A lot of people complain that prince isnt as innovative as he was back in the 80s. I agree with this, but its no reason to complain. The fault, in my opinion, does not lie with prince. There has been classical music for hundreds of years, other genres of music have existed for a long time as well, for example folk and jazz. Very simply put, the 60s brought the first rock and roll, the 70s brought punk, the 80s brought electronic music (this is when many feel prince was in his prime), the 90s brought rap and rnb, etc. Prince was one of the fore-runners of electronic music, and this is why he was such a huge star in the 80s.

Now i know that i put that very basically, and obviously there are hundreds of sub-genres that have sprouted from those main eras of new musical styles. But there has not been any totally new genre of music since the 90s in my opinion. Of course, the 2000s brought indie, but that was just an evolution of rock and roll. And in the same way, although prince's music has evolved over the last 30 years, it is still grounded in the electronic style that he first came to fame with.

So of course he is not as innovative as he was in the 80s, as he is at heart still an electronic artist (obviously with many rock, funk, jazz, and blues style songs).

Im listening to MPLSoUND as i write this, and it was in the last 10 minutes or so that i thought about all of this. What do you all think? Do you think that prince is not as innovative because he is still working within a genre that was at its most popular in the 80s? Or do you think that he has just lost his creativity? An opinions would be great to hear

greyhoodiegirl
xx

I won't have the new cd until 2morrow, but I don't have 2 to solemnly know from past experience that Prince is alwayz impressive. Prince music is in short, "A good mood."

Name a current artist who is an innovator.....

Graycap23 said:

im not having a dig at prince at all! i love prince, and have everything he's ever released bar a few really obscure npg singles (e.g get wild). i was worried people would take this thread the wrong was, but i found it quite hard to put my ideas into words.

He is still as creatively viable as he has been in his past. People are just not listening.

Innovative still? Yes. Much of the npgmc ony material was quite nnovative imo. Examples: When I Lay My Hands On You, Sadomasochistic Groove, Beautiful Strange.

Was Einstein as smart at 50 as he was at 25? Was Bach as innovative? Was Rembrandt? No to all...Prince has gotten older and the spark of creativity dims as you get older...no shame in that. The new album is enjoyable to listen to.

After listening to MPLSoUND, I'm wonder what the next album will be like. IMO he could possibly become more experimental if he continues to funk with protools which IMO is a good thing. Something is a little different this time around.

FunkiestOne said:

Thank you, this is the kind of response i was hoping for, an opinion backed up with the reasons for it.

I personally think that prince is still as good he has ever been, if not better, but that his music isnt recognised as much because what he was doing was new in the 80s. Had "Black Sweat" or "Future Baby Mama" been released in prince's heyday back in the 80s, they would have been HUGE.

FunkiestOne said:

Nah, Prince as an artist could become more experiment and groundbreaking.

Just ask Bowie fans his experimental output in his 50's was much better than the pop music Bowie was making in 1980s.

realm said:

This is true.

Graycap23 said:

um - lots. But you won't find them on the radio.Maybe on college radio- or online. But that is about it. Many artists are capable of mining genres and giving it a twist. That's what Prince did. Hell- even EWF pulled off a great record in the last few years (tho almost no one heard it) with good writing and current producers who tweaked their sound without totally changing it. Nothing is totally new - even Prince was not 100% original. that's fine, he still innovated like crazy on top of his musical knowledge base. But he needs some songs, not jams. I don't care what he throws on top, if it's a good song him and his guitar or piano - or voice - is all you need.

Zannaloaf said:

Is....."um-lots" a group? I'm still waiting 4 u 2 name one.

greyhoodiegirl said:

interesting - it's because of Get Wild that I became a Prince fan

" no more candy 4u" is prince's best song in ages!!

Graycap23 said:

Personally I think I could name a few young artist who are breaking new ground... or at the very least challenging and defining some alternative Genres
Janelle Monae, J' Davey and Santagold jump to the top of my head.

Prince is 50.. he has been making music for nearly 4 decades. Prince has been one of the most innovative and creative musicians of all time... if not the most. But just how many times can a artist dive into the well and come up with 'fresh and new'...? 98% of other musicians have nev er been to the well... and the ones that have... usually only once or twice.

People will list artist like James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, etc etc as geniuses.... but unlike Bowie, Prince and a select few others..... once they went to the well and broke new ground... they stayed in their nitch and just continued to build on it. Prince could have done that... and is what the general public thought he was going to do after Purple Rain... but he didn't. He kept going to the well often and at a very fast pace.

I mentioned Bowie because as an artist I always considered he and Prince to be similiar. Not in the context of thier music... but in thier approach. Bowie was a fore runner... but his innovations actually spanned about... 15-20 years top. Prince like Bowie at some point began to build and refine the foundations of what they already had done instead of continuing to try and break new ground because they hasd already done it so many times.. For them... there was just no more new ground to be broke. But did that suddenly make thier music 'bad'...? Hell no.

Bowie went on for several more years making music which sourced what he had already done. Prince is doing this now... and is doing it well. But to his credit... Prince is still trying to be innovative and break new ground... just not in the studio persay. More so in how he gets the music to people.

the only thing i think of that may make you think this, is that you may feel an OCD effect with certain patterns.

but artists in general, especially ones who become well known, have certain ideas and patterns that they are drawn to and known for, all of them.

BigDaddyHQ said:

Very well stated.

Prince has matured, gained new perspectives and priorities. All of this growth has positively influenced and contributed to what he is currently bringing up from "the well" - this in itself is innovative and it's all good imo.