FACECANTBESTOPPED said:

dalsh327 said:

50 percent's kind of high... I don't think Prince even gave much of a listen to Jimi until he was in his 30s. I think there's some things he identifies with - being from a small city (Seattle), building their own recording studios (Electric Lady), and maybe a few other things. He's already said that his guitar playing was closer to Santana's when he took to playing guitar. Prince has already covered "Red House" as "Purple House" on the "Power of Soul" tribute a few years ago.

Hendrix played one show in Minneapolis, Nov 2, 1968.

But I think Buddy Miles has played "Them Changes" with Hendrix, Santana, AND Prince. I think out of any album Prince would've been into, it would've been Band of Gypsys...

I mean, when you watch him play "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", he's doing Hendrix moves on a song Clapton played. And Clapton almost quit playing guitar when he first saw Hendrix. But when you see Jimi's history of the bands he was playing with from 62-66, his bandmates were very harsh on him. Little Richard was not going to let his backing guitarist upstage him. I have no idea how he did with Ike Turner, but he didn't last long in bands. There's no doubt there was a lot of on the job training, but around 1966, must have seen something that changed his whole guitar sound in that year. Maybe it was Bob Dylan "plugging in" because his girlfriend said he became obsessed with Dylan. Maybe it was Arthur Lee and Love, who was a psychedelic rock outfit in LA that a lot of people followed including The Doors and The Byrds....

50 percent is ridiculously high and can hardly be considered even close to being accurate by any measure.

Says who?

Revolution said:

jdcxc said:

What are you talking about? Rock music was invented by Black men. Jimi was just bringing it back to its source. And I would disagree with your view that P gets no love from the general public. He has achieved more popularity than Jimi ever did.

Prince knows exactly where Jimi and himself fit in the line of great guitarists. Whatever you think about him, he has always had respect for the greats and musicians in general.

The hippies at the festivals didn't know squat about the history of rock...they knew that, at that time, rock was for white folks, period. Then along comes a colored kid who could play like that. He's taken on a guitar status that is at the top in all of the polls. It's ingrained in pop culture. guitar = hendrix.

What i'm saying is that Prince has surpassed him. Point blank. Yet, where are those poll results?

Don't worry, i'll wait (sorry, listening to Katt Williams lately).

No radioplay means no general public. Jimi at least has a format. The rock stations adore him. Prince fits in nowhere. Prince has his hardcore fans, but the public has turned its back on him for good.

Although I too prefer Prince to Hendrix (although Jimi's in my top 5 all time favorite artists), that's not at all what this thread is about. It's about how Prince borrowed from the entity that is Jimi Hendrix. After James Brown, Hendrix is probably the second greatest source of inspiration to prince when it comes to stage presence, showmanship, and attitude. Prince's influence from Hendrix goes far beyond just a few mere blues/rock guitar riffs.

Not only that, but Jimi was probably the first black artist to be absolutely adored by white critics to the extent that he was (although he had to go to Europe to do it). All of Prince's influences, JB, Sly, Stevie Wonder, were all confined to playing "black music/r&b/soul." Jimi helped pave the way for the success of the black crossover artist to venture into genres the media didn't see them in(it wasn't all just MJ). Not saying he was entirely responsible either.

Not only commercial success, but risks within the music. Songs like Annie Christian, Something in the Water, Automatic; listen to what Prince was recording at the time and then look at what the other black artists were doing. Then go back and listen to Hendrix's first 3 albums and then listen to what other black artists were doing. The out there, weird, unique sounding songs Hendrix got out of the innovative use of his guitar Prince did with his synths and drum machines. Hendrix was a wizard in the studio and Prince no doubt took up some of that.

I'm not going to say without Hendrix there would be no Prince, but a lot of what makes up Prince would be missing and that doesn't even just go for Prince but for popular music in general and THAT'S why Hendrix is not overrated.

MajesticOne89 said:

Revolution said:

The hippies at the festivals didn't know squat about the history of rock...they knew that, at that time, rock was for white folks, period. Then along comes a colored kid who could play like that. He's taken on a guitar status that is at the top in all of the polls. It's ingrained in pop culture. guitar = hendrix.

What i'm saying is that Prince has surpassed him. Point blank. Yet, where are those poll results?

Don't worry, i'll wait (sorry, listening to Katt Williams lately).

No radioplay means no general public. Jimi at least has a format. The rock stations adore him. Prince fits in nowhere. Prince has his hardcore fans, but the public has turned its back on him for good.

Although I too prefer Prince to Hendrix (although Jimi's in my top 5 all time favorite artists), that's not at all what this thread is about. It's about how Prince borrowed from the entity that is Jimi Hendrix. After James Brown, Hendrix is probably the second greatest source of inspiration to prince when it comes to stage presence, showmanship, and attitude. Prince's influence from Hendrix goes far beyond just a few mere blues/rock guitar riffs.

Not only that, but Jimi was probably the first black artist to be absolutely adored by white critics to the extent that he was (although he had to go to Europe to do it). All of Prince's influences, JB, Sly, Stevie Wonder, were all confined to playing "black music/r&b/soul." Jimi helped pave the way for the success of the black crossover artist to venture into genres the media didn't see them in(it wasn't all just MJ). Not saying he was entirely responsible either.

Not only commercial success, but risks within the music. Songs like Annie Christian, Something in the Water, Automatic; listen to what Prince was recording at the time and then look at what the other black artists were doing. Then go back and listen to Hendrix's first 3 albums and then listen to what other black artists were doing. The out there, weird, unique sounding songs Hendrix got out of the innovative use of his guitar Prince did with his synths and drum machines. Hendrix was a wizard in the studio and Prince no doubt took up some of that.

I'm not going to say without Hendrix there would be no Prince, but a lot of what makes up Prince would be missing and that doesn't even just go for Prince but for popular music in general and THAT'S why Hendrix is not overrated.

Oh man, you took the words right outta my mouth!

I'm a big fan of both Hendrix and Prince. Have been since I was a kid. I have no beef with either artist. It is just neat to be pulling out an old Jimi record and hear a lick and think, "Man that sounds like Prince. Or, at least, Prince doing Jimi."

Revolution said:

Jimi is good, but he is overrated

absolutely ridiculous

you're clueless

i don't agree though with the 50% of prince's career comments... he's influenced by jimi... sure... but it's nowhere near to that degree

blissagain said:

Revolution said:

Jimi is good, but he is overrated

absolutely ridiculous

you're clueless

i don't agree though with the 50% of prince's career comments... he's influenced by jimi... sure... but it's nowhere near to that degree

You have bought into the hysteria....nothing wrong with that. They are selling it cheap.

I know what sounds good to my ears though....

Dewrede said:

I don't agree with that statement at all , it's nonsense

Prince is so much more than just rock

yes , there were hendrix influenced songs obviously as there were songs influenced by Santana

he borrowed a little of them both but

if anything , he copied Jimi's clothing style during the purple rain era

Prince did Villanova Junction , Who Knows and Little Wing in concert

(although the latter was propably a wardrobe change since he wasn't playing guitar)

and for the umpteenth time

the riff in Dreamer is not a rip-off , it's similar though

I agree Dewrede

Spinlight said:

To this day, I've always thought "Lotus Flower" was his attempt at doing a Jimi album and that "Dreamer" was such an obvious rip off of the riff from "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)" that it amazed me people praised it so much.

To this day I believe P has 'channeled' Mr. Jimi Hendrix many times in his music. Any time I hear a hard rock or blues style song I think Jimi. I haven't heard a lot of Jimi but, there are songs I've heard where I see the comparison.

How can an artist 'rip off' another artist? Music is music. Jimi's been dead since before I was born, for that matter ...

Spinlight said:

MajesticOne89 said:

Although I too prefer Prince to Hendrix (although Jimi's in my top 5 all time favorite artists), that's not at all what this thread is about. It's about how Prince borrowed from the entity that is Jimi Hendrix. After James Brown, Hendrix is probably the second greatest source of inspiration to prince when it comes to stage presence, showmanship, and attitude. Prince's influence from Hendrix goes far beyond just a few mere blues/rock guitar riffs.

Not only that, but Jimi was probably the first black artist to be absolutely adored by white critics to the extent that he was (although he had to go to Europe to do it). All of Prince's influences, JB, Sly, Stevie Wonder, were all confined to playing "black music/r&b/soul." Jimi helped pave the way for the success of the black crossover artist to venture into genres the media didn't see them in(it wasn't all just MJ). Not saying he was entirely responsible either.

Not only commercial success, but risks within the music. Songs like Annie Christian, Something in the Water, Automatic; listen to what Prince was recording at the time and then look at what the other black artists were doing. Then go back and listen to Hendrix's first 3 albums and then listen to what other black artists were doing. The out there, weird, unique sounding songs Hendrix got out of the innovative use of his guitar Prince did with his synths and drum machines. Hendrix was a wizard in the studio and Prince no doubt took up some of that.

I'm not going to say without Hendrix there would be no Prince, but a lot of what makes up Prince would be missing and that doesn't even just go for Prince but for popular music in general and THAT'S why Hendrix is not overrated.

Oh man, you took the words right outta my mouth!

I'm a big fan of both Hendrix and Prince. Have been since I was a kid. I have no beef with either artist. It is just neat to be pulling out an old Jimi record and hear a lick and think, "Man that sounds like Prince. Or, at least, Prince doing Jimi."

Same here man. Being a guitar player, but when I hear ernie isley, jesse johnson, prince and a whole slew of others, it's fun hearing those jimi licks creep in there. But yea, I know what you're trying to get at and agree, maybe not 50%, maybe like 35%

Revolution said:

blissagain said:

absolutely ridiculous

you're clueless

i don't agree though with the 50% of prince's career comments... he's influenced by jimi... sure... but it's nowhere near to that degree

You have bought into the hysteria....nothing wrong with that. They are selling it cheap.

I know what sounds good to my ears though....

just because something doesn't sound good to you doesn't make it overrated

there's plenty of music out there that i don't connect with ... it doesn't make it shit

jimi was so much more than fuzz driven guitar solos... he was an incredibly giften musician and songwriter... and his work was far more diverse than many give him credit for

do you play?.... i'm guessing not

Is Jimi overrated? Hell yeah.

Does he deserve all the praise and love? Hell yeah!!...he has every right to be overrated.

Definitley think his guitar playing is heavily influenced by jimi's & the purple rain look was just jimi all over!

colorblu said:

Dewrede said:

I don't agree with that statement at all , it's nonsense

Prince is so much more than just rock

yes , there were hendrix influenced songs obviously as there were songs influenced by Santana

he borrowed a little of them both but

if anything , he copied Jimi's clothing style during the purple rain era

Prince did Villanova Junction , Who Knows and Little Wing in concert

(although the latter was propably a wardrobe change since he wasn't playing guitar)

and for the umpteenth time

the riff in Dreamer is not a rip-off , it's similar though

I agree Dewrede

cool

I was listening to it some more and the guitar playing on Lotusflower really is inspired by both Jimi as well as Carlos. When he plays the latin jazz type of songs like from the lotus, love like jazz and back to the lotus, you can hear Carlos in his playing. And when he plays the harder, more blues rock type of songs, you hear Jimi taking over.

Prince and his managers/handlers/PR team made an obvious point to either copy or channel Jimi's image during the Purple Rain era. There are countless images of Prince that are almost indistinguishable from Hendrix.

There are alot of Jimi Hendrx and other folx flourishes and nuances in Ps stuff.Theres also a very definate, set Prince style of playing, singing, and song structure that he owns. Part of the fun of listening is trying to parse out everything thats going on. ie.To me that sound at the beginning of The Question of U sounds alot like the end of If 6 was 9, then Thank You for Talking to Me Africa(so does Letitgo), then Prince. Usually the clever inflections are coming like a Sugar Ray Leonard flurry so you have to follow it.

Prince has, in the past decade or so, made a heavy, obvious drift to Hendrix's style of playing and showmanship.

There was a much clearer Carlos influence in the 1980s and 1990s (and the Jimi influence was clear then, too -- check "Witness" for a reference), but he's been all things Jimi in recent years.

Whether it's in the lyrical references (someone else mentioned the Cybersingle-Purple Haze reference -- his guitar solo lifts generously from "Little Wing") or in aping Jimi's psychedelia on Lotus and his approach to the guitar (the songs -- "Fury," "Dreamer" -- the Strats, the Hendrix facial expressions and one-hand whammy moves, etc.)

Great subject. I think it's time someone discussed the influence of Jimi on Prince.

To me it has always been obvious, but the LotusFlower cd in my view is in many respects a direct hommage to Hendrix. Wether you call it ripping off - I don't care. Especially the guitar sound on Dreamer is totally Jimi. Anyone into Hendrix recognizes it right away.

It blew me away, also because it really indirectly made me realise how unique not only his (JH) skill, but his special sound was.

"From the Lotus" starts out much the same way as the Electric Ladyland album ("and the gods made love..."). I'm surprised not to have seen anyone point that out.

The combination of Hendrix and Prince made this album my favorite in many many years.

irreverence said:

Great subject. I think it's time someone discussed the influence of Jimi on Prince ... I'm surprised not to have seen anyone point that out.

This is actually a recurring topic at the Org.

ThreadBare said:

irreverence said:

Great subject. I think it's time someone discussed the influence of Jimi on Prince ... I'm surprised not to have seen anyone point that out.

This is actually a recurring topic at the Org.

Yes I know, but the sentence you quote me for is actually not mine. Or rather: It is a misquote. But okay, no problem.

But for me the most interesting threads on the org discusses the actual music. I'm also loving the few threads by gifted musicians discussing the intricacies of Prince's music (even though I hardly ever feel I have anything worthy to add myself).

irreverence said:

ThreadBare said:

This is actually a recurring topic at the Org.

Yes I know, but the sentence you quote me for is actually not mine. Or rather: It is a misquote. But okay, no problem.

But for me the most interesting threads on the org discusses the actual music. I'm also loving the few threads by gifted musicians discussing the intricacies of Prince's music (even though I hardly ever feel I have anything worthy to add myself).

No, there's always room for irreverence at the Org.

ThreadBare said:

irreverence said:

Yes I know, but the sentence you quote me for is actually not mine. Or rather: It is a misquote. But okay, no problem.

But for me the most interesting threads on the org discusses the actual music. I'm also loving the few threads by gifted musicians discussing the intricacies of Prince's music (even though I hardly ever feel I have anything worthy to add myself).

No, there's always room for irreverence at the Org.

Thank you

Spinlight said:

I'd say Prince owes a good 50% of his success to the success and relatively recent passing of Jimi Hendrix. A lot of comparisons have been made between the two artists over the years and it seems Prince has consistently denied being much influenced if at all by Hendrix, but I don't buy it. For instance, while Prince might be more reminiscent of James or George during most of his live shows throughout his career, he has always had a more Hendrix-styled attitude in the studio.

Take Jimi's song "Third Stone From the Sun". If you took this song and played it back to back with something like "The Sensual Everafter" or really any number of live jams (think along the lines of Small Club's "Just My Imagination"). Not to mention, Prince aped the "strange beautiful" lyric for "Beautiful Strange" and its accompanying atmospheric and fusion-like music. Additionally, you have imagery from "Bold As Love" creeping into things like "Paisley Park" etc, vocal arrangements and melody from "Foxy Lady" poking through on things like "Peach" or "Temptation", and of course drumming from "Little Miss Lover" being sampled for the update to "Tick Tick Bang". You could also compare the "EXP" intro on Axis to the segues on Love Symbol.

Some of these might be far-reaching, but it's hard to deny (IMO) that there was huge borrowing from Hendrix's aesthetic for Prince's imagery and music throughout the 80s.

Other than performing "Red House", "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)", and "Spanish Castle Magic", has Prince really ever extensively performed Jimi songs? Certainly not like he does Sly (and before anyone says he probly aped more from Sly than Jimi and that Jimi aped from Sly too, that's another post ).

To this day, I've always thought "Lotus Flower" was his attempt at doing a Jimi album and that "Dreamer" was such an obvious rip off of the riff from "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)" that it amazed me people praised it so much.

That is true.

& Fury has a Hendrix-esque sound to it also.

But since prince has been playing the 6strang for more years Jimi has been alive,

Does that make him better or more,like Jimi sez, Experienced?

We"re all here because we are into Prince. But to compare his contribution vs Prince is silly. Jimi was an original in every way. Prince is a hybrid of Sly, James,Carlos, Little Richard, Jimi, Joni and too many more to name.

Hendrix had only three years to make the impact he did. Prince is still here. Anytime an artist dies young they are elevated to mythic proportions. Jimi was so special that he is deserving of this recognition. He certainly didn"t receive it when he was here. Prince had the opportunity to be who he was, in part due to Jimi's success. White America was accepting of a Black rock star because of Jimi's influence.

sunlite said:

We"re all here because we are into Prince. But to compare his contribution vs Prince is silly. Jimi was an original in every way. Prince is a hybrid of Sly, James,Carlos, Little Richard, Jimi, Joni and too many more to name.

Hendrix had only three years to make the impact he did. Prince is still here. Anytime an artist dies young they are elevated to mythic proportions. Jimi was so special that he is deserving of this recognition. He certainly didn"t receive it when he was here. Prince had the opportunity to be who he was, in part due to Jimi's success. White America was accepting of a Black rock star because of Jimi's influence.

Hendrix released 4 seminal albums in that time and left enough material for at least 3 more original albums - maybe more (I get lost in the reissues).

While you might scoff at 7 total albums, that's actually almost 20 years worth of music in the scope of today's market (for comparison's sake). Say he releases an album every 2-3 years like is normal for post-disco acts*. Jimi was well on his way. And with the material he did finish, he influenced a nation's worth of people.

The point to compare the two is for people who actually can appreciate the two. It's not a competition. It's, "I hear this riff here. Where do you hear a riff?" To say P owes 50% of his success to Jimi because of the iconography he exudes is not as far off as some people in this thread have stated. It's impossible to get an objective opinion up in here because, duh, it's a Prince website. Of course no one is going to come out and say, "Yeah Dreamer is a rip off of Slight Return." In fact, someone DEFENDED "Dreamer" for not being a total rip even though it most certainly is, lol.

I know everyone has a spiked dildo stuck up somewhere in them 'round these parts, but this thread is all in fun and to give props to both men. Not to diminish either of them.

* Jimi wasn't a disco act, but in a post-disco world most artists release 1 album every 2-3 years. This would mean 7 albums is nearly 21 years worth of music. I'm not even counting the music he would've recorded in those preceding 18 years from his death. If we're to go by his life's output, he would've been just as prolific as Prince, if not moreso.

[Edited 11/1/10 12:45pm]