Who is Prince?

connorhawke said:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince

1725topp said:

This is the best response yet. I too must be in the first as well. The man, artist, and musician is all right with me. It's like eating a good bowl of chilli; its not always the same depending of my taste buds. Even if its not the same as the lost pot; I will keep eating it each time I make it and when I do I am comforted by the warmth and joy. He's like a good bowl of chili with its flavors dancing, playing, and teasing my taste buds. I keep going back to the pot.

I feel the exact same way you do...but only in regard to Burt Reynolds...I KNOW I'm a better Burt Reynolds fan than any of you posers...

and say what you want, Burt never had a "I'm a symbol/slave on the cheek period"...although 'Cop And A Half' may be his New Power Soul...

roodboi said:

Yes but does Burt Reynolds have a goat farm?

Of course this is all debatable, no? I mean, one man's vagina is another man's scary furry melting thing.

But I guess we all have our criteria for what we think a good Prince fan is.
There are some who think a good Prince fan is one who should love everything
that the man does, focus only on the positive, and reprimand those that don't
think the same.

But upon pondering this method or mode of fandom, I find it to be a bit taxing
on the person. Firstly, being a fan in this 'all or nothing' category requires
that you've seen this:



..dreadful movie, and then find something positive to say about it. Perhaps,
we could point out his wonderful hair? I mean, it is nice hair.

But after so many Jugheads, Wedding Feasts, and Arms of Orions, you ended up
losing yourself to this singular devotion to Prince I think. You went to see
him perform in O2... perhaps 3121 at Rio... and you thought the truncated,
jazzed up versions of Kiss or Delirious were brilliant, didn't you? And even
if you didn't, you dare not mention your true feelings of it. For how could
you do so now that you're in just that deep? One can't say Graffiti Bridge
was a great movie and then turn around and say they didn't like Musicology. It
just doesn't make any damned sense. So the 'all or nothing' approach is a
path that can only lead you to insanity.


But then there's the other type of 'fan'. The one that only likes one part
of Prince's career. Or only likes one part of his musical palette. Maybe
you only like the funk of his pre-Purple Rain era. Perhaps you only like his
booty shaking, panty droppin' plastic years music. Or perhaps you only like
it when he rocks. Either way, you hate everything else he's done and you
think that he is over. That Prince, is...done.
The problem I see in this is that you may think Prince is done, but there's
one thing I know about Prince. It's that he loves hair relaxers and a good
hair iron. But one more thing: He absolutely loves to surprise us. You can't
go about thinking his career is over, because Prince will prove your ass wrong.
Lest we forget that everyone thought Prince's career was over after Graffiti
Bridge. And if the law of karma was true or if there really was a God, Prince's
career should have been over--cause that shit was rank. But what
happened? Prince released Diamonds & Pearls, worked that album like a 9-to-5
and scored several top 10 hits while wearing assess pants, pencil think beard,
and a scary typhoon do. He can, if anything, achieve the impossible. To write
him off at ANY point in his career will end up with you being proven totally wrong, for sure.



Then there's the fan like me. One who has found 'the middle way' of Prince
fandom. I still buy his albums even if I dread what they may sound like. I
dreaded the thought of Lotusflow3r and believed it to be a potential suckass
album. But I wasn't going to just write him off. I knew that Prince had a few
tricks up his sleeve yet. Prince is like that innocent girl in biology class
you happen to run into at the party. In school she seems so reserved and
predictable. But after a couple of beers at the party, she's giving the most
amazing blowjob of your life.
So no matter what is going on his Prince life. No matter what religion he joins
and barely lives by despite what comes out of his mouth, I know.... believe
me.... I know. Prince will surprise us.
So the middle way fan loves parts of Prince's catalog that make us happy.
We detest the parts that just isn't our thing. But we know that in the future
he'll always throw something else at us that may make us quite happy.

We view the first type of Prince fan with only pity and sometimes repulsion.
We view the second type of Prince fan as being very similar to us, but with
a scorching case of herpes and a bad temper. We are comfortable in our
pragmatic and practical approach to our fandom. We are comfortable enough
to praise when praise is needed, criticize when we don't like something, and
in the end realize that Prince is just a singer/musician/song writer that
has for one reason or another turned our ear his way.




What are your thoughts? I'm particularly interested in hearing from you
fans in the first category because you're the ones that have a uni-bomber
vibe to you.


.
methodcal's keen eye edit
[Edited 8/22/09 17:06pm]

Imago said:

You probably WOULD think you're better than the rest of us, wouldn't you?

People worshipper!

Best Prince fan than most?

What's it gotten you? Except tired index fingers typing all this crap.

Riera said:

There very very specific reasons why I know I'm better, none of which I'm allowed to divulge.

Imago said:

What are you, the fan police?

Of course this is all debatable, no? I mean, one man's vagina is another man's scary furry melting thing.

But I guess we all have our criteria for what we think a good Prince fan is.
There are some who think a good Prince fan is one who should love everything
that the man does, focus only on the positive, and reprimand those that don't
think the same.

But upon pondering this method or mode of fandom, I find it to be a bit taxing
on the person. Firstly, being a fan in this 'all or nothing' category requires
that you've seen this:



..dreadful movie, and then find something positive to say about it. Perhaps,
we could point out his wonderful hair? I mean, it is nice hair.

But after so many Jugheads, Wedding Feasts, and Arms of Orions, you ended up
losing yourself to this singular devotion to Prince I think. You went to see
him perform in O2... perhaps 3121 at Rio... and you thought the truncated,
jazzed up versions of Kiss or Delirious were brilliant, didn't you? And even
if you didn't, you dare not mention your true feelings of it. For how could
you do so now that you're in just that deep? One can't say Graffiti Bridge
was a great movie and then turn around and say they didn't like Musicology. It
just doesn't make any damned sense. So the 'all or nothing' approach is a
path that can only lead you to insanity.


But then there's the other type of 'fan'. The one that only likes one part
of Prince's career. Or only likes one part of his musical palette. Maybe
you only like the funk of his pre-Purple Rain era. Perhaps you only like his
booty shaking, panty droppin' plastic years music. Or perhaps you only like
it when he rocks. Either way, you hate everything else he's done and you
think that he is over. That Prince, is...done.
The problem I see in this is that you may think Prince is done, but there's
one thing I know about Prince. It's that he loves hair relaxers and a good
hair iron. But one more thing: He absolutely loves to surprise us. You can't
go about thinking his career is over, because Prince will prove your ass wrong.
Lest we forget that everyone thought Prince's career was over after Graffiti
Bridge. And if the law of karma was true or if there really was a God, Prince's
career should have been over--cause that shit was rank. But what
happened? Prince released Diamonds & Pearls, worked that album like a 9-to-5
and scored several top 10 hits while wearing assess pants, pencil think beard,
and a scary typhoon do. He can, if anything, achieve the impossible. To write
him off at ANY point in his career will end up with you being proven totally wrong, for sure.



Then there's the fan like me. One who has found 'the middle way' of Prince
fandom. I still buy his albums even if I dread what they may sound like. I
dreaded the thought of Lotusflow3r and believed it to be a potential suckass
album. But I wasn't going to just write him off. I knew that Prince had a few
tricks up his sleeve yet. Prince is like that innocent girl in biology class
you happen to run into at the party. In school she seems so reserved and
predictable. But after a couple of beers at the party, she's giving the most
amazing blowjob of your life.
So no matter what is going on his Prince life. No matter what religion he joins
and barely lives by despite what comes out of his mouth, I know.... believe
me.... I know. Prince will surprise us.
So the middle way fan loves parts of Prince's catalog that make us happy.
We detest the parts that just isn't our thing. But we know that in the future
he'll always throw something else at us that may make us quite happy.

We view the first type of Prince fan with only pity and sometimes repulsion.
We view the second type of Prince fan as being very similar to us, but with
a scorching case of herpes and a bad temper. We are comfortable in our
pragmatic and practical approach to our fandom. We are comfortable enough
to praise when praise is needed, criticize when we don't like something, and
in the end realize that Prince is just a singer/musician/song writer that
has for one reason or another turned our ear his way.




What are your thoughts? I'm particularly interested in hearing from you
fans in the first category because you're the ones that have a uni-bomber
vibe to you.


.
methodcal's keen eye edit
[Edited 8/22/09 17:06pm]

Imago said:

Oh, this thread is going to close very soon, let's see if I can add something worthy to your experiment.

I'm a hardcore fan since 1984/85, have all his albums and bought them later all on cd. Have hundreds of bootlegs and dvd's. I've spend thousands of dollars on him, thousands of hours dreaming of him, thinking of him, feeling mushy about him. I go to all his concerts if he's near enough and I still love to drool over him. I think he's intelligent, funny, handsome and really talented. I love UTCM and PR. When I was young I wanted to have his babies

But I'm not interested in Planet Earth, nor did I like the greatest hits concert at the O2 I witnessed. I can't even remember that much from Graffiti Bridge. After the Gold cd it did go down slowly for me.
When he starts talking about God, I'm a little bit puzzled. He sometimes wears awful clothes and his hair is dyed way too black. The shape of his hair can be painfull sometimes.
He has done an eye lift or something and used botox some time ago which looked plain horrible.
His latest 3-cd's aren't bad at all but they don't stick with me. Some songs are nice/good but I'm not like, oh, I need to put it on, like I did with his old cd's.
I didn't join Lotusflower because my instinct just told me this would be nothing. NPGMC wasn't all that so why make the same mistake.

You seem a clever man, besides your strange and perverse way of thinking sometimes, tell me, what am I?
I'm not ashamed to criticise Prince or have something not that nice to say about him (I do however remain respectfull). It's the people in this little purple digital world who seem to be annoyed with everything, the ass kissers and the haters.
Prince hasn't said a thing in all these years, he's a good boy, although he battled many things like this fansite, youtube and whatever. I couldn't care less, there's so much to be found of this man in other places, he cannot win the battle so why be angry and disappointed in him. To be disappointed that the quality of his music is getting worse, that's reasonable. But then again, 90% of music in general is crappy so it's not fair to him.

I have this love/hate relationship with him but I've got him under my skin, very deep. Sometimes I've really lost him and then, he's back again.
I've seen him this Sunday and I'm all love for the guy, he makes me live and feel alive. He's got this positivity inside of him, again, pleasure which I was missing for a long time.
But no matter how his newest cd's are getting less and less interesting and Prince himself is getting older, I find he deserves all the respect in the world. What he has been giving me has only been achieved by my mom and son.

XxAxX said:

FIRST OF ALL.. you have NO RIGHT to tell me what type of fan i am or put a label on me..just because i honestly DO love all of his music and i did enjoy GRAFITTI BRIDGE because of the message, and the music..OMG you went to my profile....your point is what??? just cause i pointed out not even a scratch to some of my favorites that Prince has made, makes me a "fair weather fan" and who gives you authority to label anyone?? do you know how ridiculous you sound?? i AM NOT and will not divulge in any PRINCE BASHING on a site that is "sopposed to be for FANS of PRINCE!!! soo that makes me crazy or a "fam" or obsessed..i can go on and on about my love and respect for the man who has brought soo much in my life...INSPIRATION< LOVE you still dont impress me..when i first came on the org, sooo long ago, i thought i would find others who understood the message of loving one another, without labels, or a whole lot of spiritual inspiration...i thought that others that really enjoiied PRince was really in tune with the concept of a "universal love" ..i can ONLY count a handful of those who do...the rest are a bunch of sad,sad, miserable people...soo if Prince ever shut this site down...i wouldnt be mad at all!!!

SUPRMAN said:

suprman....thank you

CJanssen said:

I gave a shoutout to you here a few weeks ago http://prince.org/msg/100/320234

Bohemian67 said:

I forgot to mention MJ fans are not Prince fans. In fact, they're anti-matter Prince fans.

connorhawke said:

Hi boo.

We can call them whatever--just not Prince fans....ever



Who's with me on this?