I think Prince got bored with being a hard-rocker very early... I think he did his hardest stuff in 1979-1980 listening to some of the unreleased stuff...

If Prince had stuck with that, he'd just be known as another rocker in a long list... he's so much more than that.

I do think that when he does do hard rock... I'd like it stripped down... none of those R&B vocals like in Fury...

Dave1992 said:

+ 1.

Prince didn't get bored with being a hard-rocker - he didn't do it anywhere near long enough. And frankly, early in his career, he didn't do it very well.

The only way he could do hard-rock well (on album) is if he employed the services of a quality rock producer. Someone like Rick Rubin comes to mind. If Prince told Rick he wanted to make a hard-rock album, Rick could lead him down all the right roads.

And Purple Rain doesn't contain enough hard rock to be called a hard rock album. I agree with Eddie Trunk - it approaches hard rock territory but he didn't go all the way with it. "Let's Go Crazy", "Purple Rain", and "Computer Blue" are the only rock songs - the rest is pop. Awesome, quircky pop.