All musical artists (well all artists) have a period when they are at the height of their artisitic skills. A time when they are perfectly in tune with the zeitgeist.

Those who die young or groups that split up maintain their mystique and subsequently their greatness. People will ask "what if they hadn't split up or died etc, what would they have gone on to achieve?"

The answer to that question would invariably be "they would have gone down hill, become a parody of themselves, lost their edge and become unfashionable, dull and old"

If The Beatles had not split up in 1970 they would eventually have started turning out dull albums (just listen to some of the solo albums = moments that demonstrate the genius but progressively more crap)

Had Jimi Hendrix not died he would have become old and dull.

Or films stars, James Dean or Marilyn for example.

We want our pop idols (musicians, actors whatever) to remain ever young and forever fashionable and beautiful. But they can't. They get old and they lose touch with the young people and the "street" where they came from. As they become more wealthy they become more coseted and subsequently lose touch with their "voice" that spoke to all of us normal people in such a profound way.

Phil Collins (no I'm not a fan of his) took a savage critical beating when he sang "Another Day in Paradise" that talks about poverty etc. People asked, what would he know, he owns five homes, a jet and a fleet of cars. So even if an artist tries to comment, people find it hard to accept.

Prince perfectly tuned into the zeitgeist (and steered it) through the mid 80s. His influence on the next generation of artists is profound. He will never attain that level of adulation and commercial success again. Nor should anyone, including himself, expect it. He is getting older. He's 44. I don't want him to become a parody of himself (look at the Rolling Stones). I would prefer he continue to speak to my generation who are growing old with him. Sing about things that concern us, not things that concern 14 year olds. Mature as a person and let the art/music mature with you.

Had Prince died in 1990 I honestly believe he would be considered one of the five most important musical artists ever and critics would fall over themselves to bemoan "what might have been". As it is Prince's legacy has been damaged (by himself and the Record Industry problems) and it became very unfashionable to admit to liking Prince in the mid to late 90s.

I believe Prince today (finally after trying so hard to get back to his "glory days" of being a major hit maker) is finally heading down a path that is worthy of his talent.

I am truly excited again over what he will deliver to us next. The Rainbow Children, IMHO, is not his best album (those mid-80s culture changing albums were) BUT it is an excellent album (personally I could live without the voice over thank you - but that is just my opinion and I respect that Prince wanted to do that).

Let's hope he carries on maturing and speaking to US and never tries to get back into the "charts" again.
[This message was edited Fri Feb 21 8:57:19 PST 2003 by jaypotton]

Had Jimi Hendrix not died he would have become old and dull.

Prince stopped in 88 but had 3 resurgences. In 92-95 and 2002. Now what he does with this recent momentum should be telling.

Hitz R defined by Criticz who listen 2 whatz being played on the radio. He iz not on the radio because he isn't signed 2 a record label.

If The Beatles had not split up in 1970 they would eventually have started turning out dull albums (just listen to some of the solo albums = moments that demonstrate the genius but progressively more crap)

"Graffitti Bridge" (yes- lest we forget it got 4 stars in Rolling Stone) ...

Bottom line - is Prince happy with things the way they are? if he is, leave him be.

This is a shaky assumption. The Beatles were amazing because of their combined elements. Yes, each solo Beatle album had weak tracks... but if they were still together, only the best tracks - and presumably improved by the rest of the band - would have been released.

...