I think "1999" made Prince an icon with MTV giving "LRC" a whole lotta run. I think the sucess of "1999" enabled him to make the movie because he had a following who cared...I mean how many of us out there woulda watched a movie about "New Edition"....for a lot of us back then, we went to see the movie just to see Prince TALK...I'm a fan..and I'd never seen him TALK before PR...

When I think icon/legend, I think of Smokey, Marvin, and Stevie for R&B. I think of Mick, Sting, and Bruce when Rock and Roll icons are in my thoughts. And with funk I get pictures of JB, Rick, and George...Now imo Prince could stand beside ANY of these icons and he has for some time now and quite frequently outshines them. He's on another level, but icon is a good start. Pioneer/Trailblazer also fit and he's done that since the beginning frankly.

Dirty Mind, it was so differnet and so much of a concept no one else had thought of, only an icon could release that and be prepared for the fallout.

I think Prince has always been an icon he's just been up and down but really there's no one who can touch him, just say his name and jaws drop all over the music business.

LexNevermind said:

-- that is true! I know a lot of 1999 fans who went to see Purple Rain just to see if the guy actually talked! One girl in the theatre kept giggling everytime she heard Prince speak. From 1982 and into 1985, Prince had built this whole wall of mystery around him -- a lot of people wanted to know something about him outside of the music.

"Purple Rain" made him huge. After "Purple Rain", most people weren't feeling him any more because he had changed his style. I never heard him referred to as an icon until the 1990s when people started going back to the previous decade and calling particular people icons such as Prince and Madonna. Michael Jackson was being called an icon while the 1980s were still in progress. I don't blame them for going back to the 1980s to find icons since the music of the 1990s was so damn boring.