i know he started in the late 70's..but he's pretty much an 80's icon. with the more gender-bending androgyny of the 80's, he was able to carve a niche for himself. but would he have been as big in the more politically challenging landscape of the 70's or the hip hop/grunge movement of the 90's?

He'd have been successful but like Madonna , MJ , Dire Straits and Bruce Springsteen , Prince's career got a huge boost as he became popular during the early to mid 80s when MTV became a huge phenomenon and lots of artists had enormous selling albums due to the exposure they were getting on video at the time . I don't think Purple Rain would necessarily have taken off to such stratospheric heights if it was released in the 1990s , purely because videos
are so easy to see and theres so many of them nowadays , and also rockstars
making successful movies is really not that easy a thing to do anymore .

Fury said:

In the 70's, hard to imagine what Prince would have been in the 70's since he has been influenced by the biggest acts of the 70's... Also there was TOO much competition in 70's, too many multi instrumentalists and talented artistd. No way he would have hae the same success... The 70's was the decade of musicians.


The 90's ? NOWAY, the gansgsta rap took control of Black music.

Prince is definitely an artist of the 80's

krayzie said:

I think Hip-hop in general took over in the 90's.

Rinluv said:

Seriously, hip hop is first and foremost a Black music. And I believe that it has influenced mostly african americans. African american culture now is so linked to hip hop that even black people who aren't rappers adopt all the codes of hip hop culture (tattoos, sexism, materialism, the N word, machismo, ghetto culture etc).


Yep hip hop took over the 90's but I think Hip-hop took over black music.

You'll never know now will you?

krayzie said:

Ouch! Couldn't disagree more! Certainly in the early 70s things were happening, but as the decade went on... Rock&Roll had became stale, Jazz was dead, Fusion never really took off, Funk had become this watered down hybrid we now call Disco... Punk was starting up, but at the time it wasn't about 'musicianship'. As far as that goes, the period 1975-1980 was really bland.

Jimi had died
The Beatles had split
Miles was in semi-retirement
JB, Sly, The Rolling Stones etc. had all passed their peak

It wasn't until Prince came along that things picked up again.

Just my opinion, of course.

[Edited 7/14/07 23:06pm]

70's

An impossible to question to answer for me.I thought someone's most sucessful time was their peak?

toejam said:

What you said is completely false.

You opinion is not accurate.

And your knowledge of the 70's is very limited.


The 70's was ALL about musicians, and tight bands.


ALL the biggest solo acts of the 70's play instrument : Stevie Wonder, Sly Stone, David Bowie, Elton Jhon, Curtis Mayfield, MArvin Gaye, Hattaway, Roberta Flack, Nina Simone, Todd Lundgren, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, Jonh Lennon, Neil Young just to name a few, but the list is just way too long.

And I don't talk about all the great tight bands like EWF, FleetWood Mac, Brothers Johnson, Rufus, Led Zepplin, Queen, Isley Brothers, Kool and the gang, Cameo, The J.B.'s, Parliament and Funkadelic, Pink Floyd etc

It was ALL about musicianship.
It was impossible for a solo artist to start a career in the 70's if he/she couldn't play any instrument.

Music was real and great. The competition was terrific. P would have never dominated like in the 80's.

Just my opinion, of course.
[Edited 7/15/07 2:36am]

Nah he pretty timeless FACT

Well other than the grey area known as TRC

krayzie said:

Just kidding

You make a fair point. But really, you could say that about any decade prior to the 1980s - especially the 20s, 30s and 40s. I just don't see how the 70s were any more about 'musicianship' than prior eras. I guess coming from more of a Jazz background I've always viewed that period as being either way too simplified (cheesy disco) or way too abstract (fusion). But I'll concede defeat .

Pochacco said:

TRC = ...?