Tell me something. At the end of the year 1986, how many copies of Parade sold in the USA? Compare it to the sales of other superstar acts of 1986. Is that an indicator of how much people adored the album? I adored it. Hardcore Prince fans adored it. In the US, people stayed away from it in droves. I blame the movie. As far as videos being played on TV...that's promotion, that's a commercial.

Also...dude, The Art of Musicology was broadcast all over the world simultaneously on 3 huge music networks. So what? Prince is a superstar. Compare the size of the audience for Lovesexy Live to the Superbowl. I'd argue Prince made a bigger cultural impact playing for a few minutes at half time than he did with Lovesexy being broadcast live. In the USA, without a doubt.





I never said that no one cared about Prince in the 80's, or that he wasn't at his peak then. I am just saying that, the ENTIRE world wasn't as into Prince as his fanbase was. Again, he wasn't selling Michael Jackson, Madonna, or Bruce type of numbers.

Yes, he was one of the biggest superstars on the planet. He still is. What's your point? It's not like no one shows up when he has a concert. It's not like all of his albums in the USA since 2004 haven't charted...most in the top 10. Again, all I am saying is that people view their past/the past and Prince with rose tinted glasses a good deal of the time.




Not some easy pop shit? Many pop acts in the 80's would broadcast a live concert. Yeah, Lovesexy was mind blowing. But, the fact that it was broadcast LIVE wasn't revolutionary by any stretch of the imagination.



Not sure what your point is with this? Does this make it more of a "golden era" to you? Prince played most of "The Gold Experience" on that tour, and most of on the ACT I tour. I don't see what you are getting at?



Is there a kind of PR that isn't phony?

To me, having an MTV contest/premiere in Sheridan Wyoming, and playing in a hotel wedding hall is fairly whorish and not authentic at all. To me, there was nothing about Emancipation that was as embarrassing as seeing Prince with the Wyoming woman, or that god awful fucking movie. I love Parade, but really the only lasting cultural impact that matters to more than just Prince fans is "kiss" and Kristin Scott Thomas.
[Edited 1/21/10 7:48am]

skywalker said:

4 me I can say I know that was his golden era, I felt that living in that moment, the time was just exciting, I loved all of it, + there was the protege music/acts of the 80's. The output was just crazy, the performances, the people involved, it's never been since

OldFriends4Sale said:

Well, that's my whole point. The "golden era" is idea that is hinged almost entirely on personal outlook/experience. For me, 2004-now IS another "Golden era". Also, in the late 90's I was going to Paisley Park every weekend to see Prince do his thing...I would consider that "a golden era" as well.

I stand by my point, that even if Prince dropped his best album tomorrow...none of us would agree on that and people would still complain about something. As they did in the 80's, as they do now...

BartVanHemelen said:

Well, there's no question about that, it's obvious, and I wasn't trying to say opposite in my comment, that wasn't the main point.



Well, for your information 3121 was top-1, Musicology was top-3 (and in top-5 in all major countries), LotusFlow3r was top-2 (but only missing a few hundred copies from the top spot, it was just a bad luck), even Planet Earth was top-3! And regarding the overall quantity of sold copies and the longevity of staying on top positions in charts, I don't think that would be really surprising for you to know, that everything in show-biz like... change! It's freakin' 2000s, no one's buying a damn CDs, the goddamn plane had crushed into the mountain!

And again, I wasn't trying to say that Prince was crappy in 1980s and that he is fantastic and much better today. I was simply trying to point out that obviously Prince is never going to be that huge again (and not only because of the quality of his music and song writing, but for the whole variety of different reasons), but anyway that doesn't mean that he is doing only crap today, and yes I'm confident that late 2000s are going to be specified as another "golden era" of Prince, absolutely yes, but different golden era, and I don't see any problem here.

We've had:
Diamonds and Pearls
Gold
Never Silver
Maybe Platinum

"Can we expect a new "golden" era from Prince?"


No.

Surprise, surprise, the devoted believe virtually every era was and is a 'golden' one. 1980-1988 was Prince's Golden Era and he's not due for another. He hasn't made a vital album since 1988--and even that's questionable, I'm not sure how essential Lovesexy is, better to cap it all off with Sign O The Times--and at best has released a handful of above mediocre recordings since. He flirted with a renaissance around the time of the Gold experience but never quite delivered and it's been all Larry Graham and brain washed blather since.

Who in their right mind is still playing Lotusflower or MPLS Sound other than the mindless minions here at the org? Has a grown man ever recorded anything as embarrassing as Chocolate Box? Or whatever that atrocity was that opened the album.

In short, no, you cannot expect anything but more capable live shows with a solid backing band and more by the numbers, trend chasing pop drivel from Prince.

Wall said:

Question: How old are you? Old enough to have lived through "Jughead"?

BartVanHemelen said:

He's played plenty of new stuff live, you must have missed it.

From the Lotusflow3r set
Colonized Mind
Dreamer
Feel Better Feel Good
Dance 4 Me
No More Candy 4 U
Old School Company
Crimson & Clover
Love like Jazz,
All This Love
Elixer

From Planet Earth
Planet Earth
Guitar
Somewhere Here on Earth
The One U Wanna C
Chelsea Rodgers

From 3121
3121
Lolita
Te Amo Corazón
Black Sweat
Satisfied
Fury
Get On the Boat

And that's just stuff I've seen or heard myself, there's probably more. Not too bad for someone that 'doesn't even rehearse the new songs'!
[Edited 1/21/10 16:42pm]

Superficial said:

Ya'll would'nt happen to be employed by Wb's are u?
I would disagree and I'm sure Prince would these days too!

Dear Skywalker,

I'm glad 2 notice U've enjoyed this last decade as much as the 80's or the 90's
and it's a good thing that Prince has top 3 albums in the US.
Also in European countries his albums got in2 the top 3,
I remember 3121 was nr 3 in Belgium and Planet Earth and Musicology were
in the top5.

But if we're talking about impact, well allthough his albums were in the charts a lot of people didn't know he HAD a new album out.
Musicology got some attention because it was called his comeback but
we didn't hear a lot of the new songs on the radio,
And I listen 2 several radio channels; pop/rock,AOR and an Alternative radio station. Only the last one played Fury a lot.

U know what a lot of radiostations did? They said Prince had a great new album
and then they played...Cream or Kiss!!!!!
It's a fact that Prince is bigger in the US today than in Europe,
but also in Europe he is still considered as a genius, a superstar
but they only play his classics.

Talking about Lovesexy; he sold more copies here than in the US of that album.
In fact, it was his biggest selling album after PR!!
Prince was huge in Europe those days,bigger than in the US.
Purple Rain, ATWIAD,Parade,SOTT,Lovesexy were very succesfull overhere..
remember how Prince loved it in Europe those days and felt he was more appreciated !!

It just shows that some albums were more succesfull in Europe, others in the US
or outside the US!!
Batman was huge in the US, not so in Europe.

I also want 2 add: when songs got more airplay we get the impression something
is succesfull, and the more we hear them, the more we (sometimes) start 2
like them. And years later we got so many great memories from those songs....and that is something that doesn't happen anymore with new Prince songs.
Only if we play them in our car or at home.
I guess, as a fan, U still can have a golden era if U play his albums
and like his new stuff.
I love the 80's untill '95 and I consider the period with the release of ONA...Live untill 3121 as my 2nd favourite little golden era
[Edited 1/22/10 2:20am]
[Edited 1/22/10 2:24am]

Maybe a new Purple and Golden era.


He still does good music, but his problems with staying focused and not knowing how to fit his own production ideologies to contemporary ones seem to run rather deep. It's realistic to expect a number of his future projects sticking their heads above the rest, but I wouldn't expect a great streak of "classics" anymore.

He simply needs to look at how David Bowie approached his own output when he hit the 5th decade of his own musical career. That's just my take on it.

Not after that Vikings song, no.

novabrkr said:

this made me laugh, thank you...

Aslong as Prince puts something out in the near future, that makes me happy.

After Lotusflow3r its evident he still has a lot left in the tank as well as a lot of material held hostage in his vault.

New era would be awesome. On the other hand it doesn't feel needed. By looking back and revisiting his past glory, doesn't really ever seem to get tired.For instance watching Sign o the Times can still give you that "kick" that you got when you first saw it!

Guess what I am trying to say is that in my opinion his work holds an incredibly amount of longevity. A Golden Era from Prince and him gunning for the charts would be a big wake up call to the music industry. Theres some great talent out there now but quite frankly some are awful and Prince should join the fray too highten the standard and quality of music that makes the air waves

Survival of the fittest!
[Edited 1/22/10 6:33am]

Dear Paisley4U,

Thanks you for the kind and civil response. Let me respond to each of your points.

Usually, I am do not point to the charts as an indicator of anything important. They reflect promotion and popularity. However, in trying to illustrate that a "golden era" is largely a matter of personal opinion, I pointed out Prince's recent chart success to illustrate that many of his new albums are charting higher than his classics of the 80's. For example, how high did 1999 chart in Belgium?



Question: How were his albums on the charts if a lot of people didn't know about them? Does an album have to be popular/well known to be good or considered part of a "golden era"? Check it out: Look at Europe's response/reaction to Prince's albums from Dirty Mind to Purple Rain. Fairly lackluster, right? Does that diminish the awesomeness of those albums? No. To me, it is the same with albums like 3121, etc.



The fact that Prince's newer stuff is played less on the radio than his old stuff is not lost on me. 2 thoughts about that:
1. It is no coincidence that, once Prince left WB, his days of having his new stuff played on the radio were over. Make no mistake, radio play is not about fan requests and actual popularity, it is about promotion. You have to pay to get played on the radio. The more corporate muscle behind and album, the more likely it is to be everywhere. It's a sort of false popularity. The more people that stand to make money from an album, usually the more press it gets, the more copies it sells.

2. Prince is "bigger" in the US. But, only because he chooses to be. More than anything, promotion shapes public perception of who is "big" or not. When you see Prince on TV, hear him on the radio, see him on magazines, etc...it shapes public perception. Unfortunately, being "big" usually has little to do with art or quality of art. It has to do with promotion and $$$.



The fact that albums like Lovesexy and Parade were huge in Europe is not lost on me. I am well aware that those albums did well in Europe, even thought they were duds in the USA.

This leads to what you were talking about, "the impression of something (being) successful.."




This is my entire point. Fans will NEVER collectively agree on what a "golden era" is.
It seems as if only when the promotion machine in turning (like it was in 2004) we come close to collectively agreeing on a "golden era" because Prince's face/music is out there in the public with tv/tours/radio/etc.

As you said, Prince's Lovesexy era was "golden" in Europe. However, itwas not widely celebrated in the USA...it was a dud. It is all about perception.

One person's Lovesexy is another person's New Power Soul. So if all we have is promotional such as radioplay, charts, and tv appearances to gauge a "golden era" I am afraid we are all going to have differing ideas of what that means. Personally, I enjoyed 2004 as a Prince fan a hell of a lot more than I enjoyed 1986 or 1991, etc.
[Edited 1/22/10 7:11am]

After the newest release of the fight song... it will be an age of "golden showers" for him.

I believe purple and gold has answered that question

No.

After his Viking's fight song embarrassment, my answer is hell to the no!