I've just finished reading this book. Has anyone else read it? I'd be interested to know what you thought....

Although I can accept that there are negative and unattractive aspects to P's personality and character, am I alone in thinking the author focussed (maybe almost revelled) on all the negatives - especially in the second half of the book? I know it wasn't a good time for P, but I was beginning to feel so depressed, I had to keep reminding myself that everything was ok now. Musicology, 3121, 21 Nights in London etc....

Did most of the people that were interviewed have a grudge of one sort or another, were some of them bitter? Of course they were the only people that would be interviewed. Alan and Eric Leeds seem to be the voices of reason....

The occasional positive was thrown in, but blink and you'd miss them...

My overriding impression after reading this, is just how incredibly hard Prince has worked and pushed himself, it seems for almost 30 years now, and in that respect I suppose the title is accurate - I felt exhausted just reading about how hard he's driven himself. Also, I felt he was for the most part quite a lonely person, who finds it hard to express his emotions, and needs to be in control, which I would imagine comes from his feeling of being abandoned, really twice over, by his parents when he was young.

I thought this was the funniest part of the book, re the Gold Experience Tour:

"Malfunctions started occurring, giving the show a flavor not unlike the film Spinal Tap. One evening, Barbarella missed his landing point on his dramatic mid-air trip across he stage and came crashing down on his keyboard, creating a cacophony in the middle of the song "Endorphinmachine". Another night, Prince forgot to turn on his guitar from the back-stage mixing board before stepping on the conveyor belt that ferried him out the microphone stand. He danced his way to the front of the stage as the band played a groove, only to discover this problem; he then had to flip the conveyor belt into reverse mode and boogey his way backwards. After fixing the glitch, he re-emerged from behind the curtain as his band members snickered."

Priceless...

Anyway, I'd be interested in your thoughts....

"Everything is okay now"? Really?

You're right, the book seems to paint a rather negative picture of Prince. Nevertheless it's one of the best Prince books I've ever read.
I think there is a lot of truth to the book, given the complex personality that Prince obviously has.
As fans we tend to glorify Prince and we don't want to believe that there could be a dark side about him.
Maybe Alex Hahn felt the need to point out, that everything that glitters ain't gold.

I thought 'Dance Music Sex Romance' by Per Nilsen was a very good book.
It was pretty realistic as far as I can tell, and a lot of people seemed to be interviewed for that one. I read it very fast, because it was so entertaining and insightful.

What do you consider the best book on Prince?

Jeffiner said:

Hi,
Yes I read this book. I can see your point. There was mostly talk of the rise and fall of Prince, as the author describes. I agree it was mostly negative, with some positive that the author simply could not deny Prince. It is always curious to me that Prince's wives never have anything much to say about him. The people closest to him do not tear him down as much, so it makes me think that these other folks are just focusing on the negative moments they had with him. The author spends a lot of time on little things that are negative that do not deserve the ink it is printed on. For example, the the time Prince had a problem with the guitar player and Prince asked him if he "wanted to take this outside" and the guitar player said no because Prince would just bring all his bodyguards. I mean, how many times have you wanted to ask somebody to take some issue "outside"? That doesn't make him a jerk like the author seems to say.
There are many examples in that book like that. Just little things anyone may say in frustration, but P is supposed to act like a saint at all times or people are going to talk about him.
I do not know if all is well now, as you feel. I am just not sure because I do not understand the constant lawsuits. That throws me a little because usually your not doing well if you are launching legal battles all the time. But I can only speculate. He certainly had a great party in LA recently, so who knows?
The book showed that he is a controlling person and to me that is fine to take responsibility for your own life and make your own decisions. Why does that mean he is wrong? It doesn't. What if he let a bunch of "handlers" run his life for him and do who know what to him? Would people feel more positive towards him? He is allowed and most of us are expected to control our own lives whether anyone else agrees or not. It is his life to control. If he is paying these other people big bucks, well they have to follow his lead until they become the big name that Prince is. THey can be bitter because he is fabulous and in control and they are not. He has facilitated the fame of a lot of other artists with his song writing ability and done a lot of behind the scenes work for other artist that the book does not focus on, which is very positive.
On the lowest level, Carmen Electra would not have a name or a career if she had not become intimate with Prince. I can think of a lot of people who would not be known if P had not been involved.
I could go on, but yes, these are some reason that I believe that book did seem to have a negative spin on it.

with a lot of prince books there is always going 2 b inaccurate stories or dates, the one that pops in my head mostly is that it says xenophobia was the SECOND celebration, no it was the 3rd celebration. also u point out about tommy's solo during endorphinemachine and the flying on a wire act. tommy only did that on BILLY JACK BITCH.

last thing is, alex hahm represented uptown magazine when P was trying 2 sue them. so it's highly possible there was a grievance in the writing on this book

I think the Author let himself down badly with the title the of the book and the downturn ending. He was clearly letting his feelings get in the way of the facts.

Business rule 1: Don't write a book that will need the sales from a small but loyal fan base and call it "the rise and fall".

The book is written as the title suggests - a positive bias for the rise and negative for the fall - however the latter half of the book could have still documented his music of the 90's with the same positive bias as was given to the 80's stuff and the fall merely concentrating on the 'fall-out' with WB and ultimately out of the public eye.

D&P, , Gold, Emancipation, Chaos and disorder, Rave etc as well as Exodus, Crystal Ball etc. are all really good albums that deserved much more appreciation than the book portrayed!

Bad Alex Hahm, Bad!!!

Still enjoyed it though. If you liked that, I recommend Slave to the Rythm. Another enjoyable read.

I brought this book in 2006 and I still haven't read it. I need to finally read this thing.

all I gotta say about this is damn the place where I live. I can't find any books on Prince in the Poconos. We just got a large Borders built in this area with Best Buy (who's poor selection foreshadows this)... and there's a whole section on music...
But NO Prince??!
It's almost as if the Poconos is some wasteland discouraging me from my ventures.

Our mall's Borders had only one book "A Thief in the Temple"... which I heard was plain awful.

And I'm certainly not crazy enough to order a book from amazon.com, let alone one on Prince that'd be a riot explaining that to my folks. 21 albums already looks pretty bad on my part.

What's even more said is what I'm hearing about this particular one. Based in negativity? Unless we're talking about a Greek tragedy or something dramatic or even something on povetry and war (real-life events that have no bright side)... no book should focus on the negative this much.

The outlook of much of the world is negative towards Prince. Why write a book that's going to restate and give reason for it?

All's I gotta say about my new home being a wasteland for Prince resources... If I can't find what I'm looking for, I'm better off making my own. And I can guarantee that something I wrote won't be based in negativity.
B4 u get ahead of urselves, it's not going to be 100+ pages off or me kissing the ground he walks on as some supposedly think I do.

It'd be pretty much explaining the phenomenon Prince is in the simplest terms because I'm not about to make it my life's mission to get to know him as an artist in every way possible. It'd combine some biography, but will focus on the music and what makes it so special.

And don't you think its about time there was a book about him not written by critics... but by the people that matter most... the ones who buy the records and go to the concerts?
I decided a while back that those people were the ones I was going to ask the questions about Prince to because they see both sides of the coin. The publists and critics only seem interested in bringing out what's wrong instead of focusing on what is right.

Nothing is completely without negativity, though, but I'd certainly make it my mission to write something that keeps the negativity to a minimum.

Books are also something that will around forever. Websites change and videos disappear, but books lost forever. Isn't it the least we can do to see that something of Prince's legacy is left behind that doesn't focus on the ideals held by the majority of the non-fan population, but focuses on what made him great in the eyes of those who mattered most to his success?

Very accurate book.


The truth is prince is a nasty, selfish, controlling, abusive very troubled person.

purplecam said:

Hi Cam, How are you doin'?

Definitely get round to reading it, but be prepared to start shouting at the book during the latter half because he does come out with some crap from time to time.

I can't remember the exact wording but did find it funny when he says about Prince arguing with Wendy and Lisa and telling them they're going to hell for being Lesbians!!!

Brave man! I reckon Lisa could kick of crap out of him!!!



[Edited 3/10/08 8:46am]

mentalist said:

Hey what's up big man! It took me a few years to pick up the damn thing and when I did I was all heavy into 3121 and I wasn't going to let ANYTHING steal that thunder from me. I will find it tonight when I come home and start reading it. I know there are lies and truth in this book so I will get ready for what's coming.
[Edited 3/10/08 8:55am]

mentalist said:

prince did say that.

Lisa could not kick his ass. w & l were scared of prince. Wendy says that in an interview; he had a temper.

fcukthepolice said:

I thought they were scared to upset him and cause him to have a temper because of his strops, tantrums and silences!!!! Not scared due to the possibity of physical abuse!!!

I still reckon Lisa - especially after a sixpack of Stella, would Slap his ass into the middle of next week!!!

I'm extremely surprised that someone hasn't kicked his ass if he does treat everyone the way it's claimed. Either its not as bad as it's portrayed or Prince has paid out alot of cash to keep them away!!!

There's no way you could treat so many people over the years in such a way, and not have anyone come back for you!!!

mentalist said:

I wondered something like that for a while but one thing about reaping what one sows or simply Karma is, it'll come back to you in some way shape and form if not exactly how the way it was dealt out, I believe.
[Edited 3/10/08 9:14am]

L4OATheOriginal said:

Ah ha! Interesting. I noted quite a few inaccuracies in the book too, especially the second half!

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

We're all waiting for that book to be published at some time in the future Dreamy

Michiel said:

I haven't read DMSR - think I should make that the next one?

Only read Possessed and Thief in the Temple, which I didn't really enjoy, the way it jumped around all over the place, and nothing very new in it. I enjoyed the way Possessed was written, and there is a lot of interesting things in there regarding the music, nice to have a glimpse behind the scenes!

I read Alex's book back in 2003. I also perceived the disproportionate amount of negativity in it. Why would Arnsenio Hall and Patti LaBelle address Prince as "friend" back in 1995, if Prince was or is the loner Alex claims? How about George Clinton? Oh, and Dave Chappelle was a guest for either the Gold experience or was it... Emancipation? - and now it known that they are friends.
Throught the book, I got the impression that Alex was angry with and disappointed about Prince.

Google Books has a nice sample of it if anyone wants to get a taste before they purchase it...

I've only read the Google samples from both Possessed and Dance, Music, Sex, Romance. I'm kind of interested in buying one, which one would everyone recommend?

ginahrush said:

I love that - because he's fabulous and they're not - ha ha "Don't hate me 'cos I'm fabulous!!"

Yes, it was Miko Weaver, there's an interview by him somewhere on the web, where he plays that whole episode down. They made up a day later or something, just stress building up as you can imagine in a lot of these situations. And Prince must have been under a lot of stress and pressure a LOT of the time I would imagine.

mentalist said:

I agree. He also tried to sneak in some very unconvincing tidbits about drugs, it seemed a bit pathetic, because there is NOTHING to back this up in any way, and it doesn't really ring true at all - desperation!

I'll give Slave to the Rhythm a whirl next
[Edited 5/16/09 8:06am]

Jeffiner said:

Absolutely. It's a great read but I haven't read Theif in the Temple yet. Some books seem to have the same info but DMSR is a great read.

The other thing I thought was a bit sad, is the way he 'markets' the book kind of based on the story of the night P drank a bottle of wine and took some aspirin, and ended up in ER, as some kind of suicide attempt! There is NO evidence of that whatsoever either, and come ON, he'd just got married, was expecting a baby! And a few aspirin, and a bottle of wine! To kill yourself!?

fcukthepolice said:

Well, it sounds like Wendy had a temper too, she seemed to give Prince as good as she got, didn't sound like she was frightened of him to me! All 3, Wendy, Lisa and Susannah used to hang out together, go shopping together, yeah, sounds like they were really terrified of him

ButterscotchPimp said:

I will say, he does seem to have a knack of shooting himself in the foot!

i can understand Prince's love of music and his desire to be in control.

some of the most outcast and neglected people become way-showers for the strays of the world.

you can't do that with a negative view on things or by letting inner demons run your show.

having faith in the gentle guiding voice inside you makes all the difference.

i respect Prince's endurance very much and can personally relate to the difficulties he has faced.

other people can be very strange and very hurtful, but maybe they are just parts of ourselves we don't understand yet.

some people have an enormous career but they are losing the game in the most important lessons in life.

i don't believe that is true for Prince.

i am grateful Prince has been so honest with us through his music, and i wish him every health and genuine happiness.

whitewidow said:

Prince doesn't care about you

fcukthepolice said:

And people think PRINCE is rude?!

I thought that was a very sweet thought, very nice post, whitewidow