I've always looked at Prince as the ultimate mixture of progressive US music culture and European style...

As a percentage, what do you think Prince is made up of ?, of course we only have 100% of music points to play with here.

I'm going to start of and say that Prince is at least made up of 30% ...James Brown

Do you agree? would you like to see an increase in the percentage ?

Let the games begin !

7 % Jehovah
77 % water*
7% dust*, magnesium* zink* iron* calcium* chrom*
7& Love
2% silence


*all ecoLogical

he is 100% universe (the sun, the moon and the sea).

to be honest i dont really see any James Brown elements in Prince at all imo

but i say:

Love
Dance
Music
Sex
Romance
Guitar
Piano

1980s:

20% Pop
25% Rock
15% New Wave
35% Funk
5% Jazz

1990s:

35% Pop
20% Rock
10% Hip Hop Extract
30% Funk
5% Jazz

2000s:

25% Pop
15% Rock
15% Jehovah-Core
10% Insular, Misinformed Lyrics
2% Funk
18% Funk Derivative
15% Jazz

2010s:

99% Shit
1% Hope

squirrelgrease said:

And there you have it

40% James Brown (Splits, screams, spins, anything musically, rhythmically or lyrically funk related, etc, etc.)
10% Santana (Tone and touch when playing distorted electric guitar)
10% Hendrix (Showmanship, rock compositions, effects and tone when playing distorted electric guitar)
10% Joni Mitchell (Color and lyricism in ballads and non-funk songs)
10% Assorted influences from everywhere (fashion, hip-hop, jazz, various artists)
5% His Father (work ethic, perfectionist, name, ???)
15% Himself

60% - Himself
5% - Chuck Berry
20% - James Brown - no doubt about it
5% - Jimi Hendrix
5% - Santana
5% - Miles Davis
[Edited 5/9/10 11:34am]

25% James Brown
25% Sly Stone
10% George Clinton
10% Jimi Hendrix
10% Santana
10% Marvin Gaye
5% Miles Davis
5% Stevie Wonder

squirrelgrease said:

HaHaHaHaHa

100% Dead ...On It!!!

interesting thread topic. i dont really c the marvin gaye....btw how can we forget littel richard??

id say

-40% himself
-15% jb
-15% little richard
-10% hendrix
-10% santana
-10% joni mitchell

I don't know the artists well enough, so I'd say musically:

25% rock
30% soul
25% jazz
20% funk

Prince as a whole:

25% writer/lyric composer
25% singer
25% musician
25% producer/performer

Though in the latter category it doesn't make sense just 25%.

In terms of percentages?.....I can't say. I can only think of a few though:

James Brown (captain of the band)
Hall & Oates (with Prince's first couple of albums)
Bowie (in terms of daring outfits)
Hendrix (especially lately with the emotive guitar playing)
Little Richard (making piano playing look good as well as sound good of course)
Minnie Ripperton (- The falsettos, lots and lots of falsettos )



There are some albums where he is completely on his own terms and I can't find anything similar. Eg. The Parade album. If only there was another one like it!
[Edited 5/12/10 9:27am]

... great thread I'm diggin' the percentages

squirrelgrease said:

PatricioRey said:

Great mix and nice to see Lil' Stevie Wonder get some love. I would also throw in a bit of early Cameo - their late 70s stuff was very progressive. They combined New Wave elements and hard Funk before anyone as far as I know, and their (sometimes) unique way of arranging funk workouts showed up on a lot of early P records. I'd give Rick James a little love in this regard as well, but in the final analyisis Cameo was a far more sophisticated funk act. It's a shame they will forever been known as "the word up" group, because their early catalog trailblazed the idea of mixing underground "black" music with new wave and synth pop, and there is no doubt in my mind Prince was very aware of what Blackmon, Jenkins, and Leftenant were up to. P fans of the 80-82 era would do well to seek out "Secret Omen" or "Cameosis".


[Edited 5/12/10 10:24am]

statequest said:

Very nice