This latest PR backfire is right from Prince's playbook. I don't know what causes the man to do this but throughout his career whenever he reached some sort of critical mass he had to do something so mind-boggling that no one can figure out where he is coming from.

The man comes out with Purple Rain, gains a popular mass that very few are able to attain and then (blam) he says he won't release videos for his next album (which he does) and something about looking for the ladder, which I belive was in his shed or something all along.

The man releases an almost universally loved CD in Sign O the Times, considers a completely anti-commercial dance funk CD which he pulls at the last minute due to some sort of spiritual/cold medicine-related revelation and then appears buck naked on an album cover, alienating major retailers. Don't even get me started on the single tracking business.

The man pulls himself up by his bootstraps commercially with Diamonds and Pearls, becomes mainstream again, signs a hefty contract, and spends the next several years trashing his own image because of aforementioned contract.

And now, the man has been on fire since 2004, gaining new fans and thrilling old with one wise PR move after the other. Even if the artistic quality of his three albums since 04 have been questioned by some, the man has made an enormous amount of intelligent moves to establish himself firmly as an elder statesman of rock.

And then, damn, if some internal alarm clock didn't go off and Prince didn't wake up and go "Man, it has been a long time since I did something really puzzling...why don't I just sue everybody?"

I'm simplifying of course. But this just seems like the end of this particular chapter of Prince's career. And no doubt he will lose some of us because of this, as he has done at various points over the years. But, you know what Prince? I'm staying. Like I always have I'll weather this storm and ride it out. And damn if 3-5 years from now, I would be willing to bet cash money that he will make yet another comeback showing everybody that despite his "bull in the china shop" antics, no one touches this man musically.

This may be one of my least successful threads ever. I blame Prince.

GottaLetitgo said:

Perhaps it just wasn't well thought thru.

It could well b a natural progression 4 Prince, and perhaps the internet as a whole. Wait n C.