I noticed this as I was watching the Stones' documentary concert flick from that tour on VH1 Classic. It was called "Let's Spend The Night Together". While it was a pretty good show I remembered that this was when they brought on this young cat from Minneapolis to open for them. This young'un was daring to make the crossover from Soul to Rock. But I guess the audiences just weren't ready for that as we had learned.

But as I was watching the Stones rock out, I noticed that basically they were just a bunch of White guys playing Black music. Rock and Roll, Blues, and Soul pretty much made up that sound with songs like "Brown Sugar", "It's Only Rock & Roll", and even a cover of "Just My Imagination". The crowd went nuts over it. But this was a White band playing Black music, mind you. I mean, of course it's the Rolling Stones and they still held the title of the world's greatest and oldest rock band. But while the folks were showing love for them, my little purple hero couldn't even get the time of day. And from what I read, that crowd was BRUTAL. They really did give my man a hard time, and I'm sure they had their reasons.

But Prince IS a black artist playing Black music too. Well, he had a hybrid of sounds (Rock/Funk/Soul/New Wave), but it was still from brother man's heart and soul. But the audience wasn't trying to hear it then. They'd rather see a white band play the same thing that the Black artist was doing, with all due respect to the Stones. Some ironic shit, don't you think?

I never thought of that. Good thoughts, man.

NWF said:

Not really, just brings race into something that was barely an issue nearly 30 years ago. The Stones have a love & appreciation for "black music" that probably surpasses that of most people here.

Stones fans want to see The Stones, not a man (of any color) prancing about in bikini briefs & heels.

NWF said:

Well... My read of that situation was that the audience was responding to Prince's faggotry. According to Mark Brown they started the set with Jack U Off. In that time and context Prince's music probably did not sound too far from disco and there was whole anti-disco and not-so-subtle-ly homophobic back-lash then.

I don't think yr theory quite works. First of all, Rock and Roll is not merely Black Music. It is an American genre with a heavy base in the blues. You can racialise it from there, I guess, but the truth is that Rock and Roll really belongs to Americans overall. The real irony is that it was BRITs who got the whole American rock and roll thing so profoundly. Secondly, people here will not like this, but Prince does NOT understand Rock N' Roll. Prince really is funk and R+B player, and his REAL innovation has mostly been his 80s electro stuff. I doubt that Prince understands what's really amazing about bands like AC/DC or Chuck Berry, and he certainly never got the wugga-snare drum beat in his music. Prince is a genius, but he was only ever interested in Rock n' Roll superficailly.
[Edited 1/26/08 15:45pm]

JudasLChrist said:

Listen to 'Chaos & Disorder' (the title track) and 'The Ride' and then tell me again that Prince doesn't "get" Rock and Blues. U crazy.

JudasLChrist said:

yep you got it almost spot on,..Stones fans are a rowdy bunch.

viewaskew said:

Stones fans sure like it when Mick is prancing around like that!--haha

I actually got to see the Stones a couple of times years ago and the 1st time they had Living Colour open and the 2nd time Lenny Kravitz opened for them. The crowd was very receptive to both LC and Lenny, but I think that's because they both were already known and Prince was fairly unknown to the Stones' fans at the time.

Militant said:

Prince doesn't get Rock and Roll. He is a Rock N' Roll dilletante (musically)...it's the same way he doesn't quite go deeply into jazz.

Relatedly, I was at that recording for "the ride", I was 3 feet from the mic screaming my guts out. You can hear me on the record right as the opening riff starts. It's actually quite embarrassing. I was having a fam heart attack, even though I was thinking at the time that that song totally sucked. Another embarrassing thing was that at the time he was using the SYMBOL as hisname and right in the middle of a quieter part I yelled out 'PRINCE!' and I and everyone around me sort of gasped and we all had to cover our mouths to keep from busting out laughing.

prince don't understand rock hahahahaha
ok prince favourite band from his youth were grand funk railroad between the other music he liked ,led zeppelin also.

prince did every aspect of rock with great success.
he did pop rock i could never take the place
blues rock :the ride,peach

hard rock :bambi,chaos and disorder
50s rock:horny toad,jack u off,delirious,lets prettend were married
he even did heavy metal:88 rendention of sister
r you ready from flash sessions.
as much as you can find prince funk artist,he is also a rock artist ,and in the end rock and funk are all the same "speed up blues"

You're reading to much into it. Music is colorblind

i think it was too do with prince wearing high heels, leggings and a safari print g-string more than anything else

I was in the bookstore the other day and I scanned through an autobiography on The Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. During one tour stop in America, they had an encounter with legendary blues guitarist Buddy Guy. Because of bad album sales, Buddy Guy was doing roadie work helping out bands with their equipment. Now the stones were HUGE Buddy Guy fans.

They would never imagine that Buddy Guy would be hauling around their amplifiers. During their encounter, Buddy talked to Keith and thanked him for bringing RnB into American households. Before The Rolling Stones, Buddy Guy said, RnB would not get the time of day because then it was known as "nigger music". Race definitely played a factor in the success of musical artists in that time. However, I do think Prince's reception as an opening act would have been better if it were not for his stage theatrics.

I always thought that it was the combination of Prince in undies and his waistcoat icw the songchoice.

After that the RS saw the light and disco-ed away on miss you

Shawnt25 said:

Man, that's insane. I saw Buddy Guy in 88 and to this day it was one of the most intense, best shows I had ever seen in my life.

prince had problems because he was the last group before the stones to play ,so thats the reason for bad reactions

Patrick1985 said:

so typical of people... to judge a book by its cover
i can name several bands that i wrote off at first look just by the way they first presented themselves

lessons learned

viewaskew said:

-----
Such ignorance. The Stones had Ike and Tina Turner, BB King, Chuck Berry and Stevie Wonder open for them in the 70's. Let us be real the Stones fans of the 80's were a bunch of racist assholes and extremely rude. The Stones fans of 70's did not throw shit at the opening acts and appreciated the music.

The same booing went on when "Living Color" opened for the Stones in the 90's.

Racism exist get your head out of the fucking sand.

DerekH said:

"Stones fans sure like it when Mick is prancing around like that!--haha "

Exactly as if Mick conducts himself in the most masculine manner. Oh he is white dude in a rock band. He could come out in at Tutu and people would be okay with it.

JudasLChrist said:

Exactly. It had much more to do with this slight, little man-child half-dressed like a woman & prancing about. It's clear the Stones had respect for the guy (I posted an excerpt from Ron Wood's autobiography some time ago that made that point), but a bunch of beer swilling goons aren't likely to be so receptive to an unknown midget in bikini briefs.

But for some people, it's ALWAYS about race. Those same people probably have a problem with things like white bread & Ivory soap...it keeps their people down.

laurarichardson said:[quote]

viewaskew said:

Oh, go cry me a river. Racism exists as long as you want it to. But it's not the be all & end all form of hatred & bigotry either.

And the list of examples you've provided doesn't really work with the point you're trying to make. Berry, BB King, & Ike & Tina Turner were certainly black, but were also all well established by the 1970s. Not only that, they were all cited as influences on the Stones, so it's likely fans would have wanted to see them in action. Prince, in the early 1980s, was black, but he also was a nobody who dressed like a woman.

There are other forms of hatred in the world.

Go put your head back in the sand.

viewaskew said:[quote]

laurarichardson said:

-----
Yes, we have all sorts of hatred in the world and they are all wrong. What is your point?

I do not care if P was established or not you don't throw shit at someone on the stage. It is ignorant and hateful and if you think the only reason it was done was because Prince was a new act and dressed in a fem manner fine go live in your fantasy world. Sorry Mick is much more fem then P will ever be (LOL) and I don't see anyone throwing anything at him.

If white people are being rude and obnoxious I guess it is okay to get a pass.
[Edited 1/28/08 2:54am]

Prince has influence by "white" and "black" music.

If it wasn't for Prince, I would never jumped out of my "white" music background.

laurarichardson said:

You just can't let issues of race go, can you? Give it a shot & stop painting blacks as whiney victims. Prince clearly (eventually) proved his music went beyond racial boundaries.

Prince got a crappy reception from an audience that wasn't there to see him? So what? Not everyone rolled out the red carpet for the little purple shitlicker? Boo hoo. People threw things or mocked an act they didn't like? If you think that's a rare thing, you obviously haven't been to too many concerts.

My reasoning for it is much more believable than your mistaken analysis of "Stones fans in the '80s." What a crock of shit that was. I'm sure you took a poll, huh?

Patrick1985 said:

I agree! Not a good idea to sing a song like 'jack you off' in front of an homophobic audience. I also think that things get out of hand easily in a big crowd. One asshole starts to throw stuff and the rest follows.
Happens a lot at big events like concerts and sport events. People tend to get agressive easily in a crowd and if there is alcohol and other drugs involved. Some people think everything is about race when it truely isn't.That is getting old. If you've ever been to a Prince concert there are more white than black people and Prince is truely loved and respected by all kind of different races and nationalities.
Back when the Stones incident happened hardly anyone knew Prince or what he was about, while the Stones were already established.
Personally I don't think it's right how they treated Prince; I am against any form of violence. But this isn't the first time something like this has happened and sadly it won't be the last.

laurarichardson said:

Hey man, I think I boo'd Living Color when I saw them open for The Stones. Not really enthusiastically, but still. It wasn't about racism, it was that they just sucked.

viewaskew said:

If I were to go to a Prince concert and he had an opening act, the whole time I'd be thinking 'okay, get off the stage so Prince can play' no matter how great the opening act was.

But yes, NWF, I see your point.

viewaskew said:

-----
I have been to hundreds of concerts. RnR and RnB. I never saw anyone throw anything at the stage. According to Dez the first day, it was tomatoes. The next day it was garbage bags of food i.e. half-eaten chicken. Who brings garbage to a concert? If you do not want to believe, racism was one of the reasons. How about just plain old ignorance, rudeness and a trailer park trash mindset.

Kind of funny that you never have heard of a bad reception from the Rolling Stones Sixties tours with RnB acts in the 60’s. However, just a decade or two ahead and you have garbage throwing and racist comments (Living Color). It is my opinion that racism was involved. I do not really give a shit if you do not see it that way. Maybe no one ever informed you but, being aware of something and not sticking your head in the sand as nothing to do with playing a victim. It is called survival and living in the real world. Now come back and add something negative since you cannot seem to do anything else.

JudasLChrist said:

-----
Well at least you did not feel the need to throw gargage at the stage.

laurarichardson said:

It wasnt racism ....The majority were not digging his style and sound at all...

Oh honey, don't you know? It all came full circle in March 2004 when Mick Jagger was in the audience watching Prince receive his induction into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.