bobbyperu said:

I don't think of music in that way. I like Prince, Sly, Marvin Gaye, James Brown, The Stones, Zappa, Dylan, Fela Kuti... They're all great in their own right. But I did not spend hours waiting and a small fortune to see the Stones in Paradiso backbin 95. Prince is the only one I do that for. So in that respect he is nr. 1.

I recently cut down my digital music collection to only the artists and albums that I genuinely love. My target was a maximum of 5 albums per artist. With Prince, I'm down to a shortlist of 28!

DaniCalifornia said:

prince...number one....by some distance.....i dont really understand how someone can get heavy into prince and him NOT to be number one...he has soo much to him compared to anyone else...

.

i have seen hardcore prince fans on here but they still say michael jackson is their favourite artist ?...i dont get that...yes ..micheal was a great artist..great singer but surely once you know the depths of talent prince has...mj cant really compare to him...just my view...dont want to turn it into a mj vs prince thing...i just dont understand that..

.

anyway ..here is my top 5 all time...

.

1....PRINCE

2... THE BEATLES

3....STEVIE WONDER

4....DAVID BOWIE

5....BILLY JOEL

.

blackbob said:

prince...number one....by some distance.....i dont really understand how someone can get heavy into prince and him NOT to be number one...he has soo much to him compared to anyone else...

.

i have seen hardcore prince fans on here but they still say michael jackson is their favourite artist ?...i dont get that...yes ..micheal was a great artist..great singer but surely once you know the depths of talent prince has...mj cant really compare to him...just my view...dont want to turn it into a mj vs prince thing...i just dont understand that..

.

anyway ..here is my top 5 all time...

.

1....PRINCE

2... THE BEATLES

3....STEVIE WONDER

4....DAVID BOWIE

5....BILLY JOEL

.

I completely agree, but that is of course very subjective, it's an opinion. I grew up on prince, but as I was growing up I had alot of other favourites along the way until i rediscovered and saw prince in a whole new context. From then until now I've heard good music, but Prince is the artist I always go back to listening in between these other greats.

blackbob said:

prince...number one....by some distance.....i dont really understand how someone can get heavy into prince and him NOT to be number one...he has soo much to him compared to anyone else...

.

i have seen hardcore prince fans on here but they still say michael jackson is their favourite artist ?...i dont get that...yes ..micheal was a great artist..great singer but surely once you know the depths of talent prince has...mj cant really compare to him...just my view...dont want to turn it into a mj vs prince thing...i just dont understand that..

There's no right or wrong, it's just a matter of taste. I rate Mike higher than Prince because I prefer his music, no other reason is needed.

And I don't quite see what depth Prince has that many other artists don't. Sure, he's a great multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, producer etc.

But there are lots of others that are as equally as talented as Prince.

Cloudbuster said:

blackbob said:

prince...number one....by some distance.....i dont really understand how someone can get heavy into prince and him NOT to be number one...he has soo much to him compared to anyone else...

.

i have seen hardcore prince fans on here but they still say michael jackson is their favourite artist ?...i dont get that...yes ..micheal was a great artist..great singer but surely once you know the depths of talent prince has...mj cant really compare to him...just my view...dont want to turn it into a mj vs prince thing...i just dont understand that..

There's no right or wrong, it's just a matter of taste. I rate Mike higher than Prince because I prefer his music, no other reason is needed.

And I don't quite see what depth Prince has that many other artists don't. Sure, he's a great multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, producer etc.

But there are lots of others that are as equally as talented as Prince.

fair enough...everyone is entitled to their opinion...but i cant agree with you....if you compare like for like over several catagories...songwriting...musicianship...live performance...musical range...impact....you could go on and on with these of course but just using those to compare..

then add his body of work AND his unreleased body of work...which is almost certainly has several albums worth of top quality work which i dont believe can be matched by any other artist..

then for me.....no one can match him...

but..hey...what do i know

bobbyperu said:

DaniCalifornia said:

Actually, I have seen James Brown on the stage of Pori in 1995. It was not a dissappointment but not such a dynamite as his recordings are to me. He was in a bad mood and really pissed off, because the organizers couldn't arrange the correct hair spray for him at the first hand. Life is....

Yeah, that sound like James!

Maybe another reason for his mood was Wilson Pickett, who performed just before Mr. Brown and changed our land of 1000 lakes into a land of thousands of dancers for a while. What a great moment and a gig.... But , that was mean Mr. Brown.

[Edited 8/20/11 6:38am]

blackbob said:

Cloudbuster said:

There's no right or wrong, it's just a matter of taste. I rate Mike higher than Prince because I prefer his music, no other reason is needed.

And I don't quite see what depth Prince has that many other artists don't. Sure, he's a great multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, producer etc.

But there are lots of others that are as equally as talented as Prince.

fair enough...everyone is entitled to their opinion...but i cant agree with you....if you compare like for like over several catagories...songwriting...musicianship...live performance...musical range...impact....you could go on and on with these of course but just using those to compare..

then add his body of work AND his unreleased body of work...which is almost certainly has several albums worth of top quality work which i dont believe can be matched by any other artist..

then for me.....no one can match him...

but..hey...what do i know

His unreleased stuff is irrelevant at this point because it's... unreleased. And the outtakes that have surfaced have been of varying quality anyway. As a musician he's good at pop/r&b/soul but his rock, funk, psychedelia and jazz work isn't always great, to my ears at least. I don't think he ever quite mastered those forms particularly well but hey, no one can do it all. Fair play to him for exploring different styles though and sometimes the results were good if not great.

His songwriting is relatively uninspiring these days and most of the time sounds like he's on auto-pilot, and musically he's been spinning his wheels for quite some time now as well. He hasn't surprised me for years, The Truth being the last album of his that fully captured my attention.

He now seems to be at his best when performing live, but like Tori Amos he can no longer capture the spark evident in his live performances and transfer it to the studio. His best days as a recording artist are clearly long behind him (although there's still time for him to recapture what he once had), however, like James Brown he'll no doubt continue to be a compelling live performer until the end.

As far as I'm concerned there isn't one single popular music artist that stands above all others.

To name just three, Frank Zappa, Stevie Wonder and David Bowie are easily as talented as Prince.

I think Prince is an extraordinarily talented individual, but one of many. And he has his faults and failings like everyone else.

But what do I know.

.

[Edited 8/20/11 7:53am]

Cloudbuster said:

blackbob said:

fair enough...everyone is entitled to their opinion...but i cant agree with you....if you compare like for like over several catagories...songwriting...musicianship...live performance...musical range...impact....you could go on and on with these of course but just using those to compare..

then add his body of work AND his unreleased body of work...which is almost certainly has several albums worth of top quality work which i dont believe can be matched by any other artist..

then for me.....no one can match him...

but..hey...what do i know

His unreleased stuff is irrelevant at this point because it's... unreleased. And the outtakes that have surfaced have been of varying quality anyway. As a musician he's good at pop/r&b/soul but his rock, funk, psychedelia and jazz work isn't always great, to my ears at least. I don't think he ever quite mastered those forms particularly well but hey, no one can do it all. Fair play to him for exploring different styles though and sometimes the results were good if not great.

His songwriting is relatively uninspiring these days and most of the time sounds like he's on auto-pilot, and musically he's been spinning his wheels for quite some time now as well. He hasn't surprised me for years, The Truth being the last album of his that fully captured my attention.

He now seems to be at his best when performing live, but like Tori Amos he can no longer capture the spark evident in his live performances and transfer it to the studio. His best days as a recording artist are clearly long behind him (although there's still time for him to recapture what he once had), however, like James Brown he'll no doubt continue to be a compelling live performer until the end.

As far as I'm concerned there isn't one single popular music artist that stands above all others.

To name just three, Frank Zappa, Stevie Wonder and David Bowie are easily as talented as Prince.

I think Prince is an extraordinarily talented individual, but one of many. And he has his faults and failings like everyone else.

But what do I know.

.

[Edited 8/20/11 7:53am]

yes..some good points...his recorded work is..of course..not at the standard it once was....but no artist has been consistently brilliant all through a long period of time...he still writes great songs....just a lot more hit and miss...live...i think he as good as he has ever been....when you see him live....you can see he still has it.....

those artists you mentioned...zappa..bowie..stevie...they are all great artists and are more than equal with prince in some aspects...zappa was a fantastic musician and made great music across many genres...but he didnt write the fantastic songs that prince has written....bowie 70s work is on a par with prince's 80s work....but bowie isnt the musician prince is.....stevie wonder is probably his closet rival in modern music for the complete package...sales..ground breaking albums...musicianship...great songs..they are very close when you judge on all these....but...again...i think prince edges it on being able to hit more musicial bases than stevie ever did....but there is not much between them...

michael jackson...the problem i have with michael's work is he didnt write a lot of his best work...fantastic performer...fabulous vocalist(better than prince imo)...great songwriter (when he wrote) but..again..there are many parts where he couldnt match up to prince..as a musician being the most obvious...

anyway..they were all great...i just believe that prince is the most complete package in modern music...

.

blackbob said:

the problem i have with michael's work is he didnt write a lot of his best work...

I couldn't disagree more with this.

Cloudbuster said:

blackbob said:

the problem i have with michael's work is he didnt write a lot of his best work...

I couldn't disagree more with this.

IKR?! UGH here we go again!

When I was a teenager I'd say Prince was #1

Now it goes more like this:

1. The Smiths

2. Pink Floyd

3. The Beatles

4. Kate Bush

4. Masayoshi Yamazaki

5. Björk

6. Radiohead

7. Prince

8. The Cure

9. Parliament / Funkadelic

10. Fleetwood Mac

Of course they all jump around though. At the moment I'm listening to Yamazaki the most.

Timmy84 said:

Cloudbuster said:

I couldn't disagree more with this.

IKR?! UGH here we go again!

He's probably just shit stirring.

From 1978-2001 Mike wrote or co-wrote, with few exceptions (Rock With You, Human Nature, Man In The Mirror, Whatever Happens being notable), nearly all of his best work. I honestly don't know how anyone could argue against that unless they prefer his Jackson 5 era material.

But Mike wasn't a writer back then.

Anyhoo, Prince...

Cloudbuster said:

blackbob said:

the problem i have with michael's work is he didnt write a lot of his best work...

I couldn't disagree more with this.

no..honestly..i am not trying to stir it..i am just trying to understand it a bit better....they are all great artists...but michael jackson's biggest and best album ' thriller' ...michael jackson wrote or co wrote less than half of it...?...

.

Well, Prince was always a favorite one (more than MJ), however after a couple of years of absence (no clue why) I rank him back to #1.

Beside that Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, Depeche Mode, Linkin Park and U2 are as well some favorites.

blackbob said:

Cloudbuster said:

I couldn't disagree more with this.

no..honestly..i am not trying to stir it..i am just trying to understand it a bit better....they are all great artists...but michael jackson's biggest and best album ' thriller' ...michael jackson wrote or co wrote less than half of it...?...

.

Dude, please. This is why I hate when anyone compares them. Stop it.

Timmy84 said:

blackbob said:

no..honestly..i am not trying to stir it..i am just trying to understand it a bit better....they are all great artists...but michael jackson's biggest and best album ' thriller' ...michael jackson wrote or co wrote less than half of it...?...

.

Dude, please. This is why I hate when anyone compares them. Stop it.

Yep, by all means start yet another vs thread and see the shit that would go on in that!

Timmy84 said:

blackbob said:

no..honestly..i am not trying to stir it..i am just trying to understand it a bit better....they are all great artists...but michael jackson's biggest and best album ' thriller' ...michael jackson wrote or co wrote less than half of it...?...

.

Dude, please. This is why I hate when anyone compares them. Stop it.

i will get my coat

.

First place.

bigd74 said:

Timmy84 said:

Dude, please. This is why I hate when anyone compares them. Stop it.

Yep, by all means start yet another vs thread and see the shit that would go on in that!

He co-wrote Break Of Dawn

Speechless

They Don't Care About Us

FUCKING STRANGER IN MOSCOW!!!!!

Billie Jean

Childhood

Littlle Susie

Will You Be There

Who Is It

He wrote all of these and more so yah to the other guy

bigd74 said:

Timmy84 said:

Dude, please. This is why I hate when anyone compares them. Stop it.

Yep, by all means start yet another vs thread and see the shit that would go on in that!

Fuck the versus threads. Those threads are infected with herpes.

We could focus on Dylan or Marvin or Hendrix or Stevie, but nah let's fuck with the only other androgynous R&B-oriented '80s nigga that ruled the scene lmao fuck outta here. As long as Prince is No. 1 to y'all, nobody should get in the way. But y'all still wanna compare Prince to SOMEONE ELSE. Fuck THAT!

[Edited 8/20/11 15:34pm]

Timmy84 said:

Fuck the versus threads. Those threads are infected with herpes.

You're all kinds of wrong.

Cloudbuster said:

Timmy84 said:

Fuck the versus threads. Those threads are infected with herpes.

You're all kinds of wrong.

You know I'm right though. Seriously "go start a versus thread". Other than one I did on the Sex Pistols and the Clash, does it look like I give a fuck about those threads in general?

Timmy84 said:

You know I'm right though. Seriously "go start a versus thread". Other than one I did on the Sex Pistols and the Clash, does it look like I give a fuck about those threads in general?

Yeah, they've run their course. About two weeks ago, in fact.

I ain't interested in any vs threads right now anyway, I'm off to bed. Catch you later fella.

1) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

2) Prince

3) Peter Murphy

3.5) Tricky

3.9) PJ Harvey

4) Legendary Pink Dots (including the Tear Garden works with Skinny Puppy)

5) The old 4AD Sound... I have pretty much evertthing released from the 80's/90's (Cocteau Twins / Dead Can Dance / Brendan Perry / Lisa Gerrard / Clan of Xymox / Colin Newman / Dif Juz / Gus Gus / Wolfgang Press / Tindersticks / Xmal Deutschland)... and the sound that lives on in Bella Union (Simon Raymond & Robin Guthrie's label)

I'm only listing my favorite egnlish speaking artists because i listen to a lot of latin music but in my head the worlds dont'really exist together. It would look weird to put Prince in the same list as my favorite reggaeton singers or bachateros...

it depends which poll for me

Studio music

1. Aerosmith

2. Lenny Kravitz

3. John Mellencamp

4. Darius Rucker/Hootie(both)

5. Weird Al

6. Jesse Johnson

7. The Time

8. Prince

9. Body Count/Ice-T(both)

10. Kool Moe Dee

Live music

1. Weird Al

2. Jesse Johnson

3. Buddy Guy

4. Prince/The Time(tie)

5. Lenny Kravitz

6. Walter Trout

7. Body Count