djdaffy1227 said:

A lot of the wrestlers have opening music from popular artists, I'm sure the WWE has a licensing agreement with the publishing companies and master owners of those songs.

Prince's entire Purple Rain look was influenced directly by Jimi Hendrix.

Prince's style has shifted from Santana-esque fluidity to Hendrixian riffs and whammy swells, in the past decade or so. I think it's kind of funny, actually. It's been more blatant in the past few years, but you can find some real obvious nods to Jimi pretty easily in his songs.

djdaffy1227 said:

Haha Im no big Hendrix fan but always hear this song when hollywood walks out...

The chords progression are really very similar, including the guitar solo at the end. Normally I go to extreme length to defend Prince. Maybe we see a Hendrix credit note

Furthermore, folks have been playing similar progressions for years. Shucks, Jesse Johnson, Doyle Bramhall II, Robert Randolph and Eric Gale are but a few of the electric bluesman who've done similar riffs in a Hendrix vein for years.

But, P's been evoking Hendrix for years -- throughout his career, actually.

it's similar but not a rip - off

i suppose you missed the entire 3rd stone from the sun theme

It's not stealing.... the guitar riff at the beginning and the chords and melody are nothing alike. The only thing is the song layout, with the guitar riff using a wah at the beginning then in comes the drums, then to a heavier guitar during the verse.

So other than the layout of the song it is nothing like vodoo child(slight return)

hmmm yeah who cares. IT STILL ROCKS

at the end what does he say, Pledge alegience ..._____?

Cuddles said:

Indeed. It is the Lotus.

They're a similar style, and obviously, it's a Jimi Hendrix tribute song, but this is nowhere near the point of stealing.

It's an original song that intentionally reminds people of other songs, which is really hard to do and I applaud Prince for.

It's an intro riff in a pentatonic scale. That's not stealing. If that's the case, 99% of blues artists are theives for using a I IV V progression.

This is also nothing near what Prince used to get sued for, and he got away with that. I think by now, the man is familiar enough with the court system to avoid a lawsuit like that.

SHUSH!

timorousme said:

Exactly!

I think it sounds more like a slower version of Fury, actually.

Maybe it's just a "reimagining" of Voodoo Chile! LOL Could also be paying homage to the guitar genius. Who really cares. Everything is derivative or inspired by something else and "Dreamer" is an AWESOME track however you label it.

Se7en said:

So very true! The purple coat, the ruffle shirt, the wild hairdo, the head bands, he even copies Hendrix' guitar face to the t.

Dreamer is a valid composition but to deny that Prince ripped Hendrix off, or to defend Prince by saying it's a tribute, is ridiculous and fam-driven. I can only imagine what the same people who are deluded Prince apologists would say if some act blatantly stole from Prince. You'd all be calling for Prince to sue with sanctimonious cries of "How dare they!"

Obviously he did that purposely. What's wrong with a great paying homage to another great?

NDRU said:

Actually, "Fury" has a similar arrangement and vocal stylings of Jimi's version of "All Along The Watchtower". Being a guitarist and a student of Prince, Jimmi an Carlos Santana, I hear both of those guys influence on Prince riffs and solos throughout the new offerings.

As far as his playing goes someone pointed out, Prince started playing Hendrix riffs in recent years. Especially after he started playing the blue strat. Sure he did "Purple House", but there was a definite shift when he incorporated the strat and whammy bar. He's always played Santana type licks as far back as say "Computer Blue" or even "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad".

ass said:

WOW, i would not have known, really!!!!!

This song is very much an ode to Hendrix from Prince, if you dont know that, then you obviously know very little about Prince music, and to be honest, you probably know F all about music in general..OR NOT?

rwn said:

This is complete nonesense. He has used lines from poets he admires, but he hasn't stolen songs.

TwiliteKid said:

unless he has express permission from the hendrix estate (and I imagine he would), then he could get sued for borrowing without permission if they choose to. I cant see what is so difficult to understand about that.

TwiliteKid said:

he still needs permission whether its the whole song or part of the song. if someone sampled a riff from kiss and raspberry beret, they would still have to ask prince (or whoever owned the license to those songs). the person in question would have to be at least credited and they could sue for recompense or have an agreement on licensing.

if i could play guitar i'd rip off jimi and prince..daily, i'd even announce it before my so called original compositions LOL.

Lovesymbol2 said:

Yeah, umm...and he should go edit out all those ruffled shirts too.

COME ONNN... Prince "REFRESHINGLY borrows" from Hendrix every time he picks up his guitar, dude. He means it and incorporates it into his flava. He also knows he has his own, and when he's got his red hat on at RR hall of fame, we know that's Prince playing 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps', not some Vanilla Ice with an axe trying to pass. So he can cover something and even "quote" with it as someone else wrote, without giving a damn about this kind of criticism. We couldn't begin to count the thieves from Jimi, but Prince pays homage.

There's a huge difference on so many levels, not the least of which being that once he's gone from the scene, who's the 'Voodoo Child' torch going to? How are kids going to know that rock riffs like this can be soulful and funky, with a 'swag' that's recognizable in today's pop culture? Is it an accident that he links Electric Ladyland and the now re-appropriated imagery of '68 to a unequivocally black american history-laced lyric? And chose to feature it on Leno? (hmm... '68, Tennessee....MLK..KKK...NAACP...SNCC ... USA, there's an alphabet street for ya ..I digress, but somebody out there is feeling me, lol)

Hell, typing this just cemented "Dreamer"'s place in my Prince-story book,lol.. Thanks.

laurarichardson said:

why are people so stupid ....everyone can see it's a tribute.....

prince is my hendrix, jb and sly all rolled up into one

but he is way better

Lotusflw3r 6/10
MPLSound 4/10
Elixr 1/10
[Edited 3/31/09 6:32am]

japanrocks said:

Whitnail said: