Is it that Prince is only "loved" when he is doing what's expected of him by his fans?
I thought fans love "unconditionally" Otherwise, why call yourself a fan?
Right now, some of what Prince is doing or saying (or who he is associating with) is not making much sense, but this shouldn't be nothing new to a true Prince fan.
Prince has been known to put his all into whatever he believes in and then as soon as he gains interest in something, he quickly loses interest in it.
I believe that what going on with him (his last CD, Bria, Larry, etc) is just another phase that he is going through.
It is our obligation as fans to be supportive, in spite of his latest fascinations, because we know his potential to do better.
This is just how I feel, hate it or love it. but try not to be hostile in commenting on it.

Well, not to be hostile or naything...but Prince is not my child...therefore I do not have to love him *unconditionaly* or at all for that matter, not am I obligated to be anything.
I am a fan because I adore his music and think he is a rather fine looking human being..which I can very much appreciate And I support him because I want to...not because I have to
By the way...this is one darn ong "phase" he is going through

We're all haters, dude! The only true fan is Tame. And I doubt about that, because she said she can forget about 4 or 5 songs. This site is full of haters..

zaza said:

cucumber

chillichocaholic said:

Cabbage head!

maria1999 said:

love isn't a word you should use to describe someone Youve never actually spoken to. As for supporting him, I'd say my support is better for him than his support for paying fans (i.e the online support at lotu$£low€r.con)

People can be fans, have their own opinions of what's good and what's bad you know. He's not omnipotent, he's not the messiah, he doesn't care.

He's a product we buy into. If your favourite restaurant suddenly changed chef and started cooking average microwaved meals instead of neauvau cuisine, you'd be entitled to air your disappointment. So are we.

Bring back the old chef and I'll be the first in line to sing it's praises again.

Erik

erik319 said:

Nicely said

maria1999 said:

Well, some of us have unconditional "love" about certain things regarding Prince, but not necessarily "him" as an individual. I'm the type of fan who will never stop "loving" his music. I've studied him for years and feel a so-called "connection" with his musical skills, so I am not fair-weather towards his art.

I used to think I "loved him," but that was really me just "loving" his looks, and I've actually grown out of that, lol. I'm still a fan though.

zaza said:

I used to have "unconditional love" for Prince, used to....

that changed with a lot of disappointing releases (Emancipation and on ->) and also those actions from him... threats and lawsuits against fans.

I still love his old back catalogue 1978-95 with "unconditional love", the person he used to be was so coool

If Prince were only "loved" when he is doing what's expected of him by his fans, then he'd have NEVER been loved at all because he has NEVER done what's expected of him by his fans!

As for the fans "love unconditionally" and "obligation to be supportive" parts. I just checked the "How To Be A Good Fan For Dummies" handbook and it directed me to see the "How To Be A Good Dummy For Fams" handbook. Available late next month to those who sign up again for L3tUsFUOv3r.com.

I think that the word love has been taken wayyyy toooo literal here. It is in quotes for a reason. I was not saying that we should love Prince the way we love our relatives or especially not the way we love God. I am not, nor have I ever been, nor will I ever be confused for a fam. I am a fan of some of his music, and when I don't like what he's putting out, I still try to support his right to switch it up as he chose fit.
I, now , do realize that obligation and love may have been the wrong words to use in my thread, but I will continue to stand by the word support. I am only referring to his music, not him as a person. I have never met Prince and I don't really want to, because most of the time he comes off as arrogant. And who wants to met someone like that.
All of you have had good responses, with exception of "the fams for dummies" one, but I let that one slide. The one I like the most is where Prince is compared to a chef. I partially agree with that one. It is very frustrating to go to one of your favorite restuarants only to find a new chef. But,in this case,the chef hasn't changed...only his menu. As we all know, Prince changes his menu a lot. So, either you acquire a taste for the new stuff(that will be old stuff,shortly) or you fill-up on memories.
I will add this,because I know that somewhere in the thread it will come up. When a chef changes his menu, it is him changing it, not his pastry or sous chef. (That's me saying again that Larry Graham isn't to blame for this 'new' Prince.)
I appreciate those of you that comments without being sarcastic.

Also, in conclusion, I have never signed up for anything from Prince that requires me to pay money. In fact, I don't understand why anyone would pay hard-earned money to join a fanclub. I'll buy his CDs (brought his records and cassettes, and VHS) and DVDs, but that's all. I'm not about to chastise those who do, though, because I feel that they may be suffering enough. We have all done things that only make sense to us and had it backfire. For those people who continue to feel the need to criticize those that paid for whatever fansite, look in your past. What have you paid for that fell short of your expectations? Now, get over it.

Thank you Skywalker. I like how you managed to put it into perspective. That's what some people don't get. See, how you were able to address my question about paying for fanclub membership without being hostile. Now, I can understand your (and others') motive for paying. Just because I wouldn't do it, doesn't mean that you are crazy for doing it. Just as a musician is free to put out what they want, we are free to respond to it as we choose to.
I'm glad you didn't get offended by my comment. May there be more like you.

maria1999 said:

Nobody has criticised those who joined lotusflower.con. The criticism is squarely pointed at the website owners and Prince. They're the ones who took the money and didn't give any content.

If anything, people feel really sorry for those who parted with their hard earned cash. I know I do.

Erik

maria1999 said:

Larry isn't his sous chef. He's the one who bought Prince a new cook book full of shit recipes.

Erik

skywalker said:

As usual, refreshingly on-point and succint

its never been the DIRECTION or style that pisses off prince fans ... he can do his classical opera or christian lite jazz or whatever as long as its good .. thats the direction that does not work .. when the tune lyrics all of it are just crap ... like that guitar song or his last 10 records or whatever .. prince can be as crazy or tame as he wants and i am still interested but a lazy preprogrammed template song hes song 100 times before and much better is unacceptable and a true fan will let him know when his shit stinks ...
p fuckin u

Larry may have brought him the recipe book, but it was solely Prince who followed the recipe ingredient by ingredient and put the dishes on the menu. Remember, no one said, we have to enjoy them.

maria1999 said:

Aah, so he's deliberately releasing shite on purpose? That would explain it, thanks.


Erik

I, personally, did not find anything on this last CD collection that interested me. I'm not knocking those who did, because obviously more of you did then didn't enjoy some aspects of the collection. Prince does what feels/sounds good to Prince. When he released his latest creation, he didn't do so to "turn his fans off" That's just what happened. So, to answer the last statement, erik, no I don't think so.

maria1999 said:

What's say we send him in some new recipes Maria? What's the address for Paisley Park?

Erik

Fans don't love unconditionally, that's what fams do. Fans want to hear the type of music they want to hear and don't give a damn whether it makes the artist happy or not because their goal when buying music is to make themselves happy. That's not just fans of Prince, that's fans of any artist.

Vainandy, could you please read all of the posting before commenting. I've already address why I said what I about four or five postings ago. I saw that a lot of people got really literal with what I had said. So, I rephrased it. Yes, everyone in the world of entertainment (artists and fans) do thing according to what make them feel good. I just saying that we should support the artist's choices, unconditionally. Never to the point of hero worship, which where some of you think I'm going with this. I'm a fan, not a fam. I don't know how many more times and in how many more ways I can say this. I don't/won't always agree with Prince (not that it matters), but as a fan I am going to try to see past the bad choices he makes. I'm not one for the bandwagon. In other words, I am not a fair weather fan.

Uh uh, erik. I don't know the address to paisley park. And besides, too many people already think I'm a fam anyway. I don't want to encourage them any further.
You're funny though.

P.S. It's not like Prince will even appease us enough to open the damn book, anyway.

I do support Prince with whatever inspires his music and when I have the opportunity to hear the music.

I wonder how Prince is, but I never try to wonder what his feelings are for things or people that I know very little about. To Love Prince, is 2 trust that he is living his life the way God created him to.

maria1999 said:

I'm not at all sure what you're getting at. What defines a true fan as opposed to fair weather fans in your opinion? People tend to support what they like and not support what they don't without regard to some artbitrary standard. Could you clarify?

Just what we needed: another thread to go with the other 50,000 on the same damn subject.

For the record, we are not obligated to do jack. If Prince makes a crappy song, we are obligated to tell him the truth. I will not be a blind follower to anyone. I am not obligated to sit here and accept the crappy customer service from the Lotus site. I am not obligated to sit here and be content that Prince sues some of his fans or issues former bandmates cease and desist orders or gets pissy when a baby dances to a song on youtube.

Unconditional love? What?

....Unless Prince revealed himself to be a long lost family member or alternatively started to play for the Geelong Football Club.....

I'm not sure which one's more likely? Strangely I think it's the former.