I would probably say so. But not so much for the music. No, I think the Thin White Duke has had more of an impact on our hero aesthetically. Maybe there's some songs that Prince created that were inspired by Bowie, but I think musically speaking Prince is more influenced by Bowie's approach to creating music than the songs themselves. But Prince is even more in touch with the way Bowie created his visual style. He's the master of re-invention and boundary-breaking. I totally see that sort of thing in Prince's work. The whole androgyny thing that Prince was about in the beginning totally came from Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust" period. Prince picked it up, made us smile and the rest is history.


Plus, Bowie is funky too, especially for a lad from Brixton.

Brixton? I'm not great with my British geography, but isn't he from Bromley? Or is it six of one, half a dozen of the other?

I don't think Bowie is a hugely conscious influence on Prince; if he has been, it has been minimal and at most with regards to doing business on the Internet.

I think there is a connection between the two, but it's tenuous and it will probably never be mined for the brilliance such a meeting of the minds could be worth. They'd probably just end up pissing each other off anyway.

Born Brixton, grew up in Bromley. They're a ten minute train ride from each other.

LittleSmedley said:

gotcha!

i just always hear bowie talk about bromley when he goes into his youth...the brixton thing musta fallen through the cracks of my memory (as do so many things )

Anxiety said:

Yeah. Rock stars and their egos, I tell ya.

Anxiety said:

U should come to England sometime Anx, make a pilgrimage! Get ur pic taken in Heddon St, where the Ziggy album cover was taken. I did, as a teenager

LittleSmedley said:

Endo and I are planning an England trip sometime next year! I think he wants to go to Manchester cuz a lot of his favorite music came from there, so maybe I can beg a trip to the ol' Heddon St. steps...

Anxiety said:

I tend to agree. Funny though I was playing Young Americans new surround sound version (glorious) and my roomate commented that he thought Prince was influenced by this album. I guess I can kinda see this as it's Bowies "soul" album. But yes if he is one P's influence it's prolly more subconscious on certain levels than anything. Prolly more yes than no.

Bfunkthe1 said:

If I could choose any Bowie material for Prince to cover, it would most likely be from the Young Americans album. He could knock most of the songs on that album out of the park.

Anxiety said:

Sorry.
Agreed. Prolly just a matter of time. I mean he just played The Cars didn't he?


U should come to England sometime [quote]

Mine future plan as well.

"Fashion" and "U Got the Look" have a similar feel, as do (at a push) "Pop Life" and "Ashes to Ashes"

I think back in the day he defenitly was.

Wasn't there a Prince Birthday Party that Bowie attended where
everyone was wearing a Prince mask?
I am a huge Bowie fan, and have always lamented that Prince appears to
have only been marginally influenced by him.
I would love to hear Prince cover 'Suffragette City'.

goku said:

Agreed. I don't think Prince has much respect for "nonmusicians" and while Bowie is a great songwriter its just not in the same sense that, say, Joni is.

Prince could have learned a lot from the way Bowie adapted to changing times without seeming like he was trying to hard to stay hip. I think Madonna may have been more influenced by Bowie in that respect. I've been waiting for Prince to have a "Let's Dance" year for a long time.

THE Bowie cover I would kill for is "Ziggy Stardust."

I don't think there's much direct influence, but indirectly, maybe. Bowie's style may have influenced the New Romantics/New Wavers which then influenced Prince.

No.

emesem said:

i'd beg to differ, and i'd hope prince has enough on the ball to know that not only is bowie a great songwriter, but he's a multi-instrumentalist musician as well. bowie's versatility as a recording artist is criminally underrated.

Anxiety said:

Exactly. Most see the "duke" as just a singer and showman, and that's cool. But I've seen him get down on the guitar and piano. He's also a very underrated sax man. Check out that sax solo in "Absolute Beginners". Or at least I think that was him.

OK, so maybe Prince isn't directly influenced by Bowie, at least musically. But there's definitely some parallels: The whole gender-bending, shock rock tactics, musical versatility, image re-invention on every album, groundbreaking classic albums, internet music business savvy, musical peaks and valleys throughout their career.....and of course....


THE FUNK!!!

Too many threads to keep up with!