tbag said:
You guys can say what you want about his sunglasses being the same as MJ's but it's really the whole look. When I first saw that picture of Prince, the first thing I thought was - damn he dressed the same as MJ did at his last press conference.
Say what you will but there is a similarity, and it's kinda weird.
[Edited 10/17/10 0:42am]
The outfit looks like one of Prince's jokes. I think he's making fun of all the Michael Jackson comparisons. Prince does things like that for a laugh, to shock, and create some controversy. He's a prankster.
He's been doing that kind of thing for decades. On the VIBE show hosted by Sinbad on June 13, 1998 Prince talked with a high Michael Jackson voice for a moment saying "I don't like to talk because my voice is so high," before talking in his own deep voice.
He has a sense of humor. I remember the GQ Awards on Halloween October 31, 1998 when Prince wore a fake beard, looking and acted like Grady Wilson on Sanford and Son.
In Dave Hill's book Prince: A Pop Life Andre Cymone's mom remembered going to Prince's early gigs and watching Prince confuse fans after the gig: "All the kids were running looking for Prince. Prince was sitting downstairs in the hotel saying 'No, no, Prince ain't down yet,' Andre would show up and they'd all run to Andre saying "Prince! Prince!'"
"He's got a great sense of humor," said Dez Dickerson, "He'd do things just to totally put people off. Someone would put out their right hand to shake his hand right-handed and Prince would put out his left hand to force you to switch hands and shake left-handed."
In Per Nelson's book Dance Music Sex Romance record engineer David Rivkin remembered a prank Prince played on record producer Tommy Vicari. "Tommy Vicari was out late one night and Prince took some of (manager) Owen Husney's clothes and stuffed them with leaves. He put a knife in the back and put him face down on the bed." Rivkin remembered "Vicari came back at 4 in the morning and though Owen had been murdered. He was really screaming. I don't think he ever forgave Prince.
Another time, Prince had a squart gun which we took to a fancy restaurant in Sausalito. We took turns shooting up in the air. People three tables away were looking up at the ceiling to see if something was leaking. We tried not to laugh."
"Prince played a practical joke on Chaka Khan," Husney remembered. "She had called the studio looking for Sly Stone, and Prince pretended to be Sly over the phone and tricked her into coming down to the studio. She was pissed at Prince and called him every name in the book but she stayed for a while and listened to him play."
In one recurring joke at airports before he was recognisably famous, Prince would tell the band to grab the first wheelchair they saw and put him in it. Prince put on a pair of dark sunglasses and sat in the chair with a blank look on his face looking nearly comatose. The band would walk away into the background making it seem like an invalid had been left at the airport. Prince slumped forward in his chair and drooled, which immediately attracted a shocked crowd. At that point the band would pretend to come to his assistance.
In Dave Hill's book Prince: A Pop Life Brown Mark remembered "Prince left me behind once [on the Controversy tour] when I was a minute late for the bus. I came down the steps with all my bags and everything, and all the fans down there. One of them said 'Yo, man, I think they left you. They forgot you were here... ' Eventually the bus returned. When I got on I was pretty pissed off. They were all on there laughing. I said, 'I don't see nothing funny.' I went to Prince about it, and he said, 'You shouldn't have been late.'"
On the America Music Awards on January 30, 1995 Prince pulled a prank on Quincy Jones when he stood on stage next to Quincy Jones at the 10th anniversary performance of "We Are the World" and Prince sucked on a tootsie pop and did not sing. Quincy Jones held his microphone to Prince's mouth to sing and Prince responded by holding his tootsie pop up to Quincy Jones, but when Quincy went for it, Prince quickly pulled it back. Quincy Jones was quoted in the Chicago Sun-Times as saying to Prince afterwards that "as far as I'm concerned you're still a prick."
On the Tonight Show Jay Leno explained a phone prank Prince had played on him pretending to be "Joe the carpenter." Prince admitted to loving to joke. Of course not everyone thinks his sense of humor is funny.
[Edited 10/20/10 21:17pm]
Goodnight, sweet Prince.