GoldNigga said:

That's certainly not true for Europe, his popularaty increased on the old continent with ATWID Parade, even with Under the Cherry Moon failure he was perceived by the critics & the fans as a true artist with a vision, not a MTW talented puppet à la Billy Idol

I'll add: not going to see Wendy & Lisa to have an honest discussion with them, releasing "The Truth" "anonymously" with Crystal Ball.

jnoel said:

let me guess...the French?

CherryMoon said:

agreed

Probably the overflow of product released to the mass public
casual Prince fan

JAMIESTARR said:

Also,the inability of Prince to delegate
responsibility,he has a habit of taking on too much shit
someone else should handle(management,publicity etc...)

OH MY GOODNESS!!! Why can't more people see the obvious? Clearly it was Around the World in A Day. This does not mean it wasn't a great album. But like the first couple of posters stated, the world wasn't quite ready for that. Not right after the type of music from Purple Rain. I love the album, but some time in the near future, I encourage everyone to play the last 3 songs of the Purple Rain album, then directly continue on with the first three of ATWIAD. That was TOO much of a stretch for a lot of people. As much as I loved Prince, that album even had to grow on ME.I read somewhere where Prince was asked a question about ATWIAD, and his response was, "Well, it's funkier live". No Prince, that funk should have been placed on vinyl.

I think all those people now that say Prince is weird becuase he changed his name, etc., would probably love him as much as we do right now if the momentum from Purple Rain wasn't "slashed" so dramatically from the "different" sound of ATWIAD. I think this was a decision Prince has been paying for since the release of that album.

Note- I would also add the not touring of Sign O The Times, his distance from his fans for so long, and his lack of touring the U.S. for sooo long. His U.S. fans missed out on a LOT of live music. As a whole we never got to see him Tour with Mayte, The Gang Boys, Rosie Gaines, Michael B and Sonny T.ect. He played a couple of times in New York and L.A.,and of course Minneapolis maybe, but as a whole the rest of us missed a LOT.

When has the world been ready for anything Prince's done?
ATWIAD got rid of his bandwagon fans whom he couldn't care less about in the first place, brilliantly i might add.

No, his downfall began with replacing the director of UTCM with himself and then again with Graffiti Bridge-again with himself. He just can't direct, IMO, but was convinced he could. WB pretty much treated him as fodder after those two bombshells.

mrchristian said:

Not quite. That album was just too pop-sounding. Sounded too Beatlesque. Depsite being attached to a lousy movie, PARADE brought me back, but then he did the crappy-ass BATMAN soundtrack (thank god he didn't star in it!) and GRAFFITTI BRIDGE -- two good cuts!

He redeemed himself with SOTT, but the jerk-off with BLACLK ALBUM just pissed off hardcore funkers and the homo-erotic LOVESEXY cover was the last straw!

Totally ignored D&P and SYMBOL until after all that silly shit with "SLAVE" boiled over. Which was the ultimate laff-fest!


See? It's not just one thing. It's his whole freakin' attitude!!

He still rocks though!

PFunkjazz said:

Of course, Parade was attached to UTCM, not ATWIAD.
And i have to ask: if you totally ignored D&P and o+> and the Black Album was too masturbatory for you, and hated the lovesexy cover--what's kept you a prince fan/enthusiast for this long? SOTT was great, but that was over 15 yrs ago.
Surely it wasn't NPS or Rave.

MrBlues said:

Not touring the USA for either the Sign The Times tour, the Nude tour
or the Diamonds And Pearls show.
[This message was edited Tue Oct 1 16:23:08 PDT 2002 by july]

july said:

I agree...he waited a long time between Lovesexy and JOTY to tour the US.

mrchristian said:

No. I had latched onto CRYSTAL BALL from online

SHEESH!!! that was another incident that pissed me off. It came in the mail LATE without a booklet (I know, it was there to download) and then it was in stores all perfect and wrappped. That's why I don't do NPGMC!

PFunkjazz said:

I had a few friends who got burned by that too--and they used to be casual prince fans,
but hung up their 0+> necklace after that.

The mistake IMO was what was NOT released.

After the release of Emancipation and the feeling
that Prince had finally found his own personal dawn,
I was expecting a sprawling,personal cd entitled,"The Dawn".

Instead what we received was Crystal Ball,NPS and Rave.
Tons of remixes,some intersting old-school like jams and
blatent and at times smarmy attempts at gaining commercial recognition.

With the exception of The Truth which was buried among 4 other cd's...nothing else was really cutting edge or up to the Prince standard of pushing the musical edge.

I sort of envisioned The Dawn as a hybrid of The Truth and possibly The Rainbow Children.

Anyway,I also feel Prince is back on track musically and The Rainbow Children is testiment to that.

...when he started listening to what the "FANS" want instead of the mellow of his mind...

CherrieMoonKisses said:

SO he should stay forever single to please his fans???

origmnd said:

So you think his "FANS" wanted ATWIAD? I stick to what I said before, ATWIAD was a little TOO out there for many people and it turned them off. Then the Parade album followed that. I even think the release of the "Controvery" album or the 1999 album after Purple Rain would have made a huge difference is his already incredible career.

Also, people can "downplay" fans all they want, but "FAMS" don't pay the bills. I have loved Prince long enough to know how much he loves music and know that money is not his MAIN motivation for making music. But those that have this attitude of "Prince doesn't care about money and couldn't care less if a person that isn't dedicated to him doesn't buy his album" are fooling themselves. I'm sure Prince wouldn't mind at all if he released an album that the average Britany Spears fan bought. I believe Prince loves us (his Fams) but he also cares for his fans (can someone say The Nude Tour and The Hit -n- Run Tour?)

Absolutely he should stay Single. Most Definitely. Mayte was cool though. I liked watching them on stage and never didn't like him being with her. They were a cute Couple. It was so Enjoyable watching him be in Love and Lust with her. But he doesn't need chaos or to get Hurt or used and wrecked in his mindset. He should have a clear channel free from Stress.

Well,of course he Has to make Money to Survive plain and simple fact. What is he gonna do suck Air to pay the Bills? It's just lack of Promotion really cause only fans Know about his Music. He needs more Promotion of his work. I am beginning to think he needs a Label to help him also. But a Cool one . One that will Push him enough. People are always asking me what he's been up to . They don't know about his albums. I tell them all the time about his new songs and stuff they are unaware of what he is doing!

VelvetJ said:

He started "listening" to what "fans" want
when he stopped doing what he was doing.

I think RAVE (which is still a good CD) was because everyone kept saying to do another "sign o' the times" lp. So instead of being more creative he tried to shut people up---which worked adversely...

He doesn't realize he's pleasing no one
(except Mani) by doing what we think
HE should do---it should only be taken into consideration.

So then do you think he should just stop listening to what the fans want Orgmind? He has to please us to. But he always does something different you know. I think he should most definitely try a different style agin. He does that with his music. Some strange pairings would be Wild you know. Maybe he doesn't wanna go out of his safe fan-base to try something Completely different. I don't know. I do know he can do anything Musically and create any Musical style he wants to.

I've gotta think that everything he has ever done, has been for a purpose. I wonder if he knows the impact he has on us though. I have been a fan for 20 years, and will never waver, cuz he is the sh@#t. My only question to him would be,"When will all of the unreleased music come out? I can't wait brother.
His greatest mistake was not releasing a live album, so that the people could understand the relevence in a business in such a processed musical environment. Someone like him could sweep the charts repeatedly, but he has a goal that we all should pay attention to.


God lives iin us all.
Thanx Prince, I love you
blue
WWW.funkyparadise.com

Natasha said:

PLEASE...the more he tries to make the fans happy the more they belly-ache.
Things are more cohesive when he listens to himself and not fans or Larry.

if he had just done everything exactly the way i would have done it if i were him everything would be fine. Please! blah blah blah. What makes him exceptional is that he always confounds expectations good and bad. Remember everybody comes at this from a different perspective. There is literally nothing he has done that somebody doesn't find fault in. I'm just glad we've gotten a wondeful goofy mindboggling ride for so many years.

DEAR Prince fans:


I invite you all to check out a new hardcover book out called, "JUMP THE SHARK", which takes pop-culture moments when things go bad.


PRINCE has an entry; WHEN did PRINCE "jump the shark"?, you ask?


...".Breaking up the REVOLUTION".


I AGREE! Think about it...


Think of the general vibe of every cd from "For You" to "1999", and from "Lovesexy" thru "Rave un 2 the Joyless Fanatics".

NOW think of the vibe from "Purple Rain" thru "Parade" and all the cool bootlegs of this period.

The most musical growth and maturity came from this period!

Just think of what the music would have sounded like if we had 3 MORE REVOLUTION albums!

EVERYTHING THAT CAME AFTER DUMPING THE REVOLUTION IS THE AFTERMATH OF THAT DECISION.

If the Revolution stayed: NO copping a PHONY attitude: 1991-1993 NPG era. That sucked. Going from "Anotherloverholeinyohead" and "Mountains", to Kirstie Alley setups of bragging. Wouldn't have happened with WENDY & LISA.

WENDY AND LISA AND THE REVOLUTION were in their own world and thats made PRINCE'S MUSIC UNIQUE. Afterward's, Prince rode those fumes to "Lovesexy", became a follower, and was never the same afterwards.Think i'm wrong? Play any random song from "RAVE" and then play any random song from a W&L cd and YOU'LL SEE WHATS MISSIN"> Try it--it's FUN!!! Or try bootlegs: Play "Undisputed" then "Wonderful Ass"! Or play "Hot Wit U" then "In a Large Room With No Light"! WOW, huh?!?!


..."STRANGE, you said/How noboody stayed/at the end of the PARADE"--lyric from "Song About" by WENDY AND LISA from their 1987 album.

dewmass said:

The bigger mistake as far as TGE is concerned is NOT releasing a video for I Hate U when the music had EVERYONE captivated. The video was the only thing left to make this thing a true "hit"!

Nothing everything IS as it is suppose to B.

I'd say it's not one single mistake, it's constantly allowing 'hanger's on' to piggy back on his fan base - eg Chaka Khan (sp?), Larry Graham, Doug E Fresh and many, many more.

Thecherryloon said:

The Cherryloon, I think you answered the question perfectly regarding the biggest career mistake. Your response re-emphasizes' my and a couple of others, whole theory on his biggest mistake which was ATWIAD. Prince lost a HECK OF A LOT OF PEOPLE with that album at a time when he had THE WORLD in his hands. If Prince indeed stated, "Screw the Charts",(which one can easily interpret into "screw what the people want" as well) and had that type of attitude, what more can you expect but to turn people off. You are right Cherryloon, when you stated, "Parade only emphasized that point". That album, which I also love, re-emphasized his "screw what anyone says about my music". Which is great... to an extent. The Parade album was the final death nail for him. By the time SOTT (a excellent album) was released, it was too late. He had turned TOO many people off by then. Like you said Cherryloon, people were expecting more music like "KISS" and did not get that. You may think it's funny but I believe Prince is STILL paying for that.It was too much of a stretch.

Guys, try to imagine Michael Jackson coming off the HEIGHT OF HIS CAREER with Thriller, by releasing a follow up album full of classical operatic music. Then,the album following that one is heavy on the "Country" style. People can talk all they want about how "bold" Michael would have been, but I'M SURE he would have turned people off and lost fans. Well, this is what happened to a lesser degree when Prince released ATWIAD and Parade directly following something like Purple Rain. It was not him changing his name, it was not writing slave on his face, it was not the disbandment of the Revolution, it was not his breakup with Mayte. It was the release of those albums following Purple Rain that, to a degree, mortally wounded his career. If something like SOTT would have been released following Purple Rain, I believe there would be a heck of a lot more FAMS in the world than Fans.