During a ride home, I asked my mom if she remembered Sly Stone's "everybody is a star." she said of course, and that she loved sly and the family stone. I replied by saying "wasn't sly supposed to be a strange guy?" and she said "back then, you really didn't know too much about the singer or the band. we didn't have music channels or the internet, so all you had was the music, and maybe an article or two. you never heard too much about bands like Sly's, but the music was great."

I wonder if maybe too much gossip influences our judgment on music too much, particularly Prince's. Do you think that because we can (or could, depends on your outlook with the recent websheriff thing) delve into Prince's life (or any persons really, this happens to be Prince.org, so Prince is appropriate) to the extent that we can, we become more critical about his music? good ol' thinking out loud

not trying to kill anyone with semi-philosophical questions, but i'm all about view points concerning Prince and his music.

i think prince's persona was a lot more effective and fun in the pre-internet days, because when the only messenger between prince and his fans was television, radio and print media, he had a lot more leeway to throw out his riddles and word games and you didn't have forums like this where we'd talk it into the ground and some wisenheimer would have it all figured out. and you didn't have online gossip columnists and "insiders" who'd blab what prince was REALLY up to, and of course you didn't have the problem of leaked albums.

still and all, we're in a different reality now and prince is in a different phase of his life and his career, so maybe to try to keep on with the whole "mystery man" persona is a little bit past its prime anyway?

Anxiety said:

Understatement of the century.

The mystery man persona isn't even interesting to his long time fans. It's almost as cringe worthy as seeing Michael Jackson still playing the lady's man on his recent videos.

happyhappy said:

Gossip sure is a sidetrack to the music. Kinda sad that there's so many people with nothing better to do.

Anxiety said:

but what i wonder is that since we've had access to most of his life, specific details included right down to the inches of heels he wears, (and with our curiosity rarely satisfied) has it tainted our ability to enjoy his music? sure planet earth was on the average to weaker (or really good, depending on who you are) scale, but how much of that was affected b/c everyone knows Prince is a Jehovah's Witness who will censor himself? And think of all the other careless things he's been put on the spot for, his hair, his shoes, his women, his fans, sighting, backstage demands, the food he eats, is there much that we don't know about Prince?

happyhappy said:

well, really...all those things you listed, we really DON'T know about prince, because he doesn't discuss any of that stuff anymore. not that he really did before, but i think since he came back to the mainstream with "musicology" in '04, he's gone farther out of his way than he ever has to keep a clampdown on his personal world when talking to the media. meanwhile, heck, he was showing off his heels on television around the same time - the light-up ones, to be exact - so i don't think he's terribly bothered about some of the trivia slipping out into the world.

Anxiety said:

yeah, you're right (though everything i listed had a wonky/weird thread at some point on here about it). the media in today's time and place sure blows, doesn't it? =P

happyhappy said:

it blows, but i don't see the media being on prince's butt anywhere NEAR like it used to be back in the '80s. i don't think he's considered valuable tabloid fodder right now...people are seeing him more for his musical talent and contributions and they're focusing less on him being the media freakshow attraction that he was during the early years.

longevity...

that's the great equalizer in the end...it blows my mind when i see public figures like britney, lindsey and paris manipulate today's paparazzi climate because in the end it's going to bite their longevity in the arse...

with that being said, i think prince's p&r efforts have paid off much more handsomely then his artistic efforts.

well, except for his lawsuit happy side.