OUR CLOTHES, OUR HAIR, WE DON’T CARE

Those are the words sung by a very young Prince clad in bikini briefs, thigh high stockings, and trenchcoat, with mussed hair and raccoon eyes. A young man displaying what many would see as freakish behavior, but to me it was the behavior of a rebel hell-bent on being free and proclaiming his freedom proudly.

The loss of freedom is what bothers and saddens me the most about Prince turning to religion. It’s a sad sad day as a Prince fan to actually be thrilled and excited because he didn’t censor the word “masturbate” from the song Darling Nikki. I fully support Prince’s spiritual search and wish him well but it saddens me that Prince would rather blindly follow a religion and their teachings instead of thinking for himself on how to handle very important issues in his life. Certainly the bible and other “holy books” contain many teachings that should be applied to daily life but when the leaders of an organization dictate to you how to think, there are problems.

When you make a choice such as no longer using curse words, it seems like the right thing to do. But I ask, are you doing it to please yourself/God or the people in your religion who say it’s wrong. Words only have the meaning we apply to them. At one time Gay was a positive word, now it’s one that some people have negative feelings about because it’s used to label someone who is homosexual. Why are curse words any different?? Prince makes a great point in stating that he does not want to use curse words for fear of associating himself with all the negativity that comes from how and why the words are used in an evil way. I don’t agree that it is the right thing to make a blanket choice and exclude all language that is “deemed” offensive by your church. For example: In the song Baby Knows Prince sings “she’ll make you feel like your stuff aint brown 2night” instead of “she’ll make you feel like your shit don’t stink”. What is negative about using the word “shit” in that context? If someone can actually cause you to feel that your shit won’t stink when it comes sliding out of your asshole, I’d say they succeeded in making you feel pretty damn wonderful! I bet Prince would have some cockamamie religious answer if actually posed with why it would be bad to use the word shit instead of stuff in that song. In my opinion that does not show that someone has free thought, it shows me that someone is following religious dictates blindly.

Prince used to be a freedom fighter and now he is a follower, not on the path of freedom but on one of manipulation and mind control. My experience with organized religion has shown me that the leaders will encourage you to have a personal relationship with God BUT if you don’t filter your relationship through the leaders and agree with what they say, it means that you aren’t having one. In my opinion, Prince was certainly on the right path during the Lovesexy era. He obviously discovered an incredible spirituality that he chose to put to music and share with his fans. I’m not saying that the Lovesexy album is one that a fan would hinge their spirituality on but it is clear that Prince found something real and something he wanted to share. The purity and sacredness of that spiritual knowledge is one of the things that has attracted me to that album for all these years and one that helps to make it my favorite.

I know that Prince has been through a lot of hell in the last 8 years or so. Feud with label, death of a baby, broken marriage. These are all very serious and life altering events. I understand that for me to sit and comment on his choices may seem out of line to many of you, but as a fan for 22 years I feel the need to express my sadness at having to witness the demise of a one time rebel. I know that we all grow up, but why does that have to mean the death of all the strength and vibrancy of youth? I have no doubt that Prince will continue to make incredible music with intense and deep lyrics and I’m still enjoying Prince’s music as much as ever. However I do wonder how much more fun the ride would be if he weren’t submitting himself to the mind control and manipulations of religion. In my opinion there is a vast difference between “religion” and “spirituality”. They are not the same.

In my opinion, the point is not that Prince’s music is going to suffer without curse words and the point is not that I NEED to hear Prince curse ever again. The point is that essentially Prince is apologizing and expressing guilt over his past. THAT is the most disturbing part about this whole “Prince does not use curse words in his music anymore”. It’s not the decision itself that bothers me, it’s the motivation behind the decision. Prince has been convinced that what he did in the past (using “curse” words) was wrong and that he needs to go against his past by changing and censoring lyrics. I can respect Prince’s decision to cease using curse words but I DO NOT RESPECT him censoring and butchering songs in the name of that decision. Prince never used foul language gratuitously. He never used it maliciously to tear others down unless of course it was a call out and call outs have their place.

Prince has nothing to be ashamed about as far as his past is concerned. The fact that he ever cursed in the past has no ill effect on his fans, not then and not now. The only reason it is having an ill effect on Prince is because of the guilt and fear that is being embedded in his brain. Prince was NEVER led by guilt and fear. I can’t believe that after all he’s been through to “get free” he has ended up allowing himself to become bound by religious dictates. Speaking from the experience of one who spent their childhood in “the church”, Prince’s answers and diatribes on this subject sound scripted to me, they don’t sound genuine and from the heart. Guilt and fear are incredible motivators that religion uses to herd the flocks in the direction deemed appropriate by the leaders. In my opinion, it’s wrong to lead people with guilt and fear. People should be led by love.

I was 14 when Purple Rain came out. It was the first album I bought with my own money. Purple Rain contains one of the most controversial songs-Darling Nikki. I remember, not too long after the album came out, that I read a book that dealt with “dirty lyrics”. The book warned parents not to let their kids listen to the music of various artists and one of them was Prince, specifically dealing with the song “Darling Nikki”. What the religious zealots failed to realize (or recognize) is that Prince included a beautiful psalm at the end of the song. One of the first things that I did when I bought that record was to tape the end of Darling Nikki, take apart the tape, reverse it and put it back together so I could hear what Prince was singin. I heard the most beautiful Angelic harmony—Hello, how are you? I’m fine. Cuz I know that the Lord is coming soon. Coming, coming soon. THAT spoke volumes and volumes to me. Not the fact that he sang a vicious ode to a magazine abusing whore.

Religious zealots hear a song and they only take away from it the message they WANT to hear as opposed to the message that is really there. Prince always has had a balance of expressing both his desire for raw sexuality and his need to love and be loved. For example:

Darling Nikki (joyously acknowledges the Lord at the end)
Temptation (learns at the end that love is better than sex),
Lovesexy (Mixture of spirituality, sex and then followed by expression of true love *when 2 R in Love*),
Joint 2 Joint (the song ends with him realizing that he needs to be devoted to one woman).

I understood these messages and I’m sure most of you did too. If you were to have told Prince back in the 80s, or even in the early 90s, that he would censor his music and change lyrics and stop cursing for fear of being a sinner he would have surely laughed in your face. I fully support Prince’s right to express his views but I don’t want to hear him preaching. If he wants to tell the world how he feels I’d rather hear it in a song. Prince is not a preacher; he is a musician-poet-entertainer extraordinaire. Leave the preaching to the preachers. It has been a frustrating experience to have waited 7 years for the man to finally be free from his contractual obligations only to have him bound and obligated to more restrictions. I envisioned a truly free spirit playing cold hard music, not a man bound up by rules and regulations of a religion.

There was a report on Prince.org for one of the listening parties for the Rainbow Children. See www……. for the report. Here is an excerpt: (put the part about “individual”) The “moderated” discussion at one point revolved around the word “individual” and dissected it into pieces “in-divide-u-all”. The very notion that a Prince sponsored discussion would object to individuality and attempt to “educate” the attendees that it’s wrong to seek individuality should scare the hell out of every single Prince fan. THAT is the biggest proof that Prince has been brainwashed. The fact that God created us as unique individuals should be celebrated. For one of the most unique individuals in the history of music to support the denouncement of individuality is a true testament of how Jehovah Witness teachings are misleading Prince.

Prince has been on a steady course of alienating his fans for the last few years. The alienation continues with his religious fervor. For the first time, Prince’s music is starting to mirror the narrow mindset he displays in interviews and on his website. Prince’s music used to attract people from ALL walks of life and now it’s becoming exclusive as opposed to inclusive. The glory of Prince’s music is that anyone could feel comfortable embracing it. I even know of an athiest that loves the Lovesexy album, even with all the spiritual overtones. The focus of Prince’s music these days has less and less to do with sharing what he believes with the listener and more to do with telling the listener what they should believe. The majority of the fans aren’t interested in being converted. I know that most of my friends that were at the listening parties for The Rainbow Children resent the attempt at conversion. I too would have been insulted and upset to be subject to the manipulation of those listening parties. The main objective wasn’t to find out what the “fams” really thought about the music, the main objective was to try and force Prince’s narrow minded views on the fans.

In summary, Prince’s cursing in the past does not negate how much of a role model and a positive influence he was for many of us who were teens in the 80s. I was an outcast during much of my childhood & I would bet that a large section of Prince fans were too. As an outcast, I identified with Prince. Although he was an outcast to many, I admired that he flew in the face of that and did his own thing with pride and confidence, no matter what people said about him. As an outcast, I spent much of my time in my room, listening to my favorite musician. I feel that his music saved my life. It gave me hope and provided so much joy at a time in my life when I often felt no hope for tomorrow. I was never alone as long as I had the music. That is what I would tell Prince if I had the chance. I would let him know that his fans benefited from his talent and that it’s not really that important to focus on the fact that he cursed here and there in his music. The messages in his music rang true and clear despite the “foul” language.


Organgrinder the Magnificent

without anyone's dictation except the Holy Spirit.

Tame said:

Prince doesn't drink.

NouveauDance said:

Honestly, I didn't read past the fourth paragraph although I see that you took a great deal of time putting your opinion down. What U have to realize is early in the article U claim that the church dictates to Prince on how to behave. The jist of what U have said is that Prince had his own mind when he was satisfying your idea of what U enjoyed about Prince's lyrical content, and then to your dismay surrendered his own mind to the church.
Prince's relationship with God is his own individual path and consequently continues writing in the way he is inspired without anyone's dictation except the Holy Spirit.
[Edited 5/18/09 18:20pm]

Tame said:

If what you say is true then he is in serious danger of being disfellowshipped from his church.

I got published one time. For this:






Who else is in this club?

here's my article:

http://www.5years.com/pur...ardust.htm

i had a lot of fun putting the first draft together, though unfortunately the deadline popped up JUST as i was in the middle of moving, so i've always felt the article was printed kinda unfinished...and i think it managed to obtain even MORE typos and weird boils and festers when it was transcribed to this bowie site - which is not a slam on the excellent fiveyears.com; i'm just sayin'.

anyway, this was my uptown moment.