his product like practically every other pop artist out there - performing on shows like this gets his music out to us the fans, and what's wrong with that? Nothing really. It's not a hanging offence for a pop star to be contradictory and not stick to previous morals. It might be if he was a politician.

I'm glad Prince keeps confounding us. It's one of the reasons I will never stop following is career.

Every signed artist is a co called "sellout". It's such a stupid term.

I have nothing against AI and I don't think appearing on it is such a terrible thing. What is funny to me is Prince trashing a show only to appear on it on a later date when he (or his label, whoever pushed for this) needs it as a marketing tool. Hypocrisy at it's finest.

Classic Prince!

Jeezus Christ, most of you have been prince fans for how long?....and you still piss and moan about his contradictions... NO FUCKIN SHIT SHERLOCK!!! hes a Gemini, they contradict themselves on a daily basis.so whatcha pissin about. shaddap, watch the performance have a coke and a smile and shaddaaaaap!!!!

Although I loathe AI I cannot argue with a good business decision. It hurt me when Stevie did it earlier in the season and Prince's appearance has numbed me. But the game has changed so I have to adapt as well.

How is this a sell-out if he did this on HIS TERMS. I'm sure AI asked him to do the show months ago, but obviously he declined and wanted to appear on the finale. They most likely wanted him to sing with one of the contestants like the other celebs, but he didn't, and they let him. And he was the grand finale of the celebs... which he deserved to be anyway.

metalorange said:

You were on point with that.