Let me start off this topic by first throwing out that I'm an 80's baby (1986 to be exact), so I have no first hand recollection from that seemingly rockin' era obviously. Thankfully, the internet allows for me to catch up on all that I've missed.

Now, it just occurred to me that during Prince's meteoric rise to stardom in the mid/early-80's, both titled labels were direly scrambling to have a Prince of their own. Sure, R&B begin to switch it's gears to the Prince sounding wave of rock-oriented, synthesized electronic music -- but not everyone took to trying to acquire both the image and sound as Motown & Epic did with some of their artists:

Epic:
JAK
Exotic Storm
Q.T. Hush


Motown:
Rockwell
Lushus Daim & The Pretty Vain
Bobby Nunn
Georgio
Vanity

I'm sure there's more, but those tend to be the most notorious from each respective imprint. What makes it so ironic is the fact that both could call themselves the force behind Michael Jackson, who was without question the 80's biggest sensation. Yet, it was the Purple Reign so to speak that seems to have been opted for above anything else.

I guess what I'm trying to ask is was Prince's then burgeoning impact that enamoring that it caused labels to disregard their own established or potential talents to ride the wave of what's become known as the Minneapolis Sound?

This ought to be interesting!

Yes. After Prince got big (after 1999 especially), you started seeing all of the groups, and individuals that were biting Prince's style. From how he dressed to his musical style. You even had "veterans" like Shalamar changing their style (anybody remember the Amnesia album cover) to be more androgenous like P was.

Not only did Motown and Epic step on the band wagon...EVERYBODY did. By 1985, you started seeing groups like The System, Jesse Johnson's Revue, Tamara and the Seen, and MORE all on different labels doing Prince-style music as well as dressing like him. The major difference was that most of those people/acts we have mentioned did not have the talent that Prince had.
[Edited 4/18/08 16:14pm]

daPrettyman said:

I'd be wiping the sweat from my forehead trying to type a composite list of the who's who that could pass for a member of Prince's extended camp. Just thought I'd make it easier by identifying some of the main culprits.

But I definitely get what you're saying. I'm interested in hear others take on the topic as well.

Yeah, I wrote a thread about Jak some time ago over in Ass. Artists forum. I mentioned him on the Mazarati thread. He showed up at a MZ gig and I was the only cat there who even knew who he was. There was another thread over in the same forum that was funny as hell, involving a some of the cats u mentioned here. But I have Jak's and Q.T. Hush albums. Did u know that Dez was slated to produce Q.T. Hush's album? He actually cut some demos with them. That group was whack, actually. They had the Dez look alike posing like P did on the inner sleeve of 1999 with the band. And Q.T.'s lineup was a straight bite from The Revolution era 1984. I'm very hip to Larkin Arnold. I talked to him on the phone actually cuz this girl that I knew, here mother was good friends with him. This lady played Larkin this song I did when I was 17 years old over the fucking phone!. True story. I didn't know anything about it. I had wrote this song called "Lipstick Gloss" and this girl I knew had a tape of it. She was playing it at home or some shit cuz her mom heard it. She must have dug it cuz she played it for this Larkin Arnold cat. He calls me and that's how I found out how he heard it. He's asking me all these strange questions and said that it was really, really rock. I was like "I know. It's a rock song." I wasn't hip to who he was untill I bought Jak's album and I saw Larkin's name on it. I was like "Oh Shit, this cat is for real." Cuz he sounded like a weirdo on the phone. I called Epic and the receptionist told me that he no longer worked for Epic. "I was like "Huh?".

blackguitaristz said:

My bad, it was "Exotic Storm" with the Dez lookalike and that's who Dez was going to work with. Jak, Exotic Storm and QT Hush were all signed by this Larkin cat. No wonder he thought my song was "too rock". On my song, I was on that Mazarati/Hendrix thang. Compared to these watered down copycat Prince sounding acts with no guitar solos and shit. I have all 3 of those albums. They were biting visually from Mazarati too, but they didn't have the edge. Not at all. Jak's album was the best from Epic. And he was biting from Controversy and 1999 albums. P could have sued the shit out of Jak if he wanted too. It was that blatant of a bite. On every song too.

blackguitaristz said:

That last bit is unbelievably quirky! I wonder what was his true purpose? Sidenote: I'm interested in hearing your material also.

I've heard bits and pieces of Dez being apart of the Exotic Storm production, but nothing of how it came about and what ultimately led to it being called off. Same with Q.T. Hush, I've heard them in doses since their self-titled LP is a rarity, but their image was a sure lift of The Revolution as with E.S. as picture below:




Poor Jak, he makes an appearance at the performance of a group who's off-hand mentor is a direct influence on his music (or biting), and yet he receives no acknowledgment. I had the pleasure of hearing his album once, and I agree wholeheartedly with your overview. I'd be willing to go out on a limb and say he's the cakes icing sonically of Prince rip-offs! Need to see about tracking it down for if nothing more than a keepsake of sorts.

daPrettyman said:

Traveling with Shalamar for 7 months did not remind me of Prince. Howard Hewitt has his own voice and style...and although Micki Free...has a similar look...which I did photograph on stage a few times, and Micki is a great guitar player and performer...however...To me, Micki is Micki and Prince is Prince.

The only thing I know for sure...is that Shalamar and Midnight Star are 80's bands that really got the short end of some kind of stick...They are incredible groups...and I was sidestage every night...dancing. Klymaxxwas there too. I have roadie in my bloodstream thanks to these people and their Management...And U know what....These groups had the best crew guys anybody could have had...The very best days of my life...were traveling with Midnight Star, Shalamar and Klymaxx in 1985...I adore them everyday of my life...and they are all people that I miss dearly.

oh my. that weren't no bite. that was a super-size chump!

daPrettyman said:

Not only did Jesse Johnson possess the same talent as Prince, he surpassed him in some areas, especially on guitar .

Jezebel said:

At the time, I agree. Jesse surpassed Prince. It wasn't until 03 or 04 that P (to me) REALLY became a "true" guitar player. I'm not dissing his previous solos, but it seems like after that point, he grew into "genius" status when it came to guitar playing.

I totally have that Exotic Storm album. I bought it back in the day 'cause I thought it must a Prince side project.

Tame said:

That´s true, too bad that Midnight Star never really got the respect and recognition that they deserved....at least that ´s the way I see it.
As a kid/ early teen, I grew up with their music and I kinda miss those days, the feel of that kind of music, the feeling it gave me. A lot of people think that the 80s sucked when it comes to Soul and RnB because of the sound but I really liked Midnight Star, the SOS Band, the Whispers, Alex O ´Neal, Full Force, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam and stuff like that...I even liked some of George Clinton´s 80s stuff.
IMO, Midnight Star kinda lost their way when the Calloway brothers went solo ...I didn´t really like their solo stuff. They should have stuck with what they do best.

And yes, a lot of people were copying and emulating Prince´s sound and style but I still liked their music and the fact that there were at least two or three great songs on most of those albums, even when they were copying him. I mean, he was so successful with his synth/guitar/drumcomputer sound, it just had to be copied because it was the sound of that era.
That being said, I wouldn´t even say they they were JUST copying him , I mean, that was the sound of that era, but as much as he created it and contributed it, he also was influenced by it at the same time, even the way he dressed. It was the 80s, and that look and style was not only Prince´s creation but part of the lifestyle back then ( like Adam Ant in the UK, or those dudes in the dance movies back then, or the whole androgynous look going on back then, and the sounds of those groups).

GoActive said:

Haha....Actually, the name of my song wasn't "Lipstick Gloss". It was "Pink Lipstick Gloss" which is even worse!...Damn. My only saving grace was that I was 17 at the time.

KoolEaze said:

Hella true...good post. I was one of the first cats on here that was saying just how much Adam Ant influenced P visually. I'm sure the fact that Adam was wearing a Hendrix styled military coat caught P's attention and then P really started to check Adam out. Adam's early 80's material was simply bangin'. "Ant Music" "Goody Two Shoes" and one of the best songs from the 80's, "Strip". P took alot from the New Romantic era, musically and visually. And then he brought THAT to black radio. Making him appear o.g. in the eyes of black kids, who for the large part, didn't know who any of the artists were that P was getting ideas from. Luckily in my case, I did listen to the New Romantic new wave music as well as hard rock and to a degree, punk music. So I knew where P was getting his thing from and then putting his spin on it. All of this is evident in his Dirty Mind, Controversy and 1999 albums.

GoActive said:

I disagree with you on that...