Question posed by reader to Los Angeles Times pop critic Robert Hilburn...

What happened to Prince's career? Why doesn't his music get played on the radio? Do you think he was blacklisted by the music industry? What could he possibly do to turn his career around and do you think he cares? It seems that while he is considered a musical genius and innovator, his music--both old and new--receives little or no radio airplay. Also, his videos don't get shown on MTV, BET & VH1 like Madonna or Michael Jackson.
--Nancy, West Covina

There was no bigger Prince fan in the world than I during the days of "Controversy" and "Dirty Mind" and "Purple Rain" and the like, but something happened to him musically during his final years at Warner Bros. He kept saying that Warner Bros. was ruining his creativity because they were treating him like a slave. The problem with that position is that Prince has done little that is distinguished since leaving Warner Bros. He also seems to have a tortured way of dealing with the public. He's still remarkable live--and he'll go down in music history as one of the true greats of the modern pop era, with a more commanding body of work than his old rival Michael Jackson. But his last few albums have been simply poor.

larry graham happened to prince.

You're either in or out. Personally I'm in 'til the end. Who's with me?

marilyn said:

can you really say that? without evening listening to the music...lets say, ten years from now prince starts releasing polka music...will you be there for that? or what if he starts releasing elevator music?


im all down for positivity and all...oh nevermind.

"It all comes out in the wash...


in time!"

suomynona said:

& the bright paranoid world of the jw

"the bright paranoid world of the jews"???

Too Bad U feel this way. Prince is Better than Ever. The Rainbow Children is a Wonderful album. Larry is a Cool Bass player and good friend 2 Prince. I 4 one will always be a Fan. Prince likes 2 always do something New Musically. U can't expect Purple Rain forever.

SkletonKee said:

You mis-spelled "continues".

Meeeowww!!!

Vagina said:

I'd say he's far from "better than ever." Though it's a better album then most of what he's put out since Batman, TRC is a trite, over-produced, unoriginal mess. His 80s albums were very original and powerful statements. If you feel this way then you're just not listening, in my opinion.
Again you miss the point. I don't think people want him to repeat the same style of Purple Rain, just the same level of integritey.

marilyn said:

I am...as is everyone else..even the naysayers. The sickness infects us all.

excuse me...
"But his last few albums have been simply poor."

has this person heard Rainbow Children? Even RAVE, which wasn't the best, was still better than most shit on radio. And i'm sure when the new madonna record comes out he'll be giving it stellar reviews!

SkletonKee said:

***

Let's say 10 years from now at 54, Prince is still
prancing around, batting those pretty eyelashes. Or
10 years further when he's 64...? We'll all be 20
years older then. Who knows what he will be playing?
Who knows what we'll still be able to hear seeing as
to how loud we've been playing our music all these
years?
If he does play elevator music, it will be the best
elevator music around, I'll bet.
And polka??? Come on Skletonkee...Black polka?

-

I'm in. I'm not going anywhere!! Sure, Prince's music isn't as commercial as it used to be. Why does everyone think that's a bad thing? I don't know about anyone else but have you heard the CRAP that is played on the radio!! I'd rather be stuck with these so-called "bad" albums than with fake commercialized music! He is a musician, and if he wants to change his musical style every 5 minutes, i say go for the gold, he doesn't care if people like it or not anyway!!

REPORT AS NEWS

1. He is over 40 (in mtv years your dead)
2. Told truth about a billion dollar music company
3. Yoko Graham
4. Other interests like Marriage,Life

suomynona said:

Shit. No matter how hard i try. i cant see the point behind this... lot of u seem to have something against L.G.? What is it? I just love the fretless bass in Last December...

Let's cut through the bulls&it...
1.Prince was/is blacklisted, although he deserves 33.3% blame for this.Clive Davis gave Prince a real shot at getting back on top.When Prince didnt play ball like the Arista big dogs wanted him to ,they had a coup & replaced Davis then made a serious effort to damage Prince's credibility by using various media assets to make it look like Prince is too stupid to get back on top.
2.His last albums exception being NPS were fairly good albums.Many will disagree, but find me 5 albums that won Grammys or AMAs during that year and compare to a Prince album and you will catch my drift.
3.He is TIRED of the so called fan who bashes any release (refer to the song Everlasting Now) & then turn around 3 years later and proclaim it his best in the era.This is the meaning of Pearls b4 the Swine.

With the right promotion ANY record will become a hit.Just look at the shit on the radio,MTV,BET,or VH-1.