From 1978-88 I feel that Prince has the greatest output of any artist in any 10 year period in music history. I want anyone to challenge this claim, put anyone up against him. Albums, Singles, B-sides, Outtakes, Bootlegs, Side projects, Movies, Performances, Tours, Lyrics, Musicianship, Cultural Influence, Sales, Producing other artists, whatever you can come up with. There is no one anywhere in music history that comes close to Prince. Agree or disagree and why?

I have to agree completely! The music he preduced durring that time never gets old, there is always something new that appears from that era. His creativity and boldness has no comperasant by anyone. I feel that he can school any musician till this day. To me he is an enigma, and I'm sure that in 100 years from now he will be recognized as the most talented musician ever lived.

seelliiaan said:

I have to agree completely! The music he preduced durring that time never gets old, there is always something new that appears from that era. His creativity and boldness has no comperasant by anyone. I feel that he can school any musician till this day. To me he is an enigma, and I'm sure that in 100 years from now he will be recognized as the most talented musician ever lived.

Honestly his B-sides and outtakes from this era is better than some entire careers.

It's a good argument.

I'd take his musical career over any other single artist.

I would have to say the 1978-1988 was Prince's greastest decade in his musical history...hands down!

But of any artist in musical history, I think I would go with James Brown 1965-1975 based on Musicianship, Performances and Cultural Influence...alone.

Major78 said:

Agree or disagree and why?

Disagree. 1978-1988 is not a decade. A decade is ten years, not eleven. 1979-1988 or 1980-1989 would be more like it.

His albums from Dirty Mind to Lovesexy could be the strongest streak of releases put out by any pop / rock artist. I could only see David Bowie challenging that, but his classic period in the 1970s also contained some duds (Pin Ups) and fairly mediocre releases (Young Americans, Lodger). However, I don't think the first two albums by Prince are very strong either.

Seriously though, do people really prefer the first two albums over Batman and Graffiti Bridge? As silly as Batman and Graffiti Bridge are thematically they certainly contain stronger individual tracks than his first two albums.

by any artist i've heard? yes, or at the very least its up there.

NouveauDance said:

LOL I love that....seriously what is your opinion? Considering his body of work during that time influences to this day. Think about this in 78 he was considered Stevie Wonder of the mid west. In 80-83 he was maybe the single most sexually explicit artist ever. In 84-86 he was a mega pop star and by 1987 going into 88 he produces a psuedo gospel record. Im not gonna worship the man's character because he's an ass but his work speaks for itself.

novabrkr said:

Major78 said:

Agree or disagree and why?

Disagree. 1978-1988 is not a decade. A decade is ten years, not eleven. 1979-1988 or 1980-1989 would be more like it.

His albums from Dirty Mind to Lovesexy could be the strongest streak of releases put out by any pop / rock artist. I could only see David Bowie challenging that, but his classic period in the 1970s also contained some duds (Pin Ups) and fairly mediocre releases (Young Americans, Lodger). However, I don't think the first two albums by Prince are very strong either.

Seriously though, do people really prefer the first two albums over Batman and Graffiti Bridge? As silly as Batman and Graffiti Bridge are thematically they certainly contain stronger individual tracks than his first two albums.

You got me I'm off by a year . Actually, I do prefer the "Prince" album in '79 over Batman or Bridge just because the music is so strong. I wanna be your lover, Why you wanna treat me so bad, Bambi, I feel for you, Sexy dancer, are better songs than much of what is on Bridge and Batman. You'd have to combine both to get five comparable songs(we can funk, vicki waiting, batdance, joy in repitition, scandalous) IMHO.

I love how P-geeks hype things up!

PFunkjazz said:

I love how P-geeks hype things up!

the same can be said about fans of any artist. Besides it isnt exacly hype, his best work is up there with any other solo artist that i can think of

Major78 said:

novabrkr said:

Disagree. 1978-1988 is not a decade. A decade is ten years, not eleven. 1979-1988 or 1980-1989 would be more like it.

His albums from Dirty Mind to Lovesexy could be the strongest streak of releases put out by any pop / rock artist. I could only see David Bowie challenging that, but his classic period in the 1970s also contained some duds (Pin Ups) and fairly mediocre releases (Young Americans, Lodger). However, I don't think the first two albums by Prince are very strong either.

Seriously though, do people really prefer the first two albums over Batman and Graffiti Bridge? As silly as Batman and Graffiti Bridge are thematically they certainly contain stronger individual tracks than his first two albums.

You got me I'm off by a year . Actually, I do prefer the "Prince" album in '79 over Batman or Bridge just because the music is so strong. I wanna be your lover, Why you wanna treat me so bad, Bambi, I feel for you, Sexy dancer, are better songs than much of what is on Bridge and Batman. You'd have to combine both to get five comparable songs(we can funk, vicki waiting, batdance, joy in repitition, scandalous) IMHO.

In all seriousness, 1978-1988 can be considered a decade as well if 1978 and 1988 aren't full years (say, July 1978 - June 1988 would be a "decade" as well). Well, it doesn't really matter [edit - For You was released in April and Lovesexy in May according to Wiki, so it's close enough in any case!].

I just think that tracks like "Scandalous" and "Joy In Repetition" are some of Prince's best work, while I wouldn't give such status to anything on the first two albums. Batman and Graffiti Bridge just seem to suffer from the movies they are associated with and that also changes the overall perception of them as albums (granted, the protege material on GB isn't very strong either).

[Edited 5/19/11 12:12pm]

Major78 said:

seelliiaan said:

I have to agree completely! The music he preduced durring that time never gets old, there is always something new that appears from that era. His creativity and boldness has no comperasant by anyone. I feel that he can school any musician till this day. To me he is an enigma, and I'm sure that in 100 years from now he will be recognized as the most talented musician ever lived.

Honestly his B-sides and outtakes from this era is better than some entire careers.

Yeah, totally...

[Edited 5/19/11 13:51pm]

Huge? Yes! That huge? No.

And yes, most of his B-sides could beat the carreer of many other artists (Justin Bieber cough* cough*)

novabrkr said:

Major78 said:

You got me I'm off by a year . Actually, I do prefer the "Prince" album in '79 over Batman or Bridge just because the music is so strong. I wanna be your lover, Why you wanna treat me so bad, Bambi, I feel for you, Sexy dancer, are better songs than much of what is on Bridge and Batman. You'd have to combine both to get five comparable songs(we can funk, vicki waiting, batdance, joy in repitition, scandalous) IMHO.

In all seriousness, 1978-1988 can be considered a decade as well if 1978 and 1988 aren't full years (say, July 1978 - June 1988 would be a "decade" as well). Well, it doesn't really matter [edit - For You was released in April and Lovesexy in May according to Wiki, so it's close enough in any case!].

I just think that tracks like "Scandalous" and "Joy In Repetition" are some of Prince's best work, while I wouldn't give such status to anything on the first two albums. Batman and Graffiti Bridge just seem to suffer from the movies they are associated with and that also changes the overall perception of them as albums (granted, the protege material on GB isn't very strong either).

[Edited 5/19/11 12:12pm]

Hi, I agree with you as well, Because I love the Batman album and Grafitti Bridge. Also, Scandalous and Joy in Repetition are some of my ultimate favs. I personally dont really count the years. He has done some amazing stuff even before 78, and ofcourse his genious didnt end in 88. To me Prince is when he was wild and crazy. Everything that he did in the 70's, 80's and 90's is great

Subjective, really. If you think so, who the hell is anybody to contradict?

Personally I don't think so. Prince filled a void between 78-88, thats true. But if I were inclined to choose somebody with richer outputs not just in a single decade of his career, but his WHOLE career, I would choose Duke Ellington in a breath, simply because the man stubbornly reinvented his music time & time again,,,,,until his death.

[Edited 5/19/11 14:59pm]

Duke Ellington, Louis Jordan, Miles Davis and James Brown (God rest their souls) would disagree with that. But he had a stellar run between '78 and at least '96.

Funklov said:

prolific song writers all seem to have about a decade of greatness and then become less inconsistent: Lennon/McCartney60's Stevie Wonder70's Sting mid 70's-mid 80's etc..

Franz Schubert had no problem in maintaining consistency

I'm rockin For You & PRINCE now & they are the bee's knees baby!!! There great considering he was a teenager writing, performing & producing himself. Crazy You * So Blue * Still Waiting * I Feel For You * I Wanna Be Your Lover * In Love * Just As Long As We're Together * For You * Baby * When We're Dancing Close & Slow * With You * It's Gonna Be Lonely * Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad---Classic Prince- This kid was hot!!!!

Major78 said:

LOL I love that....seriously what is your opinion? Considering his body of work during that time influences to this day. Think about this in 78 he was considered Stevie Wonder of the mid west. In 80-83 he was maybe the single most sexually explicit artist ever. In 84-86 he was a mega pop star and by 1987 going into 88 he produces a psuedo gospel record. Im not gonna worship the man's character because he's an ass but his work speaks for itself.

I dunno!... I enjoy lots of popular art, music and film but I don't need to quantify a "greatest by any artist in all history".

Personally....I would rather think of his entire career as a body of works and then select those songs I want to groove to.

It's impressive, but great? that's pushing it. what about hall and oats? what about cameo? what about the pointer sisters?

jackson35 said:

It's impressive, but great? that's pushing it. what about hall and oats? what about cameo? what about the pointer sisters?

What about them?

Graycap23 said:

jackson35 said:

It's impressive, but great? that's pushing it. what about hall and oats? what about cameo? what about the pointer sisters?

What about them?

bob dylan

bob marley

james brown

miles davis

stevie wonder

frank black / pixies

sonic youth

the cure

perry farrell / janes addiction

ani difranco

beatles

led zeppelin

jimi hendrix

nirvana

black sabbath / ozzy

michael jackson

joni mitchell

ian mackaye /fugazi / minor threat

johnny cash

willie nelson

george clinton / parliament / funkadelic

paul westerberg / replacements

david byrne / talking heads

frank zappa

rolling stones

sting / police

tom petty

leonard cohen

prince is an outstanding artist and had an excellent 5-6 year run like many of the above mentioned artists .. what separates prince from the rest is only the mass of mediocrity he released after his prime .. most other artists had the good judgement to slow down and try to maintain some quality over quantity .. prince became known for being prolific and lost sight of the point. I would not place prince above anyone listed above by any means. He simply hasn't earned that title.

TrevorAyer said:

bob dylan

bob marley

james brown

miles davis

stevie wonder

frank black / pixies

sonic youth

the cure

perry farrell / janes addiction

ani difranco

beatles

led zeppelin

jimi hendrix

nirvana

black sabbath / ozzy

michael jackson

joni mitchell

ian mackaye /fugazi / minor threat

johnny cash

willie nelson

george clinton / parliament / funkadelic

paul westerberg / replacements

david byrne / talking heads

frank zappa

rolling stones

sting / police

tom petty

leonard cohen

prince is an outstanding artist and had an excellent 5-6 year run like many of the above mentioned artists .. what separates prince from the rest is only the mass of mediocrity he released after his prime .. most other artists had the good judgement to slow down and try to maintain some quality over quantity .. prince became known for being prolific and lost sight of the point. I would not place prince above anyone listed above by any means. He simply hasn't earned that title.

seriously, you wouldnt place prince above MJ? What did Mj release after his prince, history and invincible? Those albums are by no means better than Love Symbol and Gold Experience. Prince has released many more good songs than MJ did over the last 20 years.

Just because prince had the guts to be profilic after his peak had passed does not take anything away from him. That does not make him inferior to any of the above artist. There is no way in hell Nirvana or MJ are better than prince or deserve to be rated higher.

And this is about "peak". You seem to have completely missed the point of the thread.

Besides i admire an artist more who had the guts to try things after his peak rather than those who quit after their peak.

[Edited 5/20/11 7:57am]