Maybe this topic has been posted here before, but honestly, I'm really confused about this : Prince is one of the best (if not the best) musicians of the last 30 years... But still, I can't figure out why he never got more awards, more number ones hits, and when I started collecting documents, and archvies about him, I was surprised to see that, besides "Purple Rain" he didnt sell as much as I thought he could (mostly platinum and gold, even in the 1980s!!)..

Yeah, I know figures/numbers doesn't really matter when it comes to "quality", but many many artists from the 80s had critical AND commercial success (Michael Jackson being the best example, as many rock/New Wave artist...)

IMAO (I mean, personal experience), it has a lot to do with his androgynous image : In the 'Purple Rain' days, it was the 'look', but after 1985 or so, people really started looking at him like he was some some freak, 'faggot'-looking weird black guy... And yet, he was still making great music, sometimes even better than 'Purple Rain' ('Sign O The Times/Parade) ...
I must admit, Even myself, this 'image' kept me away from any Prince CD/cassette... oooh, and that high pitch voice too (though I was a Michael Jackson stan, lol)

So what's your opinion? What makes Prince so underrated by the general public?

It's not important. This has been done to death.
[Edited 3/22/10 11:19am]

He's not THE best musician in the past 30 years, but he's up there.

In recent years, he's snubbed and talked shit about a lot of award committees. Why give a brat and a self-imposed hater anything?

The rest of your stuff about looks, voice, etc is just drivel.

Prince is an old artist who doesn't make music the mainstream is going to like or be interested in. I have people around me that are 25, and they barely, if at all, know about Purple Rain. He's not on their radar. His heyday is over. Letitgo.

Otherwise, as Marrk said,

ernestsewell said:

I dont know ernest... I usually agree with you on a lot of things.
But I honestly cant think of anyone thats a better "overall" musician. Is he the best guitarist? No. The best pianist? No. bass Player? No... But looking at the BIG picture instead of the small ones individually..Id have to say YES.

What artist that was so popular in 80s gets airplay on the mainstream these days? just bon jovie right? Mj's invincible singles didnt get a lot of mainstream. As for Prince being known by young people,i havent met too many who havent heard of him. Mostly,he's known for being gay or weird or just purple rain. Then i let them hear stuff like Get off and Black Sweat. They change their opinions then.

Record label..record label...record label!
If he were still with WB, Crimson and Clover would have been a top 10 hit. So would Chocolate Box, Dance 4 me, and dreamer.(assuming he released them as singles)
Until Prince starts throwing 100's of thousands of dollars at radio stations to get his music on "mainstream" radio, or signs another deal with MAJOR Label,
he will not be mainstream.

Keep it simple.
4 the most part, musicians in general aren't that big. What tops the charts the last few years? Hiphop and country music. Prince does not do either of those. In addition, how many "musicians" are "big"?

Graycap23 said:

I can think of one, matter in fact- the biggest one as of today. Lady Gaga.

JesusFreak said:

Let's see where she is in 30 years.

Prince has always been looked at as a freak. Even when he did PR. It was just that his music and the rest of popular music intersected at that moment so that what he was doing was not only the most accessible of his career but also exactly what was stylish in popular music of the time.

Those paths met again at other times (like Diamonds & Pearls) but never with the same intensity.

Now he's as respected as ever, but completely separate from mainstream popular music.

JesusFreak said:

See my point.....1.

NDRU said:

Which is a GOOD thing IMHO.

Genesia said:

... my sentiments exactly.

I know very little of her besides what someone says in passing. I watch America's Best Dance Crew and they spotlighted her music the other week or so ago.

People who still listen to the radio know who's being pushed and who isnt'. $ talks in the music "business". P's marketability is not for anyone under 25. He's been past that for a number of years. His music is more adult contemporary now even thought he doesn't play adult contemporary stylized music.

Graycap23 said:

yeah it was fine when mainstream music went his direction, like in 1982-1984, but when he went in the direction of popular music it was never as satisfying.

Genesia said:

Lol.....30 years? How about 30 months.

Prince was a mainstream staple on R&B radio from 1979 (if not possibly 1978) on up until 1984. He crossed over and was on mainstream pop radio from 1982 to 1984. He pulled himself out of the mainstream when he changed his style after "Purple Rain". However, even after he changed his style, a lot of his stuff still got mainstream R&B airplay on up through the "Batman" era of 1989. A lot of people dropped him in 1985 but he still got the R&B radio airplay, his stuff just wasn't loved as much as it was in the early 1980s.

In the 1990s, he had mainstream airplay on both pop and R&B radio with the "Diamonds and Pearls" album. After that, he only got a little airplay every now and then with a new slow jam on R&B radio on up to this day. Why? Because the 1990s changed everything. Unless you're doing shit hop or singing a bunch of dull adult contemporary type R&B, you aren't gonna get no airplay anymore. Also, with the shit hop era of the 1990s and the present, people became much more homophobic when it came to the appearance of who the entertainers were that they liked. If someone didn't look absolutely normal, ordinary, and dull, mainstream didn't like them anymore. Shit hop ruined a lot of stuff not just musically, but imagewise also.
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[Edited 3/22/10 13:31pm]

vainandy said:

I'd say this is true of the men, not necessarily of the women. But Prince's image has been more masculine, lately, too
[Edited 3/22/10 13:52pm]

ronnwinter said:

CallMeCarrie said:

.....and he would have less MONEY in his pockets.

Graycap23 said:

In the immortal words of Tricky....Honey, I don't care about that! I really don't!

(The question was why isn't he mainstream, not how to get Prince rich.)

CallMeCarrie said:

But the artist does.....

The musicology image was more masculine (a bit retro 70s funk). and he had success with that album?

...

Call My Name

Prince is still big in the mainstream, listen to any number of stations and you will hear I Wanna Be Your Lover, 1999, Kiss, maybe even Let's Work.

It's no different from any other aging star like Dylan, whose new music might get acclaim but is never going to be as popular as a part of culture as Blowin' in the Wind was.

NDRU said:

Flashback + Retro doesn't = Main stream. Prince is an "oldies" artist at this point.

ernestsewell said:

by that logic, Elvis is an underground artist
My point is simply that you can turn on a radio right now & still hear Prince. He is big in the mainstream, but his current music is just not popular.
But I think we're splitting hairs a bit

Why do we want him to be mainstream? Means his music would be liked by the twinks. Who wants that? The reason I hate American Idol is because they would never foster another creative person like Prince or Stevie.

NDRU said:

No, you're adding to what I said. I never said "underground", and I never said Prince wasn't once very mainstream friendly. You said things like "Kiss" and "1999" are still on the radio. Flashback and throwback channels do not make an artist mainstream. If that's the case, then every group in the world is mainstream all the time because everyone gets played at some point on a retro station. Top 40 stations aren't pulling out "Little Red Corvette" for any other reason than "Flashback Fridays" or something. He's NOT big in the mainstream. The mainstream is bitches like Rihanna, Leona Lewis, etc. Those people are popular because of what they ARE; Prince is popular because of what he WAS.

1. the "product" is too difficult to digest, every Prince album is not an easy package, in the 1980s Prince was releasing too much music for the mainstream to keep up with

2. "identification", Prince is such a strange guy, he's difficult to handle for the mainstream, not always a positive figure in the media, Prince was made into a weird person in the 80's

3. "lack of promotion", Prince is not putting his heart into promotion, it seems to bore him, he often loose interest in a project, jumping to the next project,

4. bad "connection to the fans", threats and lawsuits doesn't help, bad reputation, his sites aren't using the internet media good enough, the lack of downloads, I know the fams don't agree here.