And the penalties.

Common, we know what happens when you upstage the man. He gets pissed off. Back in the day on the triple treat tour he used to cancel The Time's performance cuz they upstaged him.

And I remember seeing him be pissed off at the 98 Utrecht aftershow cuz Scott and Kravitz laid down the funkiest lick after Everyday People.

After that, he played an extended guitarsolo just to try and get back at them.

Poor Prince. U Can't Always Get What U Want.

Unless you're a woman. He seems to be okay with women upstaging him. Sheila got a ton of attention in the SOTT/Lovesexy tours, and Wendy got a lot of the spotlight during the PR tour.

But maybe you mean when somebody does something better than him. I doubt he really felt like what Sheila or Wendy were doing was something he couldn't do if he wanted to.

prince back in those days was trying 2 establish himself. he was no different than most artist. They all have EGO's.

Efan said:

Uhmmm
Maybe it's jealousy I am talking about, people doing something very, very well and that he sees as a kind of threat. Seriously, when cancelling The Time's performances, or somewhat more playful with the Kravitz guitar lick.

Don't forget he's the man that recorded a song called Shockadelica to taunt Jesse Johnson, who was not amused. Johnson had an album announced with the same title, but no song with that title featured on the album. Prince set that straight, rush releasing his song to radio, if I'm not mistaken.

Sometimes I like when those little jealous moments come out. They make him really human. Like when he said he played the college circuit that U2 was popular on, but they would never do "Housequake."

But back to your point. Maybe it's jealousy. I think he only canceled the Time's performances in LA and other major venues where it would have really, really mattered if he were upstaged. Oh, and I always thought the "What year is it?" comment during the Rave DVD was a slam against the Time, like "What have you done lately worth mentioning?" I think he'll always have that masculine teasing/not really teasing ego thing with Morris and the Time.

Efan said:

Nah, that was him bragging about he made it to the year he sung about in 82.

HamsterHuey said:

on the Rave dvd, it is also noticeable that P was trying to upstage Kravitz, to the point at some stages it was almost embarrassing to watch, especially after he inviting Kravitz as a special guest. I may however be mistaken about that, but he did appear to be extremely angry on that dvd.

HamsterHuey said:

Oh, no, it's right after the Time performs and it's directed right at them. Going by memory here, because I haven't watched it in a while, but I'm pretty sure that's right.

By the way, this is totally off-topic, but didn't you say a few weeks ago that you had some Sheila E. pics you were going to post in Associated Artists? We need some good picture threads over there.

Efan said:

I had one and I posted it.

And What year is it then is a play on What Time Is It?

Tha's'all.

Competiton made him work harder, that's why he's so good today!
Nothing wrong with wanting to be no.1
[Edited 1/28/08 13:30pm]

Whitnail said:

I thought he was angry with the female dancer, she kept getting in the way, or doing really crap dance moves imo!!

Jeffiner said:

christ, i had almost forgotten that, she was awful, without doubt the worst professional dancer I have ever seen on stage with P

Whitnail said:

Prince does NOT have 2 put in any work 2 upstage Lenny K. Thanks 4 that laugh.

wlcm2thdwn said:

That's one way of putting it. I think he has become complacant and lazy, when it comes to breathing music. He ain't an allround natural anymore. He is mainly faking it, these days. And riding his own wave from way back.

Whitnail said:

He nearly tripped over her, when he came up the stairs to do PR, she wouldn't get out the way, I thought he was going to kick her (I would have)

Whitnail said:

As it happens, coincidence maybe? who can say? I watched this just the other night, and I did notice more this time that Prince didn't seem his usual cocky, confident self when playing opposite Kravitz. He was definitely pulling these false/strained faces, and at towards te end of the track signals to/instructs Kravitz to let him take the solo alone.

There is no doubt in my mind that I think Prince is a better guitar player than Lenny, but Lenny definately seemed way more comfortable and relaxed than Prince during the 2 tracks they did together!

HamsterHuey said:

I think we're all riding his wave from way back

Jeffiner said:

She was like some blue elastic band! And she did get just a bit to much in his hair when he played the same.

Practically tangled up in his legs!

Efan said:

Your right, I would love Shelia E's drum solos. She was wonderful.

HamsterHuey said:

I heard the same thing in one of his bios. I was shocked he did that.

wlcm2thdwn said:

Can you explain what competition he has today?

Prince is a moron. Michael Jackson contacted prince back in 1995-6 bout the idea of doing a 1999 duet with Prince. Prince turned him down due to fears of being upstaged by the King of Pop. How nuts it that? It would've given prince exposure to Michael Jackson fans.

Notice how prince almost never does a duet or features another big artists on his songs unless it's a female.

Notice how he never has other producers to write his songs for him. Imagine if he had Dr. Dre, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Rodney Jerkins and Neptunes helping him to write songs. But.... NO!!!!! He doesn't want to be upstaged.

Prince is a moron.

PearlDrummer said:

Gordon is a moron, just 'cos he's better looking than me, just 'cos he's cool and trendy..


How nuts was that to turn down MJ????!!! In hindsight I'd say a very smart decision, MJ desperately wanted to tour with Prince recently, to get some kind of credibility back. I think you might be on a different planet than the rest of us.....

PearlDrummer said:

The reason that Prince doesn't use other producers to write is songs simply because it will then not be his music!!!

The main reason that other artists 'do' use outside help is mainly because they're not talented enough to do it themselves. For example, Michael Jackson is merely Quincy Jones's puppet.

Princes music is his art!

Prince turned down MJ in the nineties, for the same reason he did for dueting on bad, and for we are the world!!! He likes to have control on what he puts his name to, and when you're as talented as Prince, then that's his perogative to do so!

PearlDrummer said:

Well, I am nuts to, but not that nuts that I would not see the smartness of not dueting with Michael Jackson. He probably heard The Girl Is Mine and "I'm a lover, not a fighter".

First of all, Prince has a fondness of duets with ladies. Second, Prince probably did not want to be Michael's tool to get media attention.
Second, I think (cuz who knows for sure anyways)he turned it down for probably the same kind of reason he turned Jackson down for the proposed Bad duet; Jackson does not need Prince.

And thirdly, he could only lose if he would have done something like that, because he has been compared to Jackson for ages just for the reason they both are black and make music you can dance to.
But that's all Jackson does, innit, besides being a come to life reality show; sing very well and dance very well.
Where Jackson is a performer; Prince is a musician as well and that is something that probably drives him more than just singing on someone else's songs.

Anyways. Not Jackson then. Prince does everything on his own terms. And he taunted Jackson in the Partyman video. I thought that was actually quite sad. He did not need to do that.

HamsterHuey said:

I keep hearing this but didn't Shockadelica By Jesse Johnson come out in 1986 and wasn't Shockadelica the song by Prince a b-side to a Sign O the Times single that was released in 1987????

Sowhat said:

Mate you've got it right with what you've sad.

Jesse's album Shockadelia was first in '86, but was missing a title track of the same name.

So Prince apparently wrote Shockadelica after with the intention of it also being better than all of Jesses tracks on the album.


And Huey mate, I agree that the dig at MJ in the Partyman was quite a lame thing to do, but it was provoked by MJ's comments in Moonwalker when he asks his assistant or whoever what Bubbles is wearing? And they say a Prince T-shirt!

HamsterHuey said:

My daughter upstaged him - twice. REALLY upstaged him the second time, to the point that I was embarrassed. Prince, however, was the coolest person imaginable. That second time, he ended that part of the show by putting his arm around my daughter and singing a duet with her on the bridge of "Take Me With U".

Graycap23 said:

I like Lenny but you are right. He isn't near Prince in talent.

He said in some interview that women are easier to work with, cuz when they play, "there's no ego."

Efan said: