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zucris said:

Quote from Review of 1999 from Rolling Stone magazine:

"Prince is as important for the 80s as Sly Stone for the 70s"

Last line from Review of Thriller on Rolling Stone 1983:

"Thriller is a great album but is not MJ 1999"

Lots of praise and attention before Purple Rain.

My opinion is that the 1999 album will probably be considered the master piece of the 80s, what Prince did with Purple Rain is to push his own standard, sells doesn't mean anything, look at Lou Reed, The Smiths, The Replacements, The Pixies etc.

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i think it would have influenced him better.

he peaked to earlier, it was like thriller.

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jethrouk said:

I think he ran from the Purple Rain too quickly, the peak could have been longer

and by the way music/pop culture was about to drastically change I don't think it could have happened after the 90's there were really no original Mega stars after the 80's

Without Purple Rain:

Warner Bros wouldn't have released ATWIAD or Parade

Morris Day would have stayed with the Time

The Family's record would have been a solo project for Wendy's sister if at all

Oh, and no Paisley Park label.

OldFriends4Sale said:

not that i know that much about prince, but was he not a lot more arrogant etc... after purple rain?.
my dad always told me that he stopped liking prince after purple rain because that was when prince realised he was so good, and that his music suffered.
I actually like post purple rain prince better. but that’s just me. But I feel that a lot of his 90’s output was trying to be as successful as purple rain – and obls failing. He tried to go mainstream and create popular music many times, but it ultimately didn’t sell well.

My point was that if purple rain never existed, prince’s wouldn’t necessary have to prove anything to himself. I suppose I was being too prudent - with saying that would have been a good thing, it might not have been!
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aarontj said:

I mean that Prince was a Great Artist before and after PR, he didn't need it to be who he is.
In any case, we - the foreigners fans - we had the opportunity to know him through PR

zucris said:

EXACTLY!!!

L0tusFl0w3r said:

If he hadn't done "Purple Rain", he would have just wound up doing some other project that would have been just as awesome. Prince was HOT from the jump. Sure "Purple Rain" put him on the map for a larger audience, but given his tenacity, people would have eventually come around to noticing him sooner or later, one way or the other.

"We were all such babies, so hungry for success. With Purple Rain it
became a total family affair." JJ (Jill Jones)

without "Purple Rain" Prince would be more respected as an artist. "Purple Rain" brought a lot of gawkers who liked the movie & soundtrack but wanted to typecast him as a rock star. When ATWIAD was release many fair weather fans didn't like the sound and quickly dismissed Prince as quickly as they embraced him.