The wedding was over in 1988. Graffiti Bridge and ka-plunk. He has been a one-hit wonder since and never will be the same.

It reminds me of something someone said. "I dig the old Prince stuff, like "controversy, lady cab driver, head, etc. I'll take that over "seven" any day." Sums it up.

thx 4 ur support

I couldn't disagree with u more.

Some one get me some Allegra, I'm alergic to bullshit.

What u mean but haven't decoded the media's dominion over u enough to realise, is that it was all over IN THE PRESS by then. I think, these days, 50-70% of hardcore Prince fans would now see 1992-6 as Prince's peak period. The press people never listen to any of the music anyway but it's only a matter of time before a journalist somewhere picks up some info about this period from the fans and proceeds to write a big piece to this effect. In fact, what am I doing wasting time here. It could be me!

That's some lame ass opinion.

excessex said:

That's YOUR opinion, not mine.

I have to agree. It's obviously the end of the point where every album had something new and different or built on something that came before it. There's no comparing classic cuts from Parade to the drek of Planet Earth. Sorry, but even the b-sides were weaker, when he was still making them. You can't compare drivel like Pope with the majesty of She's Always in My Hair.

I think its fair to say his 80's run was perhaps the greatest of any artist in popular music. From the diversity and growth between each album and the mastery of his stage craft, he was untouchable. After this period, the highs were fewer, although, there were still highs. That alone is no mean feat and should be respected. However, if you look at the broader aspects of his career after this time, you will still find elements of creativity and visonary actions - albeit, not in regard to music creation but music distribution and ownership. Also, it wouldnt be complete by saying that a guy of almost 50yrs old can still command a stage with ease and still blow most out of the water - 17yrs after his 'prime'

Rockability said:

U make no sense. Prince a "one hit wonder"?
1988?
U iz an I D I O T!

so.....

oh i cant be arsed-what a fuckin stupid thread

here is where i sum up u'r thread and opinion (tho ur entitled)

ur suffering from peter pan syndrome and most others on the org do as well

There are many who agree that 1988 was the end of Prince's Great Run, both commercially and artistically. I'd be one of them.

But it's hard to agree that his genius was shattered when 1-1-89 rolled around. Prince still provided, and provides, euphoric moments, be they a minute, a song, or an album, after Lovesexy. So much so that many on this site refer to The Rainbow Children with the same reverence as many like me reserve for Lovesexy.

If he can inspire old fans and win new fans with his work with every outing, then he's still got it.

I think the honeymoon did come to an end in '88. The giddy, blissful phase of his career was over. After that Prince's divorce from WB eclipsed the music.

When u reach the mountain top
All of the other valleys are below
Would u call u're self a friend or fan
Or would u call u're self a foe?
[Edited 9/10/07 9:11am]

Graycap23 said:

graycap me old mate! how ya been? any 'insider' news for us?

3121 said:

lol.....I'm retired from that gig.

u r a

are you fuckin crazy?? I love so much of his 90's material...Chaos and Disorder is his darkest mindfuck of an album...gets me horny..

Of course, this is all in my humble opinion

Prince's creativity (or musical genius) can be graphed on a spreadsheet just like any other person.

And just like any other person, it'll be filled with highs and lows, and eventually an artistic peak can be derived.

I've identified that peak as 1980-88, but this guy still has spikes that move me like few others. He just hasn't beaten this particular peak of uniformity yet, and probably never will.

But how ill-advised would I be if I could only listen to people who were certifiably within their artistic peak?

Individual great songs and albums sound just as great, they just don't happen as consistently as before, else there would be a new higher period to graph (which might be pretty unreasonable to expect given that between '80 and '88 he might be greater than any musician in the western world).

But some have the personality where they only want to truly put in the most effort if they can be assured that it was created within this intellectual/text book prime.

Well, if that's true, I think that's the period to go for.

But with someone like Prince (an extremely rare musician who is more Ellington than Wonder) that would be rejecting a hell of a lot of great art just because it doesn't fall within this rather astonishing period.

Not to mention it will miss other periods of great height, just because they don't happen to soar as long.

And, besides, at least for me, hearing good stuff, or bad stuff, or mediocre stuff makes the great stuff that much grander.

Only listening to great stuff makes me very spoiled to hear nothing but near perfection from the period that can be identified as the greatest. And I don't want to become that person who slags off "Ran" because it doesn't fall into Akira Kurosawa's fertile 1950s or Woody Allen's "Match Point" because it wasn't created in his astonishing 70s or 80s.

There's greatness to be found everywhere, but only one period that will graph higher than any other.

3121 said:

i totally agree his prime run is peerless and his downward spiral produced more gems than most "declining" artist. his re emergence is a product of his ageless look, reputation as one of the greatest live performers ever and distribution innovation not the actual recorded music. all in all i'll take it, any of you would. just stop and look at alot of the 80's icons peddling themselves on VH1, Prince probably sees himself as a working musician and laughs at us for still expecting him to be a genuis.

sexxydancer said:

same goes 4 me.

I still believe he's a genius in many aspects.
Obviously, he lost some of his "credientals", I guess u could say... people look up 2 him less cuz of the whole name change... and other questionable actions on his part.

But that was also a brilliant time for his music.

And he's still capable of writing beautiful music. It just doesn't have the same "shock" factor that his early work had. He's about a lot more than the "shock value," people.

Of course, this is coming from a newbie and he's the most risque artist I've ever checked out.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

That's exactly right.

Shocking me today like that 14-year-old would be impossible.

But greatness stands the test of time, and Prince still creates many moments of grandeur.

Just because it may not be happening as often as his artistic prime I'm not going to stop listening.

Although, this is a very complicated issue, and there are more artists than you can shake a stick at who have become pale copies of their former glory.

But not Prince, not to me. Even when he falls flat on his face, he gets up and releases stuff that proves me dead wrong again.

Newbie or not, you're making a great deal of sense.

One the hand i agree with the OP, 1980 - 1988 (Dirty Mind - Lovesexy) indeed was his peak period.

But it doesnt mean he stopped being a genius after that or so, its more about him not fullfilling his artistic potential every time.

I mean: the albums between 1989 - 1995 (Batman - The Gold Experience) were maybe not groundbreaking masterpieces, but at least they were better then most of the other albums released in those years. An on all those albums you could find individual songs that were showing proof of his genius.

For me personally Prince did seem to 'lose' it when he went independent, going away from WB, the period 1996 - 2003.
I mean: he seemed to have the freedom to produce and release the material he wanted, but it also seemed he didnt know what to do with that freedom: releasing uninspired, plastic sounding material (New Power Soul, Rave), overindulge himself (the 3CD-sets of Emancipation and Crystal Ball) or finding himself brainwashed in dogmatic religion (The Rainbow Children).

The period 2004 - 2007 (Musicology - Planet Earth) for me is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand he succeeds to release more focussed music and CD's, not overindulging himself.
On the other hand these albums maybe sounding a too bit calculated, missing the eccentricities of earlier work, and therefore being a bit boring.
On a positive point: after his genius period in the eighties, and the silly mistakes he made between 1995 and 2004, Prince at least shows his craftmanship by these 3 last albums.

Rockability said:

Maybe your perspective is a bit different 20 years later. Just take a look at the music biz in general.

Rockability said:

One could say the same thing about the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton,Elton John, the Who.....their best years were drug and/or alcohol fueled.....hmmmm

Riverpoet31 said:

Well, u certainly put this in terms I can understand, haha.

I don't own too much of his period of "silly mistakes" as u call it, so I don't quite see what u mean... one day I will when I own Emancipation & Crystal Ball (And also give Rave & one another album a few more listens).

The current era definitely is a mixed bag. Musicology was a little too old-school and 3121 was a little too modernized... Planet Earth was perfect becuz its music can't be classed one particular decade, there's a timeless quality about it cuz it's not bound to a particular time period (unless we're talking about his mind).

I own 6 80's albums (and have listened 2 5 of them a lot already)... and the quality they have is unlike that of the other eras I own (4 in the 90's that I'm roughly familiar with... and the 3 most recent ones). He was peaking in the 80's... but once I heard SOTT, I'll really know 4 sure.

But Planet Earth sounded 2 me like "I'm back, baby!"... and he's peaking in his creativity again... but that might set me up 4 a fall if I expect the next 2 match that work of art.



Thanx. My knowledge isn't as complete as the majority here... but my can figure out a lot when its exposed repeatedly to the makings of Prince's .

Halcyon days are all very well in retroview but if u check the press for Parade, many thought it sucked. How many praised ARTWIAD? Not many. Prince found himself in the middle but outside of the burgeoning 'canonisation' of rock and roll with the lists being drawn up of classic albums and the door being built on that to one day be closed to anything new (seen anything new in those lists since, maybe Radiohead?). Because Prince was THERE defying gravity at the time, the work of the eighties has since been represented as 'Wow. Everyone was so amazed and following his every move'
As if. I was and you were but those who write about this golden period very often weren't. So I don't really believe in Halcyon days and golden periods. He rocks therefore he is. And yeah, I'm afraid my 'peak period' for Prince has shifted to the nineties. I'm not the only one.

excessex said:

Good points. I still chuckle when I hear critics casually refer to the genius of Parade because I know many of those same critics were deriding him for it. It was if the "critical mass" of music writers in the 80's (and 90's) were like Homer Simpson in that episode where another artist was performing a song, and he was yelling, "Purple Rain!" They wanted Prince to play and be Purple Rain all the time. They couldn't stand it when he went psychodelic, or eurofunk, or NewPowerSoul on'em in the 80's. Now, with contemporary artists of all stripes being "informed" by much of that overlooked work, the re-evaluation begins by many saying that they always loved those albums.

I'm fond of saying that Purple Rain made me a Prince fan, but ATWIAD made me a Prince fan for life. Because with the latter album, he proved that he could make exciting, compelling work that didn't (really) resemble the stuff that immediately preceded it. I, like you, was there, proudly loving Prince's music even when a lot of folks around me were not. Now,a lot of people want to act like Prince fans.

As for the 90's, well, he had many good moments, but his struggles to annex hip-hop into his musical domain, and with his label, marred them somewhat. These are two of the reasons why the 80's are better regarded than the 90's. But the 90's had many, many moments of excitement and hopefully his quality 90's work will receive the same "re-evaluation" as that of his overlooked 80's work.