The only thing that lured me into really observing and checking out Prince was the cryptic behavior, concepts, and artwork that went into things like Around the World in A Day, 3121, Black Album with all its 1988 bootleg mystique, hidden messages, side track projects like alternate identities, things like "The Undertaker", the radioshows of the online club, the Willy Wonka style celebrations, and the apparent disregard for fans' wishes of what Prince should do... I love that disregard, because he always ends up doing one or two tracks or performances that I could never have predicted and really enjoy.

and most of the new retro rock bluesy tracks and recent musician oriented music live shows indicate a turn towards a more mature audience (which is only good for me personally if he still injects it with a mysterious fantasy scifi mood... which thankfully, he is). I think he puts out the more cartoonish pop tracks (which I'm sure he always records as well) because he has always done that... from stuff like Controversy to U Got the Look to Cream to Black Sweat... he always puts out more simple candy tunes because that's his brand "Prince".

I would never want him to become all mature like Sting did after the police unless it was for a single concept... I like Prince being a living endlessly creative cartoonish force that makes you cringe, stare, and sometimes really hooks you.

Let's face it...the "weirdness" and cryptic stuff is a huge part of the man's mystique. It's been that way for 30 years. He ain't about to change.

It's childish to expect him to.

"I like Prince being a creative cartoonish force that makes you cringe"

Well he’s certainly mastered the 'cringe-worthy' music in recent years.. haha

The mystique is great … but you got to have a half decent product in the first place

johnny2000 said:

People have been cringing to the sound of Prince from the beginning... I heard so much flack from hard core fans of early 80's when he put out stuff in the late 80's... and so on... and so on...

I think his recent music is the same quality as always.... now his art direction on his print work might have gone downhill for a while there... but no... I mean, you know how stupid a song like "America" sounded to some serious music fans? Or "U Got the Look" or "Controversy"... People in college thought "Hot Thing" was funny but stupid.

I've had one lady complain about his "Tiffany teenage beat" and "naive politics" on Sign o' the Times! And I think that track is GREAT. I also thought the track 3121 is GREAT... and "Lolita"... and "Planet Earth" and "The One you Wanna See" so I can't understand when people regard his new stuff as downhill... I hated songs like "It" and "Girl" when they came out... I thought they were throw away trash. People seem to look back with a false sense of reverence in my opinion. His output is still very much the same ups and downs to each individual personally.

The only songs that I've only heard one hater on is "Little Red Corvette".

ufoclub said:

Good comments

If you put "It" on Planet Earth it would be the best song on there by a long shot,also Girl is prince at his desperate kooky sublime best.

jonylawson said:

I think most grown up fans have given up on him, there's others artists taking music, internet and his fans more seriously.

If the music was interesting by itself he wouldn't need to use these silly games, I mean, these kind of games were cool some years ago but now it's absurd, he's stuck in the 90's internet world. I wonder if he knows about not so new marketing campaigns based in ARG (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_reality_game), because he's falling far behind.

tricky99 said:

Y do U type like him and call US obsessed?

Also you called us fools. If you read what some people are really trying to say, they're really asking themselves the same thing you asked:

tricky99 said:

and, probably more to the point, trying to avoid being fools yet again when it comes to dealing with this dude. You answered your own questions Tricky.

I am in my early 30's and have been a fan since early 80's and at this point, nothing Prince does surprises me. He still makes great music and that is all I can expect from the man.

What would surprise me? Him coming on stage in bikini briefs and a trench coat again -- get all Dirty Mind on us. THAT would be a trip

I think a lot of us older fans are here because its part of our childhood, it brought fun into our lives when we were kids,just like those old train or baseball card collections i guess.
Its still fun to see what Prince is up to.

But I think maybe us older fans should just let the younger fans enjoy what they enjoy and not rain on their parade and just let them have their own opinion on what it is to be a Prince fan.

That said, i still find bizzare folks questioning other fans for being here or for daring to say something critical.
One grown Prince fam keeps comparing being critical to his supposed crazy girlfirend, i bet he attracts real keepers.
I didnt know fams lived to adulthood, let alone hit pueberty.
[Edited 2/4/09 16:59pm]

I've asked myself that many a time Jony. I am sorry you can't state your opinion on Prince without being "jumped on" about it.

I find that over the years, my expectations of the guy have disappeared.

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

That's interesting and I've thought about it sometimes. Should fans be split by fanaticism level? I think we can get along all together, but maybe the youngest ones don't understand it.

If someone starts a topic like "Prince is God" I wouldn't even come in, but whenever someone starts an interesting and thoughtful somewhat critical topic there's a lot of comments despising each other's opinions, like "if you don't like it go away" and alike.

I find this pretty disgusting, everyone should be able to ignore the topics they don't like and avoid making annoying comments based on the argument that "he's the best, whatever he does is right for me, you're wrong".

purplecam said:

OMG! Exactly U are always on point.... I feel the same way. A lot of fans act like old grannies. Wining and complaining about everything Prince decides 2 do or direction he is goin in. Prince is going 2 do what he wants anyway. So its pointless. He closed his other sites there bitching about that. Now he is opening a brand new exciting site. There still complaining & Bitching. I feel so sorry 4 Prince sometimes. I guess that is why he lives in his own world and stays content and reads the bible. I would go nuts reading all these negative comments about me all the time....Continue 2 do U PRINCE..

berarma said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:[quote]

jonylawson said:

Prince dont NEVA do nothin....nice and easy.....and we rooollin....

vinx98 said:

nope... I think Planet Earth, Guitar, The One Wanna See, Future Baby Mama would all have hit me better than "It" or" Girl" if they were all on the same album in 1987.

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

Yeah, it must be tough on the guy. All these harsh comments by faceless strangers on the internet. Thank goodness he has that bible. Oh, and millions and millions of dollars too.
[Edited 2/4/09 18:34pm]

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

Yeah, it must be tough on the guy. All these harsh comments by faceless strangers on the internet. Thank goodness he has that bible. Oh, and millions and millions of dollars.
[Edited 2/4/09 18:35pm]

ufoclub said:

Nice post, and I agree with it in spirit, but what used to be fun, whimsical and mysterious when when you were young has a way of eventually turning into plain old work as you grow older. Plus, it used to be all about the music. now it seems as if it's too often just about "Prince being Prince" for the sheer sake of it. I've grown tired of the petulance, arrogance and what at times to be nothing more than utter disdain shown by this man for the people that afford him his lavish lifestyle, fame and fortune.

I think that some people forget that there are other options of great music out there. Waitin on Prince to come out with something we like and complainin that he's not doin this or that or he's doin this or that just can't be healthy.
I'm just patiently waitin to hear wat he has in store. If I don't like it, I'll either listen to his older music or listen to other artists.
People...it's that simple.
There are a million other artists.
Y'all gone make Prince give y'all ulcers
[Edited 2/4/09 19:50pm]

For people who are perfectly okay that Prince does whatever he wants, y'all sure do complain about when others do it. Complaining about complainers complaining.....it never ends.

Vendetta1 said:

As for me, I'm perfectly okay wit anyone doin wat they want, as long as they don't kill anybody or disrespect me. I'm jus sayin, some people lettin Prince's doin eat at them. Put up the blockage "Prince is another human being and dude ain't even my friend". It's the same thing I do when people try to "offend" me on the net.

And the latter part of your statement...it will never end.
[Edited 2/4/09 20:26pm]

ufoclub said:

each to their own, i get absolutely nothing out of those songs

BigDaddyHQ said:

I do get what mr Dalek is saying tho.

Hey man, how do I get to the music? Just take a left at the fountain, go up the stairs and to the right, click 3 times on the door knocker next to the light switch, wait for the scrolling text about how we're all part of the same universe to end, and you're good to go. Oh, unless it's Tuesday, then go to the basement, follow the signs that say "Enlightenment Nightclub", enter the secret password (evolsidog) and you're all set.

Crazy as all that sounds, it's not even that far from how the NPGMC website used to work, and that came out years after everyone had already figured out that CD-ROM games like Myst were not the way of the future. Imma give the new site a fair shot (altho there'll have to be one hell of a proposition for me to do the subscription thing again), but initial reports have us flying through galaxies and shit...

Genesia said:

If by "mystique" you mean "media persona" which has often been ridiculed. Then I agree. (personally I dont see much "mistique" in a flash heavy website,but each to their own)
Also, if by "childish" you mean "wishful thinking", then I agree with that too. Which would make more sense. Since I cant imagine anyone actually thinking that a hope for change is "childish"

The fact is, flash heavy sites should also have a simplistic alternative with everything clearly labeled. I dont see a problem hoping that one of his web guys might have put that idea forward, or that P might listen... unlikely as it sounds.

It seriously wouldn't surprise me if the designer(s) responsible for the site were a friend of the band, or recommendation of a band member, or friend of Prince for that matter. Word of mouth seems to be pretty central to the design industry these days. That being said, i am all for interactive elements to a site.

herb4 said:

So why don't u move onto other pursuits? Why come here to complain about what Prince is or is not doing? Obviously Prince is not who u want him to be and will never be so what's your point?

Jony & Milty, I agree with y'all.

ThreadBare said:

tricky99 said:

You know, it is altogether possible to like the music and not like the man.

Hopefully there will be a hardcore fan forum here soon or Prince will open up a forum on his site and then people can shoot sunshine up Prince's ass til the cows come home.

Even tho'I have long stopped "joining" Prince's fan clubs for his business practices, and even tho' these days I find it rare Prince really releases something interesting, the fact that his music has been a consistent factor in my listening preferences for over 20 years, means I am still bothered to comment on these issues.

I also used to like his ideas in the 90's about what "the future" of music would look like.

It's not exactly as was pictured, but I am used to that.

Still, I don't get it why he just won't do something like Ani does. Just a simple website with some news and other stuff he wants to share, a ticket box and a record store where you can either order CD's or download them, DRM free, for a reasonable price of 5-10$. He could release Vault albums that way and get rich sleeping while making tens of thousands of fans very happy.

No forum, just an excellent customer service, perfect on time distribution and a general policy of respecting your customers and refunding them if they don't get what they paid for.

I am sure that could work.