From following the man's music over many years and seeing his changes of attitudes towrds his raunchy lyrics and swearing, I wonder if the "dirty Prince" was all an act and the "good Prince" that he is now was what he has always been.
(I'm not saying whether he was truly dirty or good I'm just refering to the 2 different sides of Prince)

The Black Album/Lovesexy is one example of him at the time knowing what was "bad" and what was "good" and portraying those opposites to us so we can somehow learn from that.
To then "slip" back into dirty lyrics and swearing seems odd if it was not an act.

Even far back in the Purple Rain tour, after singing a "dirty" song he had a conversation with God (similar to at the end of Around The World In A Day) where he was saying he was sorry for being bad and launched into the song 'God'.

He is a genius and maybe crafted his whole career in order to teach us right from wrong in the (fake and true) personas known as Prince.

Also I think part of the "act", if it were one, was to get himself noticed.
He said in an interview that's why he went on stage in women's underwear!

swdee said:

he did say on the tavis interiew that he dressed the way he dressed to be flashy and act confident because he had such low self esteem at school and he was being teased

Prince said in an interveiw that the "Dirty Mind" years, alot of it was to gain attention, and to get himself noticted.

Dirty Prince? That simply will not do. I shall organise him a bed bath immediately.

... as an artist I'd say 60% of that was him showing off and 40% of it was for other reasons. Think about it, he's an artist, he was young and he was doing what he wanted unchecked and approached. I was wildin' out when I was in my 20's too.

Rinluv said:

Here is my take. Once he came out with that image, too bad, he had to stick with it. He is spiritual as well but that contradicted his persona so when he tried to show it people found it hard to take that seriously.

Im sure it was trying to be in serious relationships when women expected one thing but in real life got something very different. Maybe he is afraid to show his true self give it all to one, and thats why his love's dont last?

Maybe he's used to running a perfected routine with each new fling and when the box of chocolates run out he moves on to fresh eyes and ears to do it all over again. Like sex. His music is not routine and will last forever because he puts love into it, not just sex.
[Edited 12/2/09 14:06pm]

A Middle-aged man's viewpoint of his youthful self is interesting, but shouldn't be the final word, it's seen through a particular prism just like any other opinion.

I beleive that everyone is a sexual being that is looking for love.

To be on stage and vibrant, vital and healthy in your twenties...is much stronger than the man or woman at forty or fifty and on in years.

I believe that Prince has always been a spiritual person and honoring "Our Father."

Toning and Taming down just comes with age...

Emotionally I believe Prince will always have a sexy desire to please a woman and be pleased with her.

Tame said:

Please "the" woman or please women in general?

seems like an exaggerated reflection of the state of mind(dirty) he had during the era.

He was a horny young 19 year old witha record deal and getting respect for his talents from across the board. He did what most kids his age would've done. Used it to bag hot chicks and then write songs about said bagging of hot chicks! he wasn't "dirty" per se just writing about what was around him at the time sex, music, people having sex to music, Uptown, Lisa, etc.. Now he's in a different world for a myriad of reasons(2 marriages, 1 annulment, 1 divorce, loss of a child, new friends, the greater influence of religion). He still got that wild 19 year old in him but in a "look back at it" kind of way. Not a "where's my thong?" kind of way.

if it was it worked he got alot of attention for it thats for sure

In context and at those times, Prince's persona was "the order of the day". In order to be noticed and to compete, the outlandish attire was normal considering what others were wearing and doing on stage. But yes as a young person, impressionable with fame, fortune and youth it was probably easy to grasp the "rewards" of the era.

I think in the beginning it was real. Later on tho, especially by the time songs like Gett Off and Sexy MF came along it seemed to be exaggerated to the point that it was more of an image thing and not so much "this is how I am in real life" thing.

I always thought his song Dinner With Delores addressed this, in a vague Princey way. In that song he says words to effect of "if all you want is sex you're looking in the wrong place", if you apply that to the music he was making at the time, that would indeed be the case.

swdee said:

We all put on many faces and wear many personnas in our lives (whether we wear women's undies or not!) We all have good and bad qualities...and the older you get, the more of those "faces" you wear and then exchange for another... I don't think that P's being "dirty" was all an act...he was feeling free and sexual during a young period in his life, just as I did at that time (although not so blatantly!) He's no more fake than I am because he shifted gears as he got older... Man, I swear if anyone one of our lives on this org were put under such a microscope as P's has (don't even mention MJ), what kind of funky organisms would people find growing there?

HonestMan13 said:

well said!

yes it was an act...cuz the real princey be much dirtier.

yeah... i knew him before he crossed the track...

Prince has always strayed away from the boring normality. It was quoted that the movie Purple Rain sent a message that being weird is cool. Of course being different attracts allot of attention. What I love about his career is how hes transitioned his appearance. Despite doing his own thing, hes freshened his look to adapt to the times. Prince from Dirty Mind, Graffiti Bridge and Emancipation seem very diverse in comparison. Prince pretty much flaunted his mood in a point blank fashion and utilised it as a gimmick.

Is anybody's work of art "just an act?"
Why are we supposed to equate the on-stage performing Prince and the "I" from which some songs are written with the man himself?
Did Prince try to cultivate a persona of being dirty in his personal life? No. And should his music or anyone's music only be autobiographical reportage?
Art is creation, a production, where nothing is more ridiculous than the democratic notion that art is a matter of idiosyncratic self-expression, or amputation of the self.

Matron said:

kinky, much????...

Manbearpig said:

Your name is Manbearpig. Just saying.

Nikademus said:

I was gonna say something simlar. I think that the eighties image, though consciously manipulated, represented something genuine or that at least struck a genuine chord. The Prince character was playing out an interesting story. For me, D&P kinda threw that all away. It all seemed to be false posturing and no longer playing out an interesting meta-textual story. The symbol album went back to the former, and the name change kinda took it to the extreme, but for me it was too late. The cover was blown (plus the Hits package helped witht he disintegration).

Since then, the Prince persona is kind of non-contiguous. There's the pre-90 Prince. The post-93 Prince. The post 97 Prince The post-2001 Prince and the post-2004 Prince.

In the eighties the persona enhanced the music, but then it kinda got lost.

minneapolisFunq said:

my thoughts exactly

Nah, I think that spiritual goody goody Prince was all an act.
He always rubber bands back to that 'dirty' ish on some level.
He's inherently dirty.
Just sayin'.

PopcornFetus said:

Which is the greater threat to humanity? Manbearpig, or PopcornFetus?

Just asking.

If he was really "good" back then, he would have never gotten dirty. Truly "good" people don't do such things....unless they're Republicans.

Manbearpig said:

Popcorn Fetus is a delicious crispy treat. And I have never specified the species of fetus I coat in batter, deep fry and consume.
[Edited 12/21/09 22:17pm]

PopcornFetus said:

Sounds yummy. I'd eat it no matter what species. I'm not a speciesist.

Just different sides of the same person. I understand it perfectly a there is no one dimension to any person.