Book Review: Prince: Chaos, Disorder, and Revolution by Jason Draper

Prince should take a couple years off and write his own story.

BLACKAMERICAWEB.COM: This is at least the third meticulously researched bio of Prince that has been written over the past 20 years. What led you to choose him for a subject and write another book?

JASON DRAPER: Prince has led such a confusing life in many respects – changing his name to an unpronounceable symbol; revoking his salacious past in favor of living by the Jehovah’s Witness faith – that I think some of the more bewildering choices that he’s made are in danger of overshadowing his truly groundbreaking achievements. Especially in the mainstream, tabloid press, he’s become an object of ridicule from early on. Yet, people are only just beginning to understand and get to grips with the repercussions of his Internet revolution and fight with Warner Bros., while, if you turn on the radio, you’ll hear any number of '80s throwback electro-poppers striving to achieve what Prince did (The-Dream, La Roux, etc). Everything he started is in full effect today, yet he’s not necessarily given the credit for it. I’m hoping this book will set the record straight in that respect. It’s a celebration, not gossip.


Did Prince or his people give you any cooperation at all, or did you seek any?

No. Prince is essentially seen when he wants to be seen. If he wants to talk to you, you’ll hear about it. It doesn’t work the other way around!


Do you like Prince's music or were you more fascinated by his story?

I was absolutely a fan first. Again, part of the reason I wanted to write the book. To see someone you totally respect and admire not getting their due ... It’s also a fascinating story, of course, so that helps. The more you learn, the more you want to learn!


What does your book uncover that no one else has found out yet, if anything? How challenging was it to research someone who rarely gives interviews?

Well, this is the first book to tell the story from 2004 onwards, so, up until now, Prince’s massive "Musicology"-era comeback onwards hasn’t been fully documented. And then you have 2006’s “3121” album being his first U.S. album to debut at number-one in the charts. Over in the UK in 2007, he gave “Planet Earth” away for free with newspapers, causing Columbia to tear their contract up with him over here. There’s this whole latter period of Prince’s life that’s not been fully laid out, and it’s as full of personal triumphs (the record-breaking “21 Nights In London” run) and typical lows (endless legal battles) as the rest of his career. It’s continually fascinating. He’s also given at least one major interview – sometimes more – almost every year in the past decade. Again, perfectly stage-managed, he’s retained that mystique while maintaining a public presence too.


He's probably not given his just due for being the first big artist on the web, or for his efforts on behalf of artist rights. Given the changes technology has wrought in the music industry, do you believe that he'll be considered as much of a businessman as an artist when his legacy is finally written?

Yeah, you can split his career into two sections in this way. His music may not have been as epochal in the '90s and beyond, but his business decisions have totally changed the way the music industry works. He’s arguably made some bad ones, which have led to his own lawyers suing him in recent times, but [he’s led the] whole battle for artists’ rights and [is] the first musician ever to sell a full album online. That alone paved the way for Radiohead to do exactly the same (break from their label and sell their "In Rainbows" discbox direct to fans) 10 years later. That it took 10 years for a band as innovative as them to do it speaks volumes about Prince’s vision.


What surprised you most that you found out while researching and writing the book?

Writing about Prince’s baby was the toughest part of the whole thing. He had a child with his first wife, Mayte, and the baby was born with Pfeiffer syndrome. Though I knew about this – and the devastating decision that the parents made to take their child off of life support only a week or so after he was born – I wasn’t aware that two nannies Prince hired later tried to turn the whole thing into a homicide case. They claimed that Prince didn’t let Mayte eat properly, etc, throughout the pregnancy and sought to blame him for the whole tragic situation. They sought out a local Minneapolis reporter, who started investigating. The police get involved ... and, of course, the police immediately shut the whole thing down. Of course, the claims were complete nonsense, but that such a personal tragedy was forced into the public eye in such a nasty, selfish way by these two women was an absolute shock.


What do you think drives him? Is it God-given talent, ego, hubris, insecurity or some combination of all of the above?

Gotta be a mixture of the above. That, and I think he has a need to prove himself. If he never released another album, his legacy would be safe, but this is the guy who fought so hard when he was a teenager to produce his own debut album. He probably feels, in some way at least, that he’s still fighting for that freedom. He’s still got it in him to perform three-hour aftershows in the early hours of the morning - surely the actions of a man driven to create.


What do you think has made Prince - the weird, short guy who rarely does any interviews - such a beloved icon? He has hardly followed a conventional path, from everything to releasing so much music to releasing it independently to releasing it for free, yet if he's in concert, not only will he sell out, his audiences will be black, white, Latino, young, old, middle-aged and everything from grandmothers to bikers. Yet, he hasn't had a radio hit in years. What's made him become so beloved?

Part of this, again, touches upon his ability for him to turn every appearance he makes into an event. So when Prince arrives, you want to be there! His early music was as much about inclusion as everything else; his band was mixed-race, mixed-sex. He sung of "Uptown," where we can "do whatever we please." "Purple Rain," the film, totally tapped into the '80s zeitgeist and has lived with many as the defining film of their generation – and that’s worldwide. He’s held fan Q&A sessions both online and at Paisley Park ... As much of a megastar that he is, he also – when he wants to, so not all the time – makes himself seem as accessible as possible to his fans. That so many of them have stuck with him through PR disasters, such as him suing his most popular fan web sites, speaks volumes. Mayte said of her time with Prince that he has the ability to make you feel like you’re the only person in the room. I’ve seen him perform in both an intimate club and a 20,000-seater stadium, and whatever space he’s in, he totally fills it. Who knows how he does it, but he has a natural charisma that just captures you, I guess.


Was there anything that emerged about his personal life that tells us anything more about him?

If he’s to be believed, there is "an incredible peace" in his life now – those are his words. And that’s fantastic. I hope that’s the case. So much of his life has seen him fight with his nearest and dearest – friends, bandmembers, record execs (Okay, so maybe they weren’t his dearest) ... [and] he’s had two divorces. I wonder whether Prince’s story is all about him making peace with himself. I also feel that he’s just got a restlessly creative mind. For a man who’s supposedly so reclusive, he’s done an awful lot of touring in recent times. It’s like he’s worked it out: This is what I do, and I do it better than anyone else.

[Edited 5/23/11 16:23pm]

paisleypark4 said:

BLACKAMERICAWEB.COM: This is at least the third meticulously researched bio of Prince that has been written over the past 20 years. What led you to choose him for a subject and write another book?

JASON DRAPER: Prince has led such a confusing life in many respects – changing his name to an unpronounceable symbol; revoking his salacious past in favor of living by the Jehovah’s Witness faith – that I think some of the more bewildering choices that he’s made are in danger of overshadowing his truly groundbreaking achievements. Especially in the mainstream, tabloid press, he’s become an object of ridicule from early on. Yet, people are only just beginning to understand and get to grips with the repercussions of his Internet revolution and fight with Warner Bros., while, if you turn on the radio, you’ll hear any number of '80s throwback electro-poppers striving to achieve what Prince did (The-Dream, La Roux, etc). Everything he started is in full effect today, yet he’s not necessarily given the credit for it. I’m hoping this book will set the record straight in that respect. It’s a celebration, not gossip.


Did Prince or his people give you any cooperation at all, or did you seek any?

No. Prince is essentially seen when he wants to be seen. If he wants to talk to you, you’ll hear about it. It doesn’t work the other way around!


Do you like Prince's music or were you more fascinated by his story?

I was absolutely a fan first. Again, part of the reason I wanted to write the book. To see someone you totally respect and admire not getting their due ... It’s also a fascinating story, of course, so that helps. The more you learn, the more you want to learn!


What does your book uncover that no one else has found out yet, if anything? How challenging was it to research someone who rarely gives interviews?

Well, this is the first book to tell the story from 2004 onwards, so, up until now, Prince’s massive "Musicology"-era comeback onwards hasn’t been fully documented. And then you have 2006’s “3121” album being his first U.S. album to debut at number-one in the charts. Over in the UK in 2007, he gave “Planet Earth” away for free with newspapers, causing Columbia to tear their contract up with him over here. There’s this whole latter period of Prince’s life that’s not been fully laid out, and it’s as full of personal triumphs (the record-breaking “21 Nights In London” run) and typical lows (endless legal battles) as the rest of his career. It’s continually fascinating. He’s also given at least one major interview – sometimes more – almost every year in the past decade. Again, perfectly stage-managed, he’s retained that mystique while maintaining a public presence too.


He's probably not given his just due for being the first big artist on the web, or for his efforts on behalf of artist rights. Given the changes technology has wrought in the music industry, do you believe that he'll be considered as much of a businessman as an artist when his legacy is finally written?

Yeah, you can split his career into two sections in this way. His music may not have been as epochal in the '90s and beyond, but his business decisions have totally changed the way the music industry works. He’s arguably made some bad ones, which have led to his own lawyers suing him in recent times, but [he’s led the] whole battle for artists’ rights and [is] the first musician ever to sell a full album online. That alone paved the way for Radiohead to do exactly the same (break from their label and sell their "In Rainbows" discbox direct to fans) 10 years later. That it took 10 years for a band as innovative as them to do it speaks volumes about Prince’s vision.


What surprised you most that you found out while researching and writing the book?

Writing about Prince’s baby was the toughest part of the whole thing. He had a child with his first wife, Mayte, and the baby was born with Pfeiffer syndrome. Though I knew about this – and the devastating decision that the parents made to take their child off of life support only a week or so after he was born – I wasn’t aware that two nannies Prince hired later tried to turn the whole thing into a homicide case. They claimed that Prince didn’t let Mayte eat properly, etc, throughout the pregnancy and sought to blame him for the whole tragic situation. They sought out a local Minneapolis reporter, who started investigating. The police get involved ... and, of course, the police immediately shut the whole thing down. Of course, the claims were complete nonsense, but that such a personal tragedy was forced into the public eye in such a nasty, selfish way by these two women was an absolute shock.


What do you think drives him? Is it God-given talent, ego, hubris, insecurity or some combination of all of the above?

Gotta be a mixture of the above. That, and I think he has a need to prove himself. If he never released another album, his legacy would be safe, but this is the guy who fought so hard when he was a teenager to produce his own debut album. He probably feels, in some way at least, that he’s still fighting for that freedom. He’s still got it in him to perform three-hour aftershows in the early hours of the morning - surely the actions of a man driven to create.


What do you think has made Prince - the weird, short guy who rarely does any interviews - such a beloved icon? He has hardly followed a conventional path, from everything to releasing so much music to releasing it independently to releasing it for free, yet if he's in concert, not only will he sell out, his audiences will be black, white, Latino, young, old, middle-aged and everything from grandmothers to bikers. Yet, he hasn't had a radio hit in years. What's made him become so beloved?

Part of this, again, touches upon his ability for him to turn every appearance he makes into an event. So when Prince arrives, you want to be there! His early music was as much about inclusion as everything else; his band was mixed-race, mixed-sex. He sung of "Uptown," where we can "do whatever we please." "Purple Rain," the film, totally tapped into the '80s zeitgeist and has lived with many as the defining film of their generation – and that’s worldwide. He’s held fan Q&A sessions both online and at Paisley Park ... As much of a megastar that he is, he also – when he wants to, so not all the time – makes himself seem as accessible as possible to his fans. That so many of them have stuck with him through PR disasters, such as him suing his most popular fan web sites, speaks volumes. Mayte said of her time with Prince that he has the ability to make you feel like you’re the only person in the room. I’ve seen him perform in both an intimate club and a 20,000-seater stadium, and whatever space he’s in, he totally fills it. Who knows how he does it, but he has a natural charisma that just captures you, I guess.


Was there anything that emerged about his personal life that tells us anything more about him?

If he’s to be believed, there is "an incredible peace" in his life now – those are his words. And that’s fantastic. I hope that’s the case. So much of his life has seen him fight with his nearest and dearest – friends, bandmembers, record execs (Okay, so maybe they weren’t his dearest) ... [and] he’s had two divorces. I wonder whether Prince’s story is all about him making peace with himself. I also feel that he’s just got a restlessly creative mind. For a man who’s supposedly so reclusive, he’s done an awful lot of touring in recent times. It’s like he’s worked it out: This is what I do, and I do it better than anyone else.

[Edited 5/23/11 16:23pm]