If he'd stopped recording in 1995 he would be.

Prince WAS the greatest artist of all time during the Warner Bros era, now I'm not too sure.
He's still is the greatest all-round live performer of all time, though.

He's not even the greatest from Minnesota

mynameisnotsusan said:

He's not even the greatest from Minnesota

^

do you mean: Bob Dylan?

thedance said:

mynameisnotsusan said:

He's not even the greatest from Minnesota

^

do you mean: Bob Dylan?

Absolutely

mynameisnotsusan said:

thedance said:

^

do you mean: Bob Dylan?

Absolutely

He's my favorite artist(including every form of art) So in my book yes. But theres others out there I respect just as much as Prince for there artistic contributions & views. But P just speaks to me. I suppose theres others as good as him. But I will never know of it, because Prince through his music has artistically captivated me

Prince- A

Frank Zappa- A-

Bob dylan, john lennon, duke ellington, miles davis, david bowie, stevie wonder, van morrison, louis armstrong, ray charles, james brown- B+

Unlike most prince fans i actually listen to a lot of other music. mccartney, springsteen, hendrix aren't omitted by accident. there. i told u.

so yeah prince imo probably best last century. he has a higher 'bottom level' than anyone else. i.e his worst music generally more listenable than others.

how good someone is at their best isn't a true guage of their true worth. take brian wilson, who could be otherworldly brilliant at his ethereal best but he did a lot of dross as well - even on the smile album. or michael jackson who isn't nearly prolific enough for consideration. writing one's own songs should also be taken into account. rolling stone mag think elvis is the 2nd greatest artist ever.

[Edited 8/18/11 16:37pm]

Now, while I love me some Prince music, I wouldn't rate Bob Dylan as a B+!

purplethunder3121 said:

Now, while I love me some Prince music, I wouldn't rate Bob Dylan as a B+!

OR Duke Ellington...

Bob dylan, john lennon, duke ellington, miles davis, david bowie, stevie wonder, van morrison, louis armstrong, ray charles, james brown- B+??!!!

oh hell naw....

Yes

yes! nobody compares

Prince can only be compared to those who influenced him...but only to a certain point. At that point, he took his influences and made them his own, as it is supposed to be in the musical world...

1 word:

Graycap23 said:

1 word:

smoothcriminal12 said:

purplethunder3121 said:

Now, while I love me some Prince music, I wouldn't rate Bob Dylan as a B+!

OR Duke Ellington...

I consider dylan from 70's onwards overrated. As for Ellington, i'm not feeling his late period orchestral or choral works, few other factors as well etc. the reason i rate these artists B+ is because i really like them. since there are so many artists i like, and assuming that all grading is relative, i have to separate them somehow. hence, prince and zappa are tops for me.

what i love about zappa for instance is that albums not exactly highly esteemed are genius in their own right. e.g. chunga's revenge, zoot allures, sheikh yerbouti. then there's his live stuff. in view of this, it's a shame most people past a certain age can't seem bothered to check out new music

[Edited 8/19/11 7:27am]

Yeah, but if all of us are honest (and that ain't gonna happen! ) we are all here because of ONE PERSON. At least, initially.

Absolutely, he is the GREATEST

He is a truly gifted musician, singer, songwriter and performer. A perfectionist in his art who has longevity and the ability to produce an ambundance of quality albums and material. He is a master of his craft. A beautifully handsome man with confidence and a wealth of sex appeal.

He is PERFECTION.

When I am at a PRINCE concert, I feel alive, euphoric ... like nothing on Earth. I can never get enough of that feeling. So to me, he is the GREATEST EVER

[Edited 8/19/11 7:45am]

tiadalma said:

Absolutely, he is the GREATEST

He is a truly gifted musician, singer, songwriter and performer. A perfectionist in his art who has longevity and the ability to produce an ambundance of quality albums and material. He is a master of his craft. A beautifully handsome man with confidence and a wealth of sex appeal.

He is PERFECTION.

When I am at a PRINCE concert, I feel alive, euphoric ... like nothing on Earth. I can never get enough of that feeling. So to me, he is the GREATEST EVER

[Edited 8/19/11 7:45am]

Well, I don't consider Prince as perfection...LOL but I do agree with your description of being at a Prince concert: "When I am at a PRINCE concert, I feel alive, euphoric ... like nothing on Earth. I can never get enough of that feeling."

purplethunder3121 said:

tiadalma said:

Absolutely, he is the GREATEST

He is a truly gifted musician, singer, songwriter and performer. A perfectionist in his art who has longevity and the ability to produce an ambundance of quality albums and material. He is a master of his craft. A beautifully handsome man with confidence and a wealth of sex appeal.

He is PERFECTION.

When I am at a PRINCE concert, I feel alive, euphoric ... like nothing on Earth. I can never get enough of that feeling. So to me, he is the GREATEST EVER

[Edited 8/19/11 7:45am]

Well, I don't consider Prince as perfection...LOL but I do agree with your description of being at a Prince concert: "When I am at a PRINCE concert, I feel alive, euphoric ... like nothing on Earth. I can never get enough of that feeling."

LOL....I sometimes worry that I'm a borderline STALKER ... I probably would be if I could afford it

i cannot say he is the greatest, but one of the reasons u will know he is great, is because of the hate, jealousy and anger he brings out in trolls/haters like imago and many others.

it's almost as if his successes make them hate themselves, and then they spew this out in drivel form towards the rest of people who love the man

i don't blame 4 not wanting to discuss the net...why should he lower himself to the level of trolls, when he is already in the Hall of Fame,

and is respected by musicians all over, young and old?

^ Uh he's great without "haters".

NelsonR said:

Prince/MJ/Janet are all the greatest.

Prince: Greatest muscian,Best vocal range, best instrumentation, best performance, something else I just can't put to words about him

MJ: Best vocals, best basslines, sweatest heart, best dancer, best music videos

Janet: Best sex songs, Best hynotic choruses and melodies, best smile, best gay icon

[Edited 8/19/11 15:54pm]

Sure

mblevels said:

NelsonR said:

i cannot say he is the greatest, but one of the reasons u will know he is great, is because of the hate, jealousy and anger he brings out in trolls/haters like imago and many others.

How is Imago a hater? Troll, maybe, but everything he says is tongue firmly in cheek. You take him way too serious... I do agree there are haters on this site, I just wouldn't count Imago as one of them. And I don't really get how a certain amount of haters makes an artist great. Justin Bieber has a shitload of haters. But hey, if that's your opinion, to each his own right? [Edited 8/19/11 16:11pm]

I have to second this post. Hate doesn't make them great, and life's just too short not to laugh. Imago's a keeper, imo.

[Edited 8/19/11 18:39pm]

mblevels said:

NelsonR said:

i cannot say he is the greatest, but one of the reasons u will know he is great, is because of the hate, jealousy and anger he brings out in trolls/haters like imago and many others.

How is Imago a hater? Troll, maybe, but everything he says is tongue firmly in cheek. You take him way too serious... I do agree there are haters on this site, I just wouldn't count Imago as one of them. And I don't really get how a certain amount of haters makes an artist great. Justin Bieber has a shitload of haters. But hey, if that's your opinion, to each his own right? [Edited 8/19/11 16:11pm]

I agree. Plus most of Imago's posts concerning Prince are usually for humor only.

smoothcriminal12 said:

Simple question.

In your opinion, is Prince, overall, the greatest ever?

And why?

If not, who is?

I think he is - a modern day Mozart, I wonder if we will still be listing and talking about him in 200 years - I'd like to think so.