I may be a little behind here (not been on for a while) - someone bought me a Tom Waits book for Christmas, it's a collection of interviews and articles, and Tom mentions Prince a few times -

Talking in Musician magazine about state of the art recording -

Tom: I don't want the sheen, I'm neurotic about it, and yet Prince is really state of the art and he still kicks my ass. So it depends who's holding the rifle.

Musician: Prince has complained about not hearing enough "colours" on the radio, that too many talented people deliberately seek to emulate a formula instead of finding their own voice. Do you agree?

Tom: To an extent. The music business has gotten so sophisticated, people want their head on Prince's body. It's a melting pot, and the nutrition gets boiled out. Prince is rare, a rare exotic bird. Ther's only a few others. To be that popular and that uncompromising. It's like Superman walking through walls.

And in Playboy -

Playboy: Which modern artists do you listen to?

Tom: Prince. He's out there. He's uncompromising, a real fountainhead. Takes dangerous chances. He's androgynous, wicked, voodoo.


Cool! A Tom Waits/Prince duet would be pretty out there.

williammelvinhicks said:

that's my favorite part! nice quotes, thanks!

do you know when these interviews took place? i'm wondering if he's referring to '80s prince or if he said these things more recently.

JPMcGee said:

I remember a few comments from Tom about Prince--possibly these ones--happening around the time of Bone Machine. So he's basically talking about Prince's glory days. Not that he doesn't still admire Prince.

JPMcGee said:

I think the first one is circa Sign O The Times. Not sure about the Playboy one.

Funny thing is, 20 years on and it still applies. "people want their head on Prince's body. It's a melting pot, and the nutrition gets boiled out" How many people does that apply to at the moment!?

williammelvinhicks said:

It's even sadder that it's still true, 20 years later. Cool for Prince, sad for music.

wicked!