I really dont understand all the fuss that is made over which band was the best, Revolution or NPG. I say WHO CARES? When I buy a Prince album or go to a Prince concert, I dont give a guinea pigs ass who is playing the drums or who is on keyboards. I am there to see Prince. Everybody else on the stage with him is secondary and tertiary. In fact Prince's bandmates are like his puppets. Prince sticks his hand up their ass and moves their hands to play the instruments. Prince is FULLY IN CONTROL. When you get a Prince song, you know its Prince. Also, when Prince ditched his band all together and did an album all by himself which was Sign O' the times, it was argubably his best album ever. Prince does not need a band!!! Prince and the Revolution and the NPG reminds me of The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Few people today even know that that was a band, People just say that was a Jimi Hendrix song. Thats because nobody gives a shit about the other people in the band. If Prince announced right now that he was forming a new band with your high school band that your graduated from and the band was ok. Are you band loving fans out there telling me that you would stop listening to Prince? Who cares about Prince's bands? I sure dont.

you obviously do, for one. first.

u are so true but the revolution sound was the best for prince that is my opinion. . they my not have been the funkiest butt the were the best

As long as they're tight. S'all I care about.

JamieStarrbucks said:

Not always a good thing.

anon said:

yeah. hopefully ol' boy washes his hands real well after the concert.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

I'll clear that up: Who you surround yourself with, as a musician, is important. The better the caliber and the less "control" you have over them, the more fun and growth an artist has. The audience, whether they get the music component or not, will pick up on that energy.

As for you, you're the one with "hand" in your name so I'm sure you know best regards those things...I can only imagine what your next comic will be about.

Dude, to say that the band is unimportant is, in my opinion, a totally unfair statement. Think about it...yeah we all think prince is great that's true, but during the days of the revolution do you really think nothing was born through jamming? Do you think every member was really just a robot to play whatever they were told? I doubt it. Surrounding yourself with creative people feeds your creativity. I don't want to get into a discussion about this, but to me Parade is such a fun and creative album and quite set apart from the rest, i dont believe this came about by prince being surrounded by automatons. Didn't sheila e come up with that fly ass beat on Tamborine?(i may be wrong, but you get the point). Also, who is in the band is clearly important to the man himself, if it wasnt he may has well as kept the same one permanently but he didnt. Anyway, i kind of see that if all you care about is seeing him on the stage then your point is fair, but wasn't SOTT a cool concert? Would it have been the same without such a cool band? hmmmm
[Edited 8/21/06 17:28pm]

The one thing that most people say about Prince, since the early days, is that he always knew what he wanted (in terms of creating music). Of course he collaborates with the members of his bands, and with sound engineers. But he is the equivalent of a movie director, he always has final say. I'm sure he plays off of other's input and ideas, but that only goes as far as he wants it to. Ultimately the song is going to be whatever ends up sounding good to him. That it's why I don't particularly care about this back up band or that one. They're all talented musicians, all different. But they are there to enhance Prince's creativity. If people prefer the rock/funk sound to R&B, I can see why they would feel that one band is more important than the other. I don't. I love songs from all of his different eras.

I don't care who P plays with so long as the music is good. It's all about the music. All about the music.

JamieStarrbucks said:

I agree with u 100%.The band is never a big deal 4 me,either. When I c Prince,he's all I wanna c,couldn't care less about who else is doing what on the stage.I have opinions on "Prince's best drummer, guitarist",etc,but it's not the big deal that people make of it-4 me anyway! I thought I was the only 1 who felt this way! Cool!

He can play with whomever band he chooses, it's his call.

As Prince suggested in his interview with Chris Rock at the time of the Emancipation album, he's always been lucky/intelligent enough to surround himself with splendid musicians. Without the band being good enough his music in concert would sound half constructed. The talent that Prince's band bring to a show - or to a studio recording - is immense and should not be underrated. This is why, I think, we have so many discussion about who was best, etc... If the bands were not as good as they were, Prince's music would should awful and we would be not as enchanted with the man as we are.

Think about some of the studio stuff Prince has laid down. Without a supremely confident and talented band the Lovesexy tour would have been insufferable. The complex structures and layers in the music required masterful musicianship. The NPG at the time provided it. The same with the Gold tour.

If there is one single 'business' aspect of Prince's career that he should be praised for, it is finding, grooming and releasing musicians of incredible talent, allowing HIS music to live live on stage.

THE REVOLUTION *lol*