Let's face it; Prince's first album after the farewell of The Revolution, SOTT, was not a big hit; Lovesexy was a failure; Batman was a huge hit because of the movie (like it or not), GB was , if I'm not mistaken, not very successful and D&P was a hit because of the singles (nobody truly cared about the NPG anyway). Love Symbol's sales were a "disappointment", and ughh, everything after that sucked in terms of sales (Emancipation being the exception, mainly because of the "false" platinum disc affair)

Musicology and 3121 were successful, but could have been bigger (despite 3121 being a Nº1 album) and PE and LF/MPLS have both flopped.

So, let's face it folks: Prince needs the Revolution if he wants to be as successful as he was during the mid-80s.

It seems that Prince, like some other solo artists that started or achieved fame with a band (Sting, Springsteen, etc.) is still remembered, by the mainstream masses, as that guy of the Purple Rain movie who had that cool band called The Revolution.

In my case, I don't give a damn if Prince resurrects the Revolution (it won't happen, anyway), but I'm sure that the comeback would be HUGE.

Thoughts?

JoeTaylor, you brave, crazy fool

Watch out, the Fammies will enter in 4, 3, 2, 1....

MacDaddy said:

JoeTaylor, you brave, crazy fool

Watch out, the Fammies will enter in 4, 3, 2, 1....

In my defence, I wanna say that we're talking ABOUT SALES & POPULARITY here, not the quality of the music that Prince has released since 1987...

[Edited 5/31/10 15:13pm]

mmm yes the revolution's is so good

[img:$uid]http://www.gifsoup.com/view/342314/reeses-o.gif[/img:$uid]

JoeTyler said:

Let's face it; Prince's first album after the farewell of The Revolution, SOTT, was not a big hit; Lovesexy was a failure; Batman was a huge hit because of the movie (like it or not), GB was , if I'm not mistaken, not very successful and D&P was a hit because of the singles (nobody truly cared about the NPG anyway). Love Symbol's sales were a "disappointment", and ughh, everything after that sucked in terms of sales (Emancipation being the exception, mainly because of the "false" platinum disc affair)

Musicology and 3121 were successful, but could have been bigger (despite 3121 being a Nº1 album) and PE and LF/MPLS have both flopped.

So, let's face it folks: Prince needs the Revolution if he wants to be as successful as he was during the mid-80s.

It seems that Prince, like some other solo artists that started or achieved fame with a band (Sting, Springsteen, etc.) is still remembered, by the mainstream masses, as that guy of the Purple Rain movie who had that cool band called The Revolution.

In my case, I don't give a damn if Prince resurrects the Revolution (it won't happen, anyway), but I'm sure that the comeback would be HUGE.

Thoughts?

Seems like U don't know what a successful album is. SOTT had three top ten hits.Prince has released over 30 albums in his long career. U expect each one of them to sell over 6 million. U got to be kidding me. No artist can release that many albums in that short period and each one is a mega seller.

I am so sick of people saying The Revolution needs to be back for Prince to sell or be relevant again. Prince wrote and produced all his songs. Revolution or not. Times change. No artist sells like they use to.

[Edited 5/31/10 15:07pm]

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

...

I am so sick of people saying The Revolution needs to be back for Prince to sell or be relevant again. Prince wrote and produced all his songs. Revolution or not. Times change. No artist sells like they use to.

Just one word: MADONNA

No, he doesn't need the Revolution. Most people can't even name anyone in the band besides Lisa and Wendy, and most of those people can't even tell the difference between the two.

Prince was a multi-platinum artist before The Revolution and he's been one long after they disbanded.

Prince wrote a lot of great songs with the Revolution (Wendy and Lisa to be precise) but he also wrote some of his best songs WITHOUT any involvement from the Revolution, and don´t forget that today´s youth doesn´t really care about Prince or any other musician his age.

It would like an oldie band´s reunion....some middle aged folks and music critics would probably be ecstatic, some wouldn´t really care, and all in all, it would look like a desperate attempt to be in the charts again.

That success had a lot to do with various factors such as zeitgeist, the 1980s, a very strong work ethic, the urgency of youth, his peers at the time, the state the music industry was in, his creative peak, and of course a certain chemistry that they had.

I´m all for a reunion if the chemistry is right and if there´s some creative drive behind it but other than that, I doubt that a reunion would change anything.

Prince is a very well-established star and I don´t think that reuniting with Bobby,Mark or the Dr. would really make a difference. And we´ve already seen that performing with Sheila E., Lisa and Wendy at the Brit Awards a couple of years ago didn´t really bring any drastic change in his career directions.

It probably would have made a difference ten or fifteen years ago,when a lot of casual fans were eagerly anticipating it....but these days? Most of the CD-buying demographic don´t even know who Prince is, let alone the Revolution..

As I said above, the chemistry is what matters the most. I don´t hang around with folks I used to spend time with in , say, 1995. So why should Prince, who is one of the most mercurial musicians ever, still hang around and record music with people he used to spend time with from 1983-1986?

[Edited 5/31/10 15:26pm]

Prince is a big enough star without all that stuff going on.

Prince should stick with the younger guys and girls.

Who wants to see a buch of fat ageing Rev members trying to shake it like it's the 80's?

I don't think prince can ever reach the status he was at in the mid 80s, no matter what he does. The fact of the matter is, the younger generation dictates who is cool & who isn't... & a 51 year old simply can't be cool. He's of their parents generation & everyone knows that it's pretty uncool to like what your parents like no matter how good their taste might be! Very few people have ever maintained their peak level of popularity over the years & for most it's simply unachievable. It's a miricle 3121 was a number 1 album!

People like Hendrix, John Lennon etc only remain as popular as they are because they died before their time & will always have that "what if" aspect to them that keep people interested. Then there's people like MJ who went from that cute child star who young kids could relate to & the older generations found adorable, then to the trendy edgy guy who the teenagers could relate to & then to the "king of pop, those where the days" who the older generations could relate to. Then there's madonna... god knows how she's still as popular as she is despite the fact that most people I know can't stand the woman!

Besides, even though I'd love for Prince to do a new album with the revolution, I think it might have that cheesy comeback approach that would look desperate and insincere to most people & would ultimatley do more harm than good when it comes to his public image...

I think Prince's recent music is great, I listen to it just as much as the old stuff, he's still selling out arenas, still getting spots on popular talk shows, still getting on the high end of the charts & selling a suprising amount of records considering he's doing everything pretty much independantley... overall I think he's doing pretty damn good, revolution or not!

No.

Christopher said:

mmm yes the revolution's is so good

[img:$uid]http://www.gifsoup.com/view/342314/reeses-o.gif[/img:$uid]

Is that the person in that gif with the large red Kool-Aid cup? I thought that was a woman!

And to Joe: Nah, man. I honestly can't imagine how they would sound together today. It would be a bit too nostalgic. And, I think they would make him appear even older as well, which would not really appeal to the young crowds that would be needed to make him a "star again."

He's shown he can make good records and draw crowds with The Revolution. The mid 90's stripped-down NPG was a fantastic muse and vehicle for him.

I do think he's foolish for not putting it all back together for the 20th or 25th anniversary of 1999 or Purple Rain. Put together Roadhouse Garden or SOMETHING, make a couple of videos, do a PPV concert, and leave it at that. Lil bit of everything that doesn't drag out a lot, but is enough to give a shot of "OMG" into his career, which he's not had in ages.

He'll probably never do it, but he should have by now. Just once, not forever, not for even a year. Just SOMETHING. The best we have is the Brit Awards, the 2000 celebration, and the Tavis "Reflection" performance.

He'll always be a star, but would it put him out there in a huge way all over again? Sure, it probably would. I would hpoe that his JW/anti-homo stance isn't what's really keeping him from doing it. It doesn't seem that likely because he's played with W&L a few times in recent years. Eh....who knows.

I'm 22, i've been a fan since primary school. my answer to your question is that at secondary school most kids had no idea who he was and now, they do. i'm at university and so i mix with many many different people of my age every day. most people i meet (18-25) know Prince, well, generally they know 'kiss' 'thmgitw' 'guitar' and 'musicology'.. sometimes 'Black Sweat'. Most don't know 'purple rain' although a few associate the phrase with Prince. The work that most seem to know is post-revolution Prince.. and even if they knew songs by Prince and the revolution they most certainly couldn't pick the revolution out of a line up visually or musically. Most didn't even know Prince has a backing band, be it the rev or the npg. So if he was looking to boost sales in my age group (teens/twenties) whether or not he was to get back with the band would make no difference. Also, to the people I know, prince is a big star, they all ask me when they see his symbol round my neck 1. why he did it 2. is he gay 3. did he remove any ribs and 4. what other songs has he made besides the above 4 or 5.. when you begin to drop names at least half of them go 'he did that?' i mean he is seen as a bit odd but is respected among my age group and is respected as a star, in fact, most hadn't heard of him until his resurge in popular culture with musicology and then his planet earth tour/giveaway. so to most people i know, prince is a bigger star in the last few years than he was back in the mid-80s. and i really wouldn't say prince ever stopped being a star, but he became recognised as hip again, and picked upon by people not exposed to him before between 2004-2007.. so no, prince doesn't NEED the revolution. if he WANTS them, then that's different. Perhaps for the over 40s then the rev would make more of a difference as that's who prince was when they first got into him, but for the people i know, of my age group, prince's star was actually at it's highest in the last 5 years of this decade, not 25 years ago like so many people round here seem to think.. either way i don't believe prince needs anyone musically.

To be honest, I think The Revolution is why P's star dimmed in the 80s. Let's be honest, if he hadn't released ATWIAD and released an album (not purple rain 2) but with some of the great stuff he had (She's Always In My Hair, kept The Dance Electric for himself) and actually promoted it, it woud've been much bigger than AWTIAD. And funny you want to cite SOTT as a failure, if I recall, I don't think Parade fared much better. The only song that got the mainstream into that album (Kiss) has very very little to just about no revolution involvement at all. So simply put, nope.

MajesticOne89 said:

To be honest, I think The Revolution is why P's star dimmed in the 80s. Let's be honest, if he hadn't released ATWIAD and released an album (not purple rain 2) but with some of the great stuff he had (She's Always In My Hair, kept The Dance Electric for himself) and actually promoted it, it woud've been much bigger than AWTIAD. And funny you want to cite SOTT as a failure, if I recall, I don't think Parade fared much better. The only song that got the mainstream into that album (Kiss) has very very little to just about no revolution involvement at all. So simply put, nope.

Parade did fine. "Girls and Boys" was all over BET in 1986, as was "Kiss" (on MTV, etc). "Anotherloverholenyohead" had good airplay on TV as well. "Kiss" was #1 for a reason. It was covering radio like a snow storm.

Whoever says SOTT was a failure wasn't paying attention.

ernestsewell said:

He's shown he can make good records and draw crowds with The Revolution. The mid 90's stripped-down NPG was a fantastic muse and vehicle for him.

I do think he's foolish for not putting it all back together for the 20th or 25th anniversary of 1999 or Purple Rain. Put together Roadhouse Garden or SOMETHING, make a couple of videos, do a PPV concert, and leave it at that. Lil bit of everything that doesn't drag out a lot, but is enough to give a shot of "OMG" into his career, which he's not had in ages.

He'll probably never do it, but he should have by now. Just once, not forever, not for even a year. Just SOMETHING. The best we have is the Brit Awards, the 2000 celebration, and the Tavis "Reflection" performance.

He'll always be a star, but would it put him out there in a huge way all over again? Sure, it probably would. I would hpoe that his JW/anti-homo stance isn't what's really keeping him from doing it. It doesn't seem that likely because he's played with W&L a few times in recent years. Eh....who knows.

Despite my earlier comment, i am thinking that what you have suggested would not be all that bad after all.

A handful of gigs, a dvd, and maybe even an e.p type release would be cool.

So long as it did'nt drag on and on.

ernestsewell said:

MajesticOne89 said:

To be honest, I think The Revolution is why P's star dimmed in the 80s. Let's be honest, if he hadn't released ATWIAD and released an album (not purple rain 2) but with some of the great stuff he had (She's Always In My Hair, kept The Dance Electric for himself) and actually promoted it, it woud've been much bigger than AWTIAD. And funny you want to cite SOTT as a failure, if I recall, I don't think Parade fared much better. The only song that got the mainstream into that album (Kiss) has very very little to just about no revolution involvement at all. So simply put, nope.

Parade did fine. "Girls and Boys" was all over BET in 1986, as was "Kiss" (on MTV, etc). "Anotherloverholenyohead" had good airplay on TV as well. "Kiss" was #1 for a reason. It was covering radio like a snow storm.

Whoever says SOTT was a failure wasn't paying attention.

Well that's why I said if I can recall, because I was born in 89' and can't recall much

MajesticOne89 said:

Well that's why I said if I can recall, because I was born in 89' and can't recall much

Some of us were born a lot earlier. lol

ernestsewell said:

MajesticOne89 said:

Well that's why I said if I can recall, because I was born in 89' and can't recall much

Most of us were born a lot earlier. lol

fixed!

Wow..................this place has gone 2 the dogs.

TheScouser said:

I don't think prince can ever reach the status he was at in the mid 80s, no matter what he does. The fact of the matter is, the younger generation dictates who is cool & who isn't... & a 51 year old simply can't be cool. He's of their parents generation & everyone knows that it's pretty uncool to like what your parents like no matter how good their taste might be! Very few people have ever maintained their peak level of popularity over the years & for most it's simply unachievable. It's a miricle 3121 was a number 1 album! People like Hendrix, John Lennon etc only remain as popular as they are because they died before their time & will always have that "what if" aspect to them that keep people interested. Then there's people like MJ who went from that cute child star who young kids could relate to & the older generations found adorable, then to the trendy edgy guy who the teenagers could relate to & then to the "king of pop, those where the days" who the older generations could relate to. Then there's madonna... god knows how she's still as popular as she is despite the fact that most people I know can't stand the woman! Besides, even though I'd love for Prince to do a new album with the revolution, I think it might have that cheesy comeback approach that would look desperate and insincere to most people & would ultimatley do more harm than good when it comes to his public image... I think Prince's recent music is great, I listen to it just as much as the old stuff, he's still selling out arenas, still getting spots on popular talk shows, still getting on the high end of the charts & selling a suprising amount of records considering he's doing everything pretty much independantley... overall I think he's doing pretty damn good, revolution or not!

[Edited 5/31/10 17:25pm]

WaterInYourBath said:

Christopher said:

mmm yes the revolution's is so good

[img:$uid]http://www.gifsoup.com/view/342314/reeses-o.gif[/img:$uid]

Is that the person in that gif with the large red Kool-Aid cup? I thought that was a woman!

And to Joe: Nah, man. I honestly can't imagine how they would sound together today. It would be a bit too nostalgic. And, I think they would make him appear even older as well, which would not really appeal to the young crowds that would be needed to make him a "star again."

no thats him! he had the relaxer goin in that pic.

JoeTyler said:

Let's face it; Prince's first album after the farewell of The Revolution, SOTT, was not a big hit; Lovesexy was a failure; Batman was a huge hit because of the movie (like it or not), GB was , if I'm not mistaken, not very successful and D&P was a hit because of the singles (nobody truly cared about the NPG anyway). Love Symbol's sales were a "disappointment", and ughh, everything after that sucked in terms of sales (Emancipation being the exception, mainly because of the "false" platinum disc affair)

Musicology and 3121 were successful, but could have been bigger (despite 3121 being a Nº1 album) and PE and LF/MPLS have both flopped.

So, let's face it folks: Prince needs the Revolution if he wants to be as successful as he was during the mid-80s.

It seems that Prince, like some other solo artists that started or achieved fame with a band (Sting, Springsteen, etc.) is still remembered, by the mainstream masses, as that guy of the Purple Rain movie who had that cool band called The Revolution.

In my case, I don't give a damn if Prince resurrects the Revolution (it won't happen, anyway), but I'm sure that the comeback would be HUGE.

Thoughts?

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

JoeTyler said:

Let's face it; Prince's first album after the farewell of The Revolution, SOTT, was not a big hit; Lovesexy was a failure; Batman was a huge hit because of the movie (like it or not), GB was , if I'm not mistaken, not very successful and D&P was a hit because of the singles (nobody truly cared about the NPG anyway). Love Symbol's sales were a "disappointment", and ughh, everything after that sucked in terms of sales (Emancipation being the exception, mainly because of the "false" platinum disc affair)

Musicology and 3121 were successful, but could have been bigger (despite 3121 being a Nº1 album) and PE and LF/MPLS have both flopped.

So, let's face it folks: Prince needs the Revolution if he wants to be as successful as he was during the mid-80s.

It seems that Prince, like some other solo artists that started or achieved fame with a band (Sting, Springsteen, etc.) is still remembered, by the mainstream masses, as that guy of the Purple Rain movie who had that cool band called The Revolution.

In my case, I don't give a damn if Prince resurrects the Revolution (it won't happen, anyway), but I'm sure that the comeback would be HUGE.

Thoughts?

Seems like U don't know what a successful album is. SOTT had three top ten hits.Prince has released over 30 albums in his long career. U expect each one of them to sell over 6 million. U got to be kidding me. No artist can release that many albums in that short period and each one is a mega seller.

I am so sick of people saying The Revolution needs to be back for Prince to sell or be relevant again. Prince wrote and produced all his songs. Revolution or not. Times change. No artist sells like they use to.

We should always remember that SOTT was basically the Dream Factory ala Prince & the Revolution

most of the music on that album was made with the Revolution and various members of the camp ie Susannah Melvoin

And Prince 'did not' write all of his songs.

2elijah said:

TheScouser said:

I don't think prince can ever reach the status he was at in the mid 80s, no matter what he does. The fact of the matter is, the younger generation dictates who is cool & who isn't... & a 51 year old simply can't be cool. He's of their parents generation & everyone knows that it's pretty uncool to like what your parents like no matter how good their taste might be! Very few people have ever maintained their peak level of popularity over the years & for most it's simply unachievable. It's a miricle 3121 was a number 1 album! People like Hendrix, John Lennon etc only remain as popular as they are because they died before their time & will always have that "what if" aspect to them that keep people interested. Then there's people like MJ who went from that cute child star who young kids could relate to & the older generations found adorable, then to the trendy edgy guy who the teenagers could relate to & then to the "king of pop, those where the days" who the older generations could relate to. Then there's madonna... god knows how she's still as popular as she is despite the fact that most people I know can't stand the woman! Besides, even though I'd love for Prince to do a new album with the revolution, I think it might have that cheesy comeback approach that would look desperate and insincere to most people & would ultimatley do more harm than good when it comes to his public image... I think Prince's recent music is great, I listen to it just as much as the old stuff, he's still selling out arenas, still getting spots on popular talk shows, still getting on the high end of the charts & selling a suprising amount of records considering he's doing everything pretty much independantley... overall I think he's doing pretty damn good, revolution or not!

I agree with the first line, in your post, but I also think some people have it all backwards; the thing is, all the Revolution members are still alive, and if they are so missed and so great as a band that used to perform with Prince, then why don't they get together under another name, without Prince, and let's see how greatly missed they really were and fantastic as a band, without Prince. There's nothing stopping them from performing together as a newly-formed group. Thing is, the Revolution will never be the same "without Prince" so really, I think some fans need to remember that Prince survived without them, and continues to be respected by many artists from his generation and the younger ones. He's already got together with Wendy and Lisa in the past. He doesn't have to make hit records anymore, he's done that already and achieved success. Now it seems he just enjoys playing and performing when he chooses, with various musicians. He has nothing to prove anymore, because he's already prove he's good at what he does. Nothing stopping the former Revolution band members from getting together and playing music they like, but they can't sit around waiting for Prince to bring back the "80s fame" they once had with him., and I doubt they're sitting around waiting for him.. Some fans just want a void filled they'll never get back. Even if he did an so-called anniversay with the former revolution band members, it will just be for the moment, and then what? Prince fans will continue begging down the road for the 80s Prince to fill a void in their lives, which they need to find a way to fill themselves. Life goes on and changes, so do artists and their music.

[Edited 5/31/10 17:25pm]

Well even various member of the Revolution said without Prince it would be/wouldn't work.

the Revolution the noituloveR and the SOTT band were the only true bands that 'reflected Prince' his vision and image and were sold out 4 Prince, the Revolution more that the SOTT band because Levi was a last min add on when BrownMark decided to leave, Boni always had intentions of doing her own thing. I believe she was signed on with Sheila 4 1 album. Mico is my boy and definately a Purple soldier since 1983 but never had the presence Wendy or Dez had much less the connection and influence.

Paris9748430 said:

No, he doesn't need the Revolution. Most people can't even name anyone in the band besides Lisa and Wendy, and most of those people can't even tell the difference between the two.

Prince was a multi-platinum artist before The Revolution and he's been one long after they disbanded.

well the band that became the Revolution minus Wendy was in existance since Dirty Mind 1980:Lisa BrownMark, Bobby Z & Dr Fink so...

a multi platinum artist??