Asking the fans on the org., what are the are some of Prince's mistakes or blunders that he's made during the course of his career, from past to present?
Do you feel its hooking up with Larry G., disbanding the Revolution, changing is name in the symbol or what? I just want to read your opinions on the mistakes that you've felt he's or bad choices given if it's relating to , example: bad hair style, bad outfits, songs, groups as well as group members( Tony M. or etc...like whatever comes to your minds

In the long, long, run, his decision to withdraw Black Album in 1988.

Kids today have no idea he was nasty, and crazy funky, and cussed in such creative tracks.

ufoclub said:

Prince singing something nasty?Never! LOL

Well, imho, he's made a few- but his career is his whole life and who doesn't make mistakes in life?

That being said- Tony M def. tops my list! Also, firing Dr. Fink on the drop of a dime (supposedly because he couldn't make one last minute show)- I believe he deserved more loyalty and I miss his playing to this day. Also, not giving credit where credit was due on albums- of course only those involved know that for sure, but I think many people do believe that to be the case.
Less damaging decisions- bringing bodyguards on stage to accept awards with him at the height of his popularity in the 80's. Whenever I see him accepting awards now, making lovely speeches (alone)- I wish he had done more of that in the 80's.

I disagree that pulling the Black Album was a mistake- that whole thing made it the most bootlegged- and therefore infamous- album of all time, giving it much more attention than it probably would have gotten.

-not letting Erotic City 12" get put on the Prince Ultimate collection

-deciding it was his life's purpose to bring people to his god ala Lovesexy

-Tony M.

-T.C. Ellis

-Not collaborating with Miles Davis

-Not listening to much outside of pop music

-Refusing an audience with Bob Dylan

-going from two amazing bands, The Revolution and SOTT and Lovsexy bands, to the monstrosity that was the Arsineo Hall house ba- er, I mean NPG

-refusing to work with brilliant collaborators and outside of his comfort zone in general. Instead cultivating a hermetic Prince world where all interactions were with paid hands that said "yes sir".

-choosing not to bake the vault tapes for archival purposes.

-Wasting his god given radical talent on sub-par, but perhaps crowd pleasing records such as 3121.

-Saying he'll do one thing and then not following through again and again and again.

probably his financial decisions, though he always seems to land on his feet, no matter how much of a fool he's been.

JudasLChrist said:

I agree with much of this- I didn't know he didn't allow Erotic City- why because of the lyrics I assume?
And what do you mean exactly with the last one?

It's cool to use as a logo, but not as a name. He spoke about it so seriously, and the general public thought he was nuts. I don't think he'll ever be able to live it down. (unless the people who remembered him as die off, only to leave the new fans behind!)
[Edited 3/8/07 11:05am]

-- Disbanding the Revolution

-- The so-called "extended" Revolution, circa the "Parade" tour.

-- "Grafitti Bridge" (the film)

-- "Gold Nigga"

-- Tora Tora

-- The Carmen Electra project

-- The Mayte solo project

-- "Emancipation" being 2 CD's too long

-- "Newpower Soul"

-- "1999 The New Master"

-- The issues with Warner Brothers

-- The handling of the "Crystal Ball" project

-- Promotiong Tamar while "3121" stood idle in record store bins

-- Not releasing "The Undertaker" project

-- The hideous "Corporate World" sessions with Morris Day

-- The whack ass rappers circa 1991-1994

-- The lollipop incident at the 1995 American Music Awards

-- "1-800-New-Funk" CD

hooking up with Larry Grahm

Flowerz said:

I just picked one! It was the career move that was the cause of much ridicule and taunting when I used to tell everyone, "His name isn't Prince! It's THE ARTIST!!!" when I was in Jr. High!

Not marrying me when I was a young vulnerable naive highschooler...

The most annoying thing from a personal standpoint was "Around the World in a Day" immediately after "Purple Rain", although I do now see the benefits of that. However, he sure did isolate a lot of people.

Now on to what I think were his worst career decisions:


NOT touring the United States with the Sign O' The Times Tour.

Not officially releasing the Black Album, when he finished it.

Peforming "Play in the Sunshine" at the MTV Awards in 87, instead of Housequake.

Performing the song 3121 at the BET Awards last year.

The Graffiti Bridge Movie.

Punishing America by staying away for 9 years.

Not releasing the ENTIRE "One Night Alone" show on DVD.

Not releasing the "Musicology" tour on DVD.

Mani

wlcm2thdwn said:

I think we have a winner

poeticrockstar said:

The lollipop incident?

ejnbmore said:

JudasLChrist said:

If he didn´t take care of the master tapes in the vault, then how come he uses samples or whole songs from the vault from time to time ?

Changing his name to an unpronouncable symbol was one of the most daring, coolest and boldest things any artist of his caliber has ever done. And he stuck with it for seven years, despite all the ridicule, negativity and criticism. He chose to take the hard route, not the easy, safe route, and he did what he believed in.

Takes a lot of courage to do what he did with such an integrity. One day, it will all make perfect sense, if it doesn´t make much sense to most of you already.
He has my respect for that.

Worst decision in my opinion:

Not touring with the SOTT tour ( in the USA ) .

Not releasing enough "raw" stuff like "The Undertaker" video .

Suing Uptown ( hey, I can´t stand some of them, if they are those dudes I think I´ve seen a couple of times at concerts, but they were doing a great job nevertheless.)

Carmen Electra´s album...what a waste of time and money .

1999- The New Master WTF was he thinkin ?

All the Larry G. / JW influenced brainwashing psychogames during concerts and the 2002 Celebration....good intentions possibly, but a bit patronizing and disrespectful toward grown folks who can think for themselves.

Disbanding the mighty, mighty original NPG .

Releasing We Can Funk the way it is on the Graffiti Bridge album instead of the old version .


Making some albums sound too polished...I love the sound of the Rainbow Children album though.

Well, this one's pretty obvious and predictable but it's the truth. No more of that nasty sexfunk-themed songs all because he's trying to serve the Lord. It's a shame too cuz "Head" was funky as hell!.

How do you go from "work your body like a whore" to "work it like you want some more"?
[Edited 3/8/07 14:01pm]

Releasing an album like "Around The World In A Day" at the top of his career.
.
.
[Edited 3/8/07 14:17pm]

1) Firing Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. I know he's controlling but he should have been able to work things out. Keeping them in house and having them as producers for some of his Paisley Park acts would have been incredible, and the orignial Time line-up could have stayed in tact.

2) "The Undertaker" should have been released.

3) "Girls and Boys" should have been the second release from Parade, not "Mountains"

4) 1999 The New Master - the worst idea EVER!!!!

vainandy said:

Wait a second, buddy. I thought that was a brilliant move. He was trying to challenge his audience and hip them to some new sounds. I say it worked and he shouldn't have any regrets about it. Besides, there's still some funk stuff on that album.

But as for "NewPowerSoul"?
[Edited 3/8/07 14:24pm]

poeticrockstar said:

I guess those are his worst decisions,also releasing ATWIAD after
the mega succes of PR,and allthough I like the album now,at that moment this was
a bad choice AND it was released 2 soon!!!

The name change -- hands down.

Yeah, we all get why he did it. But it made him look like a complete nutter and sank him totally and permanently with the general music-buying public.

But look how many people that dropped him because of it. And I'm not talking about just the new-found "Purple Rain" fans. I'm talking about long-term R&B fans since 1978 and 1979.

vainandy said:

So what? People change. I know he's all about the funk, but how long can you keep that up? He got sick of that sound and wanted to explore new and different sounds. I mean, The Beatles are one of his influences after all. And the album isn't bad at the end of the day. And it was way ahead of everything else that was happening in Soul music at that time. That's what made Prince stand apart from the rest.

Jimi had a hard time with this too when he formed the Experience. He was trying to bring some of the sexy, psychedelic sounds to Rock and Soul audiences. But at that time it pretty much went over the Soul crowds heads. I think that's why he formed the Band of Gypsys a few years later.

[quote]NWF said:



Well, if he can afford to lose money and fans, that's his choice. Personally, I would have rather seen "Purple Rain" never happen so he couldn't afford to make that change.