PurpleColossus said:

Interesting..... Go back and listen 2 Soft and Wet.

Graycap23 said:

I actually like Soft and Wet, but if you heard Soft and Wet in 1978 and thought "This guy is a Musical Genius" I don't really anyone could think that at that time.. I think with the release of 1999 back in 1982 is probably when people start thinking that he might be something special.

PurpleColossus said:

Lol.....

Graycap23 said:

Not sure what you find funny but ok?

PurpleColossus said:

What do I find funny? How another person can judge how music impacts another individual. Music does different things 2 different people at different times or not at all.

There has to be something you heard musically from this man that made it click in your head "This guy isn't just a mere artist, he's a certifiable genius" I think what elevated Prince from just "a guy who made some catchy songs" was the intro and the ending solo from When Doves Cry, I think that was the moment for me.Up til then I never heard a guitar solo of that magnitude on black radio before..that fact he could pull that off let me know he was far more advanced musically than anyone I've heard thus far.

Graycap23 said:

You know what I find funny? I am simply stating my opinion and your taking as If I am making some sort of "Judgment". Soft And Wet was good, but it was not something groundbreaking here, let's not kid ourselves. If you honestly believed that Prince was a musical genius after listening to that then good for you bud, I think your making it up that you thought that, just make yourself seem like you knew ahead all of us what Prince would become.

PurpleColossus said:

The judgement comment was not aimed at u.....but I see where this going.
Have a good one.

Gangstaglam said:

That is a pretty good example that you cited. When I want to prove to someone that Prince is the foremost genius in music, I put on When Doves Cry and shut up. Some 25 years after its release, it still blows everything else out of the water.

I personally recall being lambasted by friends when Dirty Mind was released and I called him a genius. I remember a friend of mine arguing that Stevie Wonder was a genius and Prince was just some fag in his drawers. We were young and he didnt get the entire concept of Prince. DIrty Mind was too new wave for him because through the 70s, the only black artist that did rock that anyone knew was Jimi Hendrix. Dirty Mind burst onto the scene in 1980 and was almost an entire decade ahead of its time. The fact that he did everything on the album was amazing - in fact, it still is. Uptown was my favorite song but I played that album for a solid year nonstop. It is the first historical milestone that indicated the genius that would be Prince.
[Edited 5/27/10 6:10am]

One word, Mountains!

I don't really buy that people knew he was a genius from the For You or Prince albums. Sure it was great music, solid, good song writing, good musicianship, but they weren't ground breaking. He wasn't really playing with sounds, putting a drum machine through a guitar pedal, or anything like that. They were just straight ahead pop albums. It really wasn't until Controversy that he started delving into new sounds, like on "Sexuality" or "Private Joy". But earlier? Nah.

watching him Play Drums on "Sign O the times" concert film... thinking, "Sh*T, U play Drums too?!"

..when he told Apps to jump in the lake..

ernestsewell said:

I know for me, the genius in these earlier albums comes from the fact that he was very young for what he was doing. He played just about everything solidly on those albums and displayed solid songwriting abilities while still in his teens. He also displayed a level of wisdom that you don't generally see in people that young. He was very mature, musically, for his age.

One word, Mountains!

Graycap23 said:

Not sure what you find funny but ok?

PurpleColossus said:

You're right though. There's no way a song like "Soft & Wet" would label someone instantly, esp when it's a first single and sounded like a lot of other stuff on the radio, as "genius". That's not to be diminishing to the song, but his genius wasn't even fully realized yet. His musicianship was there, and still grew, but the songwriting, experimentation, etc was still to be realized. I agree about the "inner fam" thing. It's a romanticized answer to say "I knew it from day one", but in reality, we didn't. "Soft & Wet" was a moderate hit at best, for a reason. The album really fit right into the generic pop market at the time. Nothing outstanding. It's a good piece of Prince history, no doubt.

I think 1981 is a good indication of when the general music buying public would begin to stand up and really start to take notice of the force that is PRINCE.

U would be much better off speaking 4 yourself. U can't speak 4 me.