PurpleJane said:

i'm not suggesting the pres is a muslim, he's a christian, but IF he was ya know..

NOthing is wrong with it, except it hasn't made him a better person, and now you might have to hear from the same paranoid asshole knocking on your door.

the bad thing about it is that he's not even a real one. Faking the funk totally.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

That's EXACTLY it, Supa! How you gonna cheat on your women and then call yourself a JW? Oh but maybe not cursing makes up for that

PUH-LEZE!

Okay, this far down in the thread, probably no one will even read this, but here is my basic take on what Prince's problem is these days, concerning his musical output.

1. Yes, his religion is a problem. Aside from racist and sexist comments included in his lyrics on Rainbow Children and other JW influenced work, the problem is that he's found a specific religion to settle into. I'm happy that he's content in his life. That's great for him. But it's created a sense of complacency that is far less interesting than the Earthly/Divine struggle that gave contrast and energy to much of his earlier work. He was more interesting when he was still searching.

2. His wealth and fame have created a similar problem. It's not just his religion, but the insular way in which he lives that create a problem. Basically, he lives on an entirely different planet than the rest of the world, to an extent that the average person, who hasn't closely followed him for years, has very little ability to connect to what he's saying in his music. It may as well be written by a martian. Prince needs a boss to report to. He needs a certain amount of control over him. He needs to pump his own gasoline and shop for his own groceries. He needs to put on some fucking blue jeans and write some music that the rest of us can relate to.

Paris9748430 said:

DesireeNevermind said:

1. The fact its a brain washing cult
2. It corrupts the meaning of Gods Love and tolerance to all people
3. Its an anti gay religion
4. Its too puritanical
5. Its a cult bascially
6. The quality of Prince's music is nowhere near as groundbreaking and innovative as it used to be
7. Its dogma

Huggiebear said:

Huggiebear said:

1-5 and 7 are your more about your views on the religion than they are about Prince. An argument could be made that #6 happened long before Prince's new spiritual outlook happened.

JudasCorby said:

Excellent post!

Thread= major bait for lots of hate

Prince being a JW holds him back and that's not a good thing

If you dont stand for something you will fall for anything. Prince has taken a stand and that is commendable in world of wavering ideals, justice and principles.
Marriage for example is a vow to join two people together in holy matrimony forever. Marriage mates taking a "stand" for one another with love and deep respect. How beautiful is that! The reality is the ever climbing divorce rate and infidelity with people that see grass as greener on the other side. Only to find out the grass insnt greener and the same problems that werent addressed before, come up again!
Spiritual needs are met through study and application of God's perfect law and wisdom in your heart and mind. Whether choosing a religion or a mate, choose wisely and "stand" by it.
Assuming Prince has a reverence for God and moral principles of course he will not want to curse or write about anything that borders on an immoral lifestyle. Out of the hearts abundance the mouth speaks. I believe we all have an accounting with God according to our deeds. He sees the secret person of the heart.
Maybe Prince knows that and is trying to do his best to be a better man. What is so bad about any of that?

futurebaybeemama said:

So where does fucking both the twinz fit into this?

It wrecked his songwriting, it made him think of weird conspiracy theories, it made him bigoted towards other beliefs, it made him stop voting, it stopped him from being politically active, it made him limit touring, it made him not trust his fans...

You want more...lol

the preaching and the idiotic statements that come out of it.

see the kevin smith interview and the comment about, 'well, since you don't live you life by the bible, you have no laws'

or

"i have gay friends... we read the bible together"

or the theocratic order crap

"goldstruck"

and so on.
[Edited 1/7/10 12:35pm]

Who gives a carrot's arse what religion or cult Prince belongs to? I don't!

USA = freedom of religion

And besides, he's a grown man from last I heard.
.
.
[Edited 1/7/10 12:40pm]

If Obama became a JW I'd impeach his ass.

There's absolutely nothing bad about it at all. If that's what works for him then that's great. People should learn to embrace, appreciate and respect diversity.

Bohemian67 said:

Funny you should say that, you do know that JW's often don't, right?

MacDaddy said:

So if someone sticks their head in the fire, you follow?

Bohemian67 said:

No I don't and I don't see what that statement has to do with my response to your post.

MacDaddy said:

The idea is that just because someone else is ignorant, intolerant, whatever...doesn't mean that you should be. Example: My Catholic neighbor maybe racist, sexist, homophobic, and venomous towards me. That doesn't mean all Catholics are. Nor does it mean that I should act that way towards my neighbor.

Seriously, I used to think that Prince fans would be more openminded about things, but the internet has proved me wrong.

There is some ill informed, ignorant, generalizations spewed out about people's beliefs/religion around here. I bums me out.


[Edited 1/7/10 16:47pm]

futurebaybeemama said:

The larger issue is that most artists have certain themes that resonate throughout their body of work. Prince's was the struggle between the desires of his flesh and the needs of his soul. Now that he's settled into a religion this interesting conflict has been resolved. (Whether it's a resolution that some of us are happy with or not is a seperate issue.) The real problem is that Prince hasn't successfully found a new artistic direction. He's trying to do what he did before, but the power and immediacy has been drained from it.

His music is still beautiful. It's the lyrics that have gotten stale, flat and repetitive.

JudasCorby said:

I felt the same way when I heard MPLS sound. Why should he keep doing what's already been done? Art is ever changing and growing. No true artist wants to move backwards on a hamster wheel.

skywalker said:

Thanks Skywalker once again for your clear level headed response.

After listening to the WBAI broadcast I would say Prince's new direction has taken him into another dimension with his music.

Maybe beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. Or in this case, the ear.
[Edited 1/9/10 0:20am]

I don't mind if Prince is a JW as long as he keeps it private and don't mixes it up with "the artist"!!!!

As I read in some comments before ( was IMHO ): Artists make their own directions without restrictions of belief or politics!!!!!

I wish Prince went back to his "normal" artist behaviour (including cursing and xplicit lyrics)

And kept his religion a little more 2 himself.....as I would believe in a persons believe....not if that one divorces all the time and has lovers by the dozen...

I don't mind if Prince is a JW as long as he keeps it private and don't mixes it up with "the artist"!!!!

As I read in some comments before ( was IMHO ): Artists make their own directions without restrictions of belief or politics!!!!!

I wish Prince went back to his "normal" artist behaviour (including cursing and xplicit lyrics)

And kept his religion a little more 2 himself.....as I would believe in a persons believe....not if that one divorces all the time and has lovers by the dozen...

Ooops, sorry, double post