If Prince stopped recording/releasing new material and stopped touring, and became a reclusive figure, would you/us Ol-Skoolers have more respect for him?
I think it would for me, only because he seems to be about the money these days.
I know I'm going to get hit hard for this statement, ok, go ahead...
[Edited 4/16/09 12:43pm]

We would have had a whole other set of issues

tricky2 said:

love i pray u dont cause ur speacking the truth he sing even now to day about ahll about the money on his new one that just came out love so it is heard to hear it but it is in the one sone he sing on loustflower3 well if i spelled he name wrong i am sorry but the new cd love u know i have to try and pray for ahlot and every one becuse it is knot ahll ablout the fugeing dollar loves it is about ur soul and jesus christ said so love so i pray wow love u know he even sing about the rich to but then he neds to know the money it should knot be about the money but ur righ it is with him love sorry love but true love i pray for him to even see more then just that love peace love

If he stopped in 1995 I think I would have been somewhat disappointed, because quite honestly I thought that TGE was the beginning of Prince's so called drop off. 1995 to 2003 Prince released mediocre albums with two or three gems in the mix. Never was there a complete album of songs to groove from. (And TRC is okay. Its not one of his best). Musicology, 3121 were great with each one better than the first. PE was a slight drop off but Lotusflow3r put Prince back to that Prince we all enjoy. So 1995 retirement would have been awful because I know he still has greatness in him.

i liked it better when prince stopped in 93 and would have loved a whole new era as just and just kept doing nothing but new material in his live shows and on wax i would have been a happy camper

Prince has done a lot of stupid things before and after 1995 but the ultimate in stupidity would have been if he had stopped recording, releasing music and performing. I would have been pissed. As it was I still wasn't all that happy that his name was in 1995, so for him to have done that would have been disaster. I'm glad Prince had more sense than that do have quit at that time.

L4OATheOriginal said:

Agreed.


Ahem.. if you read the other posts before yours.. is there something that comes to your mind?

Shall I start the wonderful impersonation?


[Edited 4/16/09 13:29pm]

He should have stopped after The Gold Experience, or CHaos and Disorder. Either ending song on those two CDs would have been a perfect outro to his career. Leave the rest to box sets, rarities, stuff like that every 5 years or something. Write a book, talk about EVERYTHING honestly, no weird illusive or cryptic shit. Break down ALL the big tall walls, and tell everything. Let Act II of your life be private. Let us enjoy act I.

But he didn't, so there!

[Edited 4/16/09 14:01pm]

They would bitch for decades. "Why'd Prince stop making music so abruptly? Is this it... this shit is horrid Prince can do so much better than this! we haven't even made it to the millenium... how dare he just retire. he must be all about the money! Prince go on take the money and run. Prince should fulfill his legacy because we have been loyal fans up until now"

PEJ said:

It would have been a national tragedy for me

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

I don't think stopping would have made a difference. At some point Prince lost his 'edge', regardless of his music style, form and or input he continues to spiral downward. I think it happens with every artist but with him its ever more present as he alienated his past band members 'influences', associate artists he groomed and burned too many 'music industry bridges' to be 'the man'.

Its one thing to be an 'artist' but eventually you have to go buy paint, brushes and a canvas...same can be said with being a 'musical artist', you eventually need 'supplies', Prince has been using, running and forcing the same 'things' onto his fan-base since 1995.

Its old and new but its really the same old repetitive style... I love MPLS Sound but the more I listen the less it stays with me.

GMAN

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

I don't know when to take you seriously or sarcastically and I've known you a while. I guess I'd have to be in the same room with you to know.

PEJ said:

Think about when you first met me and how close to 1995 we were at that time compare it to now and decide.

i love hearing his new music...even during the dark npgmc period....i still wanted his music and always will....there is always gems in every album he releases

Prince stopped being important as an album artist after the Gold Experience, that much is true, who knows what would had happened if he had stopped releasing albums after 1995?

He is still a living legend, an excellent live performer, but his newer (too many) albums haven't lived up to what he did during the Warner years, 1978 to 1995,

too bad, he's now a niche artist only, not a major artist no more, only followed by a smaller cult of about 200,000 to 300,000,

and... the broader audience has given up on Prince long time ago. The Gold Experience was the last truly great album, after this the disappointments followed...

I still enjoy 3 or 4 songs each of the newer albums, but the music is not that vital like it used to be, 3121 or Planet Earth sounds dead compared to Parade or Lovesexy, sorry but the older music is in a complete different league than his newer music,

but London live in 2007 was amazing, it's experiences like this and the older music 1978 to 1995 that makes me being a fan of Prince, still after so many years.

PEJ said:

Garth Brooks retired abruptly after a string of highly-successful albums and tours, with only one commercial misstep (Chris Gaines). But even that album had great music on it, just marketed all wrong.

He did all that in just about 10 years and retired on top to focus on living and family. Before anyone goes slamming GB, he is in fact a more successful recording artist than Prince. They're just apples and oranges when compared musically.

Prince should have retired in the early 90s with The Gold Experience. He could still tour with that extensive back catalog too.

No, because I like Emancipation. Give or take the odd gem after that I can see your point.

Occasional touring aside he could have concentrated on remastering Crystal Ball style outtake collections and live CDs and DVDs from the archives. Infinitely more exciting than his new recordings.

I would have if he'd stopped in 92.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

You were a freak then and you are now but I do recall the last time we talked you weren't that in to Prince anymore.

It would have been the second time the music died.

Would have been fine with me. bout the mid 90's my musical taste started to go into a whole different direction and while I'll still listen to the new stuff it seldom has moved me.

Im not a fan of the current stuff so.....


But he's not as embarrassing as Madonna or MJ yet, so we'll wait till that happens, and then call it a day.

Se7en said:

you're right apples and oranges. Garth is married and has kids. Family life was for him and Prince attempted it but it hasn't worked out for him. Instead he carried on with the love of his life singing songwriting and making music. So why should he have retired at the age of 38. Did James Brown ever retire?

tricky2 said:

Nutty Prince fans...Gotta love 'em...lol

Dave1992 said:

not quite getting where ur going ...

prince 1958-1993

Many point to 1995 as the last high water mark for Prince and while it did seem from say 1993-1995 he was on the verge of a genuine creative and artistic rebirth, he unfortunately never delivered an album that one can point to as definitive proof of that rebirth.

The Gold Experience, for all of it's wonderful moments, has not dated well. It's over produced and high on gimmick --I don't think thirty seconds goes by without a cartoon sound effect-- and its center piece is a fluffy, saccharine rewrite of Purple Rain. Not content with one stab at it, he tried again a year later with the melodically stale Holy River. Perhaps if he'd culled material from Come, Chaos and Disorder, Emancipation (Slave is one of his last masterstrokes, the rhythm verging on cacophony, the desperate vocals and shrieks, the overall alien nature to it sounded like a new Minneapolis Sound and he was able to do it without using the Linn or a Camille vocal) and The Gold Experience, there would be reason for one to argue that 1995 was his last great year but in the end, he never quite delivered on the creative rebirth which seemed eminent.

While he's had his moments here and there --many of them live-- and still has the ability to write a melody, as it stands, Prince hasn't done anything of significant artistic merit since he played an after show in The Netherlands back in 1988.

L4OATheOriginal said:

Love and peace for ahll anyone?